Return to haifa - Essay Example

Return to Haifa The story Return to Haifa made Ghassan Kanafani to be considered an epic story teller. Return to Haifa isone of the most contested stories that has been both highly appreciated and criticized. However, the story carries many themes, which seems to be tied to political history. One of the most predominant theme is the theme of political detain and release of iconic leaders. Most of political detainees have often found it overwhelmingly challenging adapting to the society they left when they went to detain after many years.

Return to Haifa significantly depicts the challenges of gaining political identity of iconic political detainees such as Nelson Mandela. The, fleeing home of Said and Safeyya in Haifa during the 1948 Nakba can be equalled to the detaining of Nelson Mandela in 1962.  However, 20 years later, Said and Safeyya returned home only to find out that a Jewish family had actually adopted their son who entered Haifa (Suganda web). Likewise, for Nelson Mandela, he found out that many things had changed in his mother country South Africa when he was released from prison.

Indeed, Mandela had to take time to adapt to his own country, which he had missed after many years in detention. Whereas Said and Safeyya find their home occupied by Miriam, Mandela found that the whites had indeed occupied the good parts of his country. The theme of regaining political identity after many years of detention for many political leaders shares the same story line with “Return to Haifa.” Although Mandela has been provided as an example, many political detainees all over the world experienced the same situation.

Works CitedSuganda, Ken. (2013). Return to Haifa, Retrieved from https://app.box.com/s/qx7lcnyv8etahh4uekle