Theme 1
Gender and Family
In his book, fragments of memory, Hana Mina paints an in depth picture of the despondent early 20th century lives of the people living in the countryside in Syria. He depicts this picture by using his own family as an example. Here, he portrays the abject poverty his family had to endure during the war. For instance, his father seemed like an ideal father. He aimed to provide for his family as a father would. However, nothing he did was ever enough. This generally predicts the plight of the poor. They sweat and toil their lives away. However, often they have little to show for their efforts. It is not because they do not work hard enough. Often, they are exploited in pay by their masters. Hence, however much they toil, their living conditions always seem to stagnate as is the case of Mina’s father.
Mina, in his book, also shares the plight of his mother. His mother worked in the countryside. She was employed at a silk farm. Here, she worked for rich landlords. She raised silk worms given to her by the landlords. Thereafter, she would give the end product to her employer in exchange for a fee. She then used her earnings to sustain help sustain her family’s livelihood. This goes to show that women, just as men had a role to play in the economic sustenance of their families. There were no bias. Abject poverty had also led the women to also seek employment as the men. This was in order to help their husbands manage their families, as in the case of Mina’s mother. Women and men equally shared responsibilities in a bid to provide for their families.
Theme 2
The impact of global economic and political forces on people’s lives
Global economic and political forces deeply influenced people’s lives during the Syrian war. For instance, advancement in technology as portrayed by Mina, led to the collapse of the silk worm industry. This change completely shattered the lives of farmers working in silk farms. For instance, farmers in silk farms had huge debts which they had borrowed their landlords in order to sustain their family needs. Hence, when the industry collapsed, they sunk further into debt. Mina’s family had to live under a tree as his mother was a farmer too. Here, they often had to endure hunger. This is because they barely had enough to eat. Furthermore, they were forced to endure the effects of the scorching sun as it burned through their skin. This depiction of Mina’s family enduring great loss as a result of economic changes compares to the effect of global recession on modern day families. During recession, families are often pushed to their extremes as they have to give up their everyday comforts such as their homes.
Politics forces also directly impacted people’s lives. In the book, Mina depicts that the people in Syria continued to face more difficulty even after the war. When power changed hands from the Ottoman rule to the French Mandate, people from poor families further continued their quest for survival (Mina, 173). They worked as peasants for rich folks in urban communities. These men and women highly distinguished themselves from the peasants as they belonged to a higher social standing. This was more a form of racism and slavery. This is due to the fact that power gave the rich authority over the poor. It made them influence many aspects of the poor people’s lives. Even in the modern era, this social stratification brought about by power still holds water. This is depicted in the form of superior Nations undermining 3rd world countries. Furthermore, in some parts of the world, slavery is still predominant as the rich exploit the poor due to their power.
Work Cited
Mina, Hanna. "Fragments of Memory: A Story of a Syrian Family, trans." Olive Kenny and
Lorne Kenny (Austin, Tex.: University of Texas at Austin, 1993) 173 (1993).
