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“A Handful of Dates” by Tayeb Salih
The short story, “A Handful of Dates” is about a young boy who looks up to his
grandfather as a god. The story is based on the flashback in the perspectives of a young Islamic
boy. The boy compares his grandfather to a river and sees him as pure. The rising action starts
when their neighbor, Masood, inviting the boy and the grandfather to harvest the dates. However,
the grandfather just sat on a stool as Masood harvested since they had a bad relationship. After
the activity, the grandfather and the others divided the dates among themselves and left none for
Masood. The grandfather made this choice based on hatred and jealousy. The boy was angry at
how his grandfather treated Masood and he ran and threw all the dates he had eaten to the river.
The boy threw up to represents resentment and the opposite morals his grandfather had. In the