A Handful of Dates

The narrator begins the story reminiscing about his grandfather. He describes his grandfather as tall and thin with a white beard. More descriptive, he compares his beard to white cotton wood- pure white and of great beauty. He says how he walks with great strides and that everyone in the whole area must look up to see him- the narrator looks up to him, like a godly figure. He also talks about how he loved the mosque and he loves the river and the land.

One day the narrator asks about his grandfathers neighbour Masood. He wonders why his grandfather is not fond of him. His grandfather explains that he feels Masood has made poor choices in life for at one time he owned all the land but he sold it all when he had married. The narrator is very upset that his grandfather is talking about Masood so rudely and about the land as if it is just property. To the young boy the land is his playground and a place for his dreams.

After his grandfather finishes explaining why he does not respect his neighbour, Masood asks the grandfather to join him in the harvesting of his dates. Although the young boy knows his grandfather does not really want to go they went off with Masood.

While the boy hacking at the date palm worked Masood asked for him to be careful not to cut the heart of the palm. Although no one listened to him the narrator began to process what he had said. At this time he begins to feel bad for Masood and begins to recognize that Masood cares for the land much like he does.

When everyone had finally left, except for Hussein the merchant, Mousa the owner of the land next to the narrators and two complete strangers to the young boy, his grandfather jumped to his feet to collect dates. His grandfather gave him a handful as the other men grabbed a bag for themselves. They left Masood with none; in fact the narrator’s grandfather explained how Masood still owed him 50 pounds.

Seeing this, the young boy became very disappointed in his grandfather. It seemed that all he cared about was power and wealth. He cared not about others and not about the land. All the events following make the narrator become ill. He ran off toward the river and threw up all the dates his grandfather had given him. The once pure river was now full of the narrator’s feelings toward his grandfather.