Symbolic resistance in Samira Azzam's “Bread for Sacrifice” : the major role of symbolism in political, feminist, and social resistance

الملخص EN

Resistance genre is a form of literature that sparked as a reaction to the colonial campaigns around the world.

It constitutes the outcome of the literary movements that have always attempted to keep pace with the developments throughout history; hence, it defines the route which some authors insisted on undertaking in order to participate with their fellow citizens in their struggle towards independence, even if holding only their pens as a weapon.

Therefore, and since the Palestinian crisis of occupation has persisted to be the central political issue of the Arab world, the Arabic literature of resistance has oriented its productions towards advocating the Palestinians' right to regain their land.

Indeed, as the selective intellectual elite, those writers needed to send their revolutionary ideas through a manoeuver that avoids the hindrance of the censorship.

That is how they resorted to symbolic language in order to give their motivational texts some sort of artistic forms and to grant them a safe aesthetical channel to pass through it to their desired destination.

As an example of this genre, Samira Azzam presented her short story “Bread for Sacrifice”, implying her resistant stance throughout the language of the work, choosing symbolism to present her issue in a more lively manner.

Azzam's story features the work of art which is basically instituted on the pillars of symbolism, whereby she could display the whole story of the strife towards liberty through a well-chosen set of representations.

These symbols were inspired by some essential items of the Palestinian cultural heritage in order to urge the rightful owners of the homeland to preserve their home and save their inheritance from the attempts at eradicating it.

Building upon this argument, this paper examines the use of symbolism in Azzam's work in order to uphold resistance on three levels – political, feminist, and social resistance.