Palestinian Persuasion

Authors utilize a variety of literally techniques to convey feelings and ideas. Edward Said uses many different strategies to represent the Palestinian people throughout his essay “States”. In creating awareness of the Palestinian struggle Said employs numerous distinct techniques and strategies to convey his message and elicit emotion from the reader.
Said uses photographs along with his own interpretations throughout the text to convey emotion to the reader in a very vivid way. These pictures display great depth into the emotional connection Said feels towards the Palestinian people along with his compassion of a call to action. The unique way that he displays the pictures along with a personal explanation creates a partnership that together illustrates and teaches the reader about the struggles of Palestine in a way that images cannot do alone. In addition to the an image of a nomadic man sitting on a modern chair in the village of Tel Sheva, Said writes,
“He seems unsettled, poised for departure. Now what? Now where? All at once it is out transience and impermanence that our visibility expresses, for we can be seen as figures forced to push on to another house, village, or region. Just as we once were taken from one “habitat” to a new one, we can be moved again.” (543)
These powerful words are woven into the image in way that conveys Said’s personal interpretation, which forces the reader to see through the Palestinians eyes. The message Said sends creates empathy towards the subject. The use of photography in conjunction with textual imagery is a prominent technique used to represent the Palestinian people.
The use of diction in the essay is prominent, allowing Said to convey his message not through bias opinion but in the use of poignant vocabulary. The style of expression used to convey the message of Palestinian struggle lends greatly to the word choice and punctuation of the author:
“Palestine is exile, dispossession, the inaccurate memories of one place slipping into vague memories of another, a confused recovery of general wares, passive presences scattered around the Arab environment. The story of Palestine cannot be told smoothly. Instead, the past, like the present, offers only occurrences and coincidences. Random.” (587)
This quotes is powerful because of the flow of words and grammar selection. Said makes the reader pause with each period and ends the paragraph with a single sentence word causing his message of Palestinian struggle to be conveyed in literary genius.
The utilization of repetition is another literary technique Said emphasizes. The word exile is used throughout the work and drives home a point of feelings for the Palestinians. Said writes that they are “exiles at home as well as abroad…”(542) in response to lack of a homeland and the constant issue of presenting identification in other Arab states. When refereeing to the children and their lack of ethnicity Said refers to “Palestine is exile…”(557) and “Exile is a series of portraits without names, without context.” (543). The repetition of such a word drives the point home that Palestinians are left with nothing which relates to his message.
Another technique Said practices is by speaking in first person he creates a sense of credibility. When Said speaks this way it draws the reader in. It creates a sort of reliability that ones self could be in the situation. Said writes: “dialectics of self and other, the subject “I” who is native, authentic, at home, and the object of “it” or “you” who is foreign…”(565), the Palestinian people feel like foreigners. Said is trying to relay that the Palestinian’s do not feel like an “I” because they have no place to call home and not centralized cultural groups. When he speaks of himself, Said makes the reader feel lost and hopeless because they put themselves in his situation. This sympathy is exactly what Said wanted to achieve by speaking in first person.
The final approach Said uses is the lack of structure in his essay. This essay has no specific argument or thesis yet it still has a distinct purpose. In an extra discussion section it is said that,
“[w]hiles “States” does not present itself as writing – an argument in defense of Palestinian rights, an argument designed to locate blame or propose national or international policy – it is, still, writing with a purpose. It has an argument, it has a particular project in mind, and it wants something to happen.”(577)
Said writes as if he is a historian, then he switches to a memoir, then to plea for help. The flow is never disorderly or unprofessional which shows Said’s great intellect while engulfing the reader.
Edward Said applies literary techniques and strategies in his essay “States” to relay his message of Palestinian struggle. Through his words, images, detailed analysis and original writing style Said informs as well as emotional impacts his readers.
Work Cited
“States”. Edward Said. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 2011. Print