The use of artistic devices to forward female oppression in selected short stories by Muhammad ‘Ali Saeid

Abstract

This article studies three short stories by Muhammad Ali Saeid (1950-), a writer and critic who lives in Tamrah, the Western Galilee. These stories are “The Delivery” (Al Wilādah), “Ḥayāt” (life), and “Devouring” (Iftirās), which appeared in Assadi’s Father and Son: Selected Short Fiction by Hanna Ibrahim Elias and Mohammad Ali Saeid. It examines the use of the artistic devices used in the selected short stories to highlight “female oppression” as well as the linkage between feminism and postcolonialism, in case of Palestine. Above all, this article confirms that the profound perceptions of Saeid are reflected in his success to control his narrative techniques so artistically that he offers new arenas for academic assessments and analysis. Saeid’s observations also brighten new terrains, where divergent powers can band tunefully to battle subjugation, prejudice, and occupation.