Making a Connection

One of the reasons why im enjoying the book The Rock of Tanios is due to the fact that i am able to identify more with the story than i do with some of the other works. This one of the settings for this novel is a picturesque village called kfaryabda which is the quintessential Lebanese village in my opinion. i myself have visited to villages such as that with a "blata" where the village children play as well some of the architecture mentioned about how the houses are constructed. Some of the characters are archetypical in my opinion such as the revered village priest as well as the "lord" who is held in high esteem and often flatered. Such charachters have survived till today however to a lesser extent and these are symbols or rural life. the interactions between some of the characters are very interesting and i am able to identify with them. one example is how lebanon is portrayed as being a battlefield for foreign powers who in this case are France and England but who today may be identified as Iran versus the United States as can be seen through their proxies in the society. The inter Lebanese tension is also something i can identify with their ill feelings existing between village of different religions such as druze and Christian villages. such animosities erupted in violence during the Civil War and even today there are still battles being fought in mountainous areas similar to those mentioned in the book which have occured during the recent violence.