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A Hanful Of Dates

“A handful of dates” by Tayeb Salih
Throughout the story “A handful of dates” – written by Tayeb Salih – I find a big change of perspective of the young boy, from admiring his grandfather to hating him. At the beginning, the boy loves his grandpa so much and he is proud of him but he changes his mind finally. The story has some thing to do with date palms – one of the symbols in Muslim countries. He actually hates hid grandpa at the end of the story because of his grandfather’s behaviors.
First of all, the reason why the young boy hates his grandpa is the jealousy of him. Since Masood was inherited a deal of land, he can spend a lot of money in getting married with his wives without working hard. The grandfather had to work hard to be rich but he is also jealous of Masood and he just states that Masood is a lazy man. I think the grandpa’s behavior is as usual as other people because if you have to work hard to earn money for living and you discover that the person next to you can spend a great deal of money without working, you will think that he does not deserve. However, the boy does not think so. His way of thinking is totally different from his grandfather’s. He is too young to understand his grandpa’s jealousy.
The second reason is that the grandpa takes money from the man whom he states a lazy person. The boy finds out some thing unreasonable in this action. In his viewpoint, his grandpa is a respectable man, and he can not do this; however he does. In an ethical view, if I discover Masood is an indolent man, I will not take money from him. How can I feel if I take money from him? It is dirty money. It is not the money which I earn from working. I will not feel good when spending this money for my own interests. Maybe the boy’s thinking is the same to me. His conflict becomes bigger from here.
The last reason why the boy hates his grandpa comes from his own interaction to his grandpa. He does not know why what his grandfather said about Masood and...