"From the Diary of an almost-four-year-old", Hanan Ashrawi (1988)

Résumé du document

The poem, 'From the Diary of an almost-four-year-old' was written by Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi, a Palestinian writer, in 1988. The speaker in this poem is an almost-four-year-old little girl who was fired at by a soldier, during the Israel-Palestine war. She lost an eye and she wonders about the cruelty of war. In this poem, we do not know about which war Hanan Mikhail Ashraw is talking but this is not really important. The poem was written in 1988, so it was certainly the Israel-Palestine war but it could also have been another war. The sad reality is that war touches everybody, and not only soldiers. Innocent people such as children, women and citizens are affected by war, and also people in other countries reading this poem, for example, or other true stories about war, just like this one.

Extraits

[...] She is still a three-year-old baby, turning four next month. What she is going to have for her birthday is a “brand new glass eye”. The words and make us feel ill at ease because this little girl is not complaining about that. Instead of saying that, she could have said ugly and inexpressive glass but she is not saying that. She seems to accept more or less her situation, the only problem is that if looking the world with her glass eye is like looking through her marbles, world will look strange”. [...]

[...] The title of this poem: “From the Diary of an almost-four-year-old” makes readers wonder about. In fact, normally, people write a diary either at the end of their life, either when they have enough stories or experiences to share and write about. How a three-year-old little girl could write a diary (if only she knew how to write)? This title, without reading the poem, makes us understand that this little girl must have some important things to say, to have a diary. [...]

[...] One was only nine month, and therefore cannot even speak. She does not even know, for sure, what happened. She won't remember when she used to have two eyes. She does not even know yet what is war, how to spell it, and what this word even means. Make a little girl speaks is a good technique that the poet had. We are always more sensitive about what is in the mind of a child, and above all, when ideas are express with innocent and naïve words. [...]

[...] They are unfortunately trained to kill. Some are forced by their government to wage war and take drugs to find the strength and courage to do it. They cannot have feelings and are acting as machines, thus sometimes, it is too late when they realize that the person they shot was a child or a woman. Once more, others can turn crazy and are not making any difference between people and kill them, regardless ages. This is the cruelty of war and sometimes, unfortunately, it is really hard to prevent it. [...]

[...] In the second paragraph, the almost-four- year-old little girl is talking about the soldier who is responsible of her pain. She is saying that she still remember his man and look in his eyes” that she could not understand. In fact, he certainly did not expect to run into a little girl and was thus not prepare about that. The little girl maybe saw some kind of emotion in his look, such as fear, nervousness, stress, confusion, regret, guilt, because the soldier felt sorry. [...]