Symbolism In Elizabeth Laird's A Little Piece Of Ground

Blue Light Emerging from the Tunnel

The Israeli Palestinian conflict involves holy land, and its meaning to its citizens can only be truly understood in times of despair. Elizabeth Laird’s A Little Piece Of Ground, is a story about a Palestinian youth struggling to live a regular life under Israeli military occupation. The main character creates a variety of perceptions of his connection to his country, and to the land throughout the novel. Laird displays an array of morals in the novel, intended to portray a message to the readers. Using symbolism, Elizabeth Laird establishes that profound connections to a country or land are formed in times of hardship, as in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Readers see an establishment of Karim’s profound connections through his character growth, reflections on his list, and experiences in the Hopper’s ground. Karim’s connection to Lineman and his reaction to Hopper’s bomb are times where his character growth is used with symbolism to portray profound connections to Palestine or the land are formed during times of hardship. At the beginning of the novel, Laird displayed Karim’s connection to the video game Lineman, and demonstrated effects of joy from playing the game. After beating his high score, followed by being shut down by his older brother, “Karim felt his pleasure and triumph drain away and the miserable sense of imprisonment that the game had kept at bay for the last two

Karim’s character growth, reflections on his list, and experiences in the Hopper’s ground, indicate an establishment of the main character’s profound connections to the readers. Karim’s connections to the land lead him to a sense of reality, understanding conflict Palestine was in, but taking pride in his