A River Dies of Thirst Response

  
I found it challenging to fully get into Darwish's poetry and journal entries.  It seemed like I could never differentiate one entry from the next because they didn't have fully developed ideas that I could grasp, which may have been his intention.  Frustration truly set in when I tried to individually comprehend what his main goals for his writing were and I ultimately decided that it was not possible to view this work in that way.  A better reading experience for this work would be to isolate the entries and not try to bunch them together so each work could get more attention.  It's like I just forgot what I read after a few pages because they had minimal defining characteristics to differentiate between them. However, there were a few entries that once I took them in individually for what they were worth enticed me to continue on.

"The Mosquito" on page 14 was very well-written.  He took one of the most annoying pests and applied it to how some of the struggles his people were facing.  Even though he said it's not a metaphor, it can clearly be associated as one because of the comparisons that could be drawn.  His last line stating, "There's only one way you can bargain with it to make a truce: by changing your blood type" (14) gives a unique insight into the plight of Arabic people and what they need to do to endure some of the harsh situations in their lives.

"Cheated time" on page 44 focuses on an issue that affects everybody.  Death is all around us and people truly never know when it can come for you.  It definitely can "cheat" people if it comes early and it always leaves loved ones guessing what could have been.  The lack of respect for human life is terrible and unfortunately it exists, but you cannot hide from it.