Representations of the Elderly in the Palestinian Short Story

Testimony, Liminality, and Education

Abstract

This article examines representations of aging in the Palestinian short story, focusing on the roles that elderly characters play within the literary and cultural sphere. Through an analysis of stories from the short story collection Amputated Tongue and additional sources, the study identifies three central portrayals of elderly figures: the witness, the liminal, and the educator. The figure of the elderly witness serves as a means of preserving Palestinian collective history, transmitting the testimony of the Nakba generation through retrospective writing. In this context, the article draws on gerontological and psychological approaches, exploring how literary representations of aging articulate a narrative need to confront both personal and national memory. Second, the article examines the liminality of elderly characters, who are depicted as existing in an in-between state—between life and death, past and future, belonging and exclusion. Many elderly characters in Palestinian short fiction are marked by invisibility, waiting, and a sense of missed opportunities. At the same time, they challenge the perception of old age as a total loss of social agency. Finally, the article explores the role of the elderly as educators and guides, emphasizing their position in the long-term educational process of future generations. Whether as transmitters of tradition and identity or as figures entrusted with a pedagogical role that they struggle to maintain, aging characters in Palestinian literature play a crucial role in shaping intergenerational knowledge transfer. Employing a thematic and literary analysis, this study reveals how representations of aging function as a means of constructing national identity, preserving historical memory, and engaging with socio-cultural transformations in contemporary Palestinian literature.