Understanding the Palestinian Struggle Through Mahmoud Darwish’s “Identity Card”

Abstract

This research examines the poem entitled “Identity Card” by Mahmoud Darwish to understand how historical, social, political, and biographical contexts describe the state of a country and its citizens that are being colonized. This research employs a qualitative descriptive method, collecting data through in-depth reading and applying Stephen Greenblatt’s New Historicism Theory. The research indicates that, from a historical, social, and political context, this poem portrays the expulsion of the Palestinian people and their loss of land and cultural inheritance throughout the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a weapon of resistance against occupation, the poem represents the Palestinian struggle to regain their freedom. The biographical context also shows that the author’s experience as someone who lost his homeland greatly influenced his work. Through this poem, Darwish uses the pain of losing his homeland as a spear of struggle to maintain his identity. It can be concluded that this research shows that Darwish’s poem entitled “Identity Card” functions as an essential record of human suffering and resistance amid conflict and as a medium to express feelings through beautiful words. The findings of this research offer a deep knowledge of how literature, and poetry in particular, may capture and perpetuate the fight to protect one’s nation and identity.