Part I Summary and Analysis

Friday, August 26, 2005

Zeitoun thought back to his childhood. On moonless nights, the men and boys of Jableh, Syria, set out in their fishing boats, formed a circle about a mile from the coast and dropped their nets. Plankton was attracted to the light of their lanterns and sardines were attracted to the plankton. The fishermen only went out on moonless nights because the moonlight would make the plankton visible everywhere to the sardines. Abdulrahman Zeitoun was just thirteen when he began fishing for sardines. After a large enough group of sardines formed, the fishermen would pull their nets. The catch would be taken to the market the next day. Abdulrahman and his brother Ahmad were both fishermen. Their father had died and their mother was fragile. They turned over all their earnings for the upkeep of the house and...