المستخلص
The current study sheds light on the significance of love and kindness during the hard times of wars. The study calls for greater attention to consider the human side and human emotions like love ,compassion and kindness for being the best shelters and ways of survival against the destruction of wars. The study presents a comparative analysis to the historical novels under study: Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2005) and Ahmad Ardalan’s The Gardener of Baghdad (2014) by studying the characters and clarifying how their life experiences shaped their destinies. These novels demonstrate the impact of the political conflicts and wars on societies and depict the characters’ suffering, struggle and resilience in the face of oppression and persecution. The study proves that even through darkness and despair of bleak situations, there can be a glimmer of hope out of unbreakable bonds of love and friendship.
The study falls into four chapters. The first chapter, entitled ‘‘Theoretical Framework’’, is divided into four sections. The first section is a general introduction to the concept and literature of war with a special attention to fiction. The second sectionpresents the literary theory of the study which depends on sociopolitical perspectives mainly on Sociopolitical Development Theory. The third section presents the themes of love and war in fiction. The chapter ends with section four which presents the literature review of previous academic studies concerning the main theme and the novels under study.
The second chapter, entitled ‘‘Life and literary career of Markus Zusak and Ahmad Ardalan’’, is divided into two sections. The first section is about the Australian literary culture including the biography of Markus Zusak as well as the historical context of The Book Thief. The second section is about the Iraqi literary culture including the biography of Ahmad Ardalan in addition to the historical and political background of The Gardener of Baghdad. In this chapter, the researcher presents information much related to the writers’ lives and how these facts are reflected in their works.
The third chapter is ‘‘Love , Kindness and Compassion During Wartime’’. This chapter presents a comparative analysis of The Book Thief and The Gardener of Baghdad with a focus on the similarities between the two novels and to what extent the novelists are successful in portraying the suffering and struggle of the main characters and their holding on to love and hope to pass the hard times and survive.
Finally, the thesis ends with the fourth chapter ‘‘Conclusions and Recommendations’’. It is divided into two sections. The first section forms the conclusions which make the point that love conquers all the obstacles even wars. The second section presents some recommendations for future researchers in the field of the study.
