Manifestations of Silence in Ghassan Kanafani’s Returning to Haifa

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the instances of silence in discourse and its meanings within the narrative context. Silence, a core element of verbal expression, fosters openness to diverse meanings and enriches narrative discourse. It is also a facet of speech, conveying and establishing meaning. The study is focused on the novel Returning to Haifa because silence is a crucial element of the narrative discourse and contributes to its formation. Silence permeates various elements of the novel, including characters, time, and place. The study also seeks to demonstrate the role of silence in conveying meaning and establishing significance, as it has a clear impact on changing the direction of the narrative and enhancing the suspense between the reader and the text. This makes the reader a co-creator of the text within the boundaries of both the spoken and unspoken elements.