For the first time I experienced blissful sleeplessness full of fantasies and delightful imaginings; and for the first time I knew how one person's f… - Fadwa Tuqan

I shall write, I shall write a lot. I feel I have been for some time living moment by moment in a drama, moved by every act in it. All of a sudden I, myself, am a poem, burning with anguish, dejected, hopeful, looking beyond the horizon! (p191)

I sense the absurdity and aimlessness of life as I stand bewildered, lost and weak before the tide of overpowering death. (p176)

Just as tyrannical surveillance, repression and sugjugation in society give rise to the dual traits of submission and rebelliousness, the same is true of individuals. Anyone who grows up in an environment of secret police surveillance and oppressive family authority will emerge with a dual psyche. There are always acquired characteristics, arising as a result of social and, in particular, family subjugation. (p28)