Broken Wings Review

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Broken Wings ReviewBroken Wings is a simple story which serves as a canvas for Kahlil Gibran's flights of beautiful prose and philosophical insight. Gibran's prose is simply redolent with images. His evocative narration paints pictures with words which both took me away and taught me. Gibran's point is so much more clear and simply arresting for the crispness of his imagery, such as when he writes: "Those ample treasure chests that the energy of the father and the thrift of the mother fill up are transformed into dark, narrow prison cells for their heirs. That mighty deity whom the people worship in the form of money metamorphoses into a horrifying demon who tortures the people and kills the heart." (p.51)
There were several thoughts of Gibran's that I found similarly significant. In talking about the blossoming of love, Gibran writes that love is not "born of long association and unbroken companionship." Instead, he writes, it is "the daughter of a spiritual understanding, and if that understanding is not achieved in a single moement, it will never be attained -- not in a year, not in a whole century" (p. 41). My limited experience leads me to believe precisely this. Likewise, I agreed with Gibran when he writes that "Limited love demands possession of the beloved, but infinite love desires only its own essence" (p. 97).
If Gibran has a fundamental message in Broken Wings, though, I think that it is surrounding the tension or balance between putting everything that we can into our love and our endeavors, and the need to contextualize that love or endeavor in such a way that it does not consume that which we are. Gibran's narrator struggles with this tension. He wants to spirit Salma away to a life of true love. He wants her to break her word to her father and follow her heart. Mostly, he doesn't want her to give up on their love. His defense of this course of action is passionate: "For the soul to experience torment because of its perseverance in the face of trials and difficulties is more noble than for it to retreat to a place of safety and calm. The moth that contines to flutter about the lamp until it burns up is more exalted than the mole that lives in comfort and security in its dark tunnel" (p.73).
The imagery is again evocative, and certainly, I think, speaks to me: if you are to pursue life, pursue it like the moth -- soaring to unimagined heights and experiences. Don't be a mole who attempts to prolong his life by simply hiding himself away -- but never really experiencing life. Live, don't simply preserve an unlived life. Such a good reminder for us.
Love (and any endeavor, I imagine) isn't always so black-and-white, though. Salma's understanding is deeper and more complicated: before even her emotions and her love, she places her commitment to her father and to her (unloving) husband. There is incredible power in her choosing integrity over running away to a love which Gibran paints as being the fulfillment of all of our hopes for love. There is some unspoken insight here about integrity and commitment, I think. It is, perhaps, part of the foundation of love itself, a necessary ingredient for its presence.Broken Wings OverviewIn Broken Wings, Kahlil Gibran uncovers the glory and pain of young love. This loosely autobiographical story is in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, but with Gibran's characteristic lush Oriental settings and images.A young Kahlil is introduced to Faris Karama, a wealthy and good-hearted merchant of Beirut, and his daughter, Salma. Kahlil and Salma are deeply attracted to one another and continue to meet regularly, with the blessings of Faris Karama. But a powerful priest, Father Ghalib, in order to gain access to the Karama fortune, demands that his son be allowed to marry Salma.Kahlil and Salma find ways to continue meeting in secret, but their love is doomed and Gibran exposes the social and personal hypocrisy that forbids true love to blossom.Broken Wings is a deeply moving love story that explores the spiritual theme of the meaning of human existence in a world that contains profound beauty and love amidst the stains of greed and pains of suffering. Gibran eloquently speaks of the ways of the heart that can be denied, but only with tragic results.Juan Cole's translation captures the magic of Gibran's matchless Arabic prose.

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