Enter Ghost

“Even if I cannot live in it, my soul will reawaken if there is a Palestinian state.”

This quote comes from a recording Sonia’s Uncle Jad made of an interview he did with Sonia’s grandmother, Tata. Sonia listens to this recording several times. It relates to the motif of the ghost. Just as Hamlet’s father reawakened to pass on a message to Hamlet, Sonia’s grandmother envisions coming back to life in the event of Palestinian statehood. To add even greater depth to the motif, the recording itself is like a message from a ghost of the past.

“‘It’s easier for you, you just denied everything.’

‘What have I denied?’

‘This is real life, Sonia. This is not some play.’”

Enter Ghost analyzes The Relationship Between Theater and Politics. Haneen accuses her actor sister, Sonia, of conflating politics and real life with a play. However, Sonia recognizes that even though art bleeds into politics and vice versa, there is a distinction between the two.

“The oblivion I was asking for but did not understand persisted on the horizon of our affair like a summer thundercloud, and in the nights I ran through its long shadow as though I might reach it, while it remained there, taunting me from a distance, unbroken rain.”

At the beginning of the novel, Sonia is coming to terms with her desire for oblivion. As a working actor, she finds this empty state on the stage. However, her alienation from her identity results in a lack of understanding of herself and her relationships, as described here. In this quote, she uses the metaphor of “a summer thundercloud” to describe this desire for oblivion.