Precarious Lives in Syrian Society: Violence and Daily Life in Khaled Khalifa's Death is Hard Work

Abstract

The study focuses on the profound themes within Khaled Khalifa's novel, Death is Hard Work. It seeks to understand the driving force compelling humans to undertake a perilous journey to fulfil father’s last wish to be buried in his ancestry place between the Syrian civil war's chaos. Through an analysis of the narrative, the characters' lives are explored in the grand narrative of conflict and war. To explore this, a theoretical framework has been constructed based on the work of Judith Butler's concept of the precarious life in addition to Giorgio Agamben's biopolitics, and Victor Turner's insights on the importance of rituals like death as a space to resist and revisit human affairs that provide a chance to cling onto life in despair. The theoretical framework provides a lens through which the study analyses the absurdity of the human condition amidst war, shedding light on the characters' struggles, the fragility of familial bonds, and the lasting resilience of the Syrian people. The study contributes to the broader discourse on literature's capacity to capture the intricacies of human experiences in times of conflict, encouraging a deeper understanding of war's emotional and psychological toll on individuals and families.