The Broken Wings by Khalil Gibran

The story of Broken Wings opens with the words, “My neighbors, you remember the dawn of youth with
pleasure and regret its passing; but I remember it like a prisoner who recalls the bars and shackles of his
jail.” Thus, informing the readers that it’s a sad story. The story is set in the Lebanon which the narrator
calls is the most beautiful place on earth. It is the story of love, longing and suffering that ends only after
death. Narrator who goes nameless in the story falls in love with Selma the daughter of Farris Effandi. He
is blinded by her beauty and spirituality that is a virtue with the oriental woman as narrator himself
recalls multiple times in the story. Selma, who is calm and quiet person, also gets attracted towards him
immediately.

Khalil Gibran is master of his craft, especially when it comes to the figurative language and description of
a scene or his characters. His words are pure poetry full of metaphors, similies and personifications.
Reader is touched deeply when he brings the world of imagination before his/her eyes in such a style
that reader cannot escape its magic. His language is clear and his choice of words to describe feelings,
emotions, events and weather is very impressive and accurate to the point of perfection. Topics of love,
life, death and spirituality are all around in this story, The Broken Wings. He has also a keen eye on the
social issues of his days and moral corruption of the church cannot hide from his observation. The
question women oppression is dealt with in a very solid way. That makes one think about the real
situation, no matter wherever they are in what year they are living.

Back to the story now, in just matter of a week both the lovers are walking through the imaginative
universe looking in each other’s eyes while sitting in the garden of Effandi’s beautiful house. Their talk is
a poetical expression in praise of each other. The narrator becomes restless for Selma, his eternal love
when he is not around her. He becomes a frequent visitor to Selma’s house. He meets with his love of
life and chats with Farris Effandi, who it turns out to be a friend of his father and who talks to him fondly
about their friendship.

Their love is met with disaster when Bishop sends the word for Effandi to come to him. Her father goes
to him as a healthy and optimistic man but returns with a collapsed heart. The Bishop wants his
daughter for his nephew, Mansour Bey. Bishop’s nephew is a scoundrel whom both the father and
daughter do not like. But the sad reality is Farris Effandi cannot refuse to Bishop’s wish as it would be
strongly against the cultural and religious system of the day. The marriage between Selma and Mansour
Bey results in the suffering in for both the lovers as now they cannot meet to see each other anymore.

The narrator is now living a lonely life counting the miseries and rebutting the cultural and religious
system of the day which has seized from his love Selma. He speaks his thoughts loud to the reader
complaining about the cultural and religious system that has been corrupted by those who use it as a
tool of oppression. He highlights the plight of women in a patriarchal society. He reminds the readers
through words of Selma and his own thoughts about the bitter reality of how society with the help of
religious opportunism and cultural beliefs has oppressed and exploited the women as a mere
commodity at the service of man. He also denounces the Bishop and his position in the society who is
corrupt and practicing not what he preaches.
The narrator desires for an escape with Selma when she on occasions come stealthily to meet him at a
temple near her father’s house but that does not happen. The story is full of religious symbols. The story
ends with Selma’s and her newly born baby that dies in the labor. It is a story of love and loss. It is a tale
of two broken hearts. Story ends thus; “Right here; I placed the daughter upon him and upon his
daughter’s breast rests her child, and upon all I put the earth back with shovel.” Then I said, “In this
ditch you have also buried my heart.”