Social Classes Review of Related Theories

Jenkins also give some information about the social condition when Kahlil Gibran was born, they say Gibran was born in “a year of transition.” While the Ottomans were still in control of his homeland, the British had invaded Egypt and the Sudan, and in 1883 were struggling against the Mahdi….In the sphere of technology the machine-gun and the first skyscraper were built, while in the realm of ideas Wagner, Marx, and Turgenev passed on and Kafka, Keynes, and Kahlil Gibran were born Bushrui and Jenkins, 1998: 15. Living as a poor family, Gibran and his family decided to find a better life. They emigrated from Lebanon to Boston, America in 1895. Suheil Bushrui and Joe Jenkins 1998: 15 state “Gibran’s family, headed by a drunken and despondent father and poised on the brink of poverty, also tottered; but to save it from imminent collapse, his mother, sister and half-brother emigrated to America.” Similar with Eugene Paul Nasar’s statement 1980: 4 that Gibran’s family “left their homeland partly to escape the poverty and restrictions of Ottoman rule, partly to escape from a drunken husband and father”. In America, Gibran learned about art and philosophy specifically in literature and painting. The most influencing poet for Gibran’s work was William Blake. Gibran was also called “The William Blake of Twentieth Century”. When Gibran moved from Boston to New York in 1911, he joined a Syrian community and focused on the development and the condition of people in his country. He was alsovery critical to the government, especially the Ottoman Empire which can be seen in his most of his works. “Gibran’s political activity began to capture his attention as he joined the Golden Links Society, a group of young Syrian immigrant men who worked for the improvement of Syrian citizens’ lifestyle around the world ” gibrankahlilgibran.org, 2012. Three years later, World War I happened in 1914-1918. As the impact of this war, Lebanon suffered the Great Famine, a mass-starving tragedy. Thousands people died in hunger. Through his works, Gibran expressed his empathy toward his people. According to Nasar 1980: 23, “The early New York years were overcast for Gibran by the terrible fate of Lebanon during the Great War fully one-third of the population of the Mountain starved. His chronic melancholia pervades the prose-poems in Arabic of this period”. The description about the condition in late eighteenth century certainly and the situation of Lebanon in that time had affected Gibran’s works. Suheil Bushrui and Joe Jenkins state that, His early works are tales of courage, stories in which the down trodden for liberty and proclaim a message of justice – a whip in Gibran’s words as he unleashes his vituperation on those who exploit the poor. There is also a message of conciliation for those who struggle to be free from the shackles of nationalism, sectarianism, and medievalism Bushrui and Jenskins, 2007: 22. According to Bushrui and Jenskins 2007: 115, “We and You,” published on January 6, 1911 in the emigrant newspaper Mir’atal-Gharb Mirror of the West”.Bushrui and Jenskins also say that, Like his other work of the time, “We and You” is laden with overtones of social protest – the outspoken intensity of the poem reflecting Gibran’s own increasing self-confidence within American society, his “reposeful power,” described by Mary as “the big lines of his character” which she sensed were becoming “more pronounced, more dominant, steadier” Bushrui and Jenskins, 2007: 115. Based on these explanations about the background of him, it is clear that Gibran’s works are influenced by his social condition during his time. According to the Bushrui and Jenskins, the poem “We and You” describes about how Gibran depicts two different group of peolpe. They say,