This book-report is written for the English writing class.

The title of the book is The Broken

Wings by Kahlil Gibran. The book has 36 pages in doc which was read online. “This is the
exquisitely tender story of love that beats desperately against the taboos of Oriental tradition. With
great sensitivity, Gibran describes his passion as a youth for Selma Karamy, the girl of Beirut who
first unfolded to him the secrets of love. But it is a love that is doomed by a social convention
which forces Selma into marriage with another man. Portraying the happiness and infinite sorrow
of his relationship with Selma, Gibran at the same time probes the spiritual meaning of human
existence with profound compassion.”(from Goodreads). The English writing class requires me to
read this book, and Gibran is also an author of whose works I long to read. The main characters of
this book are the lovers—Gibran himself and Selma Karamy.
Other characters are her husband Mansour Bey ( a selfish, brutal, absurd businessman), his uncle
Bishop Bulos Galib (a hypocritical, scheming, sly churchman), and her father Farris Effandi (a
kind, warm-hearted, honorable man).
This book tells a story about the bitter romantic relationship between Gibran and his lover Selma.
The story was taken place in Lebanon which was set in turn of the 20 century Beirut. They fell in
love in the first sight and were deeply attracted by each other. But due to the religion convention,
the low social status of women, and also the social class repression, their romance was doomed to
be a tragedy. They encountered each other in Farris’s house and confided their affections in the
garden, and then Selma was forced to marry Mansour. After the marriage, one day Selma left her
husband’s house and went to meet Gibran in the temple, kissed each other for the last time’s
goodbye. In the end, Selma was died of the infinite sorrow. It’s a very simple story with just a few
characters, but the poetic language which Gibran used in this book is full of imagination and
genuine sensation. The metaphors he used to describe every feeling of his are so much
heart-touching and speak out the complicated thoughts in romance. It’s already so hard to find the
proper words to confess the true feelings, but under Gibran’s pen, every deep feeling becomes
viewable, touchable, smellable… Apart from the poignant words, he also expressed his thoughts
towards love, life, happiness, social problems, which show his true humanitarian caring and
philosophical thinking. I denoted some sentences while reading and these sentences give me the
deepest experience towards love and other things. For example, “Love is the only freedom in the
world because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature do
not alter its course.” For me, even though in this book, the lovers can’t be together in the end, but
their love is beyond the time, transcends all the material things. The broken wings would be freed
and fixed eventually in the heaven of love. Also, “But poets care unhappy people, for, no matter
how high their spirits reach; they will still be enclosed in an envelope of tears.” This sentence for
me confides the truly heart-broken feelings when myself reading the poetry. “The sorrowful spirit
finds rest when united with a similar one. They join affectionately, as a stranger is cheered when
he sees another stranger in a strange land. Hearts that are united through the medium of sorrow
will not be separated by the glory of happiness. Love that is cleansed by tears will remain
externally pure and beautiful.” It’s true that love always grows in the crevice of the ground, and
the true love is often found at the saddest moment. It’s a truth that we get close to each other by
the attraction of hurtful feelings and by the true love all the pains will be healed.
What I present here is just a little part from which I sense the beauty of this book. Some people
may feel what the author wrote in this book about his feelings are too much dramatic, but the fact
is when we are hit by the same feelings in the real life, the sensations of ours would be much
stronger than those words on the page. We feel the strongest during the saddest hours, and we just
let them go after this period of time is gone. For me, one thing that is exquisite in writing is that it
records the simplest feelings in our life, but will give the deepest beating to our heart when our
time and space meet together with the ones on the page.