66 pages • 2 hours read
Leon UrisExodus
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1958A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Trees
One of the recurrent symbols in the novel is that of trees, particularly in the context of the Jewish community in Palestine. As the settlers from the First and Second Aliyahs are trying to eke out a sustainable life in the region, one of their characteristic actions is to plant trees wherever they go. This serves their purpose in land reclamation, as trees prevent further erosion and desertification of dry areas. In wet areas like swampland, the novel notes the Jewish habit of importing eucalyptus trees from Australia, which can soak up large quantities of water. As such, trees frequently symbolize Jewish successes in transforming the physical landscape of Palestine.
The novel’s use of the symbol is not only focused on this transformative aspect, however, but on the steady and resilient nature of trees, which slowly and inexorably seek to grow even in very difficult conditions: “Look how that tree fights to live […] Look how it tries to dig its roots into rock […] That tree is the story of the Jews who have come back to Palestine” (357). As such, this symbol frequently supports the theme of Resilience and Survival in the Face of Adversity.
The Balfour Declaration
In the first half of the novel, the Balfour Declaration serves as a motif that underscores the theme of The Moral Complexities of War and Political Struggle. The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917, declaring their support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. It was the first major international recognition placing Zionist goals in a positive light.
Despite the document’s apparently favorable influence on the Jewish settlement in Palestine, the novel frequently treats the Balfour Declaration in an ironic tone, pointing to it less as a significant marker of international support and more as a harbinger of broken promises. The Balfour Declaration was at first an immense boost to Jewish morale in their hopes for regaining a presence in their ancient homeland, but the irony of its issuance is that the very government that produced it—the British Empire—then became the Jewish community’s biggest obstacle to achieving its goals. As a motif, the Balfour Declaration stands for the inconstancy of the international community, on the one hand acknowledging the moral justice of allowing Jews to have a presence in Palestine but on the other hand working against the realization of that aim.
Sabra
Exodus also employs a symbol that has been in frequent use in Israeli culture since the early 20th century: applying the name sabra to Jews who were born and grew up in Palestine. This Hebrew term refers to the prickly pear cactus, a tough plant that grows well in desert conditions. The sabra has a thick outer skin covered in sharp spikes, but with a sweet interior, particularly in the fruit it produces. To call a Jew in Palestine a sabra, then, speaks to the tough, “spiky” nature of their temperament, while acknowledging the inherent goodness and resilience of their character. Like the symbol of trees, this usage underscores the novel’s theme of resilience in the face of adversity. Furthermore, since it is a reference to a particular Jew’s identity as being born in the ancestral homeland of Palestine, the symbol also has links to the novel’s theme relating to The Struggle for a Homeland.
Kitty is introduced to this symbolic language by Harriet Saltzman shortly after the former’s arrival in Israel: “It is a term we use for the native born […] The sabra is hard on the outside…but inside, it is very tender and sweet” (340). After that scene, “sabra” becomes the term of choice in the novel for Palestine-born Jews, often in reference to their toughness and resilience. In Kitty’s usage of the term, however, it is not always positive. She views the sabra-Jews, for all their strengths, as being emotionally stunted, unable to communicate their deepest needs and fears, and she does not want Karen to become like one of them.
