The Analysis of Etgar Keret’s Short Story “Breaking the Pig”

Etgar Keret who was born in 1967 in Ramat Gan is one of the most important figures of 21th-century Israeli literature and cinema. Although he published his first book of short stories, Pipes (？？？？？？ – Tsinorot), when he was only twenty-five years old, in 1992, it was with his second book, Missing Kissinger (？？？？？？ ？？？？？？？'？ - Ga‘agu‘ay Le’Kissinger), (1994), that Keret attracted the attention of literary circles. Adopting a derisive attitude toward the political, religious and military values held sacred by the Israeli society, the author focuses in his stories on the relations between family members as well as on friendships and relationships. Taken to task by some literary critics for allegedly injuring the values of Israeli society and lacking these values himself, Keret in fact adopts an alternative, more critical approach to certain values exploited by the Zionist movement. The characters who take part in his stories usually have been described as antiheroes but most of them ignore the values, even when those are accepted by the society they live in, and stay to loyal their beliefs. In this regard, the subject of his short story Breaking the Pig (？？？？？ ？？ ？？？？？) which found in the Missing Kissenger is the criticism of materialism through the father-son relations. Etgar Keret, in this short story, shows how a child grows mature, but not in the way demanded by the economic system and its representative in the house, his father. This short story has become one of the most famous stories of Etgar Keret, many of which have been adapted for the cinema as well. Structured Abstract Since the early nineties Etgar Keret has become world-famous with his comic books and short stories, more than forty of which have been adapted for the cinema as well. Although he published his first book of short stories, Pipes (？？？？？？ – Tsinorot), when he was only twenty-five years old, in 1992, it was with his second book, Missing Kissinger (？？？？？？ ？？？？？？？'？ - Ga‘agu‘ay Le’Kissinger), (1994), that Keret attracted the attention of literary circles. Adopting a derisive attitude toward the political, religious and military values held sacred by the Israeli society, the author focuses in his stories on the relations between family members as well as on friendships and relationships. Taken to task by some literary critics for allegedly injuring the values of Israeli society and lacking these values himself, Keret in fact adopts an alternative, more critical approach to certain values exploited by the Zionist movement. The subject of his short story Breaking the Pig (？？？？？ ？？