I used to know when my grandfather wanted me to laugh, when to be silent; also I would remember the times for his prayers and would bring him his prayer-rug and fill the ewer for his ablutions without his having to ask me.
Taken from the first third of the story, this passage speaks to how close the narrator is to his grandfather. He has shaped his behavior according to his grandfather's will, being quiet or laughing in accordance with his grandfather's mood. He also performs helpful tasks without being asked. The boy's devotion and love are significant because of how starkly the boy's attitude contrasts with his subsequent disgust for his grandfather's greed.
"He's an indolent man and I don't like such people."
When asked by the narrator, the grandfather reveals that he dislikes his neighbor because he is indolent, meaning that he judges the man for avoiding exertion or activity, and he uses Masood's indolence as an excuse to buy up his land. The passage is significant because of the hypocrisy it reveals once the grandfather is at the date harvest. While others stand or work to gather the dates, the grandfather is provided a stool, which he falls asleep on, waking once it is time to humiliate Masood and take his dates. In this way, the grandfather doesn't realize that he himself has become the exertion-averse, indolent man he accuses Masood of being.
I do not know why it was I felt fear at my grandfather's words—and pity for our neighbor Masood. How I wished my grandfather wouldn't do what he'd said! I remembered Masood's singing, his beautiful voice and powerful laugh that resembled the gurgling of water. My grandfather never used to laugh.
After learning of his grandfather's desire to take the remaining third of Masood's land before the man dies, the narrator feels the visceral emotional response of fear—a feeling he cannot make sense of. However, he recalls the beauty of Masood's voice and, on an intuitive level, finds empathy for Masood's spirited nature. By contrast, his grandfather never laughs. This passage is significant because it foreshadows the boy's eventual disavowal of his grandfather, and the beginnings of the boy defining himself in contrast to his grandfather and his greed.
I felt, though, that he did not really want my grandfather to attend. My grandfather, however, jumped to his feet and I saw that his eyes sparkled momentarily with an intense brightness. He pulled me by the hand and we went off to the harvesting of Masood's dates.
In this passage, the narrator senses that Masood has invited the grandfather to the date harvesting out of obligation. Despite Masood's apparent discomfort, the grandfather jumps up eagerly. With the sparkle of delight in his eyes, the grandfather pulls the narrator along with him to take part in Masood's humiliation.
I heard him make a noise in his throat like the rasping of a lamb being slaughtered. For some unknown reason, I experienced a sharp sensation of pain in my chest.
In this passage, taken from the final third of the story, the narrator has another visceral reaction to Masood's plight. Having witnessed the normally spirited man's humiliation, the boy listens to the man's dejected noise and feels the man's despair resonate in his own chest. The passage is significant because it contributes to the themes of visceral reactions, empathy, and loss of innocence.
Then, without knowing why, I put my finger into my throat and spewed up the dates I'd eaten.
The final sentence of "A Handful of Dates" leaves the reader with an image of the narrator forcing himself to regurgitate the dates his grandfather had taken from Masood's harvest. Continuing with the motif of the narrator not knowing why he has certain responses to events in the story, Salih encapsulates the boy's instinctual disavowal of his grandfather through the symbolic separation of the boy from the greed he refuses to absorb into his own body.
