The Embassy of Cambodia

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-14

Chapters 15-21

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 15-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 15 Summary

Andrew and Fatou met a year earlier when he gave her a religious leaflet while she was eating a sandwich in a park. Without being invited, he sat next to her and began discussing his leaflet, beginning the first of many theological and religious conversations between them. Fatou realizes that while many people have tried to convert her to Christianity, Andrew was successful because of his response to one of her stories. She tells him about a time when she was working at the resort in Carib Beach, and nine children’s dead bodies washed up on shore. While people looked upset, no one did anything. The next year, Fatou was living in Rome and saw a boy die in a bike accident. However, the responses of passersby were drastically different: People were crying and screaming, and the death was in the paper the next day. Andrew tells her, “A tap runs fast the first time you switch it on” (48).

Chapter 16 Summary

As Fatou swims, she thinks about the last time she cried. When she was working in Rome, she cleaned bathrooms at a Catholic school. On her lunch break, she went outside to a garden across from the school. One day, she found a Statue of Liberty costume, an ID for Rajib Devanga, and a street performer’s tip jar. There appeared to be blood on the empty tip jar. She had felt envious of the street performers, but after finding Rajib’s belongings, she cried. She was unsure if she was crying for Rajib or herself.

As she swims, she thinks about the day she was baptized and how she felt like a new person until she returned to the Derawals’ home. She assumed that being baptized would change everything and make her happier.

Chapter 17 Summary

Fatou is late coming home, arriving only a few minutes before Mrs. Derawal. She thought she heard Asma cry in the middle of the night, so she inquired about the girl. Mrs. Derawal tells her the girl is fine and that she’s making too big a fuss of her choking incident. As she instructs Fatou to follow the list of chores, Fatou realizes that neither Mr. Derawal nor Mrs. Derawal has been able to make eye contact with her since Asma’s choking incident.

Chapter 18 Summary

At the cafe, Fatou watches as Andrew carries their coffee and pastries to the table, noting that while he is not especially graceful, he is very generous. Andrew tells her that he researched the Cambodian Genocide, sharing that the Khmer Rouge wanted everyone to live simple country lives. Fatou admits to finding things simpler in the country, and Andrew tells her he’s never lived in the country. After Andrew launches into a lecture about the government, Fatou tells him that she’s never met a man who didn’t tell people what to do or think. Andrew asks if she’s become a feminist. She then asks Andrew if he would like to go swimming with her.

Chapter 19 Summary

To prevent the Derawals and their neighbors from finding out about her trips to the health center, Fatou meets Andrew in front of the Embassy of Cambodia. When she approaches him, he mentions that he’s an excellent badminton player and that they should play badminton next.

Chapter 20 Summary

Fatou tries to use two guest passes to get herself and Andrew into the health center but is turned down. She eventually convinces the woman working to make an exception for them. They change and go swimming. Andrew lounges in a chair while Fatou gets in the water. After swimming for a while, Fatou encourages Andrew to get in the water with her. After he gets in, Andrew struggles to swim gracefully, and Fatou offers to help him, but he refuses, saying that there’s too much chlorine in the pool. Fatou says they can leave, but Andrew wants to stay, and he watches her as she swims. She feels weird with someone watching her swim, but Andrew is content.

Chapter 21 Summary

Later that evening, Fatou is fired by the Derawals. She is unsure why she is being fired, as Mrs. Derawal struggles to articulate her reasons. She tells Fatou that the family needs a housekeeper instead of a nanny, and Fatou is paying too much attention to the children. She tells Fatou she must find new housing immediately. Fatou asks to use the phone and requests that the Derawals return her passport. This angers Mrs. Derawal, who says she doesn’t have her passport. As Fatou packs, someone slips her passport under the door.

She calls Andrew, and he offers to get her a job cleaning at his office and let her stay with him. Because her public transportation card is in the kitchen and she doesn’t want to go get it, they plan to meet later in the day. After hanging up the phone, she takes the rest of the guest passes from the Derawals.

She goes to the health center with all her belongings to swim again. Then she goes and sits outside the Embassy of Cambodia at the bus stop. As people go about their days, the unnamed narrator explains that they watched Fatou as she watched the badminton shuttlecock volleying back and forth at the embassy.

Chapters 15-21 Analysis

In this section, it is explained that Andrew’s response to Fatou’s two stories about suffering finally convinced her to convert to Catholicism, highlighting the theme of The Pain and Suffering of Daily Life, as religion offers Fatou a balm to suffering. Andrew’s response implies that people, like those in Ghana, who are consistently exposed to trauma experience some kind of compassion fatigue and are unable to react with great emotion every time they witness something bad. Meanwhile, people who rarely see trauma react with great emotion when they see something bad, as Fatou saw in Rome. Andrew’s metaphor involves water, which is one of Fatou’s favorite things. To Fatou, water represents Self-Reliance, Independence, and Agency, so Andrew’s metaphor may help her see how to address injustices and suffering in ways that make her feel empowered instead of attacked. Additionally, water is explored through the act of baptism, both in Ghana at the resort where mass baptisms were held in the swimming pool, and in Fatou’s own baptism. She expected to be treated better by the Derawals after her baptism, and her continued swimming speaks to a desire for continued renewal or change.

Andrew often exaggerates his abilities. Following his research on the Cambodian Genocide, he launches into a discussion on one of his favorite topics, which is government corruption in Nigeria: “That’s what I call a Big Man Policy. I invented this phrase for my dissertation. We know all about Big Man Policies in Nigeria. They come from the top, and they crush you” (54-55). Andrew likes to feel important and wants Fatou to be impressed by him, which is why he makes a point to tell her he “invented” a phrase. He additionally brags about his badminton experience, though he struggles to swim well. The shuttlecock and badminton represent the theme of the pain and suffering of daily life; therefore, by claiming that he is excellent at badminton, Andrew is claiming he is excellent at overlooking—or compartmentalizing—the trauma that surrounds himself and Fatou. Lastly, Andrew’s terrible swimming undermines the way he speaks about himself, and his refusal to allow Fatou to help him shows arrogance. He blames the chlorine and instead watches Fatou swim, which feels predatory, as it privately makes her uncomfortable. However, by watching her swim, he regains his power as a confident man who has control over the situation and over Fatou. While Andrew is nowhere near the man who sexually assaulted Fatou, his ignorance and arrogance are somewhat reminiscent of Fatou’s description of the Devil as “stupid,” which suggests that, despite accepting help from Andrew, Fatou may need to later escape him, too.

Following her termination, Fatou confronts Mrs. Derawal about her passport, and Mrs. Derawal is offended by Fatou’s accusation. However, someone later slips her passport under her bedroom door. It is unclear who does this, but by doing it anonymously, it is evident that the Derawals are ashamed of how they have treated and domestically enslaved Fatou: If they couldn’t meet her gaze, then they certainly couldn’t hand her back her passport, which is a symbol of her domestic enslavement, as she could not leave without it. Additionally, Mrs. Derawal doesn’t use Fatou’s name in this exchange, instead calling her “girl,” which highlights the theme of The Consequence of Dehumanization and Stereotypes (66). The choking incident led the Derawals to sever ties to Fatou; the moment humanized her fully, and they are retreating entirely from it and from her.

The ending of the short story highlights the neighborhood’s propensity for gossip and nosiness as neighbors watched Fatou: “Naturally, we wondered what this girl was doing, sitting on damp pavement in the middle of the day. We worried for her. We tend to assume the worst, here in Willesden. We watched her watching the shuttlecock” (69). Notably, there is a lot of “watching” or “gazing” being done in this interaction. The neighbors are watching Fatou watch badminton; however, no one is addressing the greater concern, which is that Fatou is now without a job or a home. Interestingly, the short story ends where it begins: in front of the Embassy of Cambodia. The setting highlights the fact that Fatou is in transition, between jobs and a stable home. She is quite literally starting her life over in London, and it is unclear what will happen to her, whether she will experience more trauma (“a violent conclusion”) or a more peaceful life with Andrew (“a hopeful return”) (69). However, the Embassy of Cambodia remains an extended metaphor for what can be hidden inside normal-looking buildings, and the sounds of badminton carry on as if nothing has changed, highlighting the pain and suffering of daily life.