Unit 6: The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith

1. Biography of Zadie Smith

• Born: October 25, 1975, in Northwest London.
• Background: Smith was born to a Jamaican mother and an English father. This bi-racial heritage heavily influences her work, which often explores themes of race, class, and cultural identity.
• Education: She studied English Literature at King’s College, Cambridge.
• Literary Career:
  • She rose to immediate fame with her debut novel, "White Teeth" (2000), which won multiple awards and established her as a voice of modern multicultural London.
  • Other notable works include The Autograph Man, On Beauty (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), NW, and Swing Time.
• Style: Smith is known for her hysterical realism, sharp dialogue, deep empathy for flawed characters, and a focus on the "messiness" of human identity in post-colonial Britain.
• Context for this Unit: "The Embassy of Cambodia" was originally published in The New Yorker in 2013. It reflects Smith's continued interest in Willesden (a suburb of London) and the invisible lives of immigrants.

2. Plot Discussion

The story is a slice-of-life narrative set in Willesden, North London, focusing on the intersection of local observations and the hidden life of a domestic worker.

The Setting and The Narrator

The story is narrated by a collective "We"—the people of Willesden. They observe a new addition to their neighborhood: The Embassy of Cambodia. It is an unassuming suburban villa surrounded by a high red wall. The only activity visible to the neighbors is a shuttlecock flying back and forth over the wall: Pock, smash. Pock, smash.

Fatou’s Routine

The protagonist, Fatou, is a young woman from Ivory Coast working as a live-in maid for the Derawal family.

• The Deception: Every Monday, Fatou secretly uses guest passes belonging to the Derawals to visit a local health center to swim.
• The Observation: On her way to the pool, she passes the Embassy and observes the badminton game. She becomes fascinated by the rhythm of the game and the resilience required to return the "smash."

Fatou’s History and Status

Fatou does not consider herself a slave, though her circumstances suggest otherwise. Her passport has been confiscated by the Derawals, and her wages are withheld to pay for her room and board. She justifies her freedom by comparing herself to a girl in the newspaper who is physically locked in; Fatou, conversely, can leave the house to shop and attend church.

Andrew and Philosophical Debates

Fatou has a close friendship with Andrew Okonkwo, a Nigerian night guard and student. They meet at a Tunisian café to eat cake and discuss theology and history.

• The Suffering Debate: They debate whose suffering is greater—Africans, Jews (Holocaust), or the Japanese (Hiroshima). Andrew argues against a hierarchy of suffering, while Fatou feels Africans are uniquely targeted by the Devil.
• The "Big Man": Andrew introduces the political concept of the "Big Man" who crushes the weak to hide his own weakness.

The Inciting Incident and Climax

• The Incident: One afternoon, the youngest Derawal child, Asma, chokes on a marble. Fatou saves her life using the Heimlich maneuver.
• The Reaction: Instead of gratitude, the Derawals become distant and hostile. The power dynamic has shifted; Fatou’s competence exposes their negligence.
• The Firing: Shortly after, Mrs. Derawal fires Fatou, claiming she doesn't clean well enough. Fatou demands her passport, which is returned to her under the door.

Resolution

Fatou calls Andrew, who arranges a place for her to stay and promises her a job. The story ends with Fatou sitting at the bus stop opposite the Embassy of Cambodia with her belongings in plastic bags. She watches the shuttlecock again. The ending is ambiguous but resilient; she has lost her home but gained her freedom, watching the game of survival continue: Pock, smash.

3. Thematic Analysis

A. Multiculturalism and Isolation

Willesden is depicted as a melting pot, but not a cohesive community. The story presents a fragmented society:

• Proximate but Separate: The wealthy Arabs at "Garyland," the Cambodian Embassy, the Derawals (South Asian), and Fatou (African) all occupy the same street but live in entirely different worlds.
• The Walls: The high walls of the Embassy symbolize the barriers between these cultures.

B. Modern Slavery and Exploitation

Smith critiques the invisibility of domestic servitude in Western cities.

• Denial: Fatou refuses the label "slave" to maintain her dignity, yet she meets the criteria (no pay, no passport, verbal abuse).
• Immigrant-on-Immigrant Exploitation: The story avoids the trope of white oppressors; here, the oppressors (the Derawals) are immigrants themselves, highlighting how hierarchies of power exist within minority communities.

C. The Hierarchy of Suffering

Through Fatou and Andrew’s dialogue, the story asks: Whose pain matters?

• Comparison: Fatou compares the genocide in Rwanda to the Holocaust. The narrator admits that when seeing the Embassy, the locals immediately think "Genocide."
• Desensitization: The story explores how people become numb to the suffering of others (e.g., the drowning children in Accra, the boy dying in Rome) to survive their own lives.

D. The "Big Man" vs. The Little People

Andrew's theory of the "Big Man" applies to both dictators (like the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia) and domestic tyrants (like Mr. and Mrs. Derawal). The "Big Man" destroys the "Little Person" (Fatou) not because the Big Man is strong, but because he is weak and fears exposure.

E. Resilience and Survival

Fatou is defined by her ability to survive. Her mantra is to "make her own arrangements." Just as the badminton player returns the smash with a gentle lob, Fatou absorbs the blows of her life (poverty, firing, homelessness) and continues to survive without breaking.

4. Character Analysis

Fatou

• Role: Protagonist.
• Traits: Observant, physically strong (a swimmer), proud, religiously devout (Catholic convert).
• Development: She begins in a state of denial about her exploitation. By the end, forced out of the house, she accepts her situation with a "sense of brightness," refusing to show gratitude to those who mistreated her.
• Symbolism: She represents the "New People" (a term from the story referring to city dwellers/migrants) who must constantly adapt to survive.

Andrew Okonkwo

• Role: Fatou’s confidant and foil.
• Traits: Intellectual, optimistic, religious, physically soft (struggles to swim).
• Significance: He provides the philosophical framework for the story. He represents the hope of upward mobility through education and faith. He is the safety net that allows Fatou to survive the climax.

The Derawals

• Role: Antagonists.
• Traits: Petty, ungrateful, culturally insular.
• Significance: They represent the banality of evil. They are not monsters, but ordinary people who exploit a vulnerable woman to make their own lives easier. Their firing of Fatou after she saves their child illustrates the perversity of power dynamics—they cannot bear to be indebted to a servant.

The Narrator ("We")

• Role: The collective voice of Willesden.
• Traits: Gossipy, inquisitive, mildly empathetic but ultimately detached.
• Significance: The narrator highlights the limits of empathy. They watch Fatou and the Embassy with curiosity but do not intervene. They draw a "circle around our attention" to protect themselves from the world's tragedy.

5. Significance of the Title

The title "The Embassy of Cambodia" operates on three levels:

1. The Physical Setting: It refers to the literal building in the neighborhood that serves as a landmark for Fatou and a mystery for the locals.
2. Historical Allusion: Cambodia is inextricably linked to the Khmer Rouge genocide. This connects to the story’s themes of suffering, "Big Men" (dictators), and the survival of the "Old" and "New" people.
3. Metaphor for Exclusion: An Embassy is a patch of foreign soil within another country, walled off and sovereign. This mirrors Fatou’s experience; she is a foreigner in London, and inside the Derawal house, she is in a separate, isolated territory where the laws of fair labor do not apply.

6. Stylistic Devices

First-Person Plural Narration ("We")

• Smith uses a chorus-like voice ("We, the people of Willesden"). This creates a sense of community but also complicity. It implicates the reader in the act of watching without helping.

The Extended Metaphor: Badminton (Pock, Smash)

• Pock (The Lob): Represents a gentle, hopeful arc, or the moments of peace in life (Fatou’s swimming, her cakes with Andrew).
• Smash: Represents the violent downward force, the cruelty of the world, or the "Big Men" crushing the weak.
• The Game: Life is a continuous rally between these two forces. The story ends with the game continuing, signifying that the struggle for survival never truly ends.

Juxtaposition

• Smith contrasts the mundane (swimming, eating cake, playing badminton) with the horrific (genocide, drowning children, slavery). This technique emphasizes how suffering and normalcy coexist side-by-side in the modern world.

Motifs

• Swimming: For Fatou, water represents autonomy, escape, and baptism/rebirth.
• Guest Passes: Symbols of access to a world Fatou is not supposed to inhabit; her use of them is a quiet act of rebellion.
• The Wall: A physical manifestation of the social and economic barriers separating the characters.

Intertextuality/Historical References

• The text explicitly references the Khmer Rouge, Hiroshima, and the Holocaust. These references serve to contextualize Fatou’s personal, small-scale suffering within the grand history of human cruelty.