Martyr!

Chapter 9 begins with the first example of a poem from Cyrus’s “BOOKOFMARTYRS.docx.” This one is about Bobby Sands, a member of the Irish Republic Army who died while on a hunger strike while imprisoned by the United Kingdom in 1981. After the poem, the chapter transitions to Cyrus and Zee’s first day in New York.

Cyrus speaks with Orkideh about his fears about dying without meaning and how much he admires her decision to spend her last days in the museum talking with strangers. She asks him if he worries about “becoming a cliché […] [a]nother death-obsessed Iranian man” (101). He replies that he did not know about Iranian martyrdom culture before becoming concerned with his death and that he is earnestly exploring the concept of martyrdom through his book project. She suggests that what he is concerned with is a subcategory of martyrs called “earth martyrs,” a phrase to which Cyrus is immediately attracted. When he suggests that he would like to include her in his book, she ends the conversation warmly and asks him to come visit her again the next day. The conversation perplexes Cyrus.

The first half of this chapter is told from Ali’s perspective. He ponders his job at the chicken farm, his evenings with Cyrus watching basketball, and the tragedy of Roya’s death. He lives this cycle of days at the farm and nights with his son, coping with gin, and accepts the suffering inherent to his life with much resignation. Cyrus grows up before him, and he is pleased that his son is an eager student at school.

In the second half of the chapter in the narrative present, Cyrus leaves the Brooklyn Museum after his first conversation with Orkideh utterly confused. He starts to try to figure out why his potential martyrdom is an enticing idea. While he is partially interested in being a good person, he is also largely concerned with others perceiving him as a good person. He is left to grapple with this realization of his vanity. Remembering that Orkideh had been barefoot in the museum, he takes off his shoes before he walks to the subway.

A poem from Cyrus’s “BOOKOFMARTYRS.docx” about Hypatia of Alexandria, a fifth-century Egyptian mathematician who was killed by a mob of angry Christian men because her Neoplatonic teachings angered church leaders, prefaces this chapter. In the main body of the chapter, Arash recounts his experience as a soldier in the war.

Arash enlists despite his mother’s sadness over the decision and is transported to the mountains for training camp. Instead of being referred to by name, he is assigned the number 11 at the training camp. The stories of his time in training camp are interspersed with a flashback to his childhood with Roya. In the flashback, they run down the hill into a frozen pond together. Arash stops short of diving into the water. Arash is afraid that Roya has drowned, but she pops up on the surface of the water and begins to taunt him for being a coward. Afterward, Arash distracts their mother with conversation so that Roya can sneak upstairs and take a warm shower.

Flashing back to 2012, this chapter recounts the story of how Cyrus and Zee met. At the time, Cyrus was dating a wealthy, white, conservative woman named Kathleen, whose politics Cyrus viewed as novel. One night, Cyrus and Kathleen go to a hookah bar together, and Kathleen is vocally uncomfortable about the racial makeup inside, telling him that she feels “outnumbered” and that “it’s like Baghdad, Indiana!” (136-37). Cyrus is immediately alert to the racism of her language and wonders why she feels so comfortable talking to him like this when he is Iranian.

Zee is their waiter, and when he introduces himself with his full name, Zbigniew, Kathleen expresses distaste at its unfamiliarity (Zee’s explanation that he is Polish Egyptian and that the name comes from Poland does not seem to comfort her). After smoking very strong hookah, Cyrus decides to take Kathleen back home. Afterward, he walks back to the bar to talk with Zee. After drinking at the bar for a little while, Zee finishes his shift, and they go back to his apartment to drink together.

In 1987 in Tehran, Roya knows that she is pregnant with Cyrus but has not told Ali yet. When Ali goes on a fishing trip with his friend Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh asks if his wife, Leila, can stay with Roya for the weekend. She resents the intrusion into her home, especially since Ali does not confirm with her before replying affirmatively to Gilgamesh’s request. However, she also sympathizes with Leila, whose controlling husband appears to monitor her every action.

As soon as they are alone, Leila comes out of her shell, complaining about her husband and eating with poor table manners. Roya is mildly incensed but also knows that she must continue to be a good host. As the evening progresses, Leila insists that they go out somewhere together. Roya is concerned that they will get in trouble but finds herself unable to say no to Leila.

Chapter 14 begins with Cyrus’s poem about Qu Yuan, a fourth-century BCE Chinese poet who died by suicide over his political despair. The body of the chapter is about Cyrus’s second day at the Brooklyn Museum with Orkideh. Cyrus wakes up in Zee’s arms in the hotel room; the two have a very casual sexual relationship, although not for lack of affection or because either one is closeted. Cyrus gets lost on his way to the museum and is disappointed to be met with a very long line to speak with Orkideh when he arrives.

This time, Orkideh is excited to see him and asks if they can move past the romanticization of her death to “talk like regular people” (155). She tells him some of her thoughts about Iran, recounting the story of how the Safavid Dynasty imported mirrors from Europe and then developed a new form of “mirror mosaic” when they arrived shattered after the long journey. She tells him that even though they won’t be able to spend time together, their conversations matter deeply to her.

Chapter 15 is one of Cyrus’s “dialogues,” in which he dreams about influential figures in his life talking to one another. In this instance, Kareem Abdul-Jabar speaks with Cyrus’s imaginary brother, Beethoven Shams. They discuss Beethoven’s interests and the story of how Kareem lost his invaluable record collection to a house fire before Beethoven begins to turn bright white, aging at an alarming pace.

A US Navy memo to the president asserts that “[t]he war between Iran and Iraq is the latest iteration of a conflict dating back a thousand years” (168). In 1985, Arash continues his story of serving in the Iranian army. This time, he focuses on his role as an “angel” for dying soldiers. He explains that one in every 500 Iranian soldiers is assigned this role randomly. Riding his horse, Badbadak, and dressed in a cloak with a flashlight illuminating his face and a double-tipped sword, he is supposed to appear to dying men as a true angel, encouraging them to keep their faith and die nobly. Arash is, himself, skeptical of this mission, but he continues to work at it in the hopes that it has a positive effect.

Another one of Cyrus’s poems prefaces this chapter. This one is about Baghat Singh, a militant anti-colonialist who the British Raj executed for mistakenly murdering a junior British police officer. On Cyrus’s third day with Orkideh, he tries to bring her a cup of coffee, considers that the drink might not be allowed in the galleries, and leaves the cup with an unhoused person sleeping on the street. Then, he takes the coffee back. In the end, he is forced to throw the coffee away because of museum rules.

In the gallery, Cyrus asks Orkideh why she is choosing to spend her final days at the museum rather than with loved ones. Orkideh replies, “I give my life to art. That’s all there is” (180). Cyrus also confides in her about his grief over the loss of his mother and his addiction. She mentions the other people who were killed on Roya’s flight. It is only after Cyrus leaves the museum that he realizes he never told Orkideh about the way Roya died.