ENG4U1

Drouchard

WHAT STRANGE PARADISE

by Omar El Akkad
Part 3 Study Guide
Chapter 19
1. On page 166, Vanna peels dead skin off of Amir’s back which is described by the narrator in
“infinite lightness”. Comment on the meaning of this scene when considering Vanna’s suitability as
Amir’s rescuer, and why she hasn’t adopted the views of her parents or Kethros.

This is a comment on the irony of race inequality and racism, as we are all the same outside
of our skin color. This is supported by the skin being stated to be translucent, earlier in the same
quote. As for the infinite lightness I believe it could be how the subject of race has a lot of weight
behind it, as historically it has been used to justify many atrocities, however when El Akkad says
that the skin itself is infinitely light, it once again comments on the triviality and stupidity of
racism/xenophobia. This could also be a comment on social constructions: the weight the skin color
is given is a social construction, and if you “tear” that away you are left with nothing, an infinite
lightness.

Chapter 19
2. On page 172, Amir and Vanna read some of Amir’s favourite books, the adventures of Zaytoon
and Zaytoona. Back on page 10, the author introduces these tales as fantastic adventures, and what
captivates Amir about these stories is the “sheer lightness of such a repairable world”. In what ways
has Amir and Vanna’s adventure mirrored the adventures of Zaytoon and Zaytoona? In what ways
is their adventure different?

They both have the same one male one female setting, but aside from that they are exact
opposites from each other (imo). There is a lot of weight in the story of Amir and Vanna, the stakes
being incredibly high. Their story also has a definitive end where Amir died at the start, which in a
way would be like Zaytoon and Zaytoonas stories resetting, although it's really dark.

side note: western media resetting after tragedies happen

Chapter 20
3. In this chapter, Mohamed provides another interesting and cynical comparison for the reader. On
page 179 he says the West that Umm Ibrahim and others believe is a fantasy, a fairy tale, and it
doesn’t exist. He says that in the end, “[those in the West] will always be engines and you will
always be fuel.” What does he mean by this metaphor?

I believe this is a callback to earlier in the novel when the conversation about who does the
living in a given society took place. The idea here is very similar, although the immigrants will run
the engine the west will always benefit from it, all while treating the immigrants as disposable. This
would make sense in the fuel analogy because, fuel is disposable, it gets demolished in the engine to
create energy, and all you have to do is apply that logic to the west and the immigrants.

Chapter 24
4. “Khosara, Khosara” is an Egyptian song by Abdel Halim Hafez; it’s also the flute melody that’s
sampled on Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’”. What’s the significance of Umm Ibrahim’s confusion about this,
assuming that the song she heard was actually Jay Z’s song being played at the resort, and not “[her]
people’s” song, as she thought? How might this play into our larger discussion of the collision of
dueling fantasies?

It's an example of western media chewing up non-western media and harmfully

incorporating it into its own culture. Umm Ibrahim was under the impression that her culture
would be treated with respect and kindness, but in reality the west has no respect for other
cultures, and so when she heard her culture's music being disrespected in such a way it shattered
her fantasy of the west.

Chapter 28
5. This chapter contains what many reviewers have called the most beautiful and poetic passage of
the entire novel. Re-read the description of Amir “taking flight headlong into the great inverted
world” on page 222-223.
A) What is your impression of this passage? What’s happening to Amir?

Amir is dying in this passage, and having an ethereal experience. The lower depth still is him
traveling to an afterlife, or just into infinite nothingness or stillness. It's also a peter pan reference.

B) The passage ends with the line, “what beautiful rebellion, to feel into another, to feel anything at
all”. How might this line encapsulate what El Akkad is attempting to do by writing this novel, by
having his readers dwell?

Here El Akkad attempts to make the reader dwell on the thought of human death and tragedies that
have happened, in contrast to western media’s reaction where it is often encouraged to just forget
about what happened, and move on to the next thing.

Chapter 29
6. On page 227, Vanna now takes flight. The world becomes a lightness with her willingness to
“never land”. Then, she comes back to save Amir from Kethros. What happens to Vanna? How does
she get from the bridge to Amir?

Vanna is enlightened from her previous living as an ignorant westerner, and dives into the water,
which holds all the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the immigrants, basically submerging herself
in the truth of the world. She vows to “never land” as in never go back to her existence as a
complacent westerner.

7. When Kethros finally sits down and has a conversation with Amir, he tells him the story of the
doctor who ties bells to the dead’s toes, in case they are still alive. He’s depressed that his military
career has reduced him to chasing Amir, a “ghost”. Then, Kethros says that Amir is the object of their
(the West’s) “fraudulent rage”, and by tomorrow, no one will care about him. But to Kethros, he has
always existed. Discuss the cruel irony around the fact that Kethros tells Amir, to him, he’s never
stopped existing.

Amir is a symbol of the inconvenience immigrants pose in Kethros’ life, and Amir serves as a
conduit for all of Kethros’ negative emotions. The irony is that Amir only exists to Kethros only
because of what he represents to Kethros.

Chapter 30
8. Discuss the heading for this section, “Now”. The author has broken from the “Before” and “After”
construction of the novel, and now in the final chapter the heading is “Now”. Here, we get a different
ending for Amir. What do you make of this heading for this section? What does “Now” mean?

Now means the true present, the entire book takes place in two places before and after, after
being kind of like the future, and before like the past. Now could also just be the time of death, and
the whole after this is just what could have been.

9. The last few lines of the book return to this idea of a fantasy. Tourists and photographers clamor
for position to gawk at the dead, but the narrator tells us their “concerns belong to a different world,
a different ordering of the world, a fantasy”. What kind of fantasy does the author mean?

The west's fantasy of the immigrants, also again these concerns are from a place of privilege
(the west) and their whole existence is a fantasy to the immigrants.