By

Vimalkirti Waghmare

Embassy of Cambodia
Character sketch (ENG 606)

Submitted To

Garima Sharma
 About the book
 The Embassy of Cambodia isn't a short story, though. It's a novel in miniature
 The central and unexplained routine frames Embassy, which Smith has
structured into 21 short chapters, each headed by a badminton score
which runs sequentially from 0-0 to 0-21. Each chapter frames a thought, a
transaction, or rally between Fatou and her Christian friend Andrew, her
‘employers’, the pool, or the city itself.
 The narrative seamlessly shifts between the past and the present, revealing
Fatou’s past hardships and jobs in Nigeria and her present life. Fatou
believes in a resilient way of life that has no room for slacking, just like in a
game of badminton. “The key to surviving as a people, in Fatou’s opinion,
was to make your own arrangements,”.
 The game of badminton — with its intermittent “Pock, smash. Pock, smash”
— pulsates at the background of the story, indicating that Fatou’s life, like
the game, has its own synergy and a constant struggle between a plunge
forward and a thrust back.”
 Smith’s unique verbal organisation and style are evident from the very
beginning. If we look at the ideological significance of the story we’ll find
issues as diverse as power and inequality, religion and the limits of human
empathy,, human suffering and alienation. The Embassy of Cambodia, in
the background of the story, serves as a resplendent yet very concrete
reminder of the unknown sufferings of human beings.
Fatou
 As the main female character Fatou, a woman from Ivory Coast, who works
as a live- in maid with Pakistani family, the Derawals, in a working-class
suburb of London, is a very strong character, a proud and competent
young woman in a position of great hardship who lacks any trace of self-
pity or even anxiety, quietly performing her job, grateful for the small
moments of selfhood she is allowed
 The family does not treat her well, does not pay her for her work, and even
uses her name as an insult. She is sometimes physically abused by the
family.
 She wonders on more than one occasion if she is a slave, especially after
she reads of another girl in similar circumstances in a newspaper who was a
slave. However, she concludes she is not, as she has a few more privileges
and freedoms than her print counterpart.
 She has Sunday’s off and is able to go to church with her
only friend, Andrew, and then enjoys being taken by him to the local
coffee shop for a Sunday afternoon snack of coffee and cakes every week.
She has kind of mixed feelings for him but she never lays emphasis on it.
 She is clever though. Unbeknownst to the Derawals, she takes the liberty of
using their health club guest passes for a Monday morning swim every
week.
 She is a soft-hearted person however. Though the family does not treat her
well she saves the life of the youngest chidren of Derawal’s by using the skills
which she has learnt in Ivory Coast. Even then she does not get much of the
appreciation for her deed which indicates the arrogant and rude
behaviours of the family.
Andrew
 Andrew is the only best friend which fatou has. When she is put in a
disastrous position, it is Andrew who will be her saviour. Her feelings for him
are ambiguous .
 Fatou and Andrew converse weekly about many difficult topics
surrounding race and oppression. Fatou feels that Africans were put on this
planet with the sole purpose of suffering, as it seems to her there are too
many instances where this is true to think otherwise. Andrew counterpoints
with the notion that it is not just Africans that are made to suffer, because,
look at Hiroshima! He concludes that we are all victims to suffering, that it is
an unavoidable part of life.
 He accompanies fatou for swimming when she invites him to come on
Monday morning and he comes even though he had a night shift and was
tired but it was a sacrifice for his friend and intended to do it happily.
Mr. and Mrs. Derawals
 Mr. and Mr.Derawal’s seem to be rude and impolite to fatou. The family
does not treat her well, does not pay her for her work, and even uses her
name as an insult. “You’re as black as Fatou.” Or “You’re as stupid as
Fatou.”. She is sometimes physically abused by the family.
 Her passport has also been confiscated by her employers.
 Even though she saves the life of Asma, the youngest children of the family
when she puts the marble in her throat, she is not given the credit nor is
shown some gratitude. ‘I woulda just done this,’ says Faizul, Asma’s elder
brother.
 On the other hand Fatou was fired. The reason why exactly she was being
fired was untold, as Mrs Derawal herself did not seem able to explain it very
precisely and asked her to leave as soon as possible. The family did not
have any sense gratitude or respect for the service which fatou provided
for these many days.
Conclusion

 Thus from the various characters we have seen in the story, fatou’s
character emerges out to be one of the strongest. Though she is facing
several hardships in her life, still manages to figure out happiness in small
things . Also we get a true picture of the commercial world and how the
employees are treated instead of their hard work and also the various
hardships faced by the working community.
