The Embassy of Cambodia

Question 1

Plot of The Embassy of Cambodia

Answer 1

Summary

• Protagonist: Fatou, a migrant domestic worker in Willesden, London

Key Events:

• Fatou secretly uses her employers’ pool membership
• She saves their child’s life but is still dismissed
• She develops a connection with Andrew but does not truly love him
• The Embassy of Cambodia remains mysterious and inaccessible

Ending:

• Open-ended, reflecting Fatou’s continued struggle and lack of clear resolution
• The badminton match metaphor highlights a power imbalance

Question 2

Characters and Their Roles

Answer 2

Fatou

• Round but static character → she is fully developed but does not change significantly
• Outsider → in her workplace, at the health club, even in her friendship with Andrew
• Foil to Andrew → she is struggling, he is privileged but unaware of it
• Represents → postcolonial subjects, the invisibility of migrant workers

Andrew

• Foil to Fatou → has intellectual confidence but lacks real struggle
• Complementary character → provides Fatou with conversation but no real help
• Sees himself as supportive but remains self-absorbed

The Derawals (Employers)

• Hierarchically above Fatou → take her passport (identity, agency)
• Used to struggle as immigrants but now part of the privileged class
• Insensitive → Dismiss her despite her life-saving act

Question 3

Narratology in The Embassy of Cambodia

Answer 3

Two main narrators:

The balcony narrator (1st person, external, teller mode):

• Uses 1st-person plural (“we”), acting as a collective voice of Willesden’s residents.
• Appears omniscient but is actually limited in knowledge.
• Functions like a Greek chorus, observing but not intervening.

Fatou’s narrator (3rd person, internal, reflector mode):

• Provides insights into Fatou’s thoughts but keeps a certain distance.
• Sometimes feels like an omniscient narrator, but also reflects Fatou’s own perspective.

Genette’s Narrative Framework

Homodiegetic vs. Heterodiegetic:

• Balcony narrator = homodiegetic (part of the story).
• Fatou’s narrator = homodiegetic/heterodiegetic (if Fatou then homo, if not then hetero).

Extradiegetic vs. Intradiegetic:

• Balcony narrator is extradiegetic (above the story, commenting).
• Fatou’s narrator might be intradiegetic if seen as a constructed narrative.

Focalization:

• The balcony narrator pretends to be omniscient, but is actually internal focalized (limited by what they can observe).
• Fatou’s sections have zero focalization (omniscient) but sometimes shift to internal focalization (Fatou’s thoughts).

Why is it so complex?

• Mirrors the theme of invisibility and power dynamics: Who tells Fatou’s story? * Who gets to control the narrative?
• Creates distance between the reader and Fatou, making her struggles feel both close and unreachable—just like how the Willesden residents view her.

Question 4

Metaphor: Badminton as a Symbol

Answer 4

Badminton as a Metaphor for Power Struggles

The game symbolizes Fatou’s struggles in life.

• She only watches, never plays → symbolizes her lack of agency.
• The match is one-sided: “One player could imagine only a violent conclusion, and the other only a hopeful return.”
• Fatou = the hopeful player (trying to survive, looking for hope).
• Society/colonial system = the violent player (dominates, strikes without mercy).

Scoreboard format of the chapters:

• Suggests an ongoing battle where Fatou is always losing.
• Reflects social inequality: some people (like the Derawals) always “score”, while others (like Fatou) never do.

Colonial undertones:

• A sport often associated with British colonial leisure → reinforces the colonizer vs. colonized theme.
• Fatou is captivated by the game, despite her own struggles.
• Represents distraction and false hope → she is mesmerized by something that will never help her.

Question 5

Metaphor: The Embassy as a Symbol

Answer 5

The Embassy as a Place of Privilege and Exclusion

• Fatou sees the embassy, but never enters → symbolizes her outsider status.
• The embassy is physically present but completely isolated, just like Fatou.
• People enter and exit the embassy, but Fatou remains stagnant, much like how immigrants are stuck in social hierarchies.

Comparison Between the Embassy and Fatou’s Life

• Embassy = symbol of power and inaccessibility → Fatou is also invisible and powerless.
• The woman exiting the embassy carries shopping bags → suggests normalcy and privilege, which contrasts with Fatou’s reality.
• Historical reference: The Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia (1970s genocide) → parallels how the world ignored suffering (just like Willesden ignores Fatou).

Question 6

Postcolonialism in The Embassy of Cambodia

Answer 6

Colonial Power Structures Persist

• Fatou depends on the Derawals and Andrew, mirroring colonial hierarchies.
• The Derawals, once immigrants, now exploit her, showing how oppression continues.
• Fatou’s confiscated passport symbolizes erased identity, a colonial legacy.

Invisibility of the Oppressed

• Fatou is trapped in domestic servitude but remains unseen.
• The embassy = global power, distant and indifferent, much like Britain’s colonial past.

Cambodia as a Parallel

• The Khmer Rouge genocide was ignored, just as Fatou’s struggles are.
• Highlights ongoing postcolonial oppression, even in modern societies.

Postcolonial Hierarchies

• The Derawals = “New People” who now uphold oppression.
• British locals = “Old People” who feel threatened by immigrants.
• Shows how colonial power shifts but never truly disappears.