Chapter 35 Summary: Orkideh and President Invective

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter unfolds inside a dream Cyrus is having. He finds himself in a luxury mall, the kind with upscale chain stores, and immediately recognizes Orkideh. In this dream she appears bald, healthy, and energetic — moving without the oxygen tank that defined her waking life. She wears large-framed sunglasses and bushy eyebrows that sit heavily on her face. Walking a step behind her, struggling to keep pace, is President Invective, a figure who repels Cyrus. The president wears one of his signature ill-fitting blue suits and is breathing heavily, as though carrying an invisible burden.

Cyrus reflects that he doesn't usually cast characters he finds repulsive in his dreams, but it happens unbidden. He recalls past dreams involving a childhood bully, and even imagined dinner conversations between Hannibal Lecter and Jeffrey Dahmer, or a plane ride with Dick Cheney.

Orkideh urges President Invective to keep up, clearly enjoying his discomfort. The mall is neither crowded nor empty; the fluorescent lighting and corporate energy that usually suffocates Cyrus doesn't seem to bother Orkideh at all. President Invective asks why they're there, and Orkideh playfully asks whether he means in the mall or in the dream. He doesn't answer.

As they walk past clothing and jewelry stores, President Invective stops at a tea store for a sample, which he drinks like cheap tequila and grimaces at. Orkideh explains that in Farsi, 'chai' means tea, and 'hell' is the word for cardamom. She tells the story of her first days in America, when she spent time at a cheap diner on the Lower East Side. A young Persian waitress, who spoke almost as little English as Orkideh did, would greet her each morning with 'hell chai,' and the two would giggle at the accidental profanity. It was, Orkideh says, her first English joke and her first American friend.

President Invective barely listens, distracted by his own reflection in a toy store window. He's confused by the mention of New York but habitually ignores such dissonances.

They continue past stores selling kitchenware, fossils, comics, and other oddities until they reach a shop selling original works of classic art. In the window is the Mona Lisa, and President Invective lights up, recognizing it from a coffee mug he owns. Orkideh explains that the painting's fame has little to do with its quality — it became famous because it hung in Napoleon's bedroom, and it's painted on a poplar plank, not even canvas.

Inside the store, past the Venus of Willendorf, tiles from the Blue Mosque, lions from Persepolis, Hokusai's Great Wave, and Géricault's Raft of Medusa, they encounter another massive painting: Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Orkideh explains that while other artists focused on Daedalus's grief or Icarus's hubris, Bruegel places Icarus in the margin — just a pair of legs drowning in the water while everyone else continues their work. The plowman plows, the sheep graze, the ship sails on.

President Invective hates the painting and the lesson. He approaches the goth cashier to buy the Mona Lisa. Orkideh asks the price of the Bruegel as well. The cashier consults a notebook and quotes prices in 'segments': the Mona Lisa is four (marked down from six), the Bruegel is two. Orkideh takes the Bruegel.

The cashier asks which hand she prefers. Orkideh sets both hands on the counter — hands already missing several fingers — and says 'surprise me.' The cashier selects her left middle finger, brings out a cleaver, and cuts it off at the middle knuckle in one stroke. Orkideh curses through clenched teeth. The cashier cuts the loose finger into two segments at the top joint and asks if she wants the painting wrapped. Orkideh declines, wraps her bleeding stump in a white handkerchief, and prepares to carry the Bruegel out.

President Invective screams 'You people are crazy!' and flees, leaving a trail of green light. Orkideh shrugs at the cashier and walks out with the painting under her arm.

Key Events

Cyrus dreams of Orkideh and President Invective walking through a luxury mall
Orkideh appears bald, healthy, and without her oxygen tank
Orkideh tells the 'hell chai' story about her first American friend
The pair enters a store selling original classic artworks
Orkideh explains the arbitrary fame of the Mona Lisa and the meaning of Bruegel's Icarus painting
The cashier prices art in 'segments' — body parts as currency
Orkideh buys the Bruegel by sacrificing a finger
President Invective flees in horror

Character Development

Cyrus: This dream reveals how his subconscious processes trauma and repulsion. He notes that he doesn't choose to cast figures like President Invective in his dreams — they arrive unbidden, as did dreams of his childhood bully, Hannibal Lecter, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Dick Cheney. The dream also shows Cyrus's connection to Orkideh deepening; he recognizes her warmly, and she appears as she did in the Brooklyn Museum.

Orkideh: In the dream, Orkideh is transformed — healthy, spry, mischievous, and in control. She moves without her oxygen tank and seems entirely at ease in the corporate mall environment. Her 'hell chai' story grounds her immigrant experience in a moment of shared language and friendship. Her willingness to pay for the Bruegel with a finger — and her calm acceptance of the cost — suggests a philosophy of sacrifice for what truly matters. She already bears the marks of many such payments.

President Invective: He embodies ignorance and entitlement. He recognizes the Mona Lisa only from a coffee mug, lies about knowing the Bruegel, and is repelled by the painting's true meaning. He's confused by Orkideh's New York story but ignores the dissonance. His final outburst — 'You people are crazy!' — reveals his othering instinct, his inability to understand a value system that doesn't revolve around fame and acquisition.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Dream as involuntary trauma processing: Cyrus's dreams are not chosen; they surface unbidden, populated by figures who repel him. The dream format allows the chapter to explore difficult material — sacrifice, suffering, indifference — at a symbolic remove.

Consumerism and corporate spaces: The luxury mall, with its fluorescent lighting and 'mercenary corporate energy,' is the setting for a transaction that reveals the true cost of value. The mall's sterile commerce is contrasted with the visceral, bodily payment Orkideh makes.

Language and translation barriers: The 'hell chai' story shows how language can be a site of both confusion and connection. Orkideh's first English joke is born from a mistranslation that becomes a shared, giggling bond.

Immigrant experience and first friendship: Orkideh's story of the Persian waitress is a portrait of early immigrant life — the cheap diner, the search for work, the small kindness of a shared language. The friendship is forged in the space between two people who barely speak English.

Arbitrary fame and value of art: Orkideh's explanation of the Mona Lisa — famous because it hung in Napoleon's bedroom, painted on scrap wood — dismantles the idea that fame reflects quality. The Bruegel, priced at half the Mona Lisa's cost, is the painting Orkideh chooses.

Indifference to suffering (Icarus): The Bruegel painting is the chapter's central symbol. Icarus drowns in the margin while the plowman plows and the ship sails on. The world's indifference to a boy falling from the sky is mirrored in the mall's sterile commerce and in President Invective's refusal to engage with the painting's meaning.

Sacrifice and bodily cost: The cashier's pricing in 'segments' literalizes the cost of what we value. Orkideh's missing fingers are a history of such payments. She pays for the Bruegel — the painting that depicts ignored suffering — with a piece of her own body.

Othering and xenophobia: President Invective's parting scream — 'You people are crazy!' — is a classic gesture of othering. He cannot comprehend Orkideh's values and responds with fear and dismissal.

Wisdom vs ignorance: Orkideh is the chapter's source of wisdom — about art, about language, about cost. President Invective is its source of ignorance, lying about what he knows and fleeing from what he can't understand.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter deepens the reader's understanding of Orkideh as a character and of Cyrus's relationship to her. The dream format allows Akbar to present Orkideh in a state of health and vitality that her waking life denies her, while also revealing her philosophy of sacrifice. The 'hell chai' story humanizes her immigrant past, and her choice of the Bruegel over the Mona Lisa — and her willingness to pay for it with a finger — crystallizes her values: she prizes art that tells the truth about suffering over art that is merely famous.

The chapter also introduces the Icarus motif, which resonates with the novel's broader concerns about who is seen and who is ignored, and about the cost of bearing witness. President Invective's flight from the scene — and his othering scream — stands in stark contrast to Orkideh's calm acceptance of the price.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Orkideh choose the Bruegel over the Mona Lisa, and what does her choice reveal about her values?

Orkideh chooses the Bruegel because it depicts a truth the Mona Lisa obscures: the world's indifference to suffering. The Mona Lisa is famous for arbitrary reasons — it hung in Napoleon's bedroom — while the Bruegel shows Icarus drowning in the margin as everyone else continues their work. Her choice reveals that she values art that tells the truth about human experience over art that is merely celebrated. Her willingness to pay with a finger — and her calm acceptance of the cost — suggests she believes truth is worth sacrificing for.

2. What does the 'hell chai' story reveal about Orkideh's immigrant experience?

The story reveals that Orkideh's early days in America were marked by poverty and isolation — a cheap diner on the Lower East Side, a daily search for work, and a language barrier. But it also shows how connection can emerge from that isolation. The Persian waitress, who spoke almost as little English as Orkideh, turned a mistranslation into a shared joke. The 'naughty zeal' of their giggling at 'hell chai' became Orkideh's first English joke and her first American friendship — a small, human moment of joy within a difficult transition.

3. How does President Invective function as a foil to Orkideh in this chapter?

President Invective embodies everything Orkideh is not. He recognizes the Mona Lisa only from a coffee mug, lies about knowing the Bruegel, and is repelled by the painting's true meaning. He's confused by Orkideh's story but ignores the dissonance rather than engaging with it. When Orkideh pays for the Bruegel with a finger, he screams 'You people are crazy!' and flees — a gesture of othering that reveals his inability to understand a value system not based on fame and acquisition. Orkideh, by contrast, understands the cost of what she values and pays it without complaint.