Immigrant Identity and the Burden of Representation in Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

The Thematic Claim: Identity as a Public Performance in Martyr!

In Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar examines how immigrant identity is shaped by the burden of representation—the pressure to stand in for a nation, a culture, or a stereotype in the eyes of others. The novel’s Iranian American characters, especially Cyrus Shams, his parents Roya and Ali, his uncle Arash, and the artist Orkideh, all grapple with the tension between assimilation and cultural heritage, the fear of being perceived as a threat, and the impossible task of representing a country they have left behind. The thematic claim is that this burden is both inescapable and corrosive: it forces individuals to perform a version of themselves that is legible to outsiders, while simultaneously erasing the complexity of their personal histories. Akbar traces this theme across multiple generations and geographies, showing how the weight of representation follows immigrants from Tehran to Brooklyn, from war-torn Iran to the American Midwest, and how it shapes their choices, their art, and their sense of self.

The Fear of Being Seen as a Threat: Cyrus’s Internal Conflict

Cyrus Shams, the novel’s protagonist, embodies the burden of representation most directly. In a fragment from his manuscript BOOKOFMARTYRS.docx (chapter 52), he writes: “I feel dangerous. I don’t know how much more baldly I can say it. But how can an Iranian be dangerous without becoming ‘a dangerous Iranian’? Without becoming dangerous to every other Iranian in the world or contributing to the myth of the pathologically angry Iranian?” This passage captures the double bind of immigrant identity: Cyrus wants to express his own anger and pain, but he is acutely aware that any expression of intensity will be read as confirmation of a stereotype. He fears becoming a symbol of the “angry Iranian” rather than an individual with legitimate grievances.

This fear is not abstract. In chapter 32, Cyrus fantasizes about screaming “Martyr” in an airport and wanting to die killing the president, but he immediately undercuts the fantasy with self-awareness: “I want them all to have been right to fear me. Right to have killed my mother, to have ruined my father. I want to be worthy of the great terror my existence inspires.” Here, Cyrus internalizes the external gaze—he imagines himself as the terrorist that others might see, and he both resists and embraces that image. The contradiction is central to the theme: Cyrus wants to be seen as a person, not a threat, but he also wants to be taken seriously, and the only way he knows to do that is to lean into the very stereotype he fears.

The burden is also imposed by other characters. In chapter 18, Orkideh dismisses Cyrus as “another death-obsessed Iranian man,” a label that reduces his complex grief to a cultural cliché. Cyrus feels the sting of this reduction, even as he recognizes the truth in it. He is trapped between wanting to be understood as an individual and being constantly read as a representative of a group.

The Weight of National History: Arash and Roya

The burden of representation is not only a contemporary American phenomenon; it also shapes the lives of Cyrus’s parents and uncle in Iran. Arash Shirazi, Roya’s brother, is conscripted into the Iran-Iraq War in 1984 (chapter 19). He describes himself as a “zero soldier”—expendable, with no education, no skills, no family responsibilities. He enlists not out of ideology but because he has no other choice. He reflects: “I don’t feel much one way or another about my service. For me, it is inescapable, a thing like sickness or death.” Arash’s experience shows how the state imposes a burden of representation on its citizens: he is forced to fight for a country he no longer recognizes, and his death would be celebrated as martyrdom, his picture hung in a mosque. He is not an individual; he is a symbol of national sacrifice.

Roya, Cyrus’s mother, also carries the weight of national history. In chapter 7, she flees Iran on a plane from Bandar Abbas to Dubai, hoping to escape the horror of the revolution and the war. She thinks, “Emkanat. That was the word. Possibilities.” She believes that leaving Iran will allow her to become a person rather than a symbol of suffering. But her hope is shattered when the USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655, killing her and 289 other passengers (chapter 6). Roya’s death is not just a personal tragedy; it is a geopolitical event that turns her into a casualty of international conflict. Her husband Ali is left to raise Cyrus alone, and he moves to America, but he carries the burden of her death with him. Ali’s anger is described as “a moon” that grows vast and terrifying. He cannot escape the representation of his wife as a victim of American aggression, nor can he escape the pity of his Iranian community, who offer condolences and stews but cannot understand his specific grief.

Assimilation and Concealment: Orkideh’s Choice

Orkideh, who is later revealed to be Roya’s sister (or perhaps a separate character—the evidence suggests she is a separate artist who knew Roya), offers a different response to the burden of representation. In chapter 47, she recounts her arrival in the United States after the revolution. She changes her name from Roya to Leila, and then to Orkideh, in order to create a new identity. She says, “I hadn’t been Roya in years. I’d been Leila. But even then, in that moment of dense unknowing and self-consciousness, even deep in the abyss as I was, I recognized my art could not be Leila’s, I could not put dead nowhere Leila’s name on something I made here with my own oniony blistered hands.” Orkideh’s choice of name is a deliberate act of self-definition. She refuses to let her past define her, but she also refuses to fully assimilate—she chooses an Iranian name (Orkideh means “orchid” in Persian) that is also a new beginning.

Orkideh’s art becomes her way of navigating the burden. She paints a large canvas depicting a battlefield with boy soldiers and a child on horseback—her brother Arash as a child pretending to be an angel. This painting is both personal and political, drawing on her family’s history while also asserting her own vision. She tells Sang Linh, the gallerist, that she paints because she needs to, and that what she loves is “having-painted”—the act of creating something that would not exist without her. This is a rejection of the idea that her art must represent Iran or Iranianness; instead, it is an expression of her individual experience.

Complexity and Contradiction

The theme of immigrant identity and the burden of representation is not presented as a simple binary of oppression versus resistance. Akbar shows that the burden is both external and internal, and that characters often internalize the very stereotypes they resist. Cyrus both fears and desires to be seen as dangerous; Orkideh both hides and reveals her identity; Ali both assimilates (moving to America, working at a chicken farm) and holds onto his anger. The novel suggests that there is no escape from representation—even the act of refusing to represent is itself a form of representation. Cyrus’s manuscript, BOOKOFMARTYRS.docx, is an attempt to understand martyrdom, but it is also a way for him to claim his own narrative in the face of being reduced to a type. The epigraphs from Clarice Lispector, which appear at the beginning and near the end of the novel, remind us of mortality and the fleeting nature of life, underscoring the urgency of self-definition.

The symbols in the novel—Old Crow bourbon, the Miserere, the Dudusch, the Angel Rider—are not explicitly tied to the theme in the provided evidence, but they function as recurring motifs that reflect the characters’ attempts to find meaning in a world that wants to label them. Old Crow bourbon appears in the opening scene as Cyrus drinks from a bottle while waiting for a sign from God, suggesting a desire to numb the anxiety of his identity. The other symbols, while not directly analyzed here, are part of the novel’s rich texture of meaning.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Cyrus’s fear of becoming “a dangerous Iranian” reflect the burden of representation?

Cyrus’s fear, expressed in chapter 52, shows that he is acutely aware of how his anger and pain will be interpreted by others. He wants to express his feelings without confirming the stereotype of the “pathologically angry Iranian.” This reflects the burden of representation because Cyrus feels he must police his own emotions to avoid being seen as a threat, rather than being free to be an individual.

1. In what ways does Arash’s experience as a “zero soldier” illustrate the state’s imposition of representation?

Arash is conscripted into a war he does not believe in, and he is considered expendable because he has no education, skills, or family responsibilities. His death would be celebrated as martyrdom, turning him into a symbol of national sacrifice. This shows how the state forces individuals to represent the nation, even when they do not identify with it.

1. How does Orkideh’s choice of name reflect the tension between assimilation and heritage?

Orkideh changes her name from Roya to Leila to Orkideh, refusing to be defined by her past or by the expectations of others. She chooses an Iranian name that is also a new beginning, showing that she wants to maintain a connection to her heritage while also creating a new identity in America. This reflects the tension between assimilation and heritage because she neither fully assimilates nor fully rejects her culture.

1. What contradiction does Cyrus exhibit in his desire to be seen as dangerous?

In chapter 32, Cyrus fantasizes about being worthy of the terror his existence inspires, even as he fears becoming a stereotype. This contradiction shows that he both resists and embraces the burden of representation. He wants to be taken seriously, and he sometimes feels that the only way to do so is to lean into the very image that others project onto him.

1. How does Roya’s death on Iran Air Flight 655 complicate the idea of immigrant identity?

Roya’s death shows that the immigrant experience is not just about the challenges of assimilation, but also about the ongoing impact of national and international politics. Even after leaving Iran, Roya is killed by a US Navy ship, turning her into a symbol of geopolitical conflict. This complicates the idea of immigrant identity because it shows that the past and the nation cannot be left behind; they continue to shape the immigrant’s life and death.