“I, too, have ropes around my neck. I have them to this day, pulling me this way and that, East and West, the nooses tightening, commanding, choose, choose.”
The statement fully encompasses the spirit of the short stories in that the human experiences are universal whether East or West despite identity crises. The narrator refers to the pressures to reconcile the cultural differences and identity crisis that arises thereof. However, despite this, he chooses to not choose at all as the various narratives attempt to showcase. The author is trying to extend the notion that human life is too complex to be defined by ideologies or way of life. The human condition is something that goes across the board and cannot simply be separated by culture or way of life.
“…that the map of Tolkien’s Middle earth fits quite well over central England and Wales? Maybe all fairylands are right here, in our midst.”
The short story entails a lot of pop culture references and conspiracies surrounding various political factors. In the assertion, Zulu affirms that the famous work The Lord of the Rings by author Tolkien utilized the geography of Britain in creating the fictitious Middle Earth. The novel is famously known to derive its myths from Norse mythology and Scandinavian geography however Zulu subverts this. In that, it was intentionally meant to mirror the Britain topography to connect to its audience or in fact, according to Zulu, the fairylands.
