Summary
Chapter 13
According to Cyrus, all addictions are the same old story, but everyone gets sober in their own way. The beginning of his own sobriety was undramatic. He just woke up one morning and decided to seek help. The real story begins after the decision to get sober.
Back in 1987, Roya has the understanding that she feels ambivalent about being alive. When her husband Ali goes on his yearly trips with an old friend from military service, she relishes her time alone in the house. This is how she comes to know Leila, the wife of Ali's friend. Leila stays with Roya while their husbands go camping. At first, Roya does not know how to respond to Leila's verbosity. She unwillingly acquiesces to her guest's request to go walk by the lake.
Chapter 14
This chapter begins with a poem for the martyr Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in 278 BCE after his homeland, Chu, was captured. In Brooklyn, Cyrus wakes to find Zee's thumb in his own mouth. Over the years of rooming together and sometimes sleeping in the same bed, they had had sexual encounters. When one or the other dated someone else, Cyrus and Zee never revealed the true nature of their relationship to the new romantic interest.
Cyrus goes again to visit Orkideh, arriving late after having taken the wrong train and gotten lost. After waiting his turn, he discusses with Orkideh New York's vibrancy and contradictions. She compares New York to Tehran, and Cyrus admits that he has not returned since moving to America as an infant. Orkideh rejects Cyrus's assertion that she is a hero changing lives. They go on to discuss Cyrus's fear about how others will perceive his martyrdom project, W.E.B. Du Bois's writing on double consciousness, and Persian mirror art. Before he leaves, Orkideh tells him how much their meeting matters to her. Cyrus promises to return the next day.
Chapter 15
Cyrus extols the value of dreams despite their lack of material weight. In one of his dreams, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a conversation with Beethoven Shams, who is Cyrus's imagined younger brother. Kareem mentions losing his record collection in a house fire, and how all his fans sent in records. Beethoven asks which matters more: the physical records or the stories behind the personally-collected records. They continue joking and talking.
Chapter 16
In the Iranian Army, one soldier out of every 500 is tasked with donning a black robe and riding out after a conflict while shining a flashlight in his face. This role is to act like an angel. In 1985, Arash is assigned to this role. He is instructed not to give the dying men water, even when they beg for it. Arash escapes the fate of fighting and death because of this job. However, he is certain that he was selected because the cloak fit him, he could ride a horse, and he had no close friends in the platoon. Haunted by witnessing the men's deaths and being powerless to intercede, Arash tries his best to give them courage and solace in their final moments.
Chapter 17
This chapter begins with a poem for the martyr Bhagat Singh. Cyrus arrives early at the museum, bringing a coffee for Orkideh that he is forced to dump before entering the museum. He asks Orkideh for permission to call his book Earth Martyrs, which was originally her phrase. He then asks her why she isn't spending her last days with her family and loved ones. Orkideh responds by saying that she dedicated her life to art. When she asks whether Cyrus's own passing would hurt his loved ones, he reveals that he does not know which is more painful for them: his staying or dying. She insists that his death would scar Cyrus's loved ones more. After their conversation, Cyrus reflects on the fact that Orkideh knew how his mother died without him ever explicitly mentioning it.
During an interlude, Cyrus tells the story of the poet Ferdowsi, who composed a perfect poem for King Mahmud. The king then contracted Ferdowsi to write a national epic of Iran, one that would preserve ancient history, myths, and culture. It took 40 years for Ferdowsi to finish the work. During that time, the poet's son drowned. When the work was finally complete, the king did not pay according to the original contract, and Ferdowsi sent a rageful poem in response. The king finally read the great work and realized his error, but it was too late—Ferdowsi had died. His daughter Tahmina used the gold from his payment to build a bridge.
Chapter 18
This chapter opens with Cyrus's poem for his mother, Roya. The rest of the chapter goes back to Roya's perspective in 1987. Roya is struck by Leila's beauty and vitality. Leila presents herself without embarrassment, bringing up vulnerable topics like crying and wearing her hair uncovered while in public. They take a taxi to the lake, where they walk and later climb a wall to get a better view. The wall turns out to be the back of the zoo, and Roya is stunned to see three giraffes. Leila fools the park guard into believing that she is a man taking Roya out on a date.
Chapter 19
Zee agrees to meet up with Cyrus to discuss how Orkideh knew about Roya's death. Gabe texts Cyrus to ask if he is still sober and, later, if he is still angry. Cyrus understands that he unconsciously pushed Gabe away to test his loyalty, and that Gabe is his stand-in father figure. When Zee arrives, Cyrus asks if Zee went to see Orkideh and mentioned Roya's death. Zee vehemently denies having done so. Upon researching Orkideh's name online, they find scant results. They do, however, come across a painting that represents what Arash did during the war: dressing as an angel and riding out to bolster dying soldiers. The title of the painting translates to "Brother."
Chapter 20
Cyrus compiles a list of what might compel martyrs. He and Zee stay in their hotel room and order a pizza on Sunday night. They discuss dated and politically incorrect shows and artists, and then have a sexual encounter. Later, Zee confronts Cyrus about his suicidal ideation. He tells Cyrus that it is wrong to claim that no one cares about him. Cyrus states that even though Zee might be content with waiting tables and playing drums for the rest of his life, Cyrus wants his life to be meaningful. This insinuates that their current lives are insignificant. Zee takes offense and packs his things to leave.
Analysis
The sections that showcase Roya's perspective reveal the ways in which she strived for liberty. Despite the fact that Ali did not actively oppress or restrict her, she still lived in a context in which some women "couldn't use the bathroom without first asking their husband's permission" (Chapter 13). This treatment of women as second-class citizens can also be seen in an earlier chapter from Arash's point of view. He describes feeling the urge to take away Roya's "feeling of invincibility" because "A girl cannot go through life acting like nobody can hurt her" (Chapter 11). Even beyond this, Arash was enraged by his younger sister's "okayness."
Cyrus and Zee's relationship casually strays from time to time into the realm of sexual and romantic partnership, but it does not impact their friendship or their capacity to date other people. This unfettered romantic and interpersonal liberty contrasts sharply with the chapters from Roya's perspective. She expresses ambivalence and reluctant acceptance of marriage and motherhood, and her lack of enthusiasm suggests that she felt constrained by these roles. In comparison, Cyrus and Zee are free to experience passion, sexual exploration, and romance as they so choose.
Arash's role in the war is to deliver a sense of divine providence to dying soldiers. Performing as an angelic figure is meant to instill peace amidst horror, boost morale, and offer spiritual solace. While there is no officially documented role of soldiers tasked with being angels of death, oral histories suggest that such roles or imagery may have existed. In interviews, Akbar has discussed the way that "the Iranian government yoked itself to cultural and religious ideas around martyrdom and harness[ed] those towards its own sort of propagandistic ends." While Martyr! as a whole only glances briefly at this topic, it is most apparent in Arash's job in the army. The state does not wish for the soldiers to succumb to despair or kill themselves to avoid pain. Instead, Arash was trained to "ride around them as they die to keep them from cutting open their throats in their final moments, to remind them to suffer manfully" (Chapter 16).
In many chapters of this book, Akbar alludes to both the importance and failure of language. One example occurs in Chapter 17 when Cyrus reflects on the word "sonder," thinking, "Incredible, how naming something took nothing away from its stagger. Language could be totally impotent like that." However, his overall obsession with language reveals that he continues using it as a medium for seeking meaning despite his awareness that it will never stop "fascism in its tracks[,][...]save the planet," or bring his dead parents back (Chapter 17). An interlude in Chapter 17 that tells the story of the great Persian poet Ferdowsi also subtly conveys the power and inadequacy of language. Ferdowsi spent years composing a national epic, and his expected payment was meant to go toward rebuilding his city's dykes and bridges, since they were constantly damaged by floods. However, Ferdowsi's son drowned before the poet could arrange for the infrastructure to be rebuilt. The poet himself died before receiving his promised payment. This shows how the value of the poet's words did not matter in time to save these two lives.
Leila's ability to pass as a man affords her and Roya extra privileges as they spend time together in public. For example, with her short curls, masculine clothing, large sunglasses, and deep voice, Leila fools a park security guard into believing she is a man taking his girlfriend (Roya) out on a date (Chapter 18). Roya feels sick at the thought of possible discovery and subsequent punishment, but she is also in awe of Leila. The chapters that showcase Roya's childhood reveal that she, too, used to be a force of nature when she was a child. Over time, however, she came to accept her situation with resentment, yielding to the expectations placed on her as a woman. Leila's defiance and forcefulness reawaken Roya's recalcitrance.
