Summary
Chapter 21
This chapter opens with a poem addressed to Ali. Cyrus expresses understanding toward why his father stayed alive for him, and later why he died. Cyrus tries to call Zee but doesn't leave a message when Zee refuses to pick up. Cyrus remembers Arash's rage when Cyrus forgot to inform his uncle about his father's funeral. He calls Arash in the present day. Arash expresses joy to hear from his nephew, and Cyrus tells him about Orkideh's painting. Arash in turn tells various stories, including about a famous classical recording that he repeatedly listened to.
Chapter 22
Cyrus dreams a conversation between Orkideh and a caricature of Donald Trump called President Invective. It isn't typical of Cyrus to dream of people or characters he hates, but it happens from time to time. Orkideh and the President walk through a mall, and Orkideh talks about her first American friend. They stop in front of a store selling famous classic paintings, and the President lingers by the Mona Lisa. Orkideh tells him that this painting only became famous because it hung in Napoleon's bedroom. The President decides to buy the Mona Lisa and Orkideh buys Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Orkideh pays for her painting with part of her finger, which the cashier butchers. President Invective runs out screaming.
Chapter 23
During the rest of Leila's visit with Roya years earlier, Roya feels as though she is struggling with the reigns of a wild horse. Leila drops down in an alley to place her ear near the ground and listen to angels and djinn. She then proceeds to kiss Roya. Unexpectedly, Roya kisses her back and feels as though her existence has become clearer. Whereas nothing before had made sense, now things click into place. Leila apologizes but Roya tells her not to. Their relationship blooms from there.
Chapter 24
Cyrus writes a poem for Orkideh about the way in which she has made dying her job. The next morning, Cyrus wakes to find that he has peed in the hotel bed. Zee is still gone. Cyrus feels a familiar mix of shame and the need to physically address the issue. He has not wet the bed since becoming sober, and wonders what the point of sobriety is if he continues to encounter the same shame. After leaving an apology and a tip for whoever is responsible for cleaning the mess, Cyrus checks out of the hotel and heads for the museum. He decides what he will say to Orkideh. However, a placard at the museum informs guests that Orkideh has died. A museum employee tells Cyrus that it is possible Orkideh overdosed on her pain medicine. Cyrus faints.
Chapter 25
Cyrus imagines a conversation between Ali and Rumi. Ali rarely appears in Cyrus's dreams, having earned a peaceful rest after a lifetime of hard work. Rumi and Ali express awe at having the chance to meet each other. Rumi brings up the fact that the little details in life matter more than the big details of survival and in-group and out-group dynamics. He asks Ali to tell him something real, and Ali mentions his suspicion that Roya cheated on him before she died. Before Rumi enters the nightclub in front of which they are standing, Ali asks him if he thinks Cyrus really will go through with suicide. Rumi responds by saying he thinks Cyrus will write an incredible book. Once inside the club, Rumi gets on stage and performs a chant. The audience, including Ali and Zee, sway and chant along.
Inside the museum, Cyrus halfway returns to consciousness, seeing Orkideh and Zee's faces alongside snow-covered trees, leeches, windmills, and stars.
Chapter 26
Ronald Reagan is quoted forgiving the American soldiers and machines who shot down Flight 655. Roya remembers dancing with Leila to the sound of Mick Jagger crooning, "I want you back, again." She tells Leila how tired she is of striving to be good. The two dance and make love.
When Cyrus regains consciousness at the museum, the docents procure water, a banana, and a Snickers bar for him to eat. They ask if he wants them to call anyone, but he insists he is fine. One employee, a young person named Prateek, stays with Cyrus while he rests on a bench. They talk about Orkideh, who was lucky to remain herself right up until the end. Cyrus realizes how loved he is by various people in his life.
Once outside the museum, Cyrus receives a voicemail from someone representing Orkideh.
Analysis
Feeling like he has no one else to turn to, Cyrus calls his uncle Arash in Iran. During their conversation, Arash brings up the importance of lived experience in terms of how people relate to others, themselves, and the world. The vehicle for this message is a long story about an old cassette tape that was stuck in Arash's car for years. It was a recording of Allegri's Miserere, a famous, sacred choral work historically and exclusively performed in the Sistine Chapel until 14-year-old Mozart transcribed it from memory. When Mozart democratized the piece by playing it for the public, it brought in thousands of new converts. Each time that Arash listened to the tape, he was struck anew with awe. He tells Cyrus, "I listen to it and see God in it because I’ve been God. I’ve spoken to those same angels" (Chapter 21). Cyrus, on the other hand, would not have this same understanding.
The dream sequence in which Orkideh pays for Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus with her own finger symbolizes her absolute devotion to art. She gives up a part of her body, one that affords dexterity and, by extension, her own artistic process. When Cyrus spoke earlier with Orkideh in person, she revealed to him that she devoted her life to art. Cyrus's dream represents this statement, though it also has class undertones. While President Invective has the means to pay for things with money, other people have to sacrifice parts of their bodies. The President's horror at something that both Orkideh and the cashier normalize shows how insulated he is from the realities of typical Americans.
Leila embodies a connection to a world that Roya feels cut off from, one where spontaneity, desire, and mythical experiences are accessible to women. Roya was not even aware of being cut off from this existence until Leila kissed her. The kiss acts like a portal, one that transforms Roya and puts her life into perspective. Before the kiss, Roya's life was "a painting [she'd] been staring at upside-down" (Chapter 23). The sudden clarity bestowed upon her by a near-stranger will no doubt leave its mark, though readers have yet to see how. In one of Cyrus's dream sequences, Ali conjectures about Roya's transformation in the final months of her life. He tells the poet Rumi that his wife seemed happier, but not because of her husband or son. Here, the puzzle of what fractured his family begins to come together in Cyrus's consciousness.
Music, poetry, and art are all portrayed in the novel as having the capacity to ignite change, but not enough so as to change the entire course of history. Personal histories, however, radically transform with the help of music, poetry, and art. For instance, one of Roya's most potent early memories of her budding relationship with Leila includes dancing to the iconic song "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" by The Rolling Stones. Another example is how Arash tells his nephew how struck he was every time he listened to Allegri's Miserere. Despite listening to the cassette thousands of times, each time was like the first. Cyrus's own obsession with writing a book demonstrates his desire to leave a mark on the world. This writing project keeps him focused and busy, but it ultimately is not enough to convince him entirely to stay alive.
After Orkideh dies, Cyrus has a revelation concerning his past behavior and expectations. After being helped by the museum docents, Cyrus realizes that "His whole life was a conspiracy of other people helping him, other people teaching him this or that" (Chapter 26). This is a metaphorical way of expressing gratitude. Cyrus's successes are not his own doing, but rather the result of numerous unseen individuals subtly working together to uplift him. The secret web of kindness and coordinated effort was previously invisible to Cyrus, but Orkideh's death opened his eyes to the network of relationships and love that has kept Cyrus alive.
