Summary
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 follows Cyrus, Zee, and their friend Sad James in 2017 as they sit at the weekly open mic at a local cafe. Cyrus shares with his friends the imaginative seed of a writing project inspired by the concept of martyrdom. They offer suggestions, including writing the poems in the voices of different historical martyrs. Cyrus is tempted to smoke a cigarette, but he resists. While talking to his friends, he realizes that he wants to write a book on martyrs to find a definition of the word that can include his mother's death. He also considers his uncle Arash's PTSD to be a form of martyrdom because part of Arash was killed for the greater purpose of serving his country. As they continue discussing martyrdom, James tells them about an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum where a dying artist invites the public to come speak to her. Zee and Cyrus decide to go visit her that weekend.
Chapter 8
Chapter 8 is told from Zee's first-person perspective. In 2014, shortly after graduating, Zee realizes he might be in love with Cyrus. They both work various jobs and side gigs to stay afloat. One includes letting a man watch them do yard work in exchange for groceries. Once, chopping wood while high on fentanyl, Cyrus accidentally slices his foot. The strange man who hired them pays them off to leave and never come back. Cyrus and Zee invite their friends over to drink and take fentanyl. Each time he repeats the story, Cyrus gets more and more imaginative with the details.
Chapter 9
Cyrus writes a poem for Bobby Sands, an Irishman who died while on a hunger strike. He tells Orkideh, the artist at the Brooklyn Museum, that he has been considering his own imminent death even before they introduce themselves to each other. Orkideh beholds his face with the eyes of the artist she is, deciding she would first draw his large wet eyes if she were to make a portrait of his face. She and Cyrus discuss death, martyrdom, and his desire to write a book. She introduces the concept of earth martyrs, which refers to people who die for other people rather than for a concept like glory or God. Cyrus leaves the museum confused.
Chapter 10
Chapter 10 begins with Cyrus's written intention in writing the Book of Martyrs. The chapter then moves into Ali Shams's perspective years earlier. The industrial chicken farm where he works breeds chickens, rather than raising them for meat and eggs. This requires extensive hygiene. Ali has to shower and change into scrubs immediately upon arriving to work. When Cyrus is in first grade, Ali leaves their apartment at 5 a.m. On Fridays, they eat pizza and watch a movie. Ali likes Westerns while Cyrus enjoys comedies. They both watch sports games. Ali is aware of Cyrus's early responsibilities and maturity. He feels that he thinks too slowly to carry on conversations with others. Life for Ali consists of choosing to embrace each day as it comes.
The chapter switches to Cyrus's perspective in the present day. He exits the museum and takes notice of details around him, working on feeling grateful for his life so that it will be more meaningful once it ends. All of Cyrus's contemplations are filtered through the lens of late capitalism and nihilism.
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 begins with a poem for the martyr Hypatia of Alexandria before moving into the first-person perspective of Cyrus's uncle Arash, who enlists in the Iranian Army to fulfill his obligatory service in 1984. He imagines the picture the army will put of him in a mosque upon his death. As Arash receives his vaccinations before training, he listens to a woman berate another young man for enlisting. Arash is aware that his social class and lack of education make him expendable to the army, but he finds it liberating not to face any pressure to become something.
Arash recalls wanting to teach his younger sister a lesson about her place in the world. Her bravery makes him desire to convey to her that she could never live like a man. She challenges him to run holding hands toward a pond, and whoever lets go first is a coward. Roya runs straight into the pond and leaves her brother on the edge.
Chapter 12
Chapter 12 begins with a quote from philosopher Gilles Deleuze and a short analysis of the death of Imam Hussain. In June of 2012, an intense storm rolls through Indiana. Cyrus takes it personally. He tries out dating a Republican to expand his horizons, and it reminds him of all the microaggressions he experienced growing up Iranian in the American Midwest. The novelty of dating someone who comes from entirely different circumstances keeps Cyrus's contempt at bay for some time. While on a date with her at a hookah bar, Cyrus meets Zee for the first time. They hit it off and spend the night drinking after Cyrus drops his girlfriend off at home and returns.
Analysis
Cyrus finds a sense of community at the weekly open mic that takes place at a campus cafe called Naples. There, a diverse community (in terms of age, race, gender, sexuality, and circumstance) cultivates a sense of belonging. Even "frat dude[s]" are welcome (Chapter 7). For Cyrus, attending the open mic with his friends is a safe way to spend time he once would have spent drinking and doing drugs. However, being in this community does not buffer Cyrus from dangerous temptations. He resists asking Zee for a cigarette, which could act like a gateway substance. Cyrus convinces himself that he could handle smoking the occasional cigarette without becoming addicted to smoking half a pack per day (as he used to). However, he decides to save this for a more momentous occasion.
Cyrus is obsessed with the idea of martyrdom because he needs his death (and thus by extension, his life) to mean something. What prompted this obsession was the senseless deaths in Cyrus's family. Though his parents' deaths were felt as a great personal loss, Cyrus points out that their deaths meant nothing in a wider context. They aren't "legible to empire" (Chapter 7). Cyrus also expands the meaning of death to encompass what happened to his uncle, Arash. After serving in the Iranian army, Arash suffered the devastating effects of PTSD. According to Cyrus, the possibility of who Arash could have been died for no reason at all. Cyrus's preoccupation also has cultural roots. In Iran, the children of men killed in the war (deemed martyrs) gain the privilege of attending "martyr schools," which are of a higher quality than other schools. In other words, martyrdom confers a significant advantage on one's progeny. In terms of this cultural connection to martyrdom, Orkideh asks Cyrus if he worries about becoming a cliché. In her words, she asks if he is concerned about being "Another death-obsessed Iranian man" (Chapter 9). Cyrus asks in response if wishing for a meaningful death is not a universal desire. His own Americanized upbringing influences his search for meaning through martyrdom as much as his Iranian heritage does.
So far in the novel, we have seen two of Cyrus's close confidants use somewhat harsh and direct language when speaking to Cyrus about his life. The first is Gabe, who calls Cyrus's use of Iranian imagery in his poetry "a shtick" in Chapter 2. The second is Zee, who tells Cyrus that he has been moping around for years, feeling sorry for himself (Chapter 7). He does this with the intention of prompting Cyrus to travel to Brooklyn and speak with the dying artist, Orkideh. Cyrus responds quite differently to the two. He cuts off communication with Gabe but does not take Zee's words personally, perhaps because of the nature of their friendship. The reason may also have to do with the fact that Zee is also a child of immigrants, and so they share certain similar experiences that Gabe, an American, would not understand.
Orkideh's art piece and interactive exhibition allow the public to engage more intimately with death. Guests are "encouraged to ask her about what dying felt like, or simply sit quietly with the artist" (Chapter 9). In American culture, death is often a taboo subject (Hayama and Harb). Orkideh places her own body and self directly in the context of what is considered a morbid topic, thus confronting the American public about the resistance to talking about death. Many Americans lack the language to talk about death even though around the world, human beings respond to death and finitude in diverse ways. One initiative that aims to create space for people to have an open dialogue about death and dying is called Death Cafes. Death cafes are informal gatherings where people discuss death and dying in a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental space. Orkideh's exhibition somewhat resembles a Death Cafe except that the setting differs.
Cyrus reflects on various experiences of microaggressions and more blatant racism he faced over the years. Whether at school or on dates with possible romantic partners, Cyrus constantly bit his tongue at ignorant comments. In order to conform, he went along with the in-group and out-group mentality, agreeing or laughing along with racist assumptions and jokes. This always triggered a sense of self-betrayal. For example, when a social studies teacher tells him about a slur for "people like him," Cyrus laughs because he does not know what else to do (Chapter 12). Navigating this sense of psychological twoness—seeing oneself through the eyes of white Americans—exemplifies W.E.B. Du Bois's concept of "double consciousness," which Cyrus discusses with Orkideh in a later chapter.
