The Embassy of Cambodia

“No, she learned by struggling through the rough gray sea, on the other side of the resort walls. Rising and sinking, rising and sinking, on the dirty foam.”

Throughout the short story, water serves as both a literal and metaphorical way for Fatou to escape her life at the Derawal house. Additionally, she taught herself to swim in difficult conditions, emphasizing the theme of Self-Reliance, Independence, and Agency.

“I doubt there is a man or woman among us, for example, who—upon passing the Embassy of Cambodia for the first time—did not immediately think: ‘genocide.’”

Fatou and the unnamed narrator are never able to view the embassy or people entering and leaving the embassy as dynamic institutions or people. Instead, they always view them through the lens of negative stereotypes, highlighting the theme of The Consequences of Dehumanization and Stereotypes. However, this reminder of genocide serves as a symbol of the atrocities in the world, which is often the subject of conversation between Fatou and Andrew.

“And nobody beat Fatou, although Mrs. Derawal had twice slapped her in the face, and the two older children spoke to her with no respect at all and thanked her for nothing. (Sometimes she heard her name used as a term of abuse between them. ‘You’re as black as Fatou.’ Or ‘You’re as stupid as Fatou.’) On the other hand, just like the girl in the newspaper, she had not seen her passport with her own eyes since she arrived at the Derawals’, and she had been told from the start that her wages were to be retained by the Derawals to pay for the food and water and heat she would require during her stay, as well as to cover the rent for the room she slept in.”

After reading a newspaper article about an enslaved woman living in modern-day London, Fatou goes to great lengths to convince herself that she is not enslaved like the woman, even though there are many similarities between their experiences. However, through this comparison, the full extent of the Derawals’ dehumanization of Fatou is revealed, particularly in Mrs. Derawal’s violence and the children’s insults. In hiding her passport and withholding her wages, they have created a situation of domestic enslavement.