Zadie Smith short story “The Embassy of Cambodia” present the main character Fatou experiencing life changing events due to her lower-class status. Fatou happens to be a young African woman from the Ivory Coast who moved around to find a place where she could seek stability and better her non-existing life. Though it may seem that Fatou displays horizontal racism toward certain ethnic groups, in all actuality she is trying to overcome the racist circumstance the continue to hinder her life. Being different in economic status does not mean Fatou shouldn’t receive proper respect like her employers, the Cambodians or the Chinese from her village. The story incorporates a variety of examples of racism, connecting the refugee crisis to how immigrant
…show more content…
Having everyone and everything stacked up against you from education to housing, two aspects Fatou wants for herself but can’t obtain. She briefly talks about how Andrew has access to computers, with him “being an educated person, currently studying for a part-time business degree at the College of North West London. With his student card, he had been given free, twenty-four-hour access to the Internet” (0-10). In a way, she sees him having a better status than her, him being an example of what her life could be like, subconsciously motivating herself to get over the roadblock set in front of her. Fatou is a prime example of how undocumented workers in any country or any time are affected by racism, and it shapes the way they work hard for a better life.
She was unable to exercise any control or even to speak upon her own life in many situations and in the end the Derawals repaid her by firing her on the spot, without having any money to her name or a place to go she turns to Andrew. Fatou had to struggle to b Zaddie Smith touched on a wide variety of themes in the story, from power and inequality, to the brief mentions of genocide due to having the Embassy near Fatous work place. Fatou was a strong and determined women but due to circumstances she felt defeated for majority of the
Having everyone and everything stacked up against you from education to housing, two aspects Fatou wants for herself but can’t obtain. She briefly talks about how Andrew has access to computers, with him “being an educated person, currently studying for a part-time business degree at the College of North West London. With his student card, he had been given free, twenty-four-hour access to the Internet” (0-10). In a way, she sees him having a better status than her, him being an example of what her life could be like, subconsciously motivating herself to get over the roadblock set in front of her. Fatou is a prime example of how undocumented workers in any country or any time are affected by racism, and it shapes the way they work hard for a better life.
She was unable to exercise any control or even to speak upon her own life in many situations and in the end the Derawals repaid her by firing her on the spot, without having any money to her name or a place to go she turns to Andrew. Fatou had to struggle to b Zaddie Smith touched on a wide variety of themes in the story, from power and inequality, to the brief mentions of genocide due to having the Embassy near Fatous work place. Fatou was a strong and determined women but due to circumstances she felt defeated for majority of the