Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Frankenstein in Baghdad, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Truth, Lies, and Storytelling
Good vs. Evil
Power, Authority, and Social Divisions
Family, Friendship, and Home
Superstition and Religion
Summary
Analysis
In his office, Brigadier Majid watches Farid Shawwaf discuss a man called “Criminal X,” whom the Brigadier knows as “the One Who Has No Name.” The Brigadier realizes that if he catches this criminal, which so many TV stations are talking about, he will become famous himself.
Once again, Brigadier Majid’s concern for public security cannot be easily separated from his desire for personal advancement: he is pursuing the Whatsitsname in part because he hopes that it will bring him personal gain.
Themes
Brigadier Majid reflects on his past and current activities. He is frustrated by the fact that many authorities ignore his advice concerning security dangers, but that, at the same time, important politicians call him in the middle in the night asking him to interpret their dreams. In the past, politicians would also visit him, worried by the same question: finding out the time and circumstances of their death. Although Brigadier Majid could have used these intimate relationships with politicians to ask for a promotion, he preferred to focus on actually catching criminals.
Politicians’ concern for their own safety highlights the dangerously unstable circumstances in the country, in which being a politician can lead one to be killed. In this sense, the violence in Baghdad encourages selfishness: it drives political leaders to think primarily of themselves, before reflecting on the common good. Brigadier Majid’s focus on catching criminals suggests that not all of his actions are aimed at personal advancement: he also values working for the common good.
Themes
While watching the television, Brigadier Majid then reflects on a terrifying thought: the possibility that the mysterious criminal could find his team before they do and kill everyone in the Tracking and Pursuit Department.
Brigadier Majid’s reflection on his own vulnerability suggests that he does not believe that justice will necessarily triumph in the end: he knows that both his team and the criminal—along with so many other armed groups in the country—are simply fighting for power, and that it is possible for anyone to win, regardless of their moral worth.
Themes
In his own room, the senior astrologer reflects on this same danger. He examines his playing cards. This allows him to get a sense of the Whatsitsname’s whereabouts. However, the creature is so fast that he never stays in the same place long enough to be caught. The junior astrologer, who is watching his superior’s actions, asks what the purpose of their work is, since they know they cannot stop the criminal. The senior astrologer replies that accumulating information gives them the power, with God’s help, to change fate. However, the junior astrologer has heard this answer before and finds it unconvincing.
The astrologers’ actions and debate raise important questions concerning the limits of human actions: namely, to what extent are people able to modify the course of fate? This question identifies a tension between a notion of life as pre-ordained, determined by a superior power (such as God), and life as the product of human actions. Given the impossibility of anticipating all the possible consequences of one’s actions, it is difficult to tell whether human beings are actually free to act or whether their actions will ultimately lead them to a predetermined fate.
Themes
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When the senior astrologer leaves the room, the junior astrologer sits at the table with some magical sand. He wants to see into the One Who Has No Name’s soul. The senior astrologer, by contrast, is focused on identifying the man's face. That night, the junior astrologer succeeds in connecting with Whatsitsname’s spirit and making him stop in his tracks. Although no one is there to witness this feat, the junior astrologer realizes that his talents now surpass those of his superior.
The junior astrologer’s ability to connect with the Whatsitsname’s mind adds an unexpected twist to the story: it suggests that some of the Whatsitsname’s actions might actually be the product of external manipulation. More broadly, it hints at the difficulty of interpreting the Whatsitsname’s—or any person’s—true motives: even the person in question might ignore what drew them to behave in a certain way.
Themes
In a street in Baghdad, the Whatsitsname stops in his tracks, suddenly confused about where he is going. He has a long list of people to murder. He does not know if the list will keep on growing indefinitely or if the list will one day be completely blank. This would indicate that the innocent and the criminal elements in the city are so intricately linked that they can no longer be separated. As he reviews these thoughts, the Whatsitsname recalls the Magician’s comment about the fact that no one is ever completely innocent and criminal. He realizes that he might now be made of more criminal parts than innocent ones. A car drives toward him but, after seeing a suspicious scene ahead, turns back onto the side street.
The extension of the Whatsitsname’s list confirms that violence only breeds more violence. As conflict spreads throughout the city, more people become involved in brutality, either as victims or as perpetrators. The Whatsitsname’s body reflects this: he is now an example of the transformation of innocence into criminality. Although a seemingly trivial detail, this car—which turns away from the Whatsitsname at the last moment—will play an important role in the story’s future developments.
Themes
The next morning, the senior astrologer gives Brigadier a document in which he predicts that a car bomb will explode that morning in front of the Ministry of Finance. The Brigadier gives a brief phone call to relay this information. Although he used to feel frustrated that the authorities did not treat these predictions seriously enough, he now realizes that there are also some incidents his team does not succeed in predicting.
Brigadier Majid admits not only that his team has limitations, but also that violence is, to a certain extent, impossible to predict: neither the government nor the Department of Tracking and Pursuit is capable of gathering enough information to anticipate every single violent event. In this sense, authorities might be somewhat negligent or incompetent, but they might also be faced with an inherently intractable situation, beyond their control.
Themes
