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
Mahmoud opens the window in his new room in the Dilshad Hotel. Saidi has told him to move to this nicer hotel, which has air conditioning, so that the young journalist can be better equipped for complicated assignments.
Saidi’s encouragement for Mahmoud to switch hotels serves as a symbol of the young journalist’s professional advancement: he is gradually rising in his career and in society. His new lodgings reflect this upward trend.
Themes
Mahmoud begins to record his thoughts on his digital recorder, as he has seen in American movies before. He recalls the events of these past few days. During their chat, Hadi told Mahmoud that the Whatsitsname came to his house after multiple murders were perpetrated in the neighborhood. Hadi initially thought the creature was a dream, but when he realized this was not so, he concluded that the Whatsitsname intended to kill him.
Despite being the Whatsitsname’s creator, Hadi understands that the creature’s intentions aren’t pure. This suggests that, despite Hadi’s noble goal in composing the Whatsitsname’s body out of the body parts of victims, evil might have a mind of its own: one’s good intentions do not determine the actual outcome of the situation.
Themes
The Whatsitsname confirmed this interpretation. He told Hadi that the junk dealer was responsible for hotel guard Hasib Mohamed Jaafar’s death: it was only because Hadi walked by the hotel that the guard was forced to leave his position. The guard could have stayed in his sentry box and would then have killed the driver from afar, instead of putting his own life at risk. Hadi, in turn, tried to convince the Whatsitsname not to kill him.
The Whatsitsname’s efforts to find a culprit for the hotel guard’s death suggests that searching for a human culprit for every act of violence in the city is a futile enterprise. Indeed, Hadi never had any intention to kill anyone, and it would be unreasonable to punish him for involuntarily contributing to someone else’s death.
Themes
When looking around the room, the Whatsitsname saw the image of the Throne Verse on Hadi’s wall and tore it off, because part of it had come undone. The entire frame broke, leaving a large hole in the wall. Hadi later discovered what it hid.
The Whatsitsname’s seemingly careless action of removing the Throne Verse signals his impatience with human symbols of religious belonging—one of the factors responsible for sectarian violence in the country.
Themes
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Finally, the Whatsitsname admitted that he must kill the person responsible for Hasib’s death but that he was not sure how to proceed. Hadi argued that the culprit was the suicide bomber, to which the Whatsitsname replies that this person was already dead. Hadi mentioned the hotel management; the Whatsitsname, however, felt uncertain. He knew he must find the true killer so that Hasib’s soul could be at peace.
This scene highlights the absurdity of the Whatsitsname’s obsession with murderous justice: it is not always possible to pinpoint a single culprit for evil deeds. The Whatsitsname’s confusion suggests that, in such complex political circumstances, multiple groups might be directly or indirectly responsible for the violence in the city.
Themes
The Whatsitsname then recounted what happened on the night of the four beggars’ deaths. He said that these men attacked him out of hatred, because they found his face horrifying. In the confusion of the night, two of the beggars attacked and killed fellow beggars. The Whatsitsname concluded that the two surviving men were criminals. As a result, he killed them in retaliation for the deaths they caused. He was convinced that these men were planning their own suicide anyway. In this sense, he considers that he gave them the death they contemplated every night after getting drunk.
The Whatsitsname presents himself as a victim of unjustified hatred. In this sense, his argument mirrors Farid Shawwaf’s previous identification of fear as a source of violence: these beggars’ fear of the Whatsitsname launched a cycle of violence that resulted in their own death. At the same time, this leads the Whatsitsname to justify his own violent deeds. Instead of realizing that he contributes to this climate of hatred and fear, he convinces himself that his cruelty serves a positive purpose.
Themes
After the murder of the four beggars and an encounter with the police, the Whatsitsname, who never sought to scare or harm people, decided to avoid people. He did not want to be perceived as a violent person. He believed in the nobility of his mission. He argued that he killed Abu Zaidoun as retaliation for Daniel Tadros’s death.
Despite the Whatsitsname’s tendency toward violence, he is also capable of empathy. For example, he considers that the murder of Abu Zaidoun places him on the side of vulnerable people such as Elishva, who would never have been able to seek justice for her son’s death.
Themes
At the time Hadi was recounting this story, Mahmoud asked the junk dealer when these killings would stop. Hadi said that the Whatsitsname would kill everyone who had committed crimes against the people who composed his body. After this, he would die, dissolving into individual body parts.
The Whatsitsname’s acts of retaliation are arbitrary: they rely on a random assortment of crimes and body parts. In this sense, the Whatsitsname is not actually interested in reforming society: like any other armed group, he seeks retaliation for personal harm.
Themes
The day after his conversation with the Whatsitsname, Hadi told Mahmoud he gave the creature the digital recorder. Although Mahmoud initially believed that Hadi must have sold it, Hadi later gave him the recorder back, 10 days later. Back in his hotel room, Mahmoud noticed that the memory was full.
Despite his reputation as a liar and a manipulator, Hadi proves reliable in his interactions with Hadi. He does not try to make money out of Mahmoud but, rather, honors his promise. This emphasizes the nobility of the character’s behavior and intentions.
Themes
In the meantime, gunfire erupted as a result of a mistake made by the Tracking and Pursuit Department. The group succeeded in catching the Whatsitsname but forgot that the man was immune to bullets. Fighting off one of the officers, the Whatsitsname slammed his head against the wall, causing the man to lose consciousness. After this event, the Whatsitsname found refuge in Hadi’s house. Hadi found his “friend” the Whatsitsname sitting on his bed.
Calling the Whatsitsname Hadi’s friend has an ironic undertone, given that the creature previously reflected on whether or not to kill the junk dealer. In this context, it is possible to understand the term as an equivalent of “ally”: in such unstable political circumstance, friendship can be based on a utilitarian, self-serving exchange of protection.
Themes
Although Hadi believed the Whatsitsname had come to kill him, the creature told him that he would hide at Hadi’s house while the police and secret services were in the area. He revealed to Hadi that the body parts whose death he did not avenge in time were falling off. Hadi was not disturbed by the Whatsitsname’s smell of putrefaction and sat next to him on the bed. Although Hadi agreed to help the Whatsitsname find new body parts to replace the old ones, he secretly wished that the Whatsitsname would die and put an end to so much horror.
The mention of the Whatsitsname’s putrefaction adds elements of horror and dark humor to the story. Indeed, the decomposition of the Whatsitsname’s body parts serves as an illustration of the greater horrors affecting Iraqi society: the constant deaths and suicide attacks, which leave so many people helpless. The physical and emotional abhorrence of this situation—which people usually try not to think about, in order to stay sane—is entirely visible in the Whatsitsname’s personal plight.
Themes
When the Whatsitsname complained about his bad reputation, Hadi gave him the recorder, telling him that he should record an interview to change people’s minds. The Whatsitsname concluded that he would interview his own self. Then, he stepped into Elishva’s house through the hole in the wall.
In line with Mahmoud’s father’s diary-writing, the Whatsitsname seizes the opportunity to record his own life in order to reveal the truth that lies behind his public reputation. Storytelling, in this sense, can be a means to reveal one’s deepest thoughts.
Themes
The next morning, the neighborhood was surrounded by National Guard and U.S. military police. When Mahmoud tried to leave the Orouba Hotel, saying that he was a journalist, a soldier pointed his gun at him and forced him to step back inside. Through Abu Anmar, Mahmoud learned that some houses had been raided that night. Although some men were arrested, the soldiers did not find the criminal.
These developments suggest that the government is actively trying to catch the criminal. They also indicate that their own authority is based on fear and domination—as is evident in Mahmoud’s retreat into the hotel. The local population is at the mercy of foreign forces they have not elected, and who rule local neighborhoods as best they please.
Themes
Mahmoud called Saidi, who told him to gather as much information as possible about what was happening. In the end, all Mahmoud succeeded in learning was that an officer had been sent to the hospital for a head injury after fighting against a terrorist the night before. Later, Mahmoud saw a group of arrested men, with their hands tied, forced into trucks. They all shared one common characteristic: ugliness. Some of them were genetically deformed, others severely burned, and others, mentally ill. This was evident because they were the only ones who seemed perfectly at peace, not scared in the least bit.
The mention of a wounded officer suggests that of the government’s efforts to catch this criminal might stem from a desire for retaliation—for example, to punish whoever is responsible for the officer’s injury. The arrest of ugly men brings these repressive actions to the height of absurdity: these men have done nothing wrong besides having a certain appearance. The presence of mentally ill people among the arrested highlights the injustice of this operation, which targets vulnerable people in an effort to find a single culprit.
Themes
Too hot to stay in his room at the Orouba Hotel, Mahmoud headed to Aziz’s coffee shop. There, he met Hadi, who told him that the Whatsitsname was planning on interviewing his own self. When Hadi later returned him the recorder, Mahmoud was shocked to listen to the Whatsitsname speak. He found the recording disturbing. He noted that this person sounded human, and not like the extravagant being whom Hadi had described in his stories.
Mahmoud’s shock at hearing the Whatsitsname suggests that he is beginning to believe in this story: he trusts that Hadi would not have been capable to invent such a complex character. The “human” quality of the Whatsitsname’s voice suggests that, however cruel his actions might be, he is capable of reason and of expressing his thoughts in a convincing way.
Themes
Mahmoud spent an entire day listening to the recording. Later, when Saidi saw Mahmoud’s disheveled state, he told him to move to the Dilshad Hotel. Mahmoud accepted. Although he assumed that Abu Anmar must have felt appalled by the departure of such a precious guest, the hotel owner behaved in a professional manner, cordially allowing the journalist to close his account. At the Dilshad Hotel, Mahmoud records his thoughts on this long series of stories related to Hadi and the Whatsitsname.
The accumulation of voices on Mahmoud’s recorder signal the increasing difficulty to separate the characters’ intertwined stories. Although the Whatsitsname recounts his story in first person, Mahmoud later records his own thoughts on the issue. This creates a layering of interpretations: each character attempts to make sense of their own reality and to understand their position in this series of events.
Themes
Later in the day, Mahmoud recounts the story of the Whatsitsname to Saidi. The editor tells him to write an article about this, which Mahmoud chooses to call “Urban Legends from the Streets of Iraq.” Enthusiastic, Saidi publishes the article with a modern illustration: the picture of Robert De Niro’s movie on Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Saidi also changes Mahmoud’s title to “Frankenstein in Baghdad.” Mahmoud is annoyed that his editor has turned a serious, investigative story into an extravagant, sensational issue. Later, Mahmoud wonders if the Whatsitsname and Hadi will be upset by this article or if, on the contrary, they will be grateful for his reporting.
This series of publications further blurs the distinction between fact and fiction. Mary Shelley’s 19th-century novel Frankenstein serves as the basis for a series of stories: a 20th-century Robert de Niro movie, Mahmoud’s article and, given the title that Saidi gives this article, the very novel in which these stories are recounted: Frankenstein in Baghdad. This suggests that fiction can serve as a useful foundation from which to reflect on real-life events: for example, the horrors of sectarian violence in Baghdad. Modifying or exaggerating reality through fiction can distort history, but it can also shed light on the full extent of its horror.
Themes
In the meantime, in his office, Brigadier Majid carefully reads the articles in al-Haqiqa about the Whatsitsname. Angry, he believes that Saidi has revealed confidential information, but he feels helpless given the free press that is currently allowed in the country. He calls Saidi to complain. However, the editor, cheerful as always, tells him that this is nothing but an invented story, and that Hadi is a known liar. Brigadier Majid refuses to believe that this is fiction. He asks Saidi for Mahmoud’s address and, after Saidi gives it to him, tells one of the soldiers at his service to bring Mahmoud to him.
Brigadier Majid’s complaint about the freedom of the press underlines his authoritarian tendencies: he does not want people to be too informed about the causes of the violence that affects their lives. Saidi’s willingness to give the Brigadier Mahmoud’s address signals his negligence in protecting his staff members but also, possibly, his trust that the Brigadier will not harm the journalist. However, this episode reveals the danger of revealing sensitive information through journalism—and the repressive consequences such a courageous decision can have.
Themes
