Hadi Hassani Aidros Character Analysis in Frankenstein in Baghdad

Hadi the junk dealer, a man in his 50s, lives in a semi-destroyed house in Bataween. Due to the stories he tells, which offer a fanciful mix of realistic details and imaginary occurrences, he is also known as “Hadi the liar.” Despite his usually cheerful attitude, Hadi has been deeply affected by the death of his friend and business partner, Nahem Abdaki, who was killed in a terrorist attack. Since then, Hadi has developed “two faces,” alternating between moments of energized storytelling and periods of depression. The fact that any mention of Nahem in Hadi’s presence leads the junk dealer to turn aggressive is a sign that Hadi has not overcome the trauma of his friend’s death. However, Hadi proves to have a kind heart and noble intentions: he stitches together the body of the Whatsitsname out of different victims’ body parts in order to denounce the dehumanizing effect of violence on people in Baghdad, which denies them a dignified burial as human beings. This project reveals Hadi’s humanity and empathy: he understands the physical and emotional toll that violence has on people’s lives. In addition, despite his reputation as a liar, Hadi proves honest in dealing with Mahmoud: instead of selling the journalist’s digital recorder, he later returns it, as promised, with evidence of the Whatsitsname’s existence. In addition, Hadi’s terror at noticing that his severely burned face—the result of a car bombing near his house—is reminiscent of the Whatsitsname’s reveals his desire to live a peaceful life, far from the brutality and horror that this supernatural creature has brought to the city. These events suggest that Hadi has pure intentions to lead a happy, respectful life. The government later arrests him, accusing him of being the Whatsitsname, but the book implies that this is a mistake: the result of the authorities’ inability to catch the true criminal. In this sense, Hadi can be seen as yet another casualty of the senseless violence in Iraq, which turns criminals into victims and victims into criminals.

Hadi Hassani Aidros Quotes in Frankenstein in Baghdad

The Frankenstein in Baghdad quotes below are all either spoken by Hadi Hassani Aidros or refer to Hadi Hassani Aidros . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Truth, Lies, and Storytelling Theme Icon

Elishva no longer shared with anyone her belief that Daniel was still alive. She just waited to hear the voice of Matilda or Hilda because they would put up with her, however strange this idea of hers. The two daughters knew their mother clung to the memory of her late son in order to go on living. There was no harm in humoring her.

Related Characters: Elishva, Matilda, Hilda, Daniel Tadros Moshe (Elishva’s Son), Hadi Hassani Aidros

Page Number and Citation: 8

Explanation and Analysis:

The shock of Nahem’s death changed Hadi. He became aggressive. He swore and cursed and threw stones after the American Hummers or the vehicles of the police and the National Guard. He got into arguments with anyone who mentioned Nahem and what had happened to him. He kept to himself for a while, and then went back to his old self, laughing and telling extraordinary stories, but now he seemed to have two faces, or two masks—as soon as he was alone he was gloomy and despondent in a way he hadn’t been before.

Related Characters: Nahem Abdaki, Hadi Hassani Aidros , Elishva, The Whatsitsname

Page Number and Citation: 25

Explanation and Analysis:

“I wanted to hand him over to the forensics department, because it was a complete corpse that had been left in the streets like trash. It’s a human being, guys, a person,” he told them.

“But it wasn’t a complete corpse. You made it complete,” someone objected.

“I made it complete so it wouldn’t be treated as trash, so it would be respected like other dead people and given a proper burial,” Hadi explained.

Related Characters: Hadi Hassani Aidros (speaker), The Whatsitsname, Aziz the Egyptian

Page Number and Citation: 27

Explanation and Analysis:

Sitting in the coffee shop, he would tell the story from the beginning, never tiring of repeating himself. He immersed himself in the story and went with the flow, maybe in order to give pleasure to others or maybe to convince himself that it was just a story from his fertile imagination and that it had never really happened.

Related Characters: Hadi Hassani Aidros , The Whatsitsname, Aziz the Egyptian

Page Number and Citation: 60

Explanation and Analysis:

“It was the Sudanese suicide bomber who caused his death,” Hadi said confidently, trying to exploit the situation to his own advantage.

“Yes, but he’s dead. How can I kill someone who’s already dead?”

“The hotel management, then. The company that ran the hotel.”

“Yes, maybe. But I have to find the real killer of Hasib Mohamed Jaafar so his soul can find rest,” said the Whatsitsname, pulling up a wooden crate and sitting on it.

Related Characters: Hadi Hassani Aidros (speaker), The Whatsitsname (speaker), Hasib Mohamed Jaafar

Page Number and Citation: 129

Explanation and Analysis:

The young madman thinks I’m the model citizen that the Iraqi State has failed to produce, at least since the days of King Faisal I.

Because I’m made up of body parts of people from diverse backgrounds—ethnicities, tribes, races, and social classes—I represent the impossible mix that never was achieved in the past. I’m the first true Iraqi citizen, he thinks.

Related Characters: The Whatsitsname (speaker), The Young Madman, The Old Madman, The Eldest Madman, Hadi Hassani Aidros

Related Symbols: The Digital Recorder

Page Number and Citation: 146-147

Explanation and Analysis:

Hadi Hassani Aidros Character Timeline in Frankenstein in Baghdad

The timeline below shows where the character Hadi Hassani Aidros appears in Frankenstein in Baghdad. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Power, Authority, and Social Divisions Theme Icon

...in the neighborhood are particularly convinced that Elishva is a madwoman: Faraj the realtor and Hadi the junk dealer. For the past few years, Faraj has wanted to buy Elishva’s seven-room... (full context)

Elishva hates both Faraj and Hadi, whom she considers greedy and immoral. She curses them, along with Abu Zaidoun, the Baathist... (full context)

At Aziz the Egyptian’s coffee shop, Hadi tells animated stories, adding realistic details to make his tales more engaging. One day, he... (full context)

Undisturbed, Hadi pursues his story, which he left off at the moment of the explosion in Tayaran... (full context)

In his story, Hadi then walked toward the location of the explosion. The people who were neither killed nor... (full context)

Hadi then returned home, to a makeshift house with a single room in the back and... (full context)

...the two men still worked together. Nahem was in his 30s, 20 years younger than Hadi. The two of them were sometimes believed to be father and son. In stark contrast... (full context)

This tragic event had a severe impact on Hadi, who grew aggressive whenever he saw vehicles belonging either to American forces or to the... (full context)

Hadi resumes his story about the nose in his canvas bag. Mahmoud is disappointed to note... (full context)

Hadi explains that he intended to bring the corpse to the forensics department. His goal, he... (full context)

After receiving no answer at the old man’s house, Hadi he decided to return home by foot, collecting empty cans on the way, which he... (full context)

Hadi usually tried to avoid passing in front of this hotel, because the guards yelled at... (full context)

When Hadi passed in front of the hotel, the guard approached him, to make sure this man... (full context)

Having survived other explosions, Hadi knew that, despite feeling pain all over his body, his injuries were minor, because he... (full context)

...Mahmoud ran to help a man who hit by the explosion, whom he recognized as Hadi the junk dealer or “Hadi the liar,” as people tend to call him. The group... (full context)

...Elishva is standing in the room of her house that has collapsed, looking down into Hadi’s house. The body whom Elishva calls Daniel walks through the hole in the wall into... (full context)

In the meantime, Hadi spends the day looking for the Whatsitsname, but does not hear any useful information from... (full context)

Hadi, in turn, concludes that the Whatsitsname’s disappearance has spared him the trouble of unsewing the... (full context)

...the meantime, at Aziz’s coffee shop, two men turn on a digital recorder and ask Hadi to tell them the story about the Whatsitsname. Aziz gives Hadi a silent warning, and... (full context)

When Hadi returns to the coffee shop later in the day, Aziz angrily tells him to stop... (full context)

Aziz concludes that Hadi’s stories are scaring people. Moved by fear, Hadi goes home, realizing that it might be... (full context)

In the meantime, Hadi learns that the old man with whom he was negotiating has sold his entire house,... (full context)

When Hadi returns to his Bataween neighborhood, he discovers that Abu Anmar wants to talk to him.... (full context)

...Saidi in the nightclub. He greets the two men and sits down to chat with Hadi. In order to forget about his physical discomfort, caused by his drunkenness, he asks Hadi... (full context)

Although Mahmoud expects a light, entertaining story from Hadi, the junk dealer turns serious. He agrees to recount what has happened since his last... (full context)

In another part of the city, Hadi finishes recounting his story to Mahmoud. Mahmoud then tells the junk dealer, in exchange for... (full context)

Mahmoud then interrogates Hadi, telling him that he cannot believe the story of the Whatsitsname is true without concrete... (full context)

Desperate to forget about this conversation, Mahmoud went to Aziz’s coffee shop. There, Hadi reminded him of their appointment. Grateful for the opportunity to forget about his day, Mahmoud... (full context)

Mahmoud decides to record Hadi’s story on his digital recorder, so that he will not forget any of the details.... (full context)

After talking with Hadi, Mahmoud tells him that he will only believe the junk dealer’s story if he interviews... (full context)

...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... (full context)

The Whatsitsname confirmed this interpretation. He told Hadi that the junk dealer was responsible for hotel guard Hasib Mohamed Jaafar’s death: it was... (full context)

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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

At the time Hadi was recounting this story, Mahmoud asked the junk dealer when these killings would stop. Hadi... (full context)

The day after his conversation with the Whatsitsname, Hadi told Mahmoud he gave the creature the digital recorder. Although Mahmoud initially believed that Hadi... (full context)

...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. (full context)

Although Hadi believed the Whatsitsname had come to kill him, the creature told him that he would... (full context)

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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...the Dilshad Hotel, Mahmoud records his thoughts on this long series of stories related to Hadi and the Whatsitsname. (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...months. To satisfy the Brigadier’s requests for information, Mahmoud tells him that he can find Hadi at the “Jewish ruin” in Bataween. In order to secure the Brigadier’s trust, he hands... (full context)

...attention to the Brigadier’s words. He is not troubled by his own decision to reveal Hadi’s location. Rather, he reflects to himself that the Brigadier is evil and cannot be trusted. (full context)

...only has two permanent guests. This situation has forced him to sell his furniture to Hadi, a man he despises, in order to survive. (full context)

Meanwhile, since the Whatsitsname has not visited Hadi in a while, the junk dealer has returned to his usual cheer. Although people laugh... (full context)

...couple of days after the publication of that issue of al-Haqiqa, the Whatsitsname came to Hadi’s house. Annoyed to be described as a fictional creature, he noted that he was now... (full context)

Later that day, officers sent by Brigadier Majid raid Hadi’s house. One officer—whom the Whatsitsname once tried to strangle, leaving him with a bandaged neck—attempts... (full context)

...room, one of the officers notices a statue of the Virgin Mary and threateningly asks Hadi if he is Christian, to which the junk dealer replies that he is Muslim, and... (full context)

An hour later, after beating the drunk dealer, one of the officers concludes that Hadi is nothing but an old madman and that taking him to the police station will... (full context)

The officers then subject Hadi to an experiment, which they used against 11 ugly men whom they arrested earlier. They... (full context)

In the meantime, in Hadi’s house, where the junk dealer is agonizing, powerful arms carry him from the floor to... (full context)

After accepting medicine from Abu Salim, Hadi lies in bed, wondering if the officers will return. He also wonders who gave them... (full context)

Earlier, after entering Hadi’s house and seeing the junk dealer’s state, the Whatsitsname reflected that Hadi had been justly... (full context)

Hadi wakes up the next day on his bed and hears the explosion of a car... (full context)

In the meantime, Hadi is deeply distraught to think of all the money he has lost. However, he reacts... (full context)

...reflects on other issues. He recalls going to Aziz’s coffee shop earlier to look for Hadi. There, Aziz told the journalist to leave the junk dealer alone, in an unusually solemn... (full context)

...the stories on his recorder were too complex to have been invented by someone like Hadi. To solve these contradictions, Mahmoud considered knocking on Hadi’s door, but he realized that Hadi... (full context)

At the same time as Faraj examined Elishva’s house, Hadi learned that the old lady wanted to sell him her furniture. Although he did not... (full context)

...a prediction that Elishva’s departure would bring bad luck to the neighborhood. In the meantime, Hadi spent the entire day removing the old lady’s furniture and selling half of it to... (full context)

The explosion seriously damaged the entire neighborhood: Elishva and Hadi’s houses were completely destroyed, and Hadi, who had been sleeping in his bed while his... (full context)

If Abu Salim soon left the hospital, Hadi, heavily burned in the fire caused by the explosion, stayed on much longer. He wondered... (full context)

...the people as the Whatsitsname. They show his picture on television and announce him as Hadi Hassani Aidros. Hadi, they claim, has confessed to all of his accusations, from the explosion... (full context)

Aziz and members of the Bataween neighborhood do not recognize Hadi’s face on TV, although they do find that the voice confessing to these crimes resembles... (full context)

...in Baghdad erupts in joyful celebrations in the street. Although Aziz does not believe that Hadi is truly guilty, he still celebrates this event alongside the others. In the meantime, a... (full context)

Frankenstein in Baghdad

Hadi Hassani Aidros Character Analysis

Hadi Hassani Aidros Quotes in Frankenstein in Baghdad

Chapter 1 Quotes

Chapter 2 Quotes

Chapter 5 Quotes

Chapter 9 Quotes

Chapter 10 Quotes

Hadi Hassani Aidros Character Timeline in Frankenstein in Baghdad