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Narrative Structures Employed in The Embassy of Cambodia

The Embassy of Cambodia

The Embassy of Cambodia is a short story published in 2013 by Zadie Smith, which follows a young Ivory Coast immigrant, Fatou, through her life as a domestic worker in Willesden, London. Themes such as slavery and exploitation, immigration, racism and systemic injustice are explored and represented in the short story.

Employed Narrative Structures

The short story employs multiple unique narrative structures, which combined, serve to expand on and highlight the protagonist’s experiences. Furthermore, they compel the reader to reflect on the societal injustices reflected in the story.

1. Frame Narrative Structure With A Collective Voice

Depiction of a greek chorus, a commonly cited example of the collective "we"

The short story is narrated through a collective “we”, also referred to commonly as ‘first-person-plural’, which represents the voices of the suburban community observing Fatou. (Whether or not this collective remains as the constant narrator can be debated, see section Dual Perspective Narrative Structure.) The collective voice is represented by an elderly woman, who claims to speak for the collective community of Willesden. The collective “we”, or at least the elderly woman, appears to be omniscient, as they are able to provide background information to Fatou through flashbacks.

Through the usage of an omniscient collective voice, a frame narrative is created, isolating Fatou’s experiences not only from her environment but also the readers. This isolation parallels Fatou’s lack of control in her life, isolation from decisive choices, highlighting the backseat she appears to have been forced into by the injustice she faces. Control is exerted by the collective “we” onto her through their roles as narrators; they have no obligation to tell her story as it took place. Once again, Fatou’s lack of autonomy cornering her life is underscored, furthermore highlighting the erasure or softening of injustices faced by the marginalised.

The collective “we” establishes the short story as both observational and judgemental, simultaneously creating a sense of distance from the reader and Fatou, thus reflecting how society frequently views marginalised individuals from a detached and impersonal standpoint. Despite being seemingly aware of Fatou’s existence and her struggles, the narrators retain their roles as passive observers, drawing parallels to societal indifference towards hardships borne by domestic workers and immigrants. This also calls into question the collective narrator’s reliability; the contradiction of their omniscience yet habit of maintaining distance casts doubt onto the range of their knowledge. Furthermore, this collective voice presents subtle critique by occasionally revealing biases, assumptions, or ignorance, once again isolating Fatou in her environment. Through doing so, they hold up a mirror to the reader’s potential complicity in similar attitudes. Fatou is not only isolated within her perceived world from both her environment and autonomy, but even her story is regarded and told through a distanced lens, thus defining the extent of her isolation.

2. Dual Perspective Narrative Structure

The short story can be interpreted to contain an alternating narrative between Fatou’s internal reflections and the outer observations voiced by the aforementioned collective “we”, instead of the frame narrative structure with a collective voice. This interpretation would strip the collective of their omniscience.

Fatou’s internally-positioned third-person-perspective grants the reader glimpses into her personal life, aspirations and memories; the reader experiences her reflections on her past, present struggles as a domestic worker, and her brief moments of autonomy (swimming in the health club). Through this perspective, complexities of not just her identity, but also the identities of marginalised people are highlighted and given the spotlight. The externally-positioned collective “we” voices the community’s detached and impersonal observations of Fatou. By physically distancing the collective from Fatou in the short story (view from a balcony) and the maintaining of their distance throughout the entirety of the short story, the superficiality of their observations is underlined. Furthermore, the voice displays judgement and critique of Fatou, reducing her to an object of curiosity rather than seeing her as a fully-realised individual. This reducing of Fatou’s character mirrors the instability present in her life and lack of control over how she is perceived by her surrounding environment.

Usage of this dual perspective narrative structure displays contrast between Fatou’s perception of herself and how she is perceived by others. She is plagued by wants, fears, desires, memories and small acts of defiance which she hold close to herself, whereas from the community’s lens, she is a passive figure, one to be observed and speculated about, yet never deemed important enough to be assisted. The shown disparity places emphasis and awareness on how marginalised individuals are often reduced to passive figures or ignored entirely by those enjoying privileged positions in life. Furthermore, Fatou’s isolation is brought into focus, displaying her existence on the margins of the community both physically and socially. Without breaking entirely out of Fatou’s personal story, the dual perspective employs the collective “we” as a tool for situating Fatou’s experiences within a broader context of systemic injustice, immigration and inequality.

3. Open-ended Narrative Structure

As the story concludes without a definitive resolution, nor any reference to what the future may hold, by employing an open-ended narrative structure, Fatou’s future is left uncertain and precarious. The lack of closure for the reader reflects Fatou’s own uncertainty and lack of control, more specifically autonomy, in her life, resulting from her position as an undocumented (for the majority of the story) immigrant. The reader is left to interpret Fatou’s next actions, to ponder whether or not the ending implies a hopeful trajectory or continued hardship. Even Fatou’s own outlooks are concealed or implied to be absent. Furthermore, the reader is challenged by the reality that Fatou’s experience, preciousness in life, is shared by countless others who remain marginalised and helpless in the world. Employment of this narrative structure compels the reader to reflect on the complexities in the lives of the marginalised and the systemic injustices that are affected by.

4. Fragmented Narrative Structure

A unique narrative device used is badminton scoring, which presents the reader brief fragments and scenes out of Fatou’s life. This is done so chronologically with occasional insertions of flashbacks.

In the short story badminton scoring is employed as chapter headings (eg. 0-4); the story appears fragmented, mirroring Fatou’s unsteady life. This rhythm in her life is mirrored by the stop-and-start motion of a badminton game. Emphasised are Fatou’s feelings of disconnection and lack of control in her existence. She is demoted to being a passive observer of the badminton game present in the story and, by extension, of her own life, where she has limited opportunities “score” or practice autonomy. Furthermore, the progression of the badminton game unfolds parallel to story, acting as a symbol for Fatou’s silent yet ongoing fight against systemic injustice. However, she appears to be losing this “match”, as the score increase is formatted for the visiting player (eg. 0-8), mirroring the consistent setbacks she faces in the course of the story.

The match taking place in the story at the Embassy of Cambodia juxtaposes Fatou’s turbulent life with it’s status as a leisurely and recreational activity, through which persisting inequalities in modern-society are underscored. However one aspect of the match, that being the repeated aggression from one of the players, mirrors Fatou having to face consistent setbacks, most being relative to her status as an immigrant and the injustices that come with that status; she is portrayed as unable to gain stability in her life and unable to change this aspect. The other, calmer player draws reference to Fatou’s brief moments of agency (such as her swims at the health club). Usage of this narrative structure also challenges readers to consider what counts as a “point” in life, which opponents are played against by whom, and who even gets to participate. The fragmented narrative structure reflects Fatou’s lack of control over her life, simultaneously drawing a picture of systemic injustice and capturing the ambiguity of life for the marginalised.