Martyr!
Chapter Eight
by Kaveh AkbarThe chapter opens with Zee Novak reflecting on her early relationship with Cyrus during their time at Keady University in 2014. Set against the backdrop of an unpredictable Indiana spring, Zee recalls working at Green Nile and selling weed while Cyrus worked at Jade Café. Their lives revolved around drinking and casual dating, a period before Cyrus’s sobriety and Zee’s eventual decision to stop drinking in solidarity. Zee hints at the growing emotional labor she invested in Cyrus, a realization that would only dawn on her later.
Zee and Cyrus’s weekly routine included visiting Jude, a man they met through a Craigslist ad offering groceries in exchange for yard work. Jude’s peculiar fetish involved watching them work while he lounged in his underwear, never engaging physically but deriving satisfaction from their labor. In return, they received expired or damaged groceries from Jude’s stockpile, a bizarre but mutually beneficial arrangement. The dynamic was unsettling yet harmless, with Zee and Cyrus joking about whether their labor constituted sex work, blending humor with philosophical musings on labor and exploitation.
The narrative shifts to a specific Saturday when Zee and Cyrus arrive at Jude’s house after experimenting with fentanyl, which Cyrus had meticulously prepared. The drug induces a surreal, floaty sensation as they drive to Jude’s, heightening the absurdity of the situation. Jude’s home is described as oddly decorated with wind chimes acting as makeshift alarms, and his two nearly identical dogs, Noah and Shiloh, add to the eccentric atmosphere. The backyard features a daunting pile of logs and a massive axe, tasks Jude assigns them for a bonfire while he watches, headphones on, from the shade.
The chapter captures the mundane yet surreal nature of Zee and Cyrus’s lives, blending dark humor with moments of introspection. Their relationship dynamic, Jude’s voyeuristic tendencies, and their drug use paint a picture of a transient, chaotic phase in their youth. Zee’s retrospective narration hints at the emotional toll of her relationship with Cyrus, foreshadowing deeper tensions. The chapter ends with Zee and Cyrus beginning their work under Jude’s gaze, the fentanyl amplifying the surrealness of their circumstances.
FAQs
1. How does the narrator describe their relationship with Cyrus in the early stages of living together, and what does this reveal about their dynamic?
Answer:
The narrator describes their early cohabitation with Cyrus as carefree but somewhat directionless, marked by dating multiple people and heavy drinking. They note that Cyrus graduated later despite starting school earlier, hinting at his potential struggles with focus or commitment. The phrase “making things easier for Cyrus…had begun to take up a lot of my energy” foreshadows an imbalanced dynamic where the narrator assumes a caretaker role. This is further emphasized by their later decision to stop drinking in solidarity with Cyrus’s sobriety, suggesting a pattern of self-sacrifice that the narrator only recognizes in hindsight.2. Analyze the symbolic significance of Jude’s character and the “grocery shopping” arrangement. What deeper commentary might this scenario offer about labor and exploitation?
Answer:
Jude represents a peculiar form of exploitation masked as mutual benefit. His voyeuristic enjoyment of their labor (while offering only expired groceries) mirrors capitalist dynamics where workers perform under surveillance for inadequate compensation. The narrator and Cyrus rationalize the arrangement as “like volunteering in a co-op” and joke about it being “sex work,” highlighting how marginalized individuals often normalize exploitative conditions. The reference to Angela Davis’s critique of labor underscores the chapter’s theme: all work involves selling one’s body, but societal hierarchies determine which forms are deemed dignified or shameful. Jude’s passive yet controlling presence embodies systemic power imbalances.3. How does the chapter use sensory details and seasonal imagery to reflect the narrator’s emotional state?
Answer:
The opening description of Indiana’s early spring—where buds “poke through the topsoil into suspicious heat” only to be “rebuked by frost”—parallels the narrator’s tentative feelings for Cyrus. The transient warmth mirrors their fragile, burgeoning love, while the frost suggests looming challenges (like Cyrus’s addiction). Later, the fentanyl-induced sensation of “hovering an inch above the seat” and wind “saying its own name” contrasts with Jude’s sweaty, oppressive backyard, mirroring the narrator’s oscillation between euphoric escape and grim reality. These details create a visceral link between environment and inner turmoil.4. What contradictions or ironies emerge in the portrayal of Jude’s character and his environment?
Answer:
Jude is a study in contradictions: his home appears tidy yet filled with expired groceries; his wind chimes suggest whimsy but function as “burglar alarms,” revealing paranoia. He demands physical labor while remaining passive in underwear, embodying both vulnerability and control. His dogs’ names (“Noah” and “Shiloh”) evoke biblical peace, yet their cramped kennel hints at neglect. These contrasts mirror the narrator’s conflicted feelings about the arrangement—Jude is “creepy but ultimately unthreatening,” a benign-seeming figure whose power derives from the basic necessity of food, exposing how exploitation often wears mundane disguises.5. How does the chapter frame addiction and self-medication, particularly through Cyrus’s actions?
Answer:
Cyrus’s drug use is portrayed with dark humor (his pride in “tidy doses” of fentanyl) but also pathos. His meticulous preparation contrasts with the narrator’s ambivalence (“I could take or leave them”), reflecting differing coping mechanisms inherited from their families (Cyrus’s chemical experimentation vs. the narrator’s mother’s “snake oil” remedies). The fentanyl’s initial euphoria (“floaty” sensations) gives way to discomfort in Jude’s yard, mirroring addiction’s fleeting relief followed by degradation. Cyrus’s eventual sobriety, mentioned briefly, casts this scene as a turning point—the grotesquery of laboring while high for spoiled food underscores the unsustainable nature of self-destructive habits.
Quotes
1. “Making things easier for Cyrus, I realized only much later, had begun to take up a lot of my energy.”
This quote reveals the narrator’s growing awareness of an imbalanced dynamic in their relationship with Cyrus, hinting at themes of codependency and self-sacrifice that emerge throughout the chapter.
2. “Angela Davis would say we’re all selling our bodies… That the only difference between a coal miner and a prostitute is our retrograde puritan values about sex. And misogyny.”
This philosophical exchange between the characters captures their intellectual banter while introducing deeper questions about labor, value, and societal perceptions of different kinds of work.
3. “Zee Novak says free groceries are free groceries.”
This blunt, pragmatic statement contrasts with the theoretical discussion preceding it, showcasing the narrator’s practical survival mentality amidst their bohemian lifestyle.
4. “The feeling started floaty, like I was hovering an inch above the passenger seat of Cyrus’s car, which was itself hovering an inch off the road. Then, it was like wind lifting us up, like wind lifting off a leaf, like the wind saying its own name—that uncanny and light.”
This vivid description of the fentanyl high demonstrates the author’s skill at conveying altered states of consciousness while foreshadowing the precarious nature of their lifestyle choices.
5. “He was a shrimpy guy, not too much older than us but already balding, wispy blond hair over a perpetual wince, the sort of crestfallen man who looked like he’d been getting short-shrifted for a lifetime and had given up complaining about it.”
This sharply observed character sketch of Jude reveals the narrator’s keen eye for human detail and adds depth to what could have been a one-dimensional “creepy” character.