Martyr!
Chapter Fifteen
by Kaveh AkbarThe chapter opens with Cyrus experiencing a vivid dream set in an elevated parking lot surrounded by blooming trees and yellow plains. Unlike his usual dreams, the setting emerges before the characters, creating a surreal atmosphere. Two figures eventually appear: basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, dressed in a retro uniform, and Cyrus’s imaginary younger brother, Beethoven, named after the dog from the 1992 film. The dream’s whimsical tone is established as the two men engage in playful banter, with Kareem asking Beethoven about his passions, which range from basketball to Borges and *Twin Peaks*.
Kareem and Beethoven’s conversation takes a humorous turn as they mock stereotypical interests like IPAs, CrossFit, and improv classes. Beethoven attempts a joke—“What’s red and invisible? No tomatoes”—which Kareem dismisses as terrible, yet they both laugh. The dream’s absurdity deepens with surreal details, such as the sky reflecting like a spinning mirror and goldfinches colliding mid-air. Their dialogue shifts when Kareem shares his love for jazz and the tragic loss of his record collection in a fire, revealing a deeper emotional layer beneath the dream’s lighthearted surface.
The discussion becomes introspective as Beethoven questions whether the physical records truly mattered to Kareem or if it was the memories attached to them. Kareem challenges this perspective, emphasizing the irreplaceable value of the records in an era before digital access. He poignantly describes how losing his collection felt like losing a connection to art, purpose, and even the will to live. Beethoven’s response—“I can’t imagine that”—hints at his own existential detachment, adding a layer of melancholy to the exchange.
The chapter blends surreal dream logic with profound themes of loss, identity, and the role of art in human life. Kareem’s lament about his records serves as a metaphor for the fragility of meaning, while Beethoven’s ambiguous existence—neither fully Cyrus nor entirely independent—raises questions about self-perception and imagination. The dream’s vivid imagery and shifting tones create a rich, layered narrative that lingers between humor and introspection, leaving the reader to ponder the boundaries between reality and the subconscious.
FAQs
1. How does the setting of Cyrus’s dream differ from his usual dream experiences, and what might this signify?
Answer:
The dream begins unusually with a clear focus on the setting—an elevated parking lot surrounded by blooming trees and yellow plains—before introducing the characters. This contrasts with Cyrus’s typical dreams where people emerge first, making context secondary. The vivid, prioritized setting may symbolize Cyrus’s subconscious drawing attention to an isolated or elevated emotional state (the parking lot as a “raised” platform) amidst natural beauty (the trees and plains). The emptiness of the parking lot could represent untapped potential or loneliness, while the blooming trees suggest growth or renewal in Cyrus’s inner life.2. Analyze the significance of Beethoven’s joke (“No tomatoes”) in the context of his conversation with Kareem.
Answer:
The joke—a play on “no tomatoes” being red and invisible—reflects the chapter’s themes of absence, loss, and the intangible. While seemingly nonsensical, it mirrors Kareem’s later discussion about losing irreplaceable records in a fire. The joke’s “invisible” element parallels the idea of lost cultural artifacts (like jazz records) that leave voids in identity and memory. Additionally, its awkwardness underscores Beethoven’s role as Cyrus’s imagined younger self, grappling with existential questions through humor. Kareem’s wincing reaction hints at deeper discomfort with confronting impermanence, foreshadowing their later conversation about art’s role in survival.3. How does Kareem’s anecdote about the fire and his record collection reveal the chapter’s central conflict?
Answer:
Kareem’s story about losing his jazz records in a fire—and fans replacing them—highlights tensions between material loss and communal healing. His insistence that the physical records mattered (not just their sentimental value) underscores art’s tangible role in preserving history and personal identity. This conflicts with Beethoven’s suggestion that stories matter more than objects, revealing a central debate: Can collective gestures (like fans sending records) truly restore what was lost? The fire symbolizes irreversible destruction, while the replacements represent imperfect but meaningful attempts to rebuild cultural continuity, mirroring Cyrus’s own struggles with memory and legacy.4. What does the interaction between Kareem and Beethoven reveal about Cyrus’s psyche?
Answer:
Their dialogue functions as a proxy for Cyrus’s internal conflict. Beethoven, as Cyrus’s imagined younger brother, embodies his nostalgic, creative side (evidenced by his love for Borges and Twin Peaks), while Kareem represents wisdom and cultural legacy. Kareem’s question—”Is this you talking, or is this Cyrus?“—blurs the line between Cyrus’s identity and his projections, suggesting self-examination. The goldfinch collision mid-conversation mirrors this psychic tension: a violent clash of opposing ideas (e.g., past vs. present, art as object vs. art as meaning). The scene reveals Cyrus grappling with authenticity, loss, and how to reconcile personal history with present identity.5. Evaluate the symbolic role of the goldfinches’ collision in relation to the chapter’s themes.
Answer:
The goldfinches’ mid-air crash embodies the chapter’s exploration of conflict and fragility. Their “tantrum of feathers” and cartoonish dust bubble literalize the abstract tensions in Kareem and Beethoven’s conversation—about art, loss, and survival. Goldfinches often symbolize resilience and joy, but here, their violent encounter suggests how beauty and meaning can be disrupted unexpectedly (like Kareem’s fire). The birds’ collision also reflects Cyrus’s fractured self-perception: two vibrant yet opposing forces (e.g., memory/reality, humor/despair) clashing. Their descent into chaos parallels Beethoven’s inability to “imagine staying alive,” emphasizing how art and identity are perpetually at risk of disintegration.
Quotes
1. “The way a charming speaker blurs the room around them, and two make the room disappear entirely.”
This opening observation about human connection and presence sets the dreamlike tone of the chapter, illustrating how intimacy can eclipse physical surroundings—a theme that recurs in Cyrus’s imagined interactions.
2. “But he knew once you named someone, even if you did it when you were a little kid, you didn’t get to rename them, so ‘Beethoven’ stuck.”
This reflection on identity and permanence highlights the tension between childhood imagination and adult perspective, while humorously addressing the consequences of early decisions.
3. “Can you imagine just losing access to all the art that you most loved, to all the stuff that gave your living purpose? Purpose and fluency? The stuff that made you feel like a member of the human tribe? That made you want to stay alive?”
Kareem’s passionate monologue about his lost jazz records articulates the chapter’s central theme: how art and cultural artifacts anchor identity and meaning. This rhetorical question crescendos into the dialogue’s most profound existential reflection.
4. “Imagine all that stuff disappearing,”
Though truncated, this closing fragment powerfully echoes the chapter’s meditation on loss. It leaves the thought hauntingly incomplete, mirroring the irreplaceable voids described in the conversation.