Summary

A snippet of Huck Finn is included. Dodge describes how the actions by the characters show the author’s contempt for the people who live in his own country as well as his ignorance of foreign cultures.

In the section “Dodge,” because the power has been out for more than an hour, Dodge suspects the outage might be intentional. He decides it would be safer to be out on the street than inside his flat. On the stairs, he bumps into a neighbor. He believes the man knows about the letter when he makes a point to ask Dodge’s name.

Dodge, whose real name is Kateb, recounts how he was kidnapped by the Americans and taken for interrogation. Dodge had claimed during his questioning not to know if he...