Heritage and Trauma

One of the central themes of Martyr! is the centering of inherited trauma in the lived experience of immigrants and children of immigrants. In many respects, Akbar seeks to disturb western narratives of Iranian and Persian identity by showcasing the richness of the relationships between characters like Arash, Cyrus, and Roya, among others, while celebrating Cyrus' instinct toward coming into closer connection with his background. However, the novel also seeks to push past the idea that belonging to a given identity can be equated with an absorption of its collective trauma, routinely exploring the question of whether Cyrus' fixation on his family's difficult past works against his development as an individual.

Throughout the novel, Cyrus' feelings of alienation from the hegemonic and white surroundings of his home in Indiana serve as a means of exploring the isolation and grief that comes with existing as...