Alienation

The theme of Alienation occurs in many places and ways throughout the novel. One of the first instances of this is shortly after he and his girlfriend separate. Since they both work for the same firm the gossip is incessant. X reports that his girlfriend got her story out before he could say anything to anyone, and when he came back to work it was obvious that they would not hear his side of it at all. He reports that most of the men give him sympathetic looks, or hide from him all together, as if he has something contagious, while the women openly give him hostile looks and laugh in his general direction.

Later, when he moves to Dubai, he is, once again, alienated in a different way. Here he is an American in the Middle East, where the culture and customs are unfathomable and...