Hologram For The King Culture
In Dave Eggers’ A Hologram For The King, we meet our protagonist Alan Clay. In this novel, we see Alan struggle physically and emotionally, he battles with his past and present struggles, but more notably he battles with himself. We are shown glimpses of Alan’s now deceased friend, Charlie Fallon, and how Alan continues to see Charlie in his dreams and starts to process Charlie and his life decisions. We meet Kit and Ruby, Ruby is Alan’s now ex-wife and Kit is Alan’s daughter with Ruby. As a single parent, Alan struggles to pay for Kit to go to the college she wants to attend, and Alan feels like he has ruined her life and that she hates him for it. Alan is near the end of his sales career without much to show for it, Alan sees himself as irrelevant
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in a world that keeps going on without him. Alan takes one more shot at completing an immensely profitable deal by heading to Saudi Arabia as the head of an IT crew. He needs to sell holographic conferencing technology to King Abdullah for the development of his new city. Alan knows nothing about IT but is going to rely on his sales skills and on the fact that he knows the king’s nephew. Alan believes this one deal will change his life for the better, but what he does not realize is that his emotions will play a big part in how this deal plays out. During this part of his life Alan has reached a crossroads; he is a middle-aged man, he has no money left, and his job is on the line. Alan’s numerous failures with his career and social life, he starts to question how valuable his life is. Alan struggles at keeping personal relationships, he has no friends and his wife left him, the only person he has left is his daughter, Kit. Throughout the novel Alan writes letter to Kit, while writing these letters he realizes who he has become as a person and he is not who he wants to be. Alan has always had a rough time of things, he tried to lower costs at Schwinn bicycles by moving manufacturing to China which ended up causing everyone their jobs when Schwinn shut down. He felt at fault for the bizarre death of his friend, Charlie Fallon, because he never let Charlie into his life. When Alan arrives in Saudi Arabia, he began to question life and why humans are even alive. He believes that nature means to kill every human on Earth. Throughout the book, Alan is worried about his purpose in life and the legacy he will leave behind. He is sad because he does not believe he has a purpose, but his natural salesman “can-do attitude” keeps him searching for a purpose. Eggers portrays Alan’s view of life by writing “There on his spine, a lump like that—it had to be invasive and deadly. Lately he'd been cloudy of thought and clumsy of gait, and it made perfect and terrible sense that there was something growing there, eating away at him, sapping him of vitality, squeezing away all acuity and purpose” (10). Alan has an awkward relationship with the lump, on one side he is terrified that it is something that will take his life. On the other side, he hopes it will kill him, and at the very least he could use it as an excuse for his behavior and mistakes in his life. Alan has low hopes for his life getting better but he hopes he can change his life in this foreign country and come home a new and improved man. Alan has traveled to a foreign country, Saudi Arabia, and he meets new and exciting people.
Alan realizes that these people do not know him so he is basically a blank canvas, he can be a new person here and it will not affect his life back home. But when Alan arrives at the King Abdullah Economic City, he already starts to feel out of place and useless. A part in him being out of place is that the culture in Saudi Arabia is drastically different then in the U.S. Eggers points out the differences in culture by writing “He had been among burqas before, but to see these shadows moving through the playground, following the children—it gave Alan a chill. Was it not something from a nightmare, to be chased by a flowing figure in black, hands outstretched?” (30). Alan loved talking to Yousef, his driver, about the similarities and differences of the Middle East and the U.S. It turned out that Yousef went to school in Alabama, so it was nice for Alan to talk to someone who understood life in the U.S. When Alan arrived in KAEC he envisioned it as becoming a sprawling utopia, but Yousef told Alan that the city will never be as big as the king promised. “It might have happened at one time, but there's no more money. Emaar's a bust. They're going broke in Dubai. Everything was overvalued and now they're busted. They owe money all over the planet, and now KAEC's dead. Everything's dead. You'll see” (39). Alan will not let Yousef’s negativity divert his plan, Alan is focused on completing this deal so he can feel a sense of
belonging. Another theme that was prominent was language and communication barriers. Alan did not dress the same or act the same as the people of Saudi Arabia. Alan quickly realizes his old sales tactics will not help him at all here. He made jokes that would have been funny in the U.S., but here in the Middle East they make no sense. In the mountains, Alan told a man he was in the CIA as a joke, but the man believed him and was scared for his life. “All these pictures. You work for the CIA or something?’ The man's smile seemed more genuine now, and it must have loosened something within Alan. ‘Just some freelance work,’ Alan joked. ‘Nothing full-time.’ The man's head snapped back an inch, as if he'd smelled something disagreeable, something unnatural” (257). Alan tried to rely on his old sense of humor but it did not go over so well. According to his wife, Ruby, Alan tells jokes when he feels distant and out of place. At night, when everyone went to their bedrooms and Alan has no one to tell his jokes to, he reverts to drinking alcohol, messing with his neck lump, and writing awkward letters to Kit. During his late-night drinking sessions, he reminisces about how he married the wrong woman, made the wrong decisions in his professional life, and how he became a gigantic coward. Alan had almost hit rock bottom but as the saying goes, the only way from there is up. Alan going to the middle of the desert gave him time to do some soul searching. Alan could think about his purpose in life, he was able to reminisce about the never-ending conflicts between man and machine, and how unpredictable and beautiful nature can be in its freshest form. When Yousef took Alan to the remote village, he faced the brutality of nature and realized how limited his life is. He does not figure out all his problems, but he does begin to understand and make changes to better himself. After the failed hologram deal Alan felt destroyed he lost almost all his courage and realized that his life is basically over. It is sad that Alan has no home or job to go back home to after his deal with the king failed, but Alan used all the courage he had left when he decided to stay in the Middle East until he gets a deal to bring back to Reliant. It is unfortunate that the book had a sad ending but it shows that life is not a fairy tale, there are usually no perfect happy endings.
Works Cited
Eggers, Dave. A Hologram for the King. Vintage Books, 2012.
in a world that keeps going on without him. Alan takes one more shot at completing an immensely profitable deal by heading to Saudi Arabia as the head of an IT crew. He needs to sell holographic conferencing technology to King Abdullah for the development of his new city. Alan knows nothing about IT but is going to rely on his sales skills and on the fact that he knows the king’s nephew. Alan believes this one deal will change his life for the better, but what he does not realize is that his emotions will play a big part in how this deal plays out. During this part of his life Alan has reached a crossroads; he is a middle-aged man, he has no money left, and his job is on the line. Alan’s numerous failures with his career and social life, he starts to question how valuable his life is. Alan struggles at keeping personal relationships, he has no friends and his wife left him, the only person he has left is his daughter, Kit. Throughout the novel Alan writes letter to Kit, while writing these letters he realizes who he has become as a person and he is not who he wants to be. Alan has always had a rough time of things, he tried to lower costs at Schwinn bicycles by moving manufacturing to China which ended up causing everyone their jobs when Schwinn shut down. He felt at fault for the bizarre death of his friend, Charlie Fallon, because he never let Charlie into his life. When Alan arrives in Saudi Arabia, he began to question life and why humans are even alive. He believes that nature means to kill every human on Earth. Throughout the book, Alan is worried about his purpose in life and the legacy he will leave behind. He is sad because he does not believe he has a purpose, but his natural salesman “can-do attitude” keeps him searching for a purpose. Eggers portrays Alan’s view of life by writing “There on his spine, a lump like that—it had to be invasive and deadly. Lately he'd been cloudy of thought and clumsy of gait, and it made perfect and terrible sense that there was something growing there, eating away at him, sapping him of vitality, squeezing away all acuity and purpose” (10). Alan has an awkward relationship with the lump, on one side he is terrified that it is something that will take his life. On the other side, he hopes it will kill him, and at the very least he could use it as an excuse for his behavior and mistakes in his life. Alan has low hopes for his life getting better but he hopes he can change his life in this foreign country and come home a new and improved man. Alan has traveled to a foreign country, Saudi Arabia, and he meets new and exciting people.
Alan realizes that these people do not know him so he is basically a blank canvas, he can be a new person here and it will not affect his life back home. But when Alan arrives at the King Abdullah Economic City, he already starts to feel out of place and useless. A part in him being out of place is that the culture in Saudi Arabia is drastically different then in the U.S. Eggers points out the differences in culture by writing “He had been among burqas before, but to see these shadows moving through the playground, following the children—it gave Alan a chill. Was it not something from a nightmare, to be chased by a flowing figure in black, hands outstretched?” (30). Alan loved talking to Yousef, his driver, about the similarities and differences of the Middle East and the U.S. It turned out that Yousef went to school in Alabama, so it was nice for Alan to talk to someone who understood life in the U.S. When Alan arrived in KAEC he envisioned it as becoming a sprawling utopia, but Yousef told Alan that the city will never be as big as the king promised. “It might have happened at one time, but there's no more money. Emaar's a bust. They're going broke in Dubai. Everything was overvalued and now they're busted. They owe money all over the planet, and now KAEC's dead. Everything's dead. You'll see” (39). Alan will not let Yousef’s negativity divert his plan, Alan is focused on completing this deal so he can feel a sense of
belonging. Another theme that was prominent was language and communication barriers. Alan did not dress the same or act the same as the people of Saudi Arabia. Alan quickly realizes his old sales tactics will not help him at all here. He made jokes that would have been funny in the U.S., but here in the Middle East they make no sense. In the mountains, Alan told a man he was in the CIA as a joke, but the man believed him and was scared for his life. “All these pictures. You work for the CIA or something?’ The man's smile seemed more genuine now, and it must have loosened something within Alan. ‘Just some freelance work,’ Alan joked. ‘Nothing full-time.’ The man's head snapped back an inch, as if he'd smelled something disagreeable, something unnatural” (257). Alan tried to rely on his old sense of humor but it did not go over so well. According to his wife, Ruby, Alan tells jokes when he feels distant and out of place. At night, when everyone went to their bedrooms and Alan has no one to tell his jokes to, he reverts to drinking alcohol, messing with his neck lump, and writing awkward letters to Kit. During his late-night drinking sessions, he reminisces about how he married the wrong woman, made the wrong decisions in his professional life, and how he became a gigantic coward. Alan had almost hit rock bottom but as the saying goes, the only way from there is up. Alan going to the middle of the desert gave him time to do some soul searching. Alan could think about his purpose in life, he was able to reminisce about the never-ending conflicts between man and machine, and how unpredictable and beautiful nature can be in its freshest form. When Yousef took Alan to the remote village, he faced the brutality of nature and realized how limited his life is. He does not figure out all his problems, but he does begin to understand and make changes to better himself. After the failed hologram deal Alan felt destroyed he lost almost all his courage and realized that his life is basically over. It is sad that Alan has no home or job to go back home to after his deal with the king failed, but Alan used all the courage he had left when he decided to stay in the Middle East until he gets a deal to bring back to Reliant. It is unfortunate that the book had a sad ending but it shows that life is not a fairy tale, there are usually no perfect happy endings.
Works Cited
Eggers, Dave. A Hologram for the King. Vintage Books, 2012.