Fatou’s life is more than restricted by her employers.  She is allowed to leave the house, but she is not paid in money for her work at the  Derawals.  Instead, she is paid “for the food and water and heat she would require during her stay, as well as to cover the rent for the room she slept in.”  The narrator states that Fatou often “wondered if she herself was a slave” (Smith).  This reminded me so much of the struggle of the lower class in North and South and the lower class of South Wark in London we learned about during our Darkest Victorian London Walk.  The lower class of South Wark had similar accomadations as Fatou; their employers often paid them in vouchers for specific stores, so they couldn’t spend their money elsewhere if they wanted to.  “The Embassy of Cambodia” is set in modern times, and in comparison with the same issues of the 19th century lower class shows that worker’s rights are still a vital discussion.

I do not know much about Cambodia itself, but from what I can gather from the text and from light research, some terrible things happened within its history: “I doubt there is a man or woman among us, for example, who – upon passing the Embassy of Cambodia for the first time – did not immediately think: ‘genocide'” (Smith). I wonder what the connection of the Embassy of Cambodia is with Fatou’s life, or what exactly it is symbolic of.  Also, does anyone have any interesting insights on the symbolism of the shuttlecock?