There's plenty of emotional baggage being carried all over the desert in this work. Alan soldiers through A Hologram For the King knowing that he's the author of his own misery. He's picked the wrong woman to marry, made the wrong decisions in his professional life, and has been, as he claims, a gigantic coward.
This leads to late nights of brooding alone in his hotel room, with nothing more than moonshine and a steak knife for company.
But there's more than enough guilt and blame to go all around. Eggers creates Alan as a deeply flawed character, but he also gives us plenty of hints that his hero didn't go wrong on his own. There are national and international forces at play that shaped Alan's decisions and molded his destiny, pretty much without his consent.
While Eggers doesn't give Alan a pass on his questionable behavior, he's asking us to see his character with understanding eyes. You know the saying about not hating the player, right?
Questions About Guilt and Blame
- Why is Alan so consumed with the idea of a legacy?
- What is the purpose of Alan's letters to Kit?
- A lot of things go wrong in this narrative: economic collapse, the death of manufacturing in the U.S., personal failures. Where does Eggers lay the blame for these catastrophes, if anywhere? Who does Alan blame for them?
- Why does Alan feel guilty about his marriage to Ruby?
Chew on This
Alan's trip to Saudi Arabia is less about finances than it is about confronting his failures.
The disasters at the heart of Alan's story happen because people fail to take responsibility for their actions/lack of action.