Objects of Satire
The novel is set in the fictional state of Matar, a somewhat liberal Middle Eastern sheikdom, similar to the real world Qatar. The neighboring country Wasabia refers to Saudi Arabia, with Wasabia being a play on Wahhabism, one of the most conservative forms of Islam, which is criticized throughout the book for its treatment of women.
The Washington Post reviewer wrote, tongue in cheek, of the fictional country of Wasabia : "Its oppressive power is guaranteed by optimum connections to the American establishment greased by a suave prince as its longtime ambassador in Washington. Wasabia's medieval legal system, among other things, subjugates, humiliates and violates women, as well as executing them for such vices as flirting. Of course this is a wholly fictional land, too absurd to resemble any in the real family of nations."
The firm "the Waldorf Group" is a reference to the Carlyle Group.
The novel was among the first to lampoon terrorism and Islamist extremism, which in the post-9/11 era were not considered laughing matters. The book also portrays U.S. foreign policy as contributing to those problems.
Read more about this topic: Florence Of Arabia
Famous quotes containing the words objects of, objects and/or satire:
“But after the intimacy-inducing rituals of puberty, boys who would be men are told we must go it alone, we must achieve our heroism as the Lone Ranger, we must see the other men as threats to our masculine mastery, as objects of competition.”
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“There are characters which are continually creating collisions and nodes for themselves in dramas which nobody is prepared to act with them. Their susceptibilities will clash against objects that remain innocently quiet.”
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“What satire on government can equal the severity of censure conveyed in the word politic, which now for the ages has signified cunning, intimating that the state is a trick?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)