Faith and suffering

The theme of faith and suffering is also explored in the novella The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith. The main character, Fatou, is a woman who recently became a Christian, and her only friend, Andrew, is also a devout Christian who converted her.

Even before Fatou was baptized as Christian, she shares that she had an affinity for faith and religion, believing it to be a positive thing that protects the faithful from harm and suffering. This is something she notes when remembering the mass baptism that took place in the pool of the Carib Beach Resort while she worked there: “At the time – though she was not then a member of that church, or of any church except the one in her heart – she had felt that this baptism was for her, too, and that it kept her safe”. Fatou also not...