The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of violence and death. In addition, the source material uses offensive language and slurs that are replicated in quotes only.

“But let this be a lesson. If ever you are being executed for crimes against God (but have not committed any as far as your heart can tell) and feel righteous anger back at your enemy, and you look back as you jump down the rocky hills, hoping your pursuers will stumble and crack their stubborn skulls open, then are you any better than they are? And more important, are you watching where you’re going?”

Monkey thinks deeply about the world around him and his place in it, and passages like this illustrate his regular asides to the reader concerning religion, philosophy, and ethics. This passage captures the tone of Monkey’s narration—pious yet sarcastic, creating contradictions and establishing elements of comedy and unreliability from the very beginning. It also highlights his habit of addressing the reader directly, creating a connection that supports the theme of The Power of Storytelling in Creating Human Connection.

“The eyes of Brother Zesht betrayed a subtle acknowledgment of this worry. I saw it because I knew him. Samir, the Seller of Dreams, I realized, could read such cryptic tablets of the inner mind as a false prophet could read tea leaves or knucklebones.”

This passage establishes an initial explicit characterization of Samir, although the simile of a “false prophet” also implies that Samir’s intentions are less than pure. This is in line with the image of Samir that Monkey is trying to project to his audience, the Rogue Legion, since he wants them to believe that Samir is untrustworthy and Monkey hates him for it. The reality is more complex—Monkey recognizes that Samir’s ability to read people, while flawed, is just as beneficial to others at times as not.