Chapter 8–Free Speech: A Coda Summary and Analysis
Chapter 8: Langford v. Reliant; or, How My Father’s American Story Ends
Ayad’s father faced a malpractice lawsuit for the medical advice he gave a pregnant patient, Christine Langford, in 2012. When she visited him for an evaluation of her heart condition, he suspected that she may also have Brugada; the medication she was currently taking was contraindicated for Brugada and also put her baby at risk of birth defects. She asked Sikander what he would recommend if she were his daughter. He replied that he would tell her to stop taking her medication. She did, and two weeks later, both she and her unborn child were dead.
Christine’s family sued for malpractice. Christine’s mother testified, noting that she shared the same heart condition as Christine; she had lost Christine’s younger sister, Kayleigh, to the disease when she was only nine years old. It was after Kayleigh died that Christine and her mother were diagnosed. She told the jury that Christine had been so convinced of the dangers of her medication following her appointment with Dr. Akhtar that she had tried to get her mother to stop taking the medication, as well.
Sikander’s lawyer pointed out that he was not the first physician to caution the family about continued use of this particular medication. She also painted Sikander as a particularly caring physician, noting his tendency to only bill insurance and not the patient if the patient lacked the funds to cover treatment. In a private meeting, she also cautioned Ayad that the prosecuting lawyer would not let the trial end without referring to his father as a Muslim in front of the jury. Sure enough, one Friday morning, the lawyer announced that he would only be calling one witness that day so that Sikander could make it to “Muslim worship” on time. Even after a private reprimand in the judge’s chambers, it seemed that this tactic had achieved the desired effect with the jury.
As the trial progressed, Ayad began to notice his father’s increasing proclivity for gambling and drinking. One evening, Ayad received a call from a former high school friend who was now a deputy. Deputy Benji Fitzsimmons had seen Sikander leave the casino intoxicated and had not wanted him to drive. Instead of arresting Sikander, he had cuffed him and taken him to the jail to try to sleep off the effects of the alcohol until Ayad could arrive. He told Ayad repeatedly that his father was “a good guy,” and he treated Sikander with respect. Ayad drove to the station, picked up his father, and offered Benji and his wife tickets to see his play the following Monday.
Two years earlier, Ayad also discovered that he had a half-sister whom he had not known existed. While visiting a local strip club, he became interested in a young woman who went by the stage name “Noor.” She was “part Muslim” and told Ayad about the sexual fetishes she sold online to men looking to act out their sexual fantasies with women wearing a face-covering niqab. When Ayad visited her apartment, he was shocked to find a photograph of his own father just outside her bathroom.
Ayad confronted his father that night; Sikander was shocked and angry enough to hang up on him. The next day, he confessed to Ayad that he had loved both his wife and his mistress, Caroline. When Ayad told Sikander that Melissa, his daughter, was stripping for money to pay for school, Sikander promised to send her some funds. Ayad sent more, and at the time of the trial, Melissa was nearing...
(This entire section contains 1404 words.)
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the completion of a college degree but still stripping for money. She enjoyed the level of attention she received through that job.
Eventually, Sikander began asking Ayad for money, refusing to reveal the details about why he was in such a dire financial situation. After Ayad gave his father his actual credit card information to book a flight himself, Sikander used the card for numerous purchases, including an expensive reservation at the Plaza Hotel and then a reservation for Eleven Madison Park. When Ayad went to meet his father there, he was floored to find Caroline sitting with Sikander. Sikander excused himself, leaving Caroline and Ayad alone together. She mentioned that she had begged him not to blindside his son this way. When Sikander returned, he and Ayad engaged in a loud and public argument; Ayad walked out of the restaurant, furious. After taking a moment to collect himself, he returned to find his father placing Caroline into a cab, and Ayad tearfully embraced him.
Ayad learned that his father had lost all of his money gambling. Sikander decided to return to Pakistan, where he moved onto a tract of family land he had inherited. Looking back at his time in America, Sikander realized that he had been so desperate to be an American that he did not realize that he had simply been playing a role, believing that it was the real thing. He eventually grew tired of acting, and while he remains grateful to America, he is glad to be “home” in Pakistan.
Free Speech: A Coda
Mary Moroni invited Ayad to speak to her college campus, but even before his arrival, he was met with resistance. Among other events, someone superimposed a photo of Ayad in front of the burning Twin Towers, accompanied by the text “Proud of 9/11.” Mary lamented that her students had changed over the years. They were no longer willing to consider “difficult ideas.” Some students refused to read Whitman and Emerson, citing their racist views. While Mary pointed to their larger body of work as worth considering, she was met with further resistance; students demanded she replace the authors in the syllabus. Eventually, four students dropped her class in protest.
Mary saw this partly as students’ laziness. They wanted to be writers who did not read and who were not “forced” to read things they did not personally agree with. Mary’s attitude eventually softened toward them a bit as she realized how many of her students were battling depression and anxiety and as she considered the staggering costs of attending college. They were assuming debt that she doubted most would ever be able to repay and had therefore taken on a consumer mindset instead of a purely academic one. They no longer trusted the world—to them, it was little more than a marketplace.
During Ayad’s seminar, one older white man asked him why he didn’t simply leave America if he hated it so much. Ayad was taken aback by how emotional his response to this question was. Looking to Mary for strength, he replied that despite his misgivings, “America is [his] home.”
Analysis
The impossibility of the American dream is woven into various characters’ lives as the novel concludes. Sikander, who was the greatest champion of the promises of America, eventually is forced to face his reality. He has always stood distinctly outside of American culture and acceptance and never found a way to make America his home. In many ways, Sikander had risen to the top of American success, but it wasn’t enough. As the man at the convenience store illustrates, Sikander is seen as “other,” someone who needs to be kept out and who needs to accept the culture of “this country.” As much as Sikander longed to be fully accepted and integrated into American culture, he ultimately returns to his homeland, where he finds peace. Ironically, he makes this transition after his wife’s death; she had always longed to return to Pakistan, yet she had spent her final days in America, where she never felt at home because her husband refused to face the truth.
Mary Moroni points out that the American dream is failing American college students before they even have a chance to fully embrace its possibilities. They have become cynical and distrustful of the educational system—and for good reason. They no longer believe that their academic institutions and professors are reliable sources of intellectual growth; instead, they see themselves as part of a business transaction, where all facets are negotiable. Because they are absorbing incredible debt as part of this transaction, students have become resentful of the process, demanding that at the very least, their personal views are recognized and validated.
