Abstract

This article examines David Adams’ Fobbit in terms of its approach to the lives/deaths of Americans and Iraqis in the 2003 war, and their grievability. It draws on Judith Butler’s contention that Western peoples understand and treat the lives/deaths of non-Westerners in differential ways. The lives of Westerners are considered most valuable at the expense of the safety and well-being of those outside these geographies. We make this argument in two paradigms: “Western lives,” which addresses the value of the lives of Western characters and their grievability, and “local lives,” which investigates the value of the lives of non-Western characters and their grievability. The novel focuses primarily on the lives of American soldiers, who are portrayed as innocent victims of war. Sergeant Gooding’s work in Army Public Affairs serves as a memory of war and storyteller, preserving the narrative of those who died in Iraq and making their deaths more grievable. The novel presents war as a catastrophe whose devastating effects overshadow the lives of American soldiers and Iraqis, leaving unhealed wounds for all involved. It uses dark comedy to expose how the US Army and the media sanitized a rather ugly war and made it more presentable to the American public. Nevertheless, American soldiers, especially those with lower ranks, are the most grieved in the narrative. Iraqis, despite having the largest number of deaths, are the least grieved, with almost no personal or individual traits for readers to remember.