Characters
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the characters travel in a caravan. Name the 5 most important human characters.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, the main characters in the caravan are: Samir, Monkey or Omar, Smithy, Mara, and Rasseem.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, the Silk Road.
What religion does Samir think Monkey is from?
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, he thinks Monkey is a Zoroastrian.
One key animal companion accompanies Samir and Omar's Caravan. Name this type of creature and its name.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, the donkey Rostam.
The story centers around crossing a main desert. What is its name?
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, they must cross the Taklamaken Desert.
Who hired the assassins on Samir? Include the one group/person who isn't hired, but seeks Samir for his/her/their own reasons.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, Rasseem hired all the assassins except for the Bedouins, who seek Samir because of a ring that was bad (turned the finaces finger green).
Who is Cid? And where does the name come from?
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, "Cid" is actually Mara and Smithy, and the name comes from their acCIDentalist philosophy.
In the author's note in the back, Nayeri discusses some of the languages and why the names in the story are romanized, or are familiar sounding to us in English. What is the reason?
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, Nayeri discusses how Samir knows many languages as part of his skill (bonus: that he and Monkey are supposed to be Sogdians, an ancient Iranian people who were merchants, and whose language become the common tongue of the Silk Road). Monkey and Samir speak the common tongue (Sogdian) of the Silk Road and so are able to converse with every character they encounter. The names are romanized because Monkey's narrative is the story he gave to the Rogue Legion (romans) about Samir, and so he uses names that would be recognizable to our Western ears (like Smithy) because our language, is a descendent of the Roman language, Latin (and German).
What is the Merchant's Crown? And who is chasing it?
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, the Merchant's crown is a peak, final trade or swindle by a Merchant in which he/she trades something of negilible value for great riches and is able to retire wealthy. Samir and all the merchants are chasing it, like a dream in itself.
At the beginning, the monks are trying to stone Monkey for heresy. Describe his heresy.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, Monkey is raised by an order of monks who are dualist, in that they believe in the rule of two. Black or white. This or that. Monkey says he does not believe in simply life and death, but that he believes in a third thing, which is love. Adding the third thing is why they chase him down.
Name each of the assassins who come after Samir and Monkey in order and how they escape. Hint- there are 7.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, the assassins are:
-Viking Berserker - Monkey puts gun powder in his mouth
-Dervish Fire Dancer - Monkey throughs alcohol at him and they escape.
-Mongul Gunner - Monkey pulls him off a cliff
-Chinese Ablutionist (poisioner) - Samir tricks him during chess
-Bedouin clan - Samir reasons with them and refunds them
-Rogue Legion - Monkey tricks them. Details included in another answer so no need to include them here.
-Cid - Cid is no longer being paid after his hirer dies and so leaves off the job.
Monkey describes two occasions on which he was "stoned to death." Describe each of these events and when the occur in the plot. Include whether or not he "dies" and how that impacts him as a narrator.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, Monkey describes how the monks from his old monastery are stoning him for "heresy." He gets knocked down, perhaps passes out, but does not die. Later near the end of the book, the final assassin causes stones to fall from a ledge on him. He is buried, but not harmed. This leads the reader to question some of his account as the narrator.
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, Monkey describes how it was honest of Samir to refund the Bedouins and how no one was ever really hurt by their interactions with him, and how he really was selling his stories as dreams, in a way. Monkey finally decides that Samir is not so bad and realizes that he in fact loves him as family.
Throughout the book, Monkey gives inaccurate impressions of some of the events that happen. Describe the end when Samir and Monkey face the Rogue Legion. Explain the setting around Samir and Monkey and the actions that Monkey takes and what they result in, as well as what Monkey gave an inaccurate impression about. (Include who is hurt, who is unharmed, and why the characters act in this way)
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, when Monkey and Samir face the Rogue Legion, Monkey gives the impression that he stabs Samir, but this is not accurate. Monkey pretends to stab him but is only squirting Samir with the cherry paste. They are on a bridge. Both Samir and Monkey are unharmed even when Monkey pushes Samir off the bridge. Monkey does this in order to protect Samir.
The character Monkey says a few times that when we love someone, we give them a knife. What does he mean by this and what two instances does Omar/Monkey give as examples of this in his narration?
In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Nayeri, Omar means that when we love someone, we become vulnerable to them and give them the power to hurt us. The two examples he gives are of his loving Mara as giving her a knife and of Samir loving him (Omar) and giving him a knife.