Setting

Published in 1995, the short story “Do Not Pass Go” by Jeffrey Archer is set in a realistic socio-historical context, as the reference to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq indicates (Saddam Hussein was the president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003). The sociological and political setting suggests that the events were meant to be read as contemporary to the …

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Physical setting

The physical setting features several places: the airport in New York, on board of a plane, in Iraq, in Turkey, in the airport in Baghdad. The fact that much of the action takes place aboard various forms of transport (plane, train, cars) conveys the idea of movement which makes us think of changes and globalisation. By globalisation we re…

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Social setting

Hamid’s story about his life in Iraq illustrates aspects about Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial regime characterised by corruption and political killings: “The wheat crops had been poor that autumn, and after the People's Army had taken their share, and the middlemen their cut, the Iraqi people ended up with short rations.” (p. 21, ll. 9-12); “…the last three holders of that office having first been sacked, and later disappeared - and everyone in Iraq knew what ‘disappeared’ meant.” (p. 21, ll. 17-19)

As long as Hamid was Minister of Agriculture he had a good life, earning a lot of money, as suggested by the fact that he was able to save “eleven thousand two hundred and twenty-one American dollars” (p. 21, ll. 38-39) in two years. The fact that Hamid felt …