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At many points the
narrative appears to be an allegory of American imperialism. The
benevolent character of the state is presented through the
characters of Will and Hand: "Americans pull up, grab the
ball, show them what’s what, drop cash on them and head
back..." The two men seem to embody the image of America as
a "caretaker" of the world, especially in a situation
where ideological and cultural infiltration alone is not enough
to reinforce this image, and financial aid is indispensable for
ultimate dominance and supremacy: "You want the control
money provides`85You want its power. However exercised, you want
its power". Such sentiments epitomise the West’s
philosophy of ‘civilising’ and ‘liberating’ the ‘agonised
souls’ in the rest of the world by distributing money and
taking the responsibility of making the world a better place.
However, Eggers is more concerned about the choices that one
tends to make while giving money. The determination of who is
deserving of such charity is a painful exercise.
Not only are these
somewhat naive men acquainted with the complications involved in
as simple a project as charity, they also realise how difficult
it is to travel around the world because at every step they are
faced with visas problems and convenient flights not available.
They also encounter cultural and language obstacles every now
and then. They do not know what their destinations are, as these
are chosen at random, but this ignorance, says Eggers, is
important to the story: "They’re not very often burdened
by the histories of these countries — though it trickles down
to them here and there — so their interactions with people are
always based on the assumption of good will, which isn’t
always reciprocated, for various reasons, some historical, some
not".
While the physical
journey is taking place, an internal odyssey is simultaneously
going on in Will’s head and it is here that the real action
takes place. Guilt, generosity, profit and sadness are all
brought out through Will’s self-reflexive meditation. He is
lost not only in the outside world but also inside his own head
— "I’ll be talking, and will be interested in what I’m
saying, but then someone`85borrows my head". Absurd and
illogical the expedition might seem, but Will is hopeful of
finding some sort of respite from his internal turmoil in the
end.
By the end of the
novel Will is not liberated from suffering but is comforted by
the realisation that everything has and must have a reason.
Moreover, the novel, when viewed through a different
perspective, seems to play upon the whole idea of ‘liberation’.
The characters are, on one hand, trying to liberate themselves
from their inner mayhem and, on the other, attempting to
liberate the deprived and unfortunate from their destinies,
through philanthropy. This draws direct parallels with the
American ideology of covert liberation of who they consider
oppressed people. Eggers is not interested in the end but
emphasises the importance of the attempt to achieve the end.
This never-ending quest is what life is all about and one cannot
escape it.
The book does not
have a concrete plot and can hardly be called a travelogue. The
comical and farcical exaggerations, on one hand, and the
meditative and inspiring questionings through monologues, on the
other, reveal the genius of the author who, perhaps through his
narrator, is endeavoring to make some sense of living in this
world.
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THE
first run of Dave Eggers’s first novel was self-published through
McSweeney’s Books, an extension of a journal with the same name,
for Eggers believes that "if you care about your writing, then
you care about how it makes its way into the world, and
self-publishing is one good way to make sure it comes out the way
you’d envisioned". The publishing houses, ready to stake
millions on his first work of fiction after the huge success of his
memoir, A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius, were
rather disappointed when the first edition of the book was made
available only through the McSweeney’s web site and a few
independent bookshops. Eggers then goes on to reject the
conventional style of cover design, for You Shall Know Our
Velocity begins on the cover page itself. The prose, with its
internal dialogues, reflective insights, and linguistic acrobatics,
is spell-binding from the very first sentence.
