What Strange Paradise

Content Warning: This Symbols and Motifs section contains references to distressing scenes, including the death of children.

Allusions to Greek mythology are a common motif in What Strange Paradise. Half of the novel takes place in Greece, presumably on the island of Kos, though the name of the island is never mentioned once Amir is there. Kos shares in Greece’s ancient history; ancient Koans fought alongside the Greeks in the Trojan War according to Homer’s Iliad. The name of the ship, the Calypso, is a direct allusion to another work by Homer, the Odyssey. Calypso is the name of a nymph with whom the hero Odysseus spends seven years, bewitched and distracted from his journey home. This foreshadows the illusory nature of the dreams that the voyage inspires in the refugees, developing the theme of The Limits and Possibilities of Escapism. The name “Calypso” also comes from the ancient Greek word for “concealed”; as the name of the human trafficking ship, it suggests both the vessel’s need to remain concealed and the lower-class refugees concealed beneath the deck.

Vänna’s surname, Hermes, is the name of the messenger god of the Greek pantheon. In addition to serving as a liaison between the gods and mortals, Hermes is also a god of boundaries, including the boundary between life and death.