State of Terror

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-10

Chapters 11-20

Chapters 21-30

Chapters 31-40

Chapters 41-45

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Nuclear Bombs

The terrorist plot in State of Terror concerns three nuclear bombs planted by terrorists in three cities in the United States. The bombs are the main threat in the novel, and they have important symbolic value. Most pointedly, the nuclear bombs represent the unrestrained threat of Bashir Shah. While terrorists can make and use conventional bombs (as evidenced in the bus attacks), the nuclear bombs represent a different kind of threat. The materials and institutional support required to make a nuclear bomb mean that their manufacture is typically limited to nation states, rather than organizations. By making and selling nuclear bombs, Shah demonstrates that he is more dangerous than any other terrorist in history. He does not just want to arm Al-Qaeda with weapons; he wants to challenge the extant system of nation states which hold exclusive privilege over the use of nuclear weapons. In other words, Shah’s nuclear bombs symbolize an existential threat to the global political order.

One of Shah’s bombs is placed beneath the White House. The location has an important symbolic value which also emphasizes Shah’s innovative intentions. Shah and the people with whom he works are seeking to bring down the American political system. Shah hates America, as do the terrorist networks he supplies and the Russian mafia who equip him with materials. At the same time, the High-Level Informant conspiracy inside the White House and political system hate what America has become. By destroying the White House (and potentially most of Washington), they are seeking to claim a symbolic as well as a strategic victory. The White House is a symbol of the American order, so the bomb placed beneath the White House symbolizes the numerous groups’ desire to challenge the American order and plunge the United States into a leaderless chaos and a world in which its institutions cannot be protected or maintained.

By the end of the novel, the protagonists work together to disarm the nuclear bombs. Their cooperation is a useful symbol of the importance of bipartisanship. General Whitehead, President Williams, Ellen Adams, and Pete Hamilton are all political opponents at various stages of the novel, but their cooperation allows them to disarm the bombs and avert the crisis. If the existence of the nuclear bombs symbolizes the existential threat Shah poses to the American way of life, then the disarming of the nuclear bombs symbolizes the importance of bipartisan, patriotic cooperation.

HLI

The High-Level Informant conspiracy is uncovered toward the end of State of Play. In the conspiracy, many high-ranking members of the United States government, judiciary, military, and intelligence services are joined in a plot to collapse the American political system and replace it with a hyper-conservative, quasi-fascist equivalent. According to those involved, the modern United States have become too progressive and decadent and must be brought down. The conspiracy itself permeates the most important institutions in the United States. As such, it symbolizes an inability to trust. Ellen and Betsy spend the novel trying to identify a traitor in their ranks, falsely accusing General Whitehead and dismissing Tim Beecham as potential traitors. That they are wrong illustrates the lack of trust inherent in the system. In a world in which a conspiracy like HLI can exist, trust is an elusive and impossible concept. As the conspiracy shows, the greatest threat to the system can come from within the system itself.

The exact nature of the High-Level Informant conspiracy also carries an important symbolic value. The extreme right wing, ultra conservative politics of people like Tim Beecham, Barb Stenhauser, and Eric Dunn provide a neat parallel to similar ideologies around the world. The Russian President Maxim Ivanov is regarded by Ellen as an authoritarian dictator, while the leaders of Pakistan and Iran are notable for their retrograde views on women and culture. This assortment of apparent enemies is ideologically similar to the members of HLI. The ideology of HLI therefore suggests and symbolizes the true threat to American democracy comes from the reactionary, conservative, authoritarian, and discriminatory beliefs which can be found both home and abroad. By drawing parallels between the conspiracy’s beliefs and the beliefs of the notable enemies of the United States, the novel creates a firm symbol of far right ideology as a danger to democracy.

Perhaps the most important symbolic quality of the High-Level Informant conspiracy is the origin of the danger. Not only does the conspiracy teach Ellen that she cannot trust anyone and remind her that conservative beliefs are a threat to democracy, but the structure of the conspiracy is a reminder of the problems which are extant in her own country. The symbolic implication of HLI is that the rot begins within the system. Until this internal rot is eradicated, external threats are less consequential. The novel ends with a wave of arrests: Supreme Court Justices, high ranking generals, and even a former President are implicated in the scandal. The High-Level Informant conspiracy is symbolic reminder to Ellen and the audience that the only dangers are not to be found in foreign enemies. Instead, more pressing dangers can be found within the existing American political order.

Shah’s Gifts

Bashir Shah’s arrogance is symbolized by the gifts he sends to Ellen. The flowers he sends to her each year are designed to mock her husband’s death and remind her of his ability harm her at will. Each flower arrangement that Shah sends is a symbol of his enduring bitterness and spite. Like others in the novel, he struggles to abandon a feud. At the same time, however, his actions are spiteful and snide. He is a terrorist arms dealer with the backing of a nation state, yet he engages in a petty feud with a widow halfway across the world. Even as Shah attempts to change the entire global political order, he still obsesses over his vendetta against Ellen. The gifts Shah sends are not only symbols of his arrogance and desire for revenge but also of the petty way in which he treasures bullying a woman for telling the truth about his life.

Yet Shah’s desire to antagonize Ellen proves to be his downfall. He cannot restrain himself, so he travels to Pakistan during the terrorist plot that he has set into motion, and he attends the dinner where she is a guest. While disguised as a waiter, he slips a note into her pocket. The note contains a cryptic message containing a reference to the exact time of death of Osama bin Laden. The message is also an important password which Ellen will use to foil the terrorist plot and end Shah’s chances of victory. That Shah gives Ellen the note is a symbolic gesture. His arrogance is such that he cannot envision a world in which she decrypts the message and outsmarts him. Shah is so confident in his plan that he will give his most notable enemy the chance to stop him because he cannot imagine a world in which he fails. The note is the ultimate symbol of Shah’s arrogance, and it directly brings about his downfall.