Addiction

Darashikoh’s life is negatively altered forever due to his addictive personality. Through the course of Hamid’s novel, Darashikoh develops a heroin addiction, but his reliance on substances is not limited to this particular habit. Darashikoh is a regular smoker, mainly of marijuana products (specifically hash), as well as a tobacco user. He additionally recreationally uses ecstasy with some frequency during the course of the novel. However, none of Darashikoh’s addictions prove as self-harmful as his addiction to Mumtaz.

Darashikoh’s dependency on Mumtaz mirrors the attraction a moth feels to a flame. Manucci claims: “The poets say some moths will do anything out of love for a flame” (150). The moth is a symbol for attraction to that which will cause harm to the admirer. Darashikoh recognizes the similarity between his feelings for Mumtaz and the feelings a moth experiences when seeing fire. He...