Plot

The plot revolves around a 13-year-old boy named Agent Number 67 from an unnamed, totalitarian

Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...

 state described as a "mash-up of North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, Communist-era China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, and Nazi-era Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

", as an exchange student to live with an American family from an unnamed Midwestern location as a sleeper agent

Sleeper agent

A sleeper agent is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization, not to undertake an immediate mission, but rather to act as a potential asset if activated...

 to execute a terrorist attack on the United States codenamed "Operation Havoc". Nicknamed "Pygmy" by his American family for his diminutive size, he is introduced into the rituals of modern American life such as enrolling in public school, and going to church. On a trip to Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 with his host brother, in the bathroom he sodomises a bully who had been victimising his host brother. The scene is described in graphic detail. This is only the first of many acts committed by the operative in order to adjust to American life, while preparing with his fellow operatives, also masquerading as exchange students, to execute "Operation Havoc".

Characters

• Pygmy - The protagonist and narrator of the novel, Pygmy is a foreign operative/terrorist sent to the United States under the guise of a cultural exchange program. Since four years of age, Pygmy and his fellow operatives have been isolated from their families and "adopted by the state". They have undergone a highly rigorous training program to become elite soldiers and spies. While the state is highly successful in building Pygmy's fellow operatives into mindless drones, it seems Pygmy continues to foster a spark of self-awareness which develops throughout the novel, eventually developing into human emotions. Ironically, Pygmy becomes a national hero at one point when he saves the lives of many classmates during a school shooting, an event which further jars Pygmy's perception of his motives.

• Cat Sister - Pygmy's nickname for his host sister (other than the operatives, few people's real names are revealed). Pygmy's host sister is shown to be a highly cynical, beautiful girl whose hobbies include electrical engineering
  Electrical engineering
  Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
  
  . Pygmy is attracted to her from the moment he meets her, eventually developing into a strong love for her. It is "Cat Sister" who eventually causes Pygmy to realize his own humanity, and betray his homeland to save her life. She often sneaks into her father's highly secure work place to steal basic office supplies, having perfected the practice enough to refer to herself as a spy.

• Pig Dog Brother - Pygmy's nickname for his host brother, who is portrayed as an immature preteen. At first, the host brother is hostile to Pygmy's arrival, sarcastically taking advantage of the foreigner's lack of understanding of American culture. Pygmy, however, defends "Pig Dog Brother" from the school bully, Trevor Stonefield, on the first day of his arrival in the U.S. Eventually the relationship between the two grows into almost a friendship, with Pygmy even teaching his host brother several of his lethal martial arts moves.

• Donald Cedar (Cow Father) - Pygmy's host father, an overweight
  Overweight
  Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...
  
   stereotypical Midwesterner who does top-secret work for a government contractor
  Government contractor
  A government contractor is a private company that produces goods or services under contract for the government. Often the terms of the contract specify cost plus – i.e., the contractor gets paid for its costs, plus a specified profit margin. Laws often require governments to award contracts...
  
  . Donald also volunteers as a junior pastor
  Pastor
  The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
  
   at the local church, delivering comically nationalistic, jingoist
  Jingoism
  Jingoism is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. In practice, it is a country's advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests...
  
   sermons.

• Chicken Mother - Pygmy's host mother, Chicken Mother is described as such by Pygmy due to her bony, lanky physique. Chicken Mother is a nymphomaniac who frequently steals batteries from various electronics around the house to feed her addiction to vibrators, of which she is revealed to have a large collection.

• Trevor Stonefield - A sadistic bully who in the beginning of the novel is seen harassing Pygmy's host brother at the local Wal-Mart, causing Pygmy to follow Trevor into the public restroom and savagely beat and rape him. From then on, Trevor continues to threaten retribution on Pygmy, until it is revealed by Trevor, at gun point, that his rape led him to realize his own homosexuality
  Homosexuality
  Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
  
  , and that he is now falling for Pygmy. Pygmy, who has no concept of homosexuality, attributes this to Stockholm Syndrome
  Stockholm syndrome
  In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...
  
  . This continued rejection eventually leads Trevor to massacre several students during a Model UN Conference, forcing Pygmy to kill him and thus save countless lives. A forensic autopsy
  Autopsy
  An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
  
   reveals Trevor had been sexually assaulted, leading to the arrest of his innocent father. Prior to his school shooting, Trevor wrote a letter confessing his love for Pygmy, thereby implicating him in his rape, but Pygmy is able to obtain the letter before it can be released.

• Magda - One of the operative/terrorists sent to the United States along with Pygmy, and the only one of the operatives given significant attention and personality throughout the novel. Magda was designated back in their homeland to the permanent life partner/wife of Pygmy and procreate children together to be of future use to the state. She attacks and injures the local pastor administering her Baptism during the ceremony. When Magda later gets pregnant, Pygmy assumes the father to be the local "dirty" pastor whom she attacked, and he retaliates accordingly.

Style

Pygmy is an epistolary novel

Epistolary novel

An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...

. Each chapter is a dispatch from the main character, Pygmy, writing as Agent Number 67, presumably to his home country's government. The book uses incorrect grammar, mostly comical "Engrish

Engrish

refers to unusual forms of English language usage by native speakers of some East Asian languages. The term itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to inadvertently substitute the English phonemes "R" and "L" for one another, because the Japanese language has one alveolar consonant in place...

", written in a detached, scientific tone. Pygmy lambasts American culture and society through its comically biased first person narrative, often with humorous effects. As with many other Palahniuk novels, there are numerous small themes woven throughout the novel. Palahniuk has called these recurring themes the "chorus" in Pygmy, he talks about the fighting moves that Agent Number 67 can use to kill a man in one punch or kick, the frequent recitations of elements of the periodic table, and numerous quotes from historical dictators, politicians, generals, and philosophers.