The Royal Flush by Lori Pollock

The short story "The Royal Flush" written by Lori Pollock deals with environmental and social issues. The story revolves around Lindsey, who is a young graduate who is going to Bangladesh, Dhaka to initiate a sustainability project..

The story is told as a third person narrative and is seen from Lindsey´s point of view, who also is the protagonist of the story. The way the story is written, lets the reader know Lindsey and what she is thinking and feeling. The story also has an open ending, so you can interpret the way you like.
In the beginning of the story, which also starts out in medias res, we meet Lindsey and her father who are eating dinner at a restaurant. Lindsey is going to Bangladesh.
Lindsey, who is the main character, has a strong desire and a sense of justice. She travels to Bangladesh to help people who are less fortunate that she is.
Before she went to Bangladesh, Lindsey lives with her father on a farm. We do not get to know much about her mother, only how Lindsey feels about her “Your mother would have been proud, too.” Lindsey looked down at the mention of her mother” (P.1.L.26-28) Lindsey does not like to talk about her mother and the way she behaves could indicate that her mother is dead.
Lindsey´s age is not mentioned in the story, but her actions and the way she behaves towards her father, indicate that she acts older than she really is “Lindsey had signed up her father for “More to Meals than Meat” (…)She was worried he’d get scurvy” (P.1.L.20-21) She is worried about his health and therefore tries to “convert” him to be a vegetarian like she is.
Major part of the story is set in Bangladesh and Lindsey probably lives in the USA in the beginning of the story. The fact that Lindsey is going to Bangladesh, could be a contrast between “first world problems” vs. “third world problems”. In the beginning of the story, Lindsey is concerned with eating “ethically” right, because she is concerned how the animal was treated before it got slaughtered. However on the other hand, a poor Bangladeshi is concerned with getting any food at all.
Lindsey´s beliefs are being tested in Bangladesh, because she is confronted with very different values and beliefs. She wants to help those in need but again, her own beliefs and values are being tested when she meets the rickshaw system of public transportation. “I’m not comfortable with… with another human being pulling me like an animal – ” (P.2.L.42-43)
Lindsey believes she is working on a project meant to “facilitate sustainable initiatives with a focus on water conservation” (P.1.L.60-61) when in reality she is expected to install some toilets in an apartment building, much to her displeasure. However, she believes that by installing ecological toilets she will “revolutionize the lives” (P.2. L.70) of the local community, but in the end, her hard work would end up damaging to the residents of Royal Commemorative, who now was unable to pay the higher rent and forced to move out.
As a guest in a foreign land, Lindsey tries to bond with the locals by offering them gifts “– organic teas, impossibly small bottles of maple syrup, and shiny barrettes, offerings she had no way of knowing would be quickly hawked at the night bazaar” (P.3.L.92-93). But what Lindsey did not know, was that her generosity got treated with utter disrespect, by being immediately sold on the black market.
The contrast between expectation and reality is an obvious indicator of Lindsey’s naïve state of mind and her shallow understanding of the culture and society there is in Bangladesh´s poor areas.
“The Royal Flush” is about searching for an identity, prejudice, guilt, and generosity. Up until the twentieth century, the western world viewed foreign and exotic peoples and nations as primitive, undeveloped and uncultured, and the western world felt as if they had the right to rule or dominate them. “The Royal Flush” explores these changes through the naïve Lindsey. It also explores her personal growth through contact with a community who she thinks she understands, but in reality does not. Prejudice is still present in our understanding of other cultures, but can be conquered with empathy, selflessness, and generosity.
“The Royal Flush”  makes the reader immediately  think of the highest ranking poker hand, a symbol of luck or skill. However the real meaning of “The Royal Flush” is the toilets from the Royal Commemorative building. The title might symbolize what Lindsey thinks of her hard work in “The Royal Commemorative Estates” She was supposed to help low-class people, but instead she realises, she did it for Abi who was not poor at all.

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