The American Dream
When Alan comes to Saudi Arabia, he brings a lot of imagery with him in his point of view. He still sees the trip through the lens of the sale. If he makes the sale, it will be a "good" trip, and if he fails to make the sale, it will be a "bad" trip. Also, he notices the jarring differences between what life is like in Saudi Arabia, and he thinks he will pass through that new imagery to return back to America where he feels comfortable. When he thinks about America, he thinks about the narrative that shapes his culture, and it's one that makes him comfortable. He is a product of the American Dream.
Middle Eastern monarchy
Compared to the business of America, the king in Saudi Arabia is quite a difficult sale. But, is it because of the king himself? Not really. It's secretly the imagery that is daunting to Alan. He isn't used to such unabashed demonstrations of wealth and power with absolute command. Alan is asked to encounter a man at the top of a power hierarchy that is disallowed by his own culture, so there is a serious self-esteem crisis as he works through the complicated emotions that the encounter brings up in him. It makes him doubt himself.
Illness and death
Alan seems completely trapped in a nightmare until one day, something horrible happens. He is freed from the American Dream and the power crisis of the Saudi king; he is freed from whether he makes the sale or not. And how? He gets cancer. By the way, he finds this out during a night of binge drinking, another note in the chord of "illness." The scenery of sickness is the arena where Zahra saves Alan, and Alan is changed by his foray into the possibility of death. His priorities change forever.
Intimacy through imagery
The use of sexual imagery is part of a broader use of imagery that depicts the intimacy between Alan and Zahra. Their dance starts with a polar rejection—they push each other away like magnets facing the wrong way. Then, through time, they become more intimate. Their use of intimacy is experimental, at least until Zahra helps Alan with his surgery. Then, they have sex, and the imagery is completed. They end up together as soul mates.
