Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories

1151 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Haroun and the sea of stories literary devices

Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer once stated, “Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.” This was a problem faced by Salman Rushdie. After years of suffering from writers block, he overcame his obstacles and published "Haroun and the Sea of Stories". It is not only a story for his son, but a proclamation of the triumph of the writer over the oppressive forces that sought to silence him. When read literally, the resolution of "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" is the defeat of Khattam-Shud as dictator. However, Rushdie’s true resolution is the conquest of freedom of speech over oppression. This is seen in how the characters’ journeys parallel Rushdie’s real life.

Salman Rushdie’s problems all began when he published The Satanic Versus. The leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, called it blasphemous for its irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. Although Rushdie isn’t even Iranian, Khomeini issued a fatwa for his death. He stated, “the author of the book The Satanic Verses, which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet and the Koran, as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, have been sentenced to death.”(Lustig) Rushdie had committed the crime of apostasy, abandoning the Islamic faith, which is punishable by death. Any Muslim that encountered Rushdie had an obligation to kill him, and to disobey the fatwa would be a sin (Lustig). The mandate was broadcast on Radio Tehran, and fundamentally destroyed Rusdhie’s life from that point on. He was forced to go into hiding and was put under the protection of the British government (Allingham). He became famous ...

... middle of paper ...

...speech.

Rushdie didn’t let the lingering of oppression stifle his imagination. He overcame by writing a story that documented his real life suffering through the journeys of the characters. Like Rashid, Salman Rushdie has bettered the world by overcoming oppression in defending the fundamental right for freedom of speech.

Works Cited

Allingham, Phillip. “Salman Rushdie: A Brief Biography.” Lakehead University. 14 Feb 2006.

Dickson, Brian. “The Implant.” Seinfeld Scripts. 22 0ct. 2002. 14 Feb. 2006.

Gardner, Todd. “I am the Walrus.” Turn Me On Dead Man. 31 Aug. 2005. 14 Feb. 2006.

Holcombe, Garan. “Salman Rushdie.” Contemporary Writers. British Council of the Arts. 14 Feb 2006.

Lustig, Robin. “War of the Word.” The Observer Special Reports. 19 Feb. 1989. 14 Feb. 2006.

Shaw, David. “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” 14 Feb. 2006.

Show More
Related

  • Use Of Ethos In Amin Ahmad's I Belong Here

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    However he still feels the burden of discrimination when people judge him before they learn more than just his skin color. If no one takes the time to learn about his success and only look at the color of his skin or the looks of his passport then all of his hard work is for nothing. Ahmad did not let the world’s hate keep him from living his dream. He got passed the poverty and judgment to pursue his education and make something of his self. Not only is this inspiring; it is heat-warming.

    Read More

  • The Power of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

    2126 Words  | 5 Pages

    Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.

    Read More

  • Paradise Now, directed by Hany Abu-Assad

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film explores how resistance, to the Israeli occupation, has taken on an identity characterized by violence, bloodshed, and revenge in Palestinian territories. Khaled and Said buy into the widely taught belief that acts of brutality against the Israeli people is the only tactic left that Palestinians have to combat the occupation. In an effort to expose the falsity of this belief, Hany Abu-Assad introduces a westernized character named Suha who plays the voice of reason and opposition. As a pacifist, she suggests a more peaceful alternative to using violence as a means to an end. Through the film “Paradise Now,” Abu-Assad not only puts a face on suicide bombers but also shows how the struggle for justice and equality must be nonviolent in order to make any significant headway in ending the cycle of oppression between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

    Read More

  • French and Indian War

    2663 Words  | 6 Pages

    Anderson, F., and R.S Stephenson. The War That Made America. Penguin Group USA, 2005. (accessed December 5th , 2013).

    Read More

  • Discuss Orwell's treatment of individualism in 1984

    1525 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rushdie, Salman. `Outside the Whale' Imaginary Homelands: Essays and criticisms 1981-1991 Penguin Books Ltd. (1992)

    Read More

  • The Declaration of Independence and the American Ethos

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clinton, William J. "Our New Covenant." Language Matters. Third ed. Southlake: Fountain Head, 2010. 148-58. Print.

    Read More

  • Compromise of 1877

    2202 Words  | 5 Pages

    Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty. The Reader’s Companion to American History. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991).

    Read More

  • Khaled Hosseini is the Man Who Makes a Difference with His Novels

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    “His people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today” (Hower). Khaled Hosseini’s novels have brought many of his readers a different perspective of Afghanistan. Many people after reading Hosseini’s books start to notice this place more and have sympathy feelings rather negative views about it. Usually people believe the media’s information that conveys about Afghanistan as a poverty place but does not specify why they live in this conditions and how those states affect their everyday life. In the two novels The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author Khaled Hosseini wrote the political events that happen in Afghanistan and show how those events affected Afghans’ lives in order to show his personal values of political events and humanitarianism. Khaled Hosseini uses his and other Afghan’s personal experience to send out his mission statement to his readers. Hosseini said that his message was to get his readers be a part of “the mission of [his] foundation to reach out and help people who are exactly like the characters in [his] books” (Wrenn). Across the globe, people started to give a helping hand when they start to read Hosseini’s novels.

    Read More

  • The Perforated Sheet by Salman Rushdie

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    When discussing the controversial authors of Indian literature, one name should come to mind before any other. Salman Rushdie, who is best known for writing the book “Midnights Children.” The first two chapters of “Midnights Children” are known as “The Perforated Sheet”. In “The Perforated Sheet” Rushdie utilizes magic realism as a literary device to link significant events and their effects on the lives of Saleem’s family to a changing India. In fact, it is in the beginning of the story that the reader is first exposed to Rushdie’s use of magic realism when being introduced to Saleem. “On the stroke of midnight/clocks joined palms” and “the instant of India’s arrival at independence. I tumbled forth into the world”(1711). Rushdie’s description of the clocks “joining palms” and explanation of India’s newfound independence is meant to make the reader understand the significance of Saleem’s birth. The supernatural action of the clocks joining palms is meant to instill wonder, while independence accentuates the significance of the beginning of a new era. Rushdie also utilizes magic realism as an unnatural narrative several times within the story to show the cultural significance of events that take place in the story in an abnormal way.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Stories In Haroun And The Sea Of Stories

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    To many people stories are just a way to pass time, to escape from reality, that they do not serve any real purpose. However in Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie If there are no stories then many of the characters lives would be changed drastically

    Read More

  • The Power of Araby by James Joyce

    1923 Words  | 4 Pages

    It has been such a joy reading “The Norton Introduction to Literature” by Kelly J. Mays. Of all the stories that I was assigned to read, one story in particular stood out to me because of how the author used words to create a vivid image in my mind. The story I’m talking about is “Araby” by James Joyce. James Joyce does a great job creating vivid images in the readers mind and creates a theme that most of us can relate. In this paper I will be discussing five scholarly peer reviewed journals that also discusses the use of image and theme that James Joyce created in his short story “Araby”. Before I start diving into discussing these five scholarly peer review journals, I would like to just write a little bit about “Araby” by James Joyce. James Joyce is an Irish writer, mostly known for modernist writing and his short story “Araby” is one of fifteen short stories from his first book that was published called “Dubliners”. Lastly, “Araby” is the third story in Dubliners. Now I will be transitioning to discussing the scholarly peer review journals.

    Read More

  • Oral Roberts

    1474 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sweet, Leonard I. Communication and Change in American Religious History. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1993.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Araby And The Dead By James Joyce

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Joyce began his writing career in 1914 with a series of realistic stories published in a collection called The Dubliners. These short literary pieces are a glimpse into the ‘paralysis’ that those who lived in the turn of the century Ireland and its capital experienced at various points in life (Greenblatt, 2277). Two of the selections, “Araby” and “The Dead” are examples of Joyce’s ability to tell a story with precise details while remaining a detached third person narrator. “Araby” is centered on the main character experiencing an epiphany while “The Dead” is Joyce’s experiment with trying to remain objective. One might assume Joyce had trouble with objectivity when it concerned the setting of Ireland because Dublin would prove to be his only topic. According the editors of the Norton Anthology of Literature, “No writer has ever been more soaked in Dublin, its atmosphere, its history, its topography. He devised ways of expanding his account of the Irish capital, however, so that they became microcosms of human history, geography, and experience.” (Greenblatt, 2277) In both “Araby” and “The Dead” the climax reveals an epiphany of sorts that the main characters experience and each realize his actual position in life and its ultimate permanency.

    Read More

  • Book Report: Return of the Pharaoh

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perhaps the main reason I liked this book was the unfaltering courage of the author in the face of such torture as hurts one even to read, let alone have to experience first-hand. Where men give in, this woman perseveres, and, eventually, emerges a stronger person, if that is even possible. The book’s main appeal is emotional, although sound logical arguments are also used. This book is also interesting as it shows us another face of Nasir – the so-called “champion of Arab nationalism” – who is also the enemy of pan-Islamism. The book is also proof of history repeating itself in modern-day Egypt.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Prophet's Hair By Sallman Rushdie

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his short story, “The Prophet’s Hair,” Salman Rushdie make use of magic realism, symbolization and situational irony to comment on class, religion, and the fragility of human life. The story is brimming with ironic outcomes that add to the lighthearted and slightly fantastic tone. Rushdie’s use of the genre magic realism capitalizes on the absurdity of each situation but makes the events relevant to readers’ lives. In addition, the irony in the story serves as a way to further deepen Rushdie’s commentary on class and religion. Finally, his use of symbolization focuses on the concept of glass, and just how easily it can be broken.

    Read More

More about Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Open Document