Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories

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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 ...

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...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.

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