Gender Inequality In Gup City

Haroun, the main character, goes on his first adventure with Iff the Genie and Butt the Hoopoo to reach Gup City. Upon his arrival, we learn Haroun’s father is taken under arrest and is accused of being a spy for Khattam-Shud (leader of Chup City). That was not the case; what really happened was Haroun’s father was protecting himself and if he was not alive then the Gup leaders would have not known where or whom has taken the princesses. The decision was made: Gup City was going to war against Chup. Blabbermouth, a servant of the king, led Haroun to his bedroom and ultimately a discovery was made; Blabbermouth is a female and no one knows about her identity. To extend further more, Rushdie has illustrated the roles of equality for female by …show more content…
Gup city is not peaceful; women are not entirely happen in the city. This can also relate to Rushdie comment of hypocrisy of freedom when not everyone has it. In Muslim cultures, when a male is born to the family a huge celebration in the town is taken place, everyone comes and gives gifts to the family and congratulates them. However, when a female is born there is no celebration. Women are degraded as individuals. Ayatollah Khomeini also did this under his rule by taking away women’s individual rights. Men are handed down “[…] a whole mouth full of silver spoons, […]” meaning they are the golden child in the family, everything that the family owns will be left to him, all its riches. They have nothing to worry about because everything is given to him. Blabbermouth was handed down nothing. She had to disguise herself as a male page worker, live under the support of the king, and every decision she makes cannot be wrong or else she looses her freedom and her equality that she has being a male. She was not born to entertain others; she was born to fight to get what she wants to be who she wants to be. It takes courage and dignity that Blabbermouth said this to Haroun because …show more content…
He said, “What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” Haroun and the Sea of Stories was written for his son, Zafar. When Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, Rushdie was chased out from Iran due his publications on the religion from that country. He went into hiding and did not see him son for a long time. Rushdie did not mean for this novel to be a serious allegory, he hoped for this book to read as a work of fiction for children to use their imagination and for adults to understand the importance of storytelling. Rushdie taught us a significant lesson in his novel, the use of storytelling is important. It leads us to create imagination in our minds and relate to certain situations. With Blabbermouth, one important lesson learned is women have the right to fight what they want to become or be. There is no difference between a man and woman. There is no society either. There are only individual men and women, all respecting and relying upon each other’s