Sammy Lew
Language Arts
November 16, 2014
Haroun and the Sea of Stories In Haroun and the Sea of Stories, through the usage of literary devices, Salman Rushdie explores the freedom of speech in his novel, while metaphorically relating to past experiences in his life. From this, Salman Rushdie narrates the journey of a boy named Haroun, and his quest to reclaim his father, Rashid’s lost storytelling skills, having lost his muse, his wife, Soraya, whom had left him and fled with Mr. Sengupta, the clerk living above them, “Rashid Khalifa, the legendary Ocean of Notion, the fabled Shah of Blah, stood up in front of a huge audience, opened his mouth, and found that he had run out of stories to tell.” (Rushdie 22); relating to his past experiences …show more content…
This fatwa, to which was a death threat, lead Salman Rushdie to go into concealment for a decade, restricting his ability to publish more stories, silencing him; relating to Rashid’s lost voice in storytelling. A decade later, subsequently after his reappearance into society, he published a new book, Haroun and the Sea of Stories; to which was a novel heavily influenced by his past experiences of being silenced by the fatwa. An example of this can be drawn from the metaphorical connection between Khattam-Shud and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in which they both restrained and silenced him, “’Your world, my world, all worlds,’ came the reply. ‘They are all there to be Ruled. And inside every single story, inside every Stream in the Ocean, there lies a world, a story-world, that I cannot Rule at all, And that is the reason why.’” (Rushdie …show more content…
Having said this, the author discloses various elaborative arguments about the purpose of fictional stories in his novel, in the form of metaphorical opposing sides, examples including stories vs. silence, warmth vs. cold, light vs. dark, and imagination vs. boredom; all tracing back to his original question regarding the purpose of fictional stories. These connections, being a metaphor for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and him, and the Gup and the Chup are narrated as conflicting opposites, “‘Gup is bright and Chup is dark. Gup is warm and Chup is freezing cold. Gup is all chattering and noise, whereas Chup is silent as a shadow. Guppees love the Ocean, Chupwalas try to poison it. Guppees love Stories, and Speech; Chupwalas, it seems, hate these things just as strongly.’ It was a war between Love (of the Ocean, or the Princess) and Death (which was what Cultmaster Khattam-Shud had in mind for the Ocean, and for the Princess, too).” (Rushdie 125). These metaphors between the Gup and the Chup are stressed at multiple points in the story, an example of this is the metaphor between eternal day and perpetual darkness, between the Gup and the Chup, “ “ (Rushdie
Language Arts
November 16, 2014
Haroun and the Sea of Stories In Haroun and the Sea of Stories, through the usage of literary devices, Salman Rushdie explores the freedom of speech in his novel, while metaphorically relating to past experiences in his life. From this, Salman Rushdie narrates the journey of a boy named Haroun, and his quest to reclaim his father, Rashid’s lost storytelling skills, having lost his muse, his wife, Soraya, whom had left him and fled with Mr. Sengupta, the clerk living above them, “Rashid Khalifa, the legendary Ocean of Notion, the fabled Shah of Blah, stood up in front of a huge audience, opened his mouth, and found that he had run out of stories to tell.” (Rushdie 22); relating to his past experiences …show more content…
This fatwa, to which was a death threat, lead Salman Rushdie to go into concealment for a decade, restricting his ability to publish more stories, silencing him; relating to Rashid’s lost voice in storytelling. A decade later, subsequently after his reappearance into society, he published a new book, Haroun and the Sea of Stories; to which was a novel heavily influenced by his past experiences of being silenced by the fatwa. An example of this can be drawn from the metaphorical connection between Khattam-Shud and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in which they both restrained and silenced him, “’Your world, my world, all worlds,’ came the reply. ‘They are all there to be Ruled. And inside every single story, inside every Stream in the Ocean, there lies a world, a story-world, that I cannot Rule at all, And that is the reason why.’” (Rushdie …show more content…
Having said this, the author discloses various elaborative arguments about the purpose of fictional stories in his novel, in the form of metaphorical opposing sides, examples including stories vs. silence, warmth vs. cold, light vs. dark, and imagination vs. boredom; all tracing back to his original question regarding the purpose of fictional stories. These connections, being a metaphor for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and him, and the Gup and the Chup are narrated as conflicting opposites, “‘Gup is bright and Chup is dark. Gup is warm and Chup is freezing cold. Gup is all chattering and noise, whereas Chup is silent as a shadow. Guppees love the Ocean, Chupwalas try to poison it. Guppees love Stories, and Speech; Chupwalas, it seems, hate these things just as strongly.’ It was a war between Love (of the Ocean, or the Princess) and Death (which was what Cultmaster Khattam-Shud had in mind for the Ocean, and for the Princess, too).” (Rushdie 125). These metaphors between the Gup and the Chup are stressed at multiple points in the story, an example of this is the metaphor between eternal day and perpetual darkness, between the Gup and the Chup, “ “ (Rushdie