Analysis Of The Fall Of A City By Salman Rushdie

The Importance of Story “What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” (Haroun and the Sea of Stories, 22). Stories have existed all throughout history and storytelling has evolved significantly throughout the years. Humans, as narrative species are natural storytellers. We tell stories everyday of our lives, whether it is for entertainment, to teach lessons, or to communicate experiences, storytelling is both important and prevalent in our daily lives. Salman Rushdie is an infamous author who is best known for his novel, The Satanic Verses; the novel was very controversial and was even banned in several countries. Rushdie’s novel caused such uproar that a Fatwa -a death sentence- was declared upon him by Islam extremists and Rushdie
and his family were forced into hiding. During the whole ordeal, Rushdie wrote a children’s book called, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. However, in actuality, the children’s book has a much deeper meaning and when major themes are analysed, one is able to truly understand the message Rushdie was trying to convey. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is not only a children's novel, but can also be enjoyed by adults. Haroun and the Sea of Stories, has conflicts and that can appeal to adults, but is purposefully written in a childish manner that is enticing for children. The novel has a prominent theme of censorship and freedom of speech that really expresses how Rushdie was feeling at this point in his life. “‘But but but what is the point of giving persons Freedom of Speech,’ declaimed Butt the Hoopoe, ‘if you then say they must not utilize same? And is not the Power of Speech the greatest Power of all? Then surely it must be exercised to the full?” (Rushdie 119). This quote shows the Hoopoe -a mystical creature- explaining to
Haroun about freedom of speech and how the Chups are at a great loss since they are not allowed to utter a single word and must live their lives in pure silence. This relates to Rushdie’s actual life because he was chastised for writing a novel that was deemed “unacceptable” and was persecuted for simply being free with his words. This particular situation in the story can be quite enthralling for the adult audience since it is a subject that is perceivable their lives. However, the language and storyline is at the same time engaging to the younger audience. Therefore, the situations present in the story appeals to the adult audience and is written in a way that appeals to the younger audience shows how both children and adults would be able to take pleasure in this novel.
The second theme most present in the novel is about the importance of story. The novel is predominately about Haroun desperately trying to help his father become the storyteller he once was. In the novel, Haroun realized the importance of story and wanted to help fix his father. As stated earlier, stories are everywhere! They are both important and necessary in life, in this particular story the reader is shown how dull and boring life can tragically become without stories. “A little bit of one story joins onto an idea from another, and hey presto, . . . not old tales but new ones. Nothing comes from nothing.” (Rushdie 86). This quote shows how all stories come from other stories; that is the whole idea of the archetype. Stories were used to skillfully and effectively teach lessons to the reader. All stories have a lesson or moral, no story is meaningless! Many adults today believe that stories are mainly for children and do not realize that stories can actually teach lessons and apply to their lives as well. Similarly, Haroun and the Sea of Stories may appear to be merely a children’s novel at first glance, but when one actually analyzes the themes present in the novel, it becomes apparent that there is in fact a deeper underlying message in the story. Addionally, Rushdie demonstrates to the audience how without stories a person’s life essentially becomes meaningless. However, the deeper messages may be harder for children to comprehend but adults would easily be able to recognise the true meaning of the story, this again shows how the novel is for all audiences and not just children.
Carl Jung is a psychologist that theorized the idea of the archetype. An archetype is any reoccurring symbol, theme, motif, or situation used in literature. Jung believed that archetypes are derived from the unconscious and are innate ideas that all human beings have. The Archetype of Abandonment is the more obvious archetype perceived in the story. “Haroun’s mother, Soraya, had run off with Mr. Sengupta.” (Rushdie 21). Haroun and his father Rashid were abandoned by his mother at 11:00 am. This abandonment caused such sadness in Haroun and Rashid resulting in the latter’s loss of storytelling. This archetype displays to the audience the tragedy of abandonment and the negative outcome of it; in this case the grief ultimately caused Rashid’s loss of imagination. Salman Rushdie brought the archetype of abandonment into the story to teach the readers the severity of desertion. The archetype also shows adults the impact it has on a family.
The second archetype prevalent in Haroun and the Sea of Stories is the Archetype of the Defender. This archetype is about a character that is motivated to protect something they believe to be significant and valuable. “‘What do you know?’ he said. ‘I did it! I actually managed to get it done.’” (Rushdie 172). At the conclusion of the novel, Haroun was able to save Kahani -the world’s second moon- and get his father’s imagination back. Haroun would be considered the defender in this novel because Haroun defended what he believed was important, which was his father’s storytelling abilities and Kahani’s safety. This is similar to Salman Rushdie’s life since he stood up for his beliefs (freedom of speech) and never stopped writing stories even when a fatwa was proclaimed on him. The purpose of this archetype in the novel was to convey to the audience the importance of standing up for your beliefs. Rushdie did not want his readers to give up hope as soon as went wrong; instead he wanted his readers both young and old to defend their ideals. Therefore, this novel can be appreciated by both older and younger audiences because it teaches his readers about perseverance.
In the short story, The Fall of a City the author Alden Nowlan writes about imagination and creatively.
“The city was as he left it. Yet everything had changed. Always before when he had come here, his flesh had tingled, his eyes had shown with excitement. Now there was only a taste like that of a spoilt nutmeat” (Nowlan). The protagonist, Teddy was initially a very creative boy with a lot of imagination. However, after being berated by his Uncle, his imagination is completely destroyed. There was a time when he looked at his fantasy city with excitement and eagerness but he now looks at it with contempt. This article is similar to Haroun and the Sea of Stories, in the sense that both Teddy and Rashid lost their imaginations. This is truly tragic because imagination is important and can change the way a person sees the world, it also broadens a person’s horizon and helps one think outside the box. Additionally, without imagination everything would be rather bland and uninteresting. Einstein once said “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Einstein, an extremely intelligent individual even recognises the necessity of imagination. Additionally, from a scientific point of view, imagination plays a key role in the achievement of success. Likewise, it is proven that imagination and creativity is compulsorily for the
healthy growth of a human. This is exactly why authors Salman Rushdie and Alden Nowlan wrote novel’s about the destruction of imagination and the consequences. This teaches both adults and children of the importance of an active imagination. In the article I Am Writing Blindly, Captain Dimitri Kolesmikov and his crew were entrapped in their submarine with no escape.
During Kolesmikov’s final moment he wrote one last message for his wife. This is not unheard of. It has also been noted throughout time that when in a dire situation, one feels a compulsion to write notes or letters in their last moments of life. “We are narrative species. We exist by storytelling –by relating our situations– and the test of our evolution may lie in getting the story right” (Rosenblatt). The author of the article, Roger Rosenblatt, states that humans are narrative species which is why storytelling comes naturally to us. This explains the great loss Rashid felt in Haroun and the Sea of Stories when he was unable to tell a single story. Everyone naturally tells stories everyday of their lives, so being unable to story tell can certainly feel horrific. Therefore, the authors Salman Rushdie and Roger Rosenblatt wrote the article/story to demonstrate to the audience that human beings are narrative species and life is hard to live without either telling or listening to stories (since they are prevalent everywhere).
In conclusion, the novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories can be considered both adult and children fiction because the themes and concepts in the story relates to everyone. Rushdie’s story teaches significant lessons to both the young and older readers. However, some of the themes and ideals can only be understood by the older readers.
Lastly, the younger audience will appreciate and enjoy the fantasy present in the novel while the adult audience would actually be able to comprehend the deeper underlying message to the story, the novel is skillfully written in a way that appeals to both children and adults.