Dominic SullivanMrs. Taylor Per. 3Haroun Paragraphs1) In Haroun, and the Sea of Stories, one of the mains themes set up by the author Salman Rushdie, is the importance of stories in world. More specifically, in Haroun’s; the son, and Rashid; the father’s, life.
The mom of Haroun, Sorya, get angered by Rashid’s constant obsession with storytelling, and overtime she shows signs of not being interested in Rashid anymore, which Rashid doesn’t see, which of course angers her even more. Then, abruptly, she leaves both of them with her lover, Mr. Sengupta.
Haroun overheard them earlier talking, and Mr. Sengupta had been criticizing Rashid’s storytelling, when he said, “what’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” (20). Later, when they find out that Sorya left them, Haroun gets mad at his father for “..
.Sounding so pathetic,” (22), he then yells the same thing that Mr. Sengupta says, at Rashid, “Whats the use of stories that aren’t even true?” (22). He immediately regrets saying it, saying that he “wanted to get those words back, to pull the out of his father’s ears and shove them back into his own mouth,” (22). This is very important for the entirety of the book, as the whole adventure stems from Haroun yelling at his father, and the theme of the importance of storytelling is repeatedly brought up throughout the book. When his father’s downfall insues, Haroun takes all the blame for it, and that makes him incredibly motivated to get his father back to what he was.2) Salman, when writing the battle between the Guppies and Chupwalas, generates the theme of the unnecessity of war. It represents Salman’s idea on the reasons for war in the real world, whatever reason they might start.
By making certain details of the battle, he expressed his views. One example, is in the beginning of the battle, when the soldiers, in order to keep their noses warm, put on nose-covers that Rushdie describes as, “..
.little spherical nosewarmers that gave them the look of circus clowns, except that the nosewarmers were black” (179). Rushdie compares directly to a clown, establishing the theme of silliness. The generals wore red noses, which looked even more silly, which Rushdie pointed out while Haroun watched the generals meeting together, and the soldiers even had strange halos around their helmets. Rashid even states that; “Really, this is beginning to look like a war between buffoons,” (179). Another way Rushdie established the theme was in the overarching plot of why the war started; the two sides couldn’t communicate. By the end, Haroun finds out that the only other reason why the Chupwalas went to war, was that they were afraid, not because they were in danger, but because they didn’t want to lose, it was too embarrassing.
Multiple times, Rushdie shows thiseven when the battle is about to start, and Rushdie described the Chupwalas as, “Looking too frightened to lose,” (184). The army of Chupwalas weren’t scared to go to war because it was incredibly dangerous, but instead because they didn’t want to lose, just for sake of winning. The battle isn’t about anything that most wars are made out to be, instead it is only silliness. These quotes make Rushdie’s message of his views on war come across very clearly.
