Observations of Haroun ~ week 1

Initially, I was very surprised by Haroun in the Sea of Stories. I was not expecting the Hindu cultural traits that were placed throughout the book. I was pleasantly surprised at how descriptive and detailed this book was, considering we were initially told this was a children's book. It seemed a bit strange how unrealistic the scenery was described as, but I started to love it. My favorite descriptive part was when Rushdie was describing the golden fields that surrounded the Dull Lake and on page 1 when he describes the city as gloomy and says, “It stood by a mournful sea of glumfish, which were so miserable to eat that they made people belch with melancholy even though the skies were blue.” 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4835.Haroun_and_the_Sea_of_Stories

I am reading through an allegorical lens. It is interesting how much my view of the story has changed just by looking at it in a different perspective. An allegory is a story that portrays a moral or lesson or has a deeper meaning. In this case I see it as having a deeper meaning. After finding information on the history of the writing of this book, it seemed as though everything clicked into place. I understood why Rushdie may have written the story with such a wild plot line as he did. During the creation of Haroun the author, Rushdie, was in hiding from a group of people who thought one of his other books, The Satanic Verses, were offensive to thier culture and wanted Rushdie and the people associated with this book dead. Rushdie refused to apologize as he felt he had the right to write about what he wanted. He and his son spent many years in hiding until it was safe for him to come out of hiding. In the story it seems like Rushdie portrayed himself as Rashid in the story. The story's plotline is based around a war between silence and speaking freely, which may have been an emotional conflict Rushdie had with himself during the time he was in hiding. He may had felt guilty for people dying because he wrote his mind on a topic. Yesterday we had a group discussion on the book and it was revealing of each person's different perspectives of this book. I liked how many questions were asked but it was some what uncomfortable when nobody would talk. I also did not like when people directly discuss with somebody in the group, instead I think the person should to share their opinions with everybody else.