Sophia Jones
Mrs. Knecht
English 9
14 December 2017
Speaking with Stitched Lips
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” This quote, by Joseph Campbell, is the perfect description for the biggest conflict displayed throughout the story. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a novel written by Salman Rushdie. The purpose of the tale was a gift to his son, Zafar, to continue to tell him magnificent stories when Rushdie was not at home. Rushdie was often away, as a previous work of literature, known as The Satanic Verses, caused major controversy over a number of misinterpretations and transitions from the Koran. Rushdie was given an official “death-sentence”, or a Fatwa, and was ripped from his family and forced into hiding. In
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He lacks the imaginative skills that define an individual and drive themselves and those they know towards innovative improvement in all dimensions of their lives. The people of Gup City rely on their active imaginations to problem-solve, and actively voice their opinions on issues that affect them. As the state of the Sea of Stories continues to deteriorate, the Plentimaw fish are left to suffer in the toxic waste and use every last word to yell to all about “All this bad taste! Too much dirt!’ ‘Swimming in the Ocean starts to hurt!’ Call me Bagha! This is Goopy!’ ‘Excuse our rudeness! We feel droopy!’ ‘Eyes feel rheumy! Throat feels sore!’ ‘When we’re better, we’ll talk more” (85). The two fish are openly telling people the problems with the Sea of Stories, which is their very home. The ability to explicitly yell their complications allows for the issue to be addressed and fixed in a more efficient manner. This proactive protest of rights and standards in Gup city would not be made possible without the widespread acceptance of expressive thought. The society of Gup is advancing as a community when the discussions help continue to improve their lives. The Land of Chup is overrun with censorship laws, a fickle, faithless group of strangers with a complete absence of unity among them, which is crippling creative expression and impeding on any innovative progression in the society. While fighting in the battle of Bat-Mat-Karo, Rashid makes an
This is a paper about the book Finding Fish: A Memoir, which was written by Antwone Fisher. By necessity given the nature of the book, the main character will be examined at length. Through careful examination of the main character a deeper understanding of the book can be reached. After the examination, a number of theoretical perspectives will be applied to the main character, as well as an explanation of how these perspectives can be used to evaluate Antwone in order to understand him better. The perspectives that will be used will be the strengths, systems, conflict, humanistic, and psychodynamic perspectives. Following the connection of the perspectives to Antwone, an explanation of why social workers use theories and
In "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", Khattam-shud is a metaphor for Ayatollah Khomeini and Rashid is a metaphor for Rushdie. Khomeini stifled Rushdie’s freedom of speech which caused him to develop writer’s block. He was forced to leave his family to go into hiding, which was the catalyst for his divorce. In the novel, Rashid experiences the same plights. He looses the Gift of Gab and his wife because of Mr. Sengupta, who is Khattam-Shud’s real-world counterpart (155). Khattam-Shud has a cult following called the Zipped Lips, who sew their lips shut as a visual opposition to speech (148). These are extremists, like the Muslim fundamentalists willing to carry out Khomeini’s fatwa. The majority of the Chupwalas do not believe in Khattam-Shud and are only afraid of him (132). Rushdie believes that most Muslims were only afraid of Khomeini, and there was only a small group of zealous extremists that endangered his life.
Many years after the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus still hasn’t returned home to Ithaka. Many believe that he is dead, but the author lets us know that he is being held as a sex captive on the goddess Kalypso’s island. Kalypso has no plans of letting him go to return home either.
The Tragedy of Osiris For the Tragedy of Osiris, I chose to use the Hero’s Journey myth analysis. The hero in this myth is Isis, as she does the most in this myth and brings Osiris back to life. The first part of the hero’s journey is the departure, which includes the call to adventure. This is when the Isis’ husband, Osiris goes into the chest to test if it fits him or not.
In Paolo Bacigalupi’s novel Ship Breaker (2010), Bacigalupi suggests that people are faced with moral or immoral decisions on a daily basis and that what people decide determine their character. Bacigalupi backs up his claim by telling a story of a young man in a future society having to make a monumental choice that could set himself up for the future or that could save a complete stranger’s life. By throwing different variables at the main character, Bacigalupi puts Nailer in sticky situations in order to highlight the everyday decisions we make that has an important effect on our character. Bacigalupi's target audience is teens and young adults that he speaks to in a calm, relaxed tone and he builds a friendly relationship with. Throughout the novel, Bacigalupi develops a theme of class difference in society, creates a magnificent setting, and does a stunning job in enhancing his main character.
“This is Water” will open the reader's eyes by using relatable subjects that the majority of society can understand. The author tries to convey the “ harsh “ truth of society using minuscule tasks can be the hardest
The Book of Job and The Odyssey are stories in which two men experience extremely trying times and attempt to navigate their ways’ through it. They face obstacles daunting to anyone such as a cyclops that imprisons Odysseus and his men in a cave and tries to eat them. Odysseus does whatever he can to overcome the obstacles in his journey. Job is faced with watching his entire family and livestock die from natural disasters and marauders, seemingly out of nowhere. Job does what he knows best to overcome his journey. Both Odysseus and Job eventually make it through their journeys, and receive happy endings. They do it in very different ways however. This is because they have differing beliefs on destiny. Here in lies the most significant difference between Odysseus and Job. Odysseus believes his destiny is in his hands and in suit does whatever it takes to control his destiny. In contrary, Job believes his destiny is in the hands of God, so he places his faith and goodwill with God. This essay will examine the differing beliefs in destiny between Odysseus and Job as well as their drastically different behaviors that support this claim.
In Alistair MacLeod’s The Boat a reoccurring theme appears of whether to follow the fishing tradition or to step away from the familiarity of the sea and create a new life for oneself. The aforementioned passage is a window into the life of a family in which the severity of this topic is unmistakable. In the passage, an argument takes place between a mother and a father regarding the future of their children. The mother is strictly standing for tradition and fears losing her daughters to businessmen and city folk from afar; meanwhile, the father stands up for his daughters as he wants to allow them to leave in order to further their education and make a new life for themselves. The reader sees this altercation unravel from the eyes of the youngest child (who is also the narrator) as he is peaking in through the door. In this passage a tense atmosphere is evident; MacLeod used a creative yet powerful style of writing to magnify the gravity of the situation and to further the rest of his
Throughout Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie provides a fundamental, yet intricate variety of literary usage. These instances of literary usage provide and framework of support for the text which is to follow and to further accentuate the smaller and unnoticeable details of the story in to vital parts which are necessary for better comprehension and understanding of the meaning of the upcoming events. Symbolism is the most commonly used and most imperative literary device used by Rushdie. 'With the land of Chup, on the dark side of Kahani?This looks like the doing of the leader of the Chupwalas, the Cult master of Bezaban.'(H.S.S. Pg 75) This statement from the text has a very symbolic meaning behind it, both in terms of the
As human beings everyone suffers but we all suffer differently. Some suffer emotionally, some suffer physically, some suffer mentally. And through suffering and pain we gain different experiences, we either overcome pain and sorrows or we break down waste our lives. Edwidge Danticat present the theme of suffering in each of her stories. In all the stories the characters have to go through pain, but they all over come it in different ways. This is true in real life too. in the children of the sea that characters suffer but the outcome is that, in 1937 the outcome is inner peace, and My outcome is discovering myself.
In the Hebrew Bible and The Odyssey there are heroic figures that play an important role through out each of the books. These heroic figures from the Bible and The Odyssey have many similarities and differences that reflect the different cultures they are from. These heroes are called upon by greater beings, such as gods, to complete difficult journeys and or tasks that the god has made them destined to complete. Each of these legendary heroes demonstrates a particular culture’s needs. Through these journeys and or tasks they are forced to overcome challenging obstacles and make sacrifices.
During his visit to Kahani,Haroun crossed the twilight strip which led them to an evil and forbidding region, “It was a suicidal mission, Haroun became convinced they would be defeated”(121),but after he saw Mudra a shadow warrior his opinions changed. Mudra was performing a martial dance,”The dance of the shadow warrior showed him that silence had its own grace and beauty...and that action could be as noble as words;and that creatures of darkness could be as lovely as the children of light”(125). This emphasizes the change Haroun went from seeing the evil in the Chups to seeing the beauty. Not only did stories change Haroun they changed the people in the Valley of K as well. Rashid told them “Haroun and the Sea of Stories”. The crowd became so impacted by the story they sang along and interacted with Rashid. Eventually the citizens were able to connect and sympathize with people from the land of chup. They realized how their ruler resembled Khattam-Shud and were able to choose leaders they actually liked. Storytelling takes us on a journey that lets us experience moments in a way reality doesn't let us;it changes us in a way no one else
First, Amir’s relationship with his father, Baba, helped create Amir’s identity. Their intricate relationship often left Amir feeling worthless as if he could not live up to the standards of a Pashtun. This negatively impacted Amir growing up; his values constantly changed as he tried to form a close bond with his father. Baba raised Amir to believe that everyone in Afghanistan had a certain role to play in life, but they should all be treated with respect. Baba’s values made Amir think he had disappointed his father. The high expectations that Baba had for Amir showed that he cared about their reputation. Being the child Amir was, he translated Baba’s hardness as though his father were unhappy to have a child such as Amir. Amir recounts the emotion displayed on his father’s face after an afternoon together; he laments, “Mostly I will never forget Baba’s valiant efforts to conceal the disgusted
The story is based on the life and journey undertaken by Amir, the protagonist. Hosseini expresses essential ideas in his novel through the themes of redemption/atonement, the relationship between father and son and lastly, the theme of degradation/discrimination. The author expresses these themes through the setting and characterization. Hosseini presents characters from different social status in Afghanistan and how this affected their childhood. Amir despite coming from a privileged class had to work hard for his atonement by going back to Afghanistan to face his demons as well as to mend his relationship with his father who had rejected him since his birth. On the other hand, Hassan, from the minority class suffered because of his social status after he was abused and mistreated by those in power. The Kite Runner is a story about two boys who grew up in different worlds because of the presence of various social classes in
Rushdie uses opposites frequently throughout his book and one of them deals with the lands of Gup and Chup. In the novel, Haroun explains "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" (114). In the story, Gup represents the West where we value freedom of speech, whereas the land of Chup represents the East. Kattam-Shud, the dictator of Chup, wishes to poison the Sea of Stories in order to silence the stories forever because he believes "Inside every single story . . . there lies a world . . . that I cannot Rule" (151). His sign is a symbol of stitched lips which points to that he represents censorship unlike the Gups who value freedom of speech tremendously. However, the importance of free speech doesn't mean one should always speak, unthinkingly. Haroun observes that "Silence has its own grace and beauty (just as speech can be graceless and ugly) . . . Action could be as noble as Words" (115). Rushdie argues that a society must have a healthy balance of speech. Silence in itself is not a bad thing, but forced silence