Haroun and the Sea of Stories Week 2

My Thoughts on the Novel

As of now, I have finished up to and including chapter 7 of Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I am enjoying the novel, but I feel like I am missing a lot of details. There is so much going on in the story and so many different characters and I am having

trouble keeping up at times. It seems like for every character that comes up and every event that occurs, there is a deeper meaning behind it. This is where our discussions are really useful because I begin to realize things that I didn't notice while I was reading. For example, when we were discussing Princess Batcheat, Gup, and Chup, I realized multiple things. First of all, Gup means gossip and Chup means silence. As we looked further into the story we realized that Batcheat means chit-chat and she wants to be in the Twilight Strip, directly between Gup and Chup. This can continue to be analyzed further and further, but it shows how everything in this story has a deeper meaning that readers might not catch the first time around. This might be a good book to read a second time or even a third because the reader will probably experience new insights each and every time. In my first blog post, I didn't know mush about the story or how it would continue. Now, once again, I am pleasantly surprised by the way in which Salman Rushdie writes the novel. It is not as predictable as I thought in the beginning and new surprises keep popping up (i.e. the appearance of Rashid on Kahani).

Analysis at the Meta-Level

I have been continuing to analyze Haroun and the Sea of Stories at the meta-level. The differences between the meanings of Gup, Chup, and Batcheat are one example. By analyzing this, the story itself begins to make a lot more sense. In addition, on page 100 it states, "'If they'll believe that story , they'll believe

anything,' Haroun thought." This once again brings up the point of telling stories that aren't even true. In this quote it seems as if the only reason for telling stories is to lie. Why do we tell stories? Why do we lie? Is it for the same reason? Also, language was used as a tool on page 124. On this page, it says, "the shadow plainly possessed a will of its own. It dodged and ducked, it stretched itself out until it was as long as a shadow cast by the last rays of the setting sun, and then it bunched itself as tight as a shade at noon..." This use of figurative language by Salman Rushdie allows for a better understanding of the strange and unique movements being made by the shadow. Rushdie uses language like this throughout the novel, which adds so much to the story.

Hero's Journey

I am also analyzing Haroun and the Sea of Stories through the lens of the Hero's Journey. As I said in my last post, I am doing this with the use of Joseph

Cambell's Monomyth. As the plot of the story progresses, there are more events to add to the Monomyth. However, it is difficult to determine if a stage of the journey has already occurred or will be coming up later in the text. For instance, one stage is called meeting with the goddess. Could this be when Haroun met Blabbermouth? Batcheat? Will it be someone else? I think I need to keep reading and see what happens in order to properly fill out the Monomyth based on Haroun's journey.

Discussion

I believe our discussion went very well this week. People had multiple opportunities to participate in the pinwheel discussions and large group discussion. However, the time seemed to pass very quickly because we had to switch groups a few times and the class was shortened. In the end, I think this is a very well organized way to run our class discussions. In our discussion, a lot of new insights were brought up. In one pinwheel discussion, the group talked about Chattergy's Wall and how people want to tough it even though they are not

supposed to. Why do people have a strong desire to do things that they aren't supposed to do (both in the book and in real life)? This reminded me of a statement that I hear very often but never thought deeply about: People want what they can't have. Another insight that I found interesting was about Blabbermouth. She says that she has to dress up like a man in order to be respected and have the job that she does. This reminded me and a few others in the class to the movie Mulan, in which a girl dressed up like a soldier so she could fight with the military. Also after the discussion, I am now wondering who is narrating the Haroun and the Sea of Stories and whether or not we will find out in the end.