Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Salman Rushdie
-text interpretation by Berendi Camelia, EN-CH-

Haroun and the Sea of stories (1990) by contemporary novelist Salman Rushdie
embodies a versatile story, meant to be read and interpreted as a children’s as well as an adult
book. Being rather playful, it touches on themes of freedom of expression, imagination, belief,
while also being a political allegory on censorship in repressive societies (e.g. Iran). The hero’s
participation in the fantastic battle between silence (repression) and imagination (freedom)
comes in the form of a bildungsroman, the hero having to complete a journey in which he will be
tested in order to reinstate the lost balance of the world and fulfill his destiny.

The story takes place in “the saddest of cities”, in the country of Alifbay, a city so sad it
has forgotten its own name. Haroun Khalifa lives in the middle of the city with his mother
Soraya and his father Rashid, a famous story-teller whose stories are highly in demand, being
often asked to speak for politicians. They lead a blissful, serene life, until one day, when Rashid’s
wife, tired of her husband’s stories and perspective on reality, elopes with their neighbor, Mr.
Sengupta, a man who despises Rashid and his imagination. Mr. Sengupta states that Rashid has
“his head stuck in the air and his feet off the ground,” arguing: “What are all these stories? Life
is not a storybook or a joke shop...What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” After his wife
leaves him, Haroun’s father loses his gift for story-telling and the stories he claims come from
the great Story Sea no longer find their way to him. As this gift was his reason for existing and
his means of procuring a living and Rashid’s spirit being now shattered, Haroun attempts to help
his father reclaim his talent.

In this quest, they get on the Earth’s Second Moon, Kahani, where the great Sea of
Stories has its source. The sea is abounding in innumerable colored currents, the Streams of
Story: “all the stories that had ever been told and many that were still in the process of being
invented.” Kahani is divided into two lands divided by the Twilight Strip, the Gup (of everlasting
sunshine) and the Chup (forever cloaked in a mantle of darkness and silence). The Chupwalas
live under oppression enforced on them by the authoritarian leader Khattam-Shud, the
Cultmaster of the “Mystery of Bezaban...a Cult of Dumbness or Muteness.” Khattam-Shud
opposes the use of stories and speech “for any reason at all”, has begun to poison the Sea of
Stories and is preparing a great Plug to seal the Story Source at the bottom of the Sea. Getting
involved in the epic battle between the two sides, Haroun is aided by numerous fantastic,
whimsical creatures, such as Butt the Hoopoe, Iff the Water Genie, Mali the Floating Gardner
and the Plentimaw Fish.

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 After undergoing various adventures and difficulties, Haroun and his friends finally
succeed in saving the Sea of Stories from destruction and to regain the balance of Kahani by
bringing the light again upon the land of Chup and thus disintegrating the Shadow World of
Khattam-Shud. Getting back to Earth, Haroun and his father awake from their dreams to find out
Rashid’s story-telling gift and his wife returned to him and the people of the sad city being joyful
because the city has recalled its name: Kahani, which signifies “story”.

Many of the Rushdian themes are recurrent in this novel, such as magic realism, politics,
identity and imagination, while preserving the surface tension to the dynamics of the relationship
between father and son. The story can also be read in the light of the personal and political
struggles Salman Rushdie faced after the order of a fatwa (death order) was released against him
by the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, following the publication of Rushdie’s The
Satanic Verses; the book has been interpreted as suggesting that part of the Qur’an was inspired
by Satan, being deeply offensive to Muslims. Partly written in the tumult of this controversy,
Haroun and the Sea of Stories is dedicated to Rushdie’s son and makes a playful statement upon
the issue of silence, oppression, the freedom of speech and the power of story-telling. Rashid, the
story-teller in the book, is clearly a personification of the writer himself who is also confronted
with the troubles of being uprooted, being forced into protective isolation. "Writers have an
opinion about the world and offer arguments about the world. They should offer contemplation,"
Rushdie says. By the metaphor of the poisoned Sea of stories, the writer as well approaches the
issue of toxic, dictatorial cultures such as Iran and North Korea and the power of egalitarian
societies versus the repressive, hierarchical ones’.

In a world that does not value fantasy, we find the question “What’s the use of stories that
aren’t even true?” of pivotal and archetypal importance for this generation. Depleted of the sheer
resourcefulness of imagination, many of today’s individuals reverberate at the idea of grounding
one’s existence in only factual evidence, as Mr. Sengupta’s insipid character, forgetting “that the
real world is full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real.” Khattam-Shud, Mr.
Sengupta’s homologue on Kahani, states that “The world...is not for Fun...the world is for
Controlling,” alluding thus to the governing of the powers of the Mid-East, who pursue a strict
control of their citizens’ actions and beliefs. It is also suggested that power does not necessarily
mean military strength or the imposing of tyrannical measures, but ultimate control and
supremacy comes from the power of the story, capable of engaging one’s imagination and
freeing him from brainwashing (this is materialized in the ending scene where the crowd to
whom Rashid has told the story rise against the corrupt politician Snooty Buttoo). Iff the Water
Genie says: "Anybody can tell stories. Liars, and cheats, and crooks, for example. But for stories
with that Extra Ingredient, ah, for those, even the best storytellers need the Story Waters.
Storytelling needs fuel."

Central to this novel are the meanings of the names and bountiful references to popular
culture. One of the most significant sources is represented by the One thousand and one Arabian
nights collection of Arabic folk tales. The names of the main characters are found as recurring in

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the above mentioned stories, under the name of the character Haroun al-Rashid. Other references
are: Mr. Snooty Buttoo’s boat’s name, Iff the Water Genie (inspired from the Lamp Genie in the
story of Aladdin), the modified story of Rapunzel (in the story Haroun sees after he drinks from
the Sea of Stories). There are also various references to the area of Kashmir, a highly disputed
land between India and Pakistan (Rushdie’s homeland): The Valley of K, The Dull Lake (Dahl
Lake- a lake in Kashmir). The novel has been also vastly influenced by works such as Baum's
The Wizard of Oz, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland.

Regarding the fanaticism revolving around terrorism in the Middle-Eastern countries,

Rushdie makes a brief allusion to suicide bombers when Khattam-Shud’s ambassador tries to
blow himself and the surrounding Guppees up. Another topical, hot debated issue approached is
that of discrimination against women and the equality between sexes. This subject is being
slightly tackled in the scene where the identity of Blabbermouth is being exposed, first to
Haroun, and then to the whole army, resulting in her demise. Her story brings to mind that of the
Chinese ancient hero, Mulan. “You think it’s easy for a girl to get a job like this? Don’t you
know girls have to fool people every day of their lives if they want to get anywhere?” confesses
Blabbermouth.

When comparing storytelling to juggling (“You keep a lot of different tales in the air, and
juggle them up and down, and if you’re good you don’t drop any.”), Rushdie acknowledges the
extraordinary merits of Shakespearian and Elizabethan plays. In an interview, the writer admits
that the ability of Shakespeare to juggle with different kinds of stories and genres in the
confinements of a single play constituted one of his greatest inspirations and influences on his
work. He continues to exemplify by rendering Hamlet as the quintessence of the merge between
different kinds of stories: ghost story, love story, treason, revenge, philosophical discourse on
ontological themes, etc. To Rushdie, the Sea of Stories represents not only the cradle of
imagination, but also the ideal unadulterated framework for creating new stories by means of
transforming and adapting the old ones, while the Streams of Story unremittingly intermingle
and intertwine: “No story comes from nowhere; new stories are born from old- it is the new
combinations that make them new.”

The theme of silence is explored through multiple perspectives in the novel, mainly being
symbolized by Khattam-Shud, who is the antagonist of the story, "the Arch-Enemy of all Stories,
even of Language itself. He is the Prince of Silence and the Foe of Speech". This constitutes an
allegory for the censure and repression under which many artists and writers are obliged to obey
their total silencing.

On the other hand, the conflict between the Gup and the Chup tends to initially favor the
warriors of the light and story, portraying the Chupwalas in a malevolent and critical manner.
However, as the narrative unfolds, it is revealed that neither of them is utterly good or bad.
Rashid thinks, “This is beginning to look like a war between buffoons.” and “neither army will

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even be able to see properly during the fight,” pointing out the futility of war and the folly of
both parties involved in the conflict. Rushdie in visibly in favor of the freedom of speech and
liberal expression, but this also has its downside: it can easily descend into meaningless chatter,
even the name of Gup signifying “gossip”. Loquaciousness and too much freedom of
communication can become meaningless and even obnoxious, useless noise – this is indicated in
the scene where Haroun worries that the arguments of the Guppee army might cause an uprising,
lingering the question: how much is, afterwards, too much? When freedom of speech is not
joined with responsibility and starts to produce chaos and nonsense, it becomes no longer a
freedom, but oppression to others.

As the army advances into the land of Chup, Haroun comes to the conclusion that even
darkness and silence possess a sense of beauty and that shadows cannot exist without the
presence of light. The Shadow Warrior, Mudra, best represents this concept. Although he fights
his own shadow, Haroun observes that “silence has its own grace and beauty (just as speech
could be graceless and ugly). Action could be as noble as Words; and that creatures of darkness
could be as lovely as the children of light” The elegant dance of opposites charms him: “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...a war between Love and Death.” While Khattam-Shud’s
shadow and his acolytes’ have entirely detached from them and thrive in the darkness and
malice, Mudra’s shadow remains connected to him, a perpetual dance of light and darkness.

The Old Zone in the Twilight Strip represents the source of all stories, and it stands for
the oldest sources of stories, religious and spiritual writings. The poisoning of the water conveys
a double connotation. Firstly, it is meant as a criticism to extremist dictatorial religious leaders
who distort and misrepresent the sacred writings in order to mislead and manipulate the people.
Secondly, it can refer to the forsaking of one’s national tradition and ancestral roots, while
modernity strips away the cultural background and customs, as Iff the Water Genie declares: “It’s
our own fault. We are the Guardians of the Ocean, and we didn’t guard it...The oldest stories ever
made...We let them rot, we abandoned them...We lost touch with our beginnings, with our roots,
our Wellspring, our Source.”

Another possible parallel interpretation of the text comes through the psychological,
Jungian lens. Rushdie sees the discrepancy between one’s parts of the psyche that causes the
imbalance in the world. The Earth’s second Moon, Kahani, symbolizes the internal universe of
the characters’ psychological dimension, being divided between the conscious part of the mind
(Gup) and the unconscious (Chup). The duality is being represented, initially, in the ambivalence
of Rashid’s designations: he is the “Ocean of Notions” (for his admirers) and the “Shah of Blah”
(for his opponents). Therefore, his gift of imagination is seen also as a talent and a means of
broadening one’s understanding of the world and as a gibberish and unnecessary preoccupation.

After Haroun’s father is left by his wife on account of his imagination and folly (in her
opinion), he loses touch with an important part of himself and becomes alienated. In order to

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reunite into a whole the two split sides of his being and recover his creativity, he undertakes the
symbolic journey to Kahani, the representation of his psyche. Whereas in the light of the
conscious land of Gup one is at peace with his shadows (the unconscious part of the mind),
rendering it a proper environment for the development of imagination and creativity, in the
darkness of Chup feelings and frustrations are being suppressed and the artistic urge obstructed,
remaining in a stagnant nature. “Something, or somebody, has been putting filth into the Ocean.
And obviously if filth gets into the stories, they go wrong.” – the filth that poisons the Ocean can
be interpreted as negative thoughts in Rashid’s mind implemented by Mr. Sengupta’s negative
remarks regarding the use and power of stories, remarks that have started to intoxicate with
doubt Haroun’s father, too.

Soon, Haroun grows weary of the perpetual light in the land of the Guppees, and
understands that a certain equilibrium concerning the two sides must be achieved, by means of
communication between particular parts of the different areas in the psyche. The difficulty of
exploring the deeper, darker parts of the unconscious is admitted and represented by the labyrinth
of the castle’s corridors and, eventually, by Haroun’s getting caught in a net of blackness.

Furthermore exploring the unconscious, the Shadow Warrior found there fighting his own
shadow denotes the most secret, dark repressed parts of one’s unconscious part, never finding its
way out to the lit consciousness and not being instantly accessible and subject to revelation. The
necessity to make peace with the Shadow is suggested by the fact that it was connected at the
feet to the Warrior, making it just the other half of a whole: “No matter what tricks his shadow
played, the warrior was its equal.” This struggle among the two parts is not to be regarded as
negative and malign; the balance between the two fighters is something to be desired: “Haroun
began to think of their combat as a dance danced in perfect silence, because the music was
playing inside the dancers’ heads.”

There are, nevertheless, Shadows that have divided from the whole and seek to take
control of the person: “in the Land of Chup, a Shadow very often has a stronger personality than
the Person, or Self, or Substance to whom or to which it is joined! … So peace with the
Chupwalas means Peace with their Shadows, too.” These individuals are taken into possession
by their Shadows, as is the case with Khattam-Shud: “…that is, he has separated himself from
his Shadow! He goes about in the darkness, entirely Shadowless, and his Shadow goes wherever
it wishes.” This split personality concept is a recurring Romantic theme, also found in the short
story William Wilson by Edgar Allen Poe. The story’s main character, William Wilson, eventually
ends murdering his double (shadow), here representing his conscience: "In me didst thou exist—
and in my death, see [...] how utterly thou hast murdered thyself." This illustrates the importance
of reaching a balanced state where the shadow is in complete harmony and acceptance with the
conscious and the hazard which can befall one should he be overruled by this unconscious self’s
complexes. Khattam-Shud’s problem resides in the fact that he cannot understand that both light
and darkness must co-habit and he is terrified by the idea that he cannot have everything under
his control: “Your world, my world, all worlds,’ … ‘They are all there to be Ruled. And inside

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every single story, inside every Stream in the Ocean, there lies a world, a story-world, that I
cannot Rule at all. And that is the reason why.’”

Haroun becomes aware that, in order to restore the balance of the psyche and to regain
Rashid’s imagination and creativity, both he and his father must become Shadow Warriors: “In a
way, you’ll be a Shadow Warrior, too.” After the final battle takes place and Haroun returns the
Moon Kahani to its normal condition, the slit shadows disappear and Khattam-Shud’s own idol
crushes him to death. Kahani is no longer eternally divided between the land of darkness (evil)
and the land of light (good), but each part will periodically transition one of these conditions,
balance being consequently restored: “From now on, Kahani will be a sensible Moon … with
sensible days and nights.” “The new government of the Land of Chup …, announced its desire
for a long and lasting peace with Gup, a peace in which Night and Day, Speech and Silence,
would no longer be separated into Zones by Twilight Strips and Walls of Force”. Hence, we see
that there has been finally established a communication between the two parts of the human
psyche, leading to its healing process and the restoration of Rashid’s story-telling gift.

“The positive message the novel conveys is that dictators can be countered in their
arguments and actions and toppled. Furthermore complexes, which can lead a person to
disintegrate, can be healed. The various parts of the unconscious and, assuming Kahani is the
whole of a person’s psyche, the conscious and the unconscious parts interact again with each
other so that the ongoing process of achieving some kind of balance, but not again complete
entropy, has set in once more.”1

So what can one answer to Mr. Sengupta’s question at the beginning of the novel?
Indeed, “what is the use of stories that aren’t even true?” I will conclude with Alison Laurie’s
words: “If there is one encouraging conclusion to be drawn from the recent fate of Salman
Rushdie, it is that literature has power – so much power that it is dreaded by dictators. A single
storyteller like Rashid is more dangerous to a tyrant than an army. ‘What starts with stories ends
with spying ,’ says Khattam-Shud. ‘Stories make trouble.’ So they do; that is one reason we need
them.”

1 p.346., Manecke, Ute, ‘ Salman Rushdie’s concept of wholeness in the context of

the literature of India’, Nottingham, July 2005

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Bibliography
Lurie, A. (1990), Another Dangerous Story From Salman Rushdie, New-York, New-
York Times

Manecke, U. (2005), Salman Rushdie's concept of wholeness in the context of the

literature of India, Nottingham, University of Heidelberg

Rushdie, S. (1990), Haroun and the Sea of Stories. London, Penguin Group