Haroun and The Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie is a story about a young boy, Haroun Khalifa whose father, Rashid, a famous storyteller, lives with his mother in the country of Alifbay. However, Haroun’s father loses his gift of storytelling when his wife elopes with his upstairs neighbor. Haroun endeavors to restore his father’s abilities of storytelling, therefore embarks on an adventure to another planet where he becomes friends with incredible creatures and gets involved in the battle of speech and silence. Through these battles, Haroun succeeds in restoring his father’s storytelling abilities and his mother eventually returns home. Throughout the novel, the author has used numerous allegories with hidden meanings. Notably, the narrative is also autobiographical in nature as it describes the author’s life after getting a death sentence because of publishing the controversial Satanic Verses . In his adventures, Haroun’s determination takes him to the magical land of Kahani where he learns about Khattam Shud, the archenemy of language and speech. Cultmaster Khattam-Shud wants to use fear and destruction to rule the planet of Kahani. Overall, this paper will explain the novel’s specific critique of bureaucracy and the specific dangers that bureaucracy poses to a good society.
Bureaucracy refers to a system of government whereby an authoritative leader makes every important decisions rather than elected individuals. Moreover, bureaucracy is a complicated administrative method used by totalitarian leader to control the society. Majorly, the novel explains the contrast of speech and silence, highlighting the two different parts in the magical land of Kahani. In particular, the Chup’s society in Haroun and The Sea of Stories struggles to effectively work together to defeat the Gup city. When faced with war, the bureaucratic society of the Chupwalas under Cultmaster Khattam-Shud’s leadership spirals in confusion (Stubbings, 2017). The society is incapable of forming an army that has the capacity to wage war and effectively coordinate its soldiers through exceptional communication. As such, the Guppies exploit the weakness in communication, thus conquering the Chupwalas. Since the Guppies are able to communicate freely because of the freedom of speech, they are able to work in unison in conquest. On the other hand, the bureaucratic nature of the Chupwalas’ society does not allow the people to speak freely in their day-to-day activities, causing their ultimate defeat in against the Guppies.
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The ruler and kings in Kahani are named accordingly. A totalitarian ruler, Khattam Shud whose name means the end of speech, rules the Chup land while the king of Gup land Chattergy and princess Bitcheat all have the meanings of chatting and speaking. Khattam Shud is a dark and shadowy figure in the novel that causes trouble by controlling the people in Chup land. Interestingly, Khattam Shud wants to control planet Kadish by stopping the Wellspring of the Sea of Stories. He is “ the Arch- Enemy of all stories, even of Language itself,” who reserves himself the right to speak while denying others the same privilege. During the battle between the two societies, Haroun plays a significant part in helping the Guppies win the war (Rushdie, 2014). He becomes a volunteer spy for the army because of his love for stories. However, he together with Butt, Iff, and Hoopoe, Mali, and Plentimaw, they are captured in nets and taken to a giant black ship.
In the ship, Haroun perceives everything as shadows and Kattam Shud’s shadow appears as measly, tiny, and weakly man. In the novel, Rushdie explains that a perpetual darkness exists in the land of Chup of which the shadows are the rulers. Particularly, the shadows are depicted as separate from their owners, thus they are individual entities. Rushdie uses the analogy of shadows to point to the conscious mind of every individual that is usually at constant war with the subconscious self (Rushdie, 2014). While the subconscious normally strives to assert itself, the conscious is always in control. Through his shadow, the Cultmaster informs them that stories are useless and inefficient and that is the reason they are being destroyed using poison. Khattam Shud’s plan progresses well until Haroun uses the bottle of Wishwater given to him by Iff to wish that the moon in Kahani would turn its axis and flood Chup with light, after he realizes that the Khattam Shud’s shadow can only exist in total darkness. After a few minutes, the entire land is bathed in sunlight. In addition, every shadow in the ship begin to fade away and the poison is destroyed after everybody is free.
Khattam Shud sends an emissary to the Gup’s army, back in Chup. The ambassador pulls out a bomb, which is stopped by Balbermouth’s quick reaction from blowing up. The battle between the two armies begins. Since the Guppees normally have open and honest communication amongst themselves, they fight as a formidable team. Conversely, the Chupwalas do not trust each other because of their silence imposed on them by Cultmaster. The moon begins to spin as a great earthquake occurs as the battle ends. The real Khattam Shud is crushed by the fall of the statue of Bezaba. Notably, this signals the end of bureaucracy in Chup. Consequently, peace prevails and all worriers receive promotions within their ranks. Rushdie highlights the foolishness and futility of war by explaining how the two warring parties clash (Stubbings, 2017). Indeed, his description of war is foolish and comical. In a subtle way, Rushdie elaborates on the dangers of bureaucracy that can lead to loss of lives, thus indicating the uselessness of war.
After the war, Haroun is informed that he must see the Walrus before he leaves. However, he learns that it was all a joke since all his friends were in the Walrus office; therefore, he is not in trouble. The Walrus tells him that because of his bravery in the battle, he must be given a happy conclusion to his story. Nevertheless, Haroun doubts the possibility of a happy ending, but wishes for his city to no longer be in fear and sadness. Haroun wakes up in the Valley of K where Rashid, his father is preparing to give a political story. Rashid tells the story of Haroun and The Sea of Stories, which the crowd loves and inspires them to turn against their autocratic leader, Mr. Buttoo. As Haroun and Rashid are returning home, they are soaked by the rain. Haroun asks why the sad city dwellers are jubilating while dancing (Stubbings, 2014). Rashid tells him that the city has reclaimed its name, Kahani, which means ‘story’, which symbolizes the end of bureaucracy represented by Khattam Shud, signaling the beginning of free speech and language.
One specific danger that bureaucracy poses to a good society is the evil of denying the freedom to communicate and experiencing delight in the world. Cultmaster Khattam-Shud’s figure in the narrative, who appears to be weak, skinny, and sleazy, does not portray a cruel individual. Similarly, a good society has enemies of freedom of speech who might not appear as warlords or authoritative leaders, but bureaucrats with exceptional academic qualifications. In addition, Haroun’s world of ambiguity and conflicts illustrates the adversity of bureaucracy as represented by shadows. Overall, there is need for conflict at the foundation of a successful and happy ending story, which should be surmounted by full struggle. The censorship of speech and language in the novel can be related to the life experiences that different societies have. Generally, bureaucracy negatively affects the freedom of speech, which is inherent in storytelling.
References
Rushdie, S. (2014). Haroun and the sea of stories . New York: Penguin
Stubbings, H. (2017). Khattam-Shud? The only evil in a sea of stories is no words at all. Retrieved from https://medium.com/world-literature/khattam-shud-1efcf0a8a1eb
