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Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie graduated from King’s College, University of Cambridge where he read history. He is a British Indian Novelist born 0n 19 June 1947.He is well known for writing historical criticism and travel writing. His genre of writing is magic realism, postcolonialism and satire. He initially worked as a copywriter in an advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather. He wrote his novel Midnight Children (1981) at Ogilvy before he became a full time writer. This work of his won the 1981 Booker prize and in 1993 and 2008, was awarded the Best of the Bookers as the best novel to have received the prize.
He has won many awards for his literary work including the European Union’s Aristeoin Prize for Literature. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.
He wrote various novels like Grimus, Satanic versus, East West, Fury, Shalimar the crown, The Enchantress, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Jaguar Smile etc.
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a total of eleven novels. He is also the co-editor of the Vintage Book of Indian writing. His second novel is Shame(1983) in which he discuss About the political issue of Pakistan.
Shame won France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book) and was a close runner-up for the Booker Prize. This Book comes under the postcolonialism and is written in the shades of magic realism.
Shame comes under the genre of magic realism. The title of the book with context to the theme depicts itself.
It is published under the publication of Jonathan cape 0n 08 September 1983. Shame includes Violence, shamelessness, heritage, and the whole expression 0f all these themes on the individual protagonist Omar Khayyàm and Sufiya Zinobia. It is transformed from simpleness to violence over the time you read the novel. It has history, myth, politics and fantasy. This is a novel which has comedy and seriousness simultaneously. Rushdie describes about an imaginary place which is not Pakistan in its literal terms or we can say he talks about ‘’ not-quite Pakistan’’ after its independence from the colonizers. According to Rushdie the people of Pakistan do not value themselves and view themselves as objects because they are still not over the effect 0f the colonizers and the shame they put them through. Rushdie also states that he is not only talking about Pakistan but he has described about his own fictional country with slight angle to reality. The main protagonist in the novel is Omar Khayyam and Sufiya Zinobia. Sufiya is mentally retarded and is treated by Dr. Omar Khayyàm who falls in love with her and later they marry. Sufiya takes all the shame on her the unfelt and felt and so her inner beast takes over her. Dr. Omar Khayyàm and Raza hyder discovers it and imprison her. In the end the beast in Sufiya overpowers her and she beheads her husband in bed. The title goes well with the basic theme of the novel Shame. The result of her shame lead to an act of violence which tremble the heart and soul of Rushdie’s audience.
This novel discusses about various themes set in the ‘Q’ town of Pakistan as described according to the author . The theme of shame itself is very understandable on how a girl takes the shame of people on herself and the effect of that on her life and the people around her.
The theme of love is very well described in the novel as to how a person who is raised to live a life without shame falls in love with a girl full of shame, guilt and also that she carries the shame of other people upon her but love is beyond everything and love comes with no conditions attached. Despite of knowing that his marriage will not be entirely complete that he won’t be having any physical relations with her due to her physical health struggles he still marries her.
This novel also contains the theme of political ideologies and politics in Pakistan during that time. The partition in 1947 have also effected in the politics of Pakistan . This novel is a political parable of Pakistani political world. It mainly talks about the lives of two men Raza Hyder who is a General in military and Iskander Harappa who is a politician and a millionaire. Both of these characters are based on the real life character of people of Pakistan. Both of the characters are based on the former President and Prime Minister of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq and Zulfikar ali Bhutto respectively. The author has described Shame as the characteristic representation of Pakistan. The novel also focuses on the dominance of military leaders on the political leaders of Pakistan.
It is a combination of historical, political and social issues in Pakistan. The postcolonial rulers in Pakistan and their authoritarian measures divided the people of Pakistan into two sections that are opponents to each other. The first part comprises of the local population of Pakistan and the second part comprises of the emigrants arrived from India in partition period.
There has been three wars fought between India and Pakistan and so on. Thus, Rushdie has depicted the politics of Pakistani religious leaders and extremist groups which led Pakistan to downfall.
In this novel it is very well depicted that violence is born out of shame. He talks about the cultural problem directly in this novel as to how the shame of an individual person is deeply stricken by the flaws in the society and somewhat carried the burden of the society on her shoulder which leads to shamefulness. On the contrary the protagonist is shameless due to the restrictions being put on to him in order to feel sympathetic towards the society and because of all the burden she had on herself she couldn’t bear the shame on herself so she chose violence as a medium to get rid of it. Her shame depicts her family and nation’s shame.
Magic realism is where magic elements are part of a realistic environment. In this novel rushdie has created a imaginary country which is not Pakistan but which is quite. He creates a fictionalized version of Pakistan called Q in which the story takes place. Myth and fantasy are blended with reality in magic realism. Issues discussed in the novel.
Rushdie is a masterman in molding the language according to his purpose very successfully and productively. The political issue of Pakistan during that time is very brilliantly described in the novel. General raza hyder who is a military man is paired with the civilian political man Iskander Harappa. He has mixed up the characters very well. In Shame all the characters face identity crisis and fragmented issues. General Hyder (Gen. Mohammed Zia-ul-haq) who is involved in the assassination of Iskander Harappa (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) who was the prime minister of the country to become the president - dictator of the country but is later hanged for the crime committed. The politics of gaining power and reality told in a style of magical fairytale is elaborated in the novel.
Rani, who is the wife of Harappa is banished to her husband’s country where she spends most of the time embroidering on the shawl which depicts all the shameful events in the family. The men in the novel are very sensitive for honor so much that any breach of which can result in shame. Referring that a father murders his own daughter because the shame she bought to the family by sleeping with an English man, the murder was to wipe out the shame. Also the shame which Gen. Hyder feels because a daughter with physical issues is born in a family who desperately dreamed of a boy. He rejects his own blood his own daughter and later he even burns the lips of an old lady who kisses herT
he novel portrays the colonial and the post-colonial era and the story keeps on moving back and forth in past and present. He has described the political and social system of Pakistan. He talks about the shameful consequences which occurred in the partition of India in 1947. It also portrays the pain and suffering of the masses of the Pakistan by the rulers. It gives an insight in the political world and the moves and counter-moves of the political leaders. History is also talked about in the novel but not in a genuine sense it may confuse the actual historical knowledge as he mixes the fictional with the historical which gives us an idea that he believes that the fictional and the historical co-exist.
The collection of visual images is known as imagery. In this novel imagery is used very beautifully. The entire sequence of Old Mr. Shakil’s death is described so prominently that it starts creating an image in the mind of the reader when he continues with the text. Other than this the entire novel can be imagined in our mind and it helps in connecting with the characters and understanding their thought processes.
Comparison of one thing with other thing of a different kind is known as simile. Rushdie has used very few simile in the novel. He has also used symbolism in the novel Sufiya Zinobia is a symbol of shame in the novel. Motifs are used in the novel to enhance the symbolic factor, themes and mood.
By using the technique of magic realism Rushdie has narrated a very beautiful story which gives us goosebumps when reading and it also creates such an interest that the readers would want to read the novel in one go and as soon as we complete a chapter or even a page we would want to flip chapters and pages more but the drawback of this novel is that it is a one-time read as a reader i wouldn’t want to read this novel again and also after reading this if we stop in between then the continuity breaks and u feel disconnected with the story. He has beautifully described the politics and social of the country. Some of his tools are exaggerated that reader gets unamused and feels a repulsion and takes a step back for example the three sisters getting pregnant together and giving birth to a baby and 6 breasts feeding a child is impossible in the real world this might create a repulsion in the minds of reader but on the other hand this will also cause curiosity in readers to read it further and get to know what exactly the logic behind this is given so it creates a sense of irony. The completely false start and the over exaggeration of the novel can become a little unbearable to the readers. Shame is a mixture of everything in its literal sense.
In the end I would want to conclude that it is one time read but it definitely has a great effect on our brains and it gives us an inside about the mentality which people had after the partition of India and how they were treated as objects and what happened in the past and what is happening in the present . It is Mr. Rushdie’s delight and source of bright stream of words hitting on your thought process.
Book Review On “Shame” By Salman Rushdie. (2024, Feb 23). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/book-review-on-shame-by-salman-rushdie-essay
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