My First Peek Into Haroun and The Sea of Stories
Before reading Haroun and the Sea of Stories, I imagined the book to be at a more basic reading level. Mr Heidt put major emphasis on the fact that it was a children’s book but my idea of a children’s book seems to be different than his. A children’s book seems to be simply a book containing stories that may appeal to a younger audience through the use of make-believe. I’m not used to reading books containing as much fantasy elements as this one. The plot is confusing at parts especially with the names of characters and places. I predict that further in the book when Haroun returns from his journey, he will end up getting his father’s storytelling powers back or Haroun will inherit them.
I was assigned to read the book through the lens of satire. Satire attacks ethical form and often mocks persons, situations, or events, that the author deems corrupt. In Haroun and the Sea of Stories, a satirical effect is put in place when talking about Mr Buttoo. He is a representation of certain political leaders in this day and age. Mr Buttoo brought Rashid to speak in his honor and said that he only wanted happy stories so the people of the Valley of K would vote for him. I also annotated on page 48 pertaining to Language and Meaning. Rashid told Haroun that “‘The Moody Land was only a story…’” (Rushdie 48). This was a significant moment within the story because it emphasized Rashid’s depression when he couldn’t tell stories anymore.
Previously in the week, we discussed the statement that “Fictional stories are morally good lies.” I found a section in the text to challenge that. While talking about the fabrication of stories, Iff says, “‘Anybody can tell stories,’... ‘Liars, cheats, and crooks for example’” (Rushdie 58). This proves that not all fictional stories have a morally good underlying purpose, some are just lies.
During our discussion, we focused a lot on childrens stories. Someone said that children’s books are copied more than adult books because kids will be attracted to stories with a similar plot. I didn’t really think about this before but most books have a good guy and a bad guy with a happy ending.
