Sunday 8 April 2012

Shame (By Salman Rushdie)

“Between shame and shamelessness lies the axis upon which we turn; meteorological conditions at both these poles are of the most extreme, ferocious type. Shamelessness, shame: the roots of violence.”

The novel ‘Shame’ by Salman Rushdie is a dark novel indeed. A book about Pakistan but not really Pakistan.It is an attempt by Rushdie to portray the shame and shameless prevailing in the Pakistan of his time and the violence that they were creating. He highlights how religion, politics and society intermingled with each other breed violence and shame. In fact as he highlights in his text "This word: shame. No, I must write it in its original form, not in this peculiar language ……. for ever alter what is written... "Sharam, that's the word.”The text also goes to elucidate the oppression of women in the Muslim society. The story is an angry reaction to the dictatorship of President Zia ul-Haq and portrays his fall in its own way.” How does a dictator fall? There is an old saw which states, with absurd optimism, that it is in the nature of tyrannies to end.”

Throughout the story the author uses supernatural elements to make the reader more interested in his stories. Right from the beginning he enriches the story with supernatural unexplained phenomenon(Magical Realism) while he himself urges the reader to not question the scientific basis of his narrative. The use of the first person narrative gives the illusion of a real world to Shame, because Rushdie quotes from his personal experiences various instances of his involvement in the event. The unpredictability and strength of narration of his interruptions during the story make them feel natural and playful, and add spice to the story. They end up adding layers and texture and becoming a part of the story that he is so interestingly building. Rushdie is also seen pacing ahead of the novel and revealing shocking future events related to the characters. This makes the reader even more interested and gripped to the novel as he instantly becomes curious as to how such an unexpected event might occur. Rushdie while narrating his story mentions the place as the fictional Pakistan and fills the story with magical tales and elements(Conversion of Sofia into a Beast).

Starting from the fictional valley of Q. the novel goes all around Pakistan and ends finally in Q. itself. The protagonists of the story are many, including General Raza Hyder, Iskander Harappa , Omar Khayyam Shakil. General Raza Hyder is an ascending army officer who ends up becoming the president of the country and later a dictator. With the help of Maulana Dawood the novel touches on the religious influences in politics. How any cruelty placed upon the people of a country, any theft of liberty from the people can be justified on the basis of religion. The author gives us the imagery of two voices running inside Raza’s head the highlight the religious and the anti-religious and each of them plays its part. The other protagonist Omar Khayyam Shakil(portrayed as the real hero of the story but who is really just a spectator) is an utterly shameless man ;’Besharam’. Born in a house that is full of shame , he feels no shame and this shameless breeds so much hatred in the mind of his three mothers that they end up taking the life of their own son(although he survives the attempt). The third male protagonist Iskander Harappa is a debaucher and ridden with jealousy towards Raza Hyder, he decided to transform himself into one of the greatest men the country has seen. But he is later betrayed by Raza Hyder himself. The masculine character of the protagonist displays the male dominating society of Pakistan. Another central figure is Sufiya, a simple minded retarded girl who is seen by her mother as a sign of her own shame. Sufiya, a congenital blusher, absorbs all the shame of people around her. The shame that the author so beautifully says ‘should have been felt’. Shame accumulates in her and awakens a beast of shame, a beast that derives its strength from hell and is the embodiment of violence. As the novel progresses the beast of shame within her also grows stronger which makes us realize the destructive effect of accumulating shame within the people around her. Further the other character of the story each has his own story but the author has skillfully done away with the stories of the other character prominently the female. The female object of the story is only shown in a sense of oppression and abandonment. The wives of these powerful men have been carefully hidden from the main story only to emerge in between Bilquis , the begum of Raza Hyder , the one who did not lose her honor, her dupatta even when the fire had burned away all her clothes lives in the background of the novel but has important influences on the events in the novel(the escape of Raza Hyder from his house to Q.).Meanwhile Rani Harappa is shown secluded and abandoned in the novel while her husband sleeps with his mistress (and leaves her as well).She hopes that one day her husband will accept her as her wife again and her love for Iskander Harappa stays alive. But her hopes are crushed when her husband only uses her as a tool for his political ascension.

While shame remains the underlying theme of the novel that binds the character of the story together, the novel is as much about politics,religion ,female oppression, honor, seclusion and shamelessness. Rushdie with his daring writing style filled with words from his own language(Khansi ki Rani ,Aansu, Sharam) exudes amazing flexibility and range of expression in a borrowed language.Shame is intense, macabre,gruesome and filled with dark humor but all the while has an exquisite ,evocative, rich and imaginative writing style.

No comments:

Post a Comment