Introduction. Books are an integral part of our life. Develop imagination, transfer to the world where magical things are possible. “Haroun and the Sea” is written for a ten-year-old boy, Rushdie’s son. Reading is not just amusement. There is a couple of reasons why reading is important.
- They are sources of information. We can learn from sb. else’s experience. “Haroun…” contains Urdu and Hindi words which the readers can learn. “a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad it had forgotten its name” (Salman Rushdie, p. 15). many places were named after letters of the Alphabet” which “led to much confusion because there were only a limited number of letters and an almost unlimited number of places in need of names” (Salman Rushdie, p. 24).
- Book gives answers to difficult questions. They help to act in a particular way and show people what’s right or wrong. “What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” (Salman Rushdie, p. 20) This was the question repeatedly asked by Mr. Sengupta. telling the stories was the essence of the life of the boy’s father: “Storytelling is the only work I know” (Salman Rushdie 22). Stories are not always fiction. even when they are they can be closely connected with reality.
Books evoke emotions in readers. emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally. Bible speaks to readers spiritually. Books serve as a motivation for some people’s actions. “Africa, have you seen it? No? Then is it truly there?… Kangaroos, Mount Fujiyama, the North Pole? And the past, did it happen? And the future, will it come?” (Salman Rushdie, p. 63). These questions were asked by Water Genie to underline the importance of imagination which makes people believe in what may not exist. “You saved the princess and walked off into the sunset as specified, I presume?” (Salman Rushdie, p. 74). This was what Water Genie asked Haroun when explaining to him how the boy’s adventure should have ended. Evoking emotions is a matter of priority for every author.
Bibliography
- Salman Rushdie. Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Granta Books, 1990.
- Wendy B. Faris. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Vanderbilt University Press, 2004