Time for the next Haroun update! We just finished reading the book and I think it was very predictable. You expect them to beat Khattam-Shud and for the mom to return home. However, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the ending. I still liked some aspects such as how sad city became happy and discovered their name. I also liked how they made it so that Gup and Chup are united as one kingdom. Looking back at the lenses of the different groups (satire, allegory, allusion, and the hero's journey), it helped me understand the deeper meaning of the book. By viewing the book in multiple ways, we were able to learn more about the characters, society, and the author. For example, allegory taught us about the author's outlook and experiences with certain types of people. The hero's journey allowed us to first see a basic plot and made it easier to spot unique details about characters. In my opinion, I feel like satire revealed the most and was the most striking. This is because it really highlights the different aspects of our world and the differences in people. In the last section of the book, one quote really stood out to me. It reads as follows, " ...the Grand Panjandrum himself does exactly what he wants to forbid everyone else to do. His followers sew up their lips and he talks and talks like billy-o." (Rushdie 154) I marked this quote because it really brings Rushdie's conflict into the story. The people who put the fatwa on his head tried to silence him, while they continued to speak freely. They wanted to limit others' speech, but they didn't put any restraints on themselves. Since I was unfortunately not here for my class's discussion, let's move onto literary analysis. I think the main concept that this story was trying to teach was figuring out who you are. It is evident that the father in the story was dealing with an identity crisis and the story begins due to this. It is trying to teach us about the journey we must take to find ourselves. While we won't be going off to some magical land, we must follow similar paths. Once we decide to find ourselves, we must learn about the different aspects of our lives and take a journey to determine who we are. We have to be willing to face some challenges in order to do so. When my class first started reading this book, we talked about the idea of stories being morally good lies. The first thing we had to do was look up what exactly is considered a lie (look here to see that definition). Then, we had to use the story to come up with a conclusion to this question of stories being morally good lies. After reading the book, I came to the conclusion that stories are in fact not morally good lies. They are not even lies at all. As Rashid told people, his stories are not meant to be taken as truth. He admits that stories are not real and not meant to be believed. This is different from a lie as lies are meant to be seen as the truth. Another thing we discussed at the beginning of the book was the idea that we are storytelling animals. We watched a TED talk about storytelling and how it impacts us. This relates to the novel because this book is all about stories. Each character is somehow affected by the stories they tell and the stories they hear. Stories are a major aspect of their life and they would not be where they are without them. Overall, I thought the story was decent. It wasn't the worst story I had ever read, but I wouldn't want to read it again. While there were many aspects that I enjoyed, I was not a fan of the book as a whole. I didn't enjoy the style of writing and the general plot. One of the things I did like, however, was that anyone could could possibly enjoy this book. While it is considered a children's novel, I know there are definitely some adults who would love it.
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