Rushdie wrote his novel East, West based on the cultural similarities and difference and the relationship between east and the west. The theme of his work shows many connections, disruptions, migrations and shows the contrast between the religion, influen

International Baccalaureate World Literature

Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay, India to a Muslim family. At the age of fourteen Rushdie was sent to Rugby School in England. In 1964 Rushdie's parents moved to Karachi, Pakistan. During this time there was a war between India and Pakistan, and the choosing of sides. Rushdie wrote his novel East, West based on the cultural similarities and difference and the relationship between east and the west. The theme of his work shows many connections, disruptions, migrations and shows the contrast between the religion, influence and identity between the Eastern and Western world.

The first three stories are set in India; they involve the section titled "East." In the short story “The Free Radio” Rushdie shows a comparison between the Indian society, its classes and its backwardness. The main priority of the Indian lower caste people being wanting to rise above all even if it means giving up their manhood. The story is about, a young boy, Ramani(symbolizes the Indian people) who is characterized as a teenage boy, and gets married to a thief’s widow(Indira Gandhi), who looks only for his downfall. Ramani, who is uneducated and is from the lower caste society, gives up his manhood in order to get a free radio which was promised, but never arrives. During the time of the Emergency (1975-1977) the basic rights and freedoms were taken away from the people. India had problems with over population hence, men were forced to give up their manhood (vasectomy) if not voluntarily then they will be forced to do so. Ramani in this case who did this voluntarily showed that the lower caste society would do anything for a little money or satisfaction, they also don’t think about their actions and consequences and does things willingly and not ready to accept what they did was wrong. This proves that Indira Gandhi was trying to destroy the lower caste society since they weren’t of much use. This is an image of no unity among the people of India they did what they thought was best for them. They were so driven by the idea of having a “free” radio that didn’t exist. The radio could also be a symbol of the unity of India. Since that’s the only medium in which they can communicate. Since it wasn’t possible to get the free radio it meant that it was never possible to achieve unity among the people. ‘Ram always had the rare quality of total belief in his dreams, and there were times when his faith in the imaginary radio took us in, so that we half-believed it was really on its way, or even that it was already here, cupped invisibly against his ear as he rode his rickshaw around the streets of the town.’ (Rushdie. East, West. 27).This meant that there was a dream that was believed by everyone but for the benefit of one person everything could be destroyed. The tone of this story is like of a fable. He uses this tone because it was a way of showing what happened in India was wrong and it didn’t do much good to people or the nation. And it is written in a way that he lets you decide if what happened was right or wrong. The diction and syntax in the stories of the “east “ is that of an Indian lower class English that was influenced by the british and many words are derived from hindi/Arabic or Sanskrit like “pukka”.

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At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers which is a story that represents the “west”. This story is based on the movie The Wizard of Oz, the red slippers from this movie is being put for auction. This story is an image about the western side (symbolizes United States) being controlled by the media. ’The movie starts are here, among the bidders, bringing their glossy, spangled auras to the saleroom’ ((Rushdie. East, West. 88).They believe anything that is told. This is a similarity that the east and west share. The “west” is blinded by fantasies. The people who go to America in search or money and freedom believe in the ‘American Dream’. This is the same with the Indians they believe in a dream that they want to make happen. Even thought America is a land of opportunities, is isn’t possible for people to get what they wish for as without sacrifice and immigrants are not willing to give up anything. Even though they come in search of opportunities, they seek to find happiness like back “home” they would do anything to get a taste of home. Hence, Rushdie shows that while people in the west are trying to find their way back home. People in the east are trying to break free to keep their home. The tone of the story is like the narrator is saying what he sees from his point of view but it’s for you to judge if what he saying about the western society is true or not.

In the section titled “East, West” Rushdie shows the connections between the two sides. The story “Chekov and Zulu" is an image of the events that took place with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 1984 assassination, an assassination done by Sikhs who wanted independence and this was done by her own Sikh bodyguards. The imagery in this story is that the Sikh’s are a religious group and most of them are from Punjab. Which is a state that in-between India and Pakistan. The Sikhs at this time wanted a country of their own but Indira Gandhi wouldn’t permit. In this story Chekhov and Zulu (symbolic to Sulu) are characterized as Sikh who is under cover diplomats who work in London. Chekhov and Zulu are code names that are taken from the serial ‘star trek’. Zulu who is in London goes underground to infiltrate the Sikh extremists who are behind Gandhi's assassination. In the story there was a letter that was sent by zulu which said If there was any danger or threat to his life ‘deal me up’. The phrase ‘deal me up’ is a famous line from the serial star trek which mean to have a cover up. In this case since Zulu was helping the Sikhs in India for the assassination of Indira Gandhi the letter was referred to helping him if he was caught. What’s ironic about this situation is that in the other stories Rushdie talks about how India wants freedom from the British or how the fights between Hindus and Muslims, but in this case Rushdie shows how this news has travelled across the world and Sikh’s from other nations are helping in this assassination and finding information under cover. The fact that Zulu calls himself Zulu and not sulu is also very ironic because Zulus were a South African tribe who rebelled against the European settlers. Hence, Zulu wanted to rebel against Indira Gandhi for the freedom of his people. Rushdie also talks about the post effect of Sikhs in India during this time they were brutilly harmed and killed. But Zulu claimed that the Sikhs were set up and the Congress Party was behind Indira Gandhi's assassination. Zulu disguested by the situation leaves the service and becomes a successful businessman in Bombay. As for Chekov, he comes back to India but doesn’t get married instead he is with Ranjiv Gandhi who is Indira Gandhi’s son during the time when Ranjiv Gandhi gets assassinated by a tamil women. And chekov is caught between all of this and dies. The tamil people were against Ranjiv Gandhi because they wanted a country of their own (sri lanka) but Ranjiv Gandhi wouldn’t permit them to do so. The irony of this story is that the mother and son were both assassinated by different casts for the same purpose. Hence, this shows that the Hindus and Sikhs had the same purpose in mind, even though they rebel against eachother. Another ironic situation is that Rushdie uses a ‘western’ serial to compare the situation in the ‘east’.

Through these stories, Rushdie tries to prove his point that the East and West might rebel against each other but they share a lot of similarities in many different ways. And their differences are two extermes. But it is possible to relate a situation in the west to one in the east. While the west wants freedom and does nothing about it, the east works towards it even thought there isn’t much they know about money, fame or power. He shows a vast comparison between the two sides. The ‘east’ and ‘west’ seek for independence and to find a place that they can call ‘home’. But the west isn’t working hard enough to achieve it while the east sacrifices everything but yet they get nothing.

Bibliography:

Websites:

"South Africa." Wikipedia. 21 Oct. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/south_africa>.

Aujla, Teena. "East, West (by Salman Rushdie)." Peak. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/96-2/issue2/east.html>.

Wallia, C.J.S. "IndiaStar- A Literary Magazine." Indiastar. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://www.indiastar.com/eastwest.htm>.

"Star Trek." Wikipedia. 23 Oct. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/star_trek>.

"Wikipedia." Indira Gandhi assassination. 20 Oct. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/assassination_of_indira_gandhi>.

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