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Allegory
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Book 1: The Perforated Sheet
Explanation and Analysis—Caliban:
Saleem alludes to Shakespeare's drama The Tempest, comparing the boatman Tai to Caliban:
Soon the English sahibs would arrive and Tai would ferry them to the Shalimar Gardens and the King’s Spring, chattering and pointy and stooped. He was the living antithesis of Oskar-Ilse-Ingrid’s belief in the inevitability of change . . . a quirky, enduring, familiar spirit of the valley. A watery Caliban, rather too fond of cheap Kashmiri brandy.
Caliban is one of the central characters in The Tempest—he is half-human, half-monster and the son of a witch. In the play, Caliban is forced into slavery after his island home is occupied. Tai's characterization aligns with Caliban's in two aspects: his "enslavement" to the will of newcomers/invaders (i.e., he must ferry English people across the water) and his wildness (Caliban is often depicted as a "wild" man, sometimes half-human/half-fish). The allusion to Shakespeare in this passage is a pointed one on Rushdie's part. Tai is a prominent advocate against the intrusion of Western ideas and people into Kashmir. Ironically, Rushdie uses an allusion to Western literature as a means of characterizing Tai, who would likely despise being compared to a character created by a British playwright.
Related Themes:
Book 1: Mercurochrome
Explanation and Analysis—Scheherazade:
At the beginning of Book 1, Section 2—Mercurochrome, Saleem reintroduces readers to his story as though he were speaking it aloud like a bard, stating that he left the narrative "yesterday hanging in midair." It is appropriate that as an accompaniment to this unconventional chapter transition, Saleem alludes to Scheherazade:
In the renewed silence, I return to sheets of paper which smell just a little of turmeric, reading and willing to put out of its misery a narrative which I left yesterday hanging in midair—just as Scheherazade, depending for her very survival on leaving Prince Shahryar eaten up by curiosity, used to do night after night!
Scheherazade famously narrates One Thousand and One Nights, a compilation of tales that she canonically tells aloud to her in-narrative audience. Both Scheherazade and Saleem are frame story narrators. But while Saleem addresses the audience directly, Scheherazade's shares her tales with a prince who vows to kill her if she does not properly entertain him. Curiously, Saleem equates the pressures prompting Scheherazade to tell stories to the pressures that inspire his own storytelling: survival. Saleem's writing is not so much about physical survival as it is about the postcolonial survival of his family's memories and legacy.
Related Themes:
