Haroun Second Reading Second Thoughts

After rereading Haroun and the Sea of Stories, I can say that a good number of my questions have been answered. I had previously thought that Soraya had come back to the home because of the story water even though she might not be happy, but after the seminar I believe that the water changed her opinions about Mr. Sand caused her to want to come home. I believe this is the case because the story water was designed to give Haroun a happy ending. This means that things would have to work out for years to come and not just when it was raining, so it had to have changed her mindset on Rashid and his stories. This would have made it so they could have a long and happy marriage.

Also, during my second reading of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, I was able to confirm that this was most definitely a childrens’ story. This is because of the strange and simple names we see in Kahani such as Butt and Iff in addition to the happy ending the author seemed to slap onto the end of the story, even though it had just shown Haroun get over his 11-minute attention span problem. Since Haroun got over his attention span issue, I don’t know why he would need his mother anymore who betrayed him and his father. Therefore, the inclusion of a happy ending wouldn’t be for the benefit of the characters of the story as much as it is for the young readers who would want everything to return to the way things were.

Something that made me curious was the plug they were going to use to stop the inflow of new stories into the Sea of Stories. Wouldn’t the increasing amount of stories being created build pressure under the plug and eventually burst out? Also, if you block off one out flow couldn’t another inactive vent become active and undo all of the work done by the shadows? Speaking of shadows, how was the ship, something made fully of shadow, able to hold a plug which was physical object above a big hole?

Another issue I had with the book was the speed of the moon being great enough to conceal it from sight and instruments. This speed would have to be equal to or greater than the speed of light, a speed that is high enough to tear matter apart, and is also unreachable to us. This is because no matter how much energy you put into an object it will never be as fast as the speed of light. Due to this, I was wondering how they were able to accelerate the moon without any dangerous side effects.

There were many things that I was unsure about why they were included, and Haroun’s relationship with the guard was one. I think that the story would have been just as good if he had been doing it for his own family instead of trying to Kahani for her. Also, when the story ends, their relationship is totally pointless because he turns his back on it and goes home, most likely never to return. Another thing I am unsure as to why the author included it is Bezaban. What was the purpose of this statue that Kattam-Shud created other than it ironically falling down on him as a sign of his creation killing him? For the most part it seemed to be useless. The people in the dark didn’t worship the statue but they worshiped Kattam-Shud himself as proven by his cult of closest followers that new him personally. One speculative reason that I have is that it was created to serve as a warning to the people living on the light side of Kahani, as it was seen by them as Kattam-Shud’s creation and something he used to enforce his power. This is seen on page 75 with the quote “This looks like the doing of the leader of the chupwalas, the cultmaster of Bezaban.”

Haroun First Chapter First Thoughts

After reading Haroun and the sea of stories, I was left with two major questions . First, why did the city become so sad to begin with? It said that everywhere else was very happy, but that they had enough sadness to share. However, later in the story it comments on everyone’s lack of imagination., which could be the reason why. Secondly, I was wondering why Rashid couldn’t say  the stories to the crowd in public, but he was able to tell them to his son who couldn’t even appreciate them after 11 minutes and was wholly ungrateful.

Everything Is A Remix

I believe that the movie Haroun and the Sea of Stories has lots of parts in the story which refer to remixes. It introduces the plentimaw fish as creatures with many mouths capable of taking many different stories and excreting a new one as a combination of the old. This  is an example of a remix, which is defined as “combining or editing existing materials to create something new.” It also brings attention to remixes through the mention of the well of stories having fresh story streams that would go into the ocean and mix together, turning into something totally new. This statement is a justification for the different ways some stories are told, the most prominent examples being older folktales which have changed from their original version as time and location change.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories First Thoughts

After reading Haruon and the Sea of Stories, I can safely say that many of my questions were answered. I was wondering why the city was always so sad and what could have caused it. This was soon answered by the author when he tells us that the city had forgotten it’s name, and that the people there were lacking imagination, as my chapter one first thoughts suggested. We were also given the question of whether it was a kid’s story or not, and while I said yes to begin with due to it having similar traits to other kids stories (alphabetical naming), I was having doubts when it incorporated more adult elements into the story such as war and sowing someone’s mouth shut to keep them from speaking ever again, which caused them to have an intense fear of needles for the rest of their life (similar to PTSD).

I was taken aback when the mother returned home to make everything happy and good in the family, and this was for a few reasons. First, did she leave Mr. Stengupa due to the effects of the Eggheaad’s happy ending or was it because of her own will that she decided to return? Secondly, why did Rashid let her back in without any doubts or second thoughts? She had essentially divorced him to be with someone else, but a few days later when she had enough of them, he accepts her back like nothing changed. You would think that something like this would have long lasting repercussions on anyone’s relationship. That leads me directly to question three. Because of her swift exit and return, what would the effect on their marriage be, especially in the long run. Would it be too fragile and shatter or did it make it potentially stronger because he sees that she had seen both ends of the spectrum and chose him?

More Information on the Novel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haroun_and_the_Sea_of_Stories