Haroun and The Sea of Stories- Chapter 1 & 2

(pg. 15) My first impression of Haroun and the Sea of Stories is that it seems like a fantasy, storybook type of work. Very different from What is the What, which was jarringly real. I have to say I prefer fantasy over reality, though I can't explain why.

(pg. 16) Haroun's father, Rashid, is an amazing storyteller. He travels around telling different stories and was given the nicknames: the Ocean of Notions and the Shah of Blah. "Haroun went with his father whenever he could, because the man was a magician, it couldn't be denied." (Rushdie 16) Just like Achak's father was an important figure to him, teaching him the ways of the world and educating him in the general store business. Guido's son looked up to his father too, trusting him in every situation.

(pg. 17) Like the punctuation in What is the What was strange, with it's dashes instead of quotation marks, in Haroun things are capitalized that would not normally be so. "'Oh,' said the Shah of Blah,' that's much Too Complicated To Explain.'" Perhaps it means it is important, or it somehow is a way to become a subscriber to the Sea of Stories. It is a fantasy, after all.

(pg. 18) It is described that the city Haroun and Rashid live in is a "sad city." So sad it forgot its own name. "In the sad city, people mostly had big families; but the poor children go sick and starved, while the rich kids overate and quarrelled over their parent's money." (Rushdie 18) This sort of reminds me of how Gotham City in Batman would be. Just a sad city, full of crime, corruption, and poor people. Something like that.

(pg. 20) Rashid often told stories for politicians so people would vote for them. Politicians were never trusted, but everyone loved Rashid and completely trusted, but everyone loved Rashid and completely trusted him. "Nobody ever believed anything a politico said, even though they pretended as hard as they could that they were telling the truth. (In fact, this was how everyone knew they were lying.)" (Rushdie 20) I wonder if Rushdie was connecting this world to something in his home or just the politics of the world. Because we always hear that politicians can never be trusted.

(pg. 22) Rashid is completely crushed with his wife's departure and says storytelling is all he can do. "Haroun lost his temper and shouted: 'What's the point of it? What's the use of stories that aren't even true?'" (Rushdie 22) There is a big personality difference between Achak and Haroun. Achak is soft, polite, and respectful to others. Haroun is quick-tempered and pushy, so far as I've read. I'm not favoring Valentino or anything, because characters change overtime.

(pg. 33) Mr. Butt is a Mail Coach Driver who is taking Haroun and Rashid to the Valley of K to speak for a politician. (They were in the Town of G, and there Rashid realized, shockingly, that he has lost his gift of telling stories. However, since news travels slow, he is hoping he will be able to speak in the Valley of K.) Mr. Butt is a very exuberant and interesting character. He rhymes everything so I feel like I'm in Dr. Seuss' Whoville. "'But Butt's a straight man, not a twister. What's your wish, my young mister?'" (Rushdie 33) Mr. Butt is rhyming like the narrator would, and this story is a fairytale like Whoville, which is located on a snowflake. While Whoville is a happy, cheerful place, the sad city is a depressed land.