Salmon Rushdie :: essays papers

Salmon Rushdie In a world that is ready to criticize the slightest fault, or impropriety of a person's character, or way of thinking, authors, such as Salmon Rushdie, are continually under fire. In his writings, Rushdie takes the aspects of typical every day life and satirizes them in a way that enables his readers to realize how nonsensical they may be. Through centuries of diverse writing and literary changes, one thing remains the same: writers, no matter who they are, or what their standing in society is, will be criticized. Salmon Rushdie, although a modern writer, is faced with much criticism that earlier writers also faced. In June of 1947, in Bombay, India, a child was born. A child who would grow up to become one of the most outspoken and radical writers of this modern era. Born in a time of political unrest (DISCovering), and a newly found freedom for India from British rule, Rushdie would grow not to find freedom through his writings, but a deep rooted criticism. Educated at The Cathedral Boys' School, and then Cambridge, Rushdie had a refined learning experience. When Rushdie started his career in writing he was unable to support himself and therefore held jobs such as acting and copyrighting until he was able to himself support as a writer. Rushdie's first published book, Grimus, tells the story of an American Indian who receives the gift of immortality and begins an odessy to find the meaning of life. Initially this work attracted the attention of the science fiction readers(DISCovering). The books genre is very often disagreed upon by critics, and has been called a fable, fantasy, political satire, and magical realism(DISCovering). Being "an ambitious, strikingly confident first work(DISCovering)," Rushdie was able to establish himself in the literary world as a writer. In his second book, Rushdie turned back to his homeland to find the subject that he wished to write about. Midnight's Children chronicles the recent history of India, beginning in 1947 when the country became free from British rule(DISCovering). In this allegorical work, Rushdie uses the characters to represent hopes as well as the frustrating realities of India's newly found freedom. Shame is Rushdie's third book. In this work he presents an astonishing account of events in an unnamed country that strongly resembles Pakistan. The major theme in this work is shame verses honor. The Satanic Verses is probably Rushdie's most popular and most controversial work. In this ambiguous work, Rushdie explores the themes relating to good and evil, religious faith and fanaticism, illusion verses reality, and the plight of Indians who have relocated to Great Britain.