Haroun and the Sea of Stories #2
Hey guys,
Aaand we're back for part two of the HATSOS series I'm doing. I'm going to start off by saying that you shouldn't expect another 800+ word post this time around. Homecoming was last night and I am incredibly tired. I don't know if I have it in me tonight.
On that note, let's get this started.
Impressions:
I still have a similar impression of this book. I'm enjoying it. There isn't much more for me to say on that front that I haven't already said. I feel the same about it as I did last week.
One thing about this book that I have been thinking about a lot is the concept of remixing. In class, we recently watched a video titled: "Everything is a Remix" by Kirby Ferguson (linked here). I recommend watching the video if you need clarification and/or examples. In basic terms, it talks about how everything we consume in terms of media is just something old that has been done again in a new way. The stories we read are based off of stories that came before them. Movies and songs are just revamped versions or their predecessors.
This comes into play when Iff explains how the Plentimaw Fish breathe in the stories, the stories mingle with some other stories inside, and bada bing, bada boom... a new story is made.
This concept fascinates me because it makes me wonder things like: If all stories are based off another story, what story started it all? What was the second story, so to speak, a remix of?
Annotations:
In the name of full disclosure, I'm going to tell you that for chapters 5-7, I didn't do nearly enough annotating. I had a couple of notes here and there, but that's it. One is about satire so I will save that one for later in the post. The only other relevant annotation relates back to the "Everything is a remix" concept. Since I did so well in the first section with that, I think I'll just continue with a bit more of a connection to the book.
My annotation is from page 86, where Iff says, "Nothing comes from nothing, Thieflet; no story comes from nowhere; new stories are born from old".
This is exactly what I was saying in the first section. We get things that are new by working off things that are old. Everything around us can be traced back to an original idea.
According to the story, the answer to my previous questions can be found in the Old Zone. This is the place where all ancient stories dwell. Maybe if I looked hard enough, I would find the story that started everything. Until then, I think my questions still stand.
Discussion and Satire:
The assignment I am working off of has "Discussion" and "Satire" as different sections. Upon looking at my discussion notes, I decided to combine them. The discussion I had with my peers was very closely tied to satire. I feel that most of my thoughts on the subject have been affected by the discussion we had. Trying to tear the discussion away from my insights on satire seem unnatural, in a way.
During the discussion, I based my questioning off of page 102 in HATSOS. For the sake of my hands (and my sanity), I'll just describe what happened rather than type all of it out. Prince Bolo (illustrated in the image by Adam Coffia), the fiance of Princess Batcheat, is basically acting like the stereotypical storybook hero: confident, dashing, and a bit too dramatic for the time at hand.
I recognized the stereotype and immediately my mind went to satire. Stereotypes have been a satirical tool that Rushdie has embraced so far and it made me look again at Bolo's actions.
Bolo himself is someone we see in the people around us. Everyone can name at least one person who stumbles through life without a shred of a clue as to what they're doing, but still has an almost obnoxious level of confidence. We, just like the Dignitaries in HATSOS, see the foolishness in their behavior and feel embarrassed for them.
Bolo, however, is satirical in another way as well. The fact that he is a stereotype is satirical. The point was made that Rushdie may have been satirizing authors who write countless books that are all the same. They use the same recognizable characters and plot points throughout their writing. Another piece of evidence toward this argument can be found on page 73 where "Princess Rescue Story Number S/1001/ZHT/420/41(r)xi". Another version of the Princess Rescue Story is also mentioned on the page. This implies that the story has been done over and over again with minimal change in content.
Well, I was very, very wrong. I thought this would be shorter. Apparently, I have little to no control over the length of these posts and I will just have to accept my fate.
Au revoir,
Abby