Saturday, March 14, 2009
Literary Elements
Imagery is a prominent component of this book. Salman Rushdie seems to like giving long descriptions to create a vivid image in the reader's mind. Personally, at times I find his descriptions can be distracting, leading the reader away from the action of the story. Never the less, I feel that the imagery is helpful in creating an image of the scene in the reader's mind. One example of imagery is "Methwold's Estate: four identical houses built in a style befitting their original residents (conquerors' houses! Roman mansions; three-storey homes of gods standing on a two-storey Olympus, a stunted Kailasa!)- large, durable mansions with red gabled roofs and tureet towers in each corner, ivory-white corner towers wearing pointy red-tilted hats (towers fit to lock princesses in!)- houses with verandahs, with servants' quarters reached by spiral iron staircases hidden at the back- houses which their owner, William Methwold, had named majestically after the palaces of Europe: Versailles Villa, Buckingham Villa, Escorial Villa and Sans Souci. Bougainvillaea crept across them; goldfish swam in pale blue pools; cacti grew in rock-gardens; tiny touch-me-not plants huddled beneath tamarind trees; there were butterflies and roses and cane chairs on the lawns" (104). This description gives a very detailed picture of the houses. Elaborating more than simply saying what the houses are, Rushdie expands by having Saleem give his own personal comments. Giving the reader a unique perspective of the houses. Rushdie's imagery is unique because it combines many metaphors with Saleem's thoughts and tons of creative details. I think that this imagery can help because the reader becomes more familiar not only with the setting but also with the characters.
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I agree, Saleem's comments on the setting help us gain a deeper understanding of his likes and dislikes as a character. However, I disagree with your statement that imagery distracts from the story. Most of the time, the plotline is buried within the descriptions. I feel that without these big detailed passages, there wouldn't be as much of a story as there is.
ReplyDeleteI really like the passage you selected, Christin. Not only is it a beautifully vivid piece of imagery, but it is also representative of Rushdie's style. It's interesting how he often uses parenthases to insert the narrator's opinions on the subject he describes.
ReplyDeleteHaving Saleem's comments in parenthesees definitely helps me to figure out which parts are him talking and which parts are his actual descriptions. Sometimes I sort of skim over these long description paragraphs, but reading his little comments is always fun, so they help me concentrate.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good point, the way the narrator describes the scene shows his character, but also helps us understand the events and how people act. That is a really nice passage though, it seems that there are many like it in the novel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marcella because I find the little comments he makes really entertaining also. I think that even when we aren't reading a scene that has him in it, we're still pulled back to the fact that he is writing the story. I also don't agree that the imagery distracts from the story, I think it really enhances the story and I like reading the imagery he puts into the novel.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the passage but I have to disagree that it distracts from the action of the story. The goal of imagery is to help the reader see what the characters see and i believe Rushdie does that very well.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to agree that imagery can momentarily distract from the story. It kind of reminds me of when you are deep in your thoughts and you sort of drift far off and suddenly have to shake yourself back to reality. That's the only way I know to describe it. Even though I feel this way about the imagery, I also think it's a very important part of the story because it feeds into Saleem's character while also giving us vivid descriptions.
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