The story is told by Saleem Sinai. Though Saleem seems to know everything, the reader only understands the story through the one point of view. What does the descriptions, style of the story, and the story itself tell the reader about the character of Saleem?
Saleem describes everything in a highly detailed way. This shows he is a very perceptive and careful person. He is also willing to take his time as he tells the story; he doesn't rush through his family history even though Padma wants him to. This further demonstrates that he is careful, and also patient.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with one point you made, Christin. You wrote, "Though Saleem seems to know everything, the reader only understands the story through one point of view." Although Saleem is always the narrator, I wouldn't say we only see the story from one point of view. He tells it from his grandfather's viewpoint, his mother's, and his own. I think we get to understand the story from a broad range of viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteAs Laura said he tells the story through others viewpoints. With his gifts he knows what they are thinking so it is from their perspective Saleem is just writing it down.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the story is told with different characters. But it is still Saleem who is telling the story, there really isn't anyone who could disagree with what he is saying. So it is sort of like all through his point of view.
ReplyDeleteI suppose everything is filtered through Saleem. He adds his personal bias to the events he writes about. But the various characters he focuses on each add a different flavor to the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christin. Yes, Saleem tells the stories of his grandfather, his mother, and others. However, he is the one actually telling the story, and I'm sure the story would be radically different if someone else, such as Saleem's grandfather, was actually telling the story.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that each of the characters that Saleem focuses on adds something different to the story. Like with Aziz, his conflict is trying to get along with his wife. Then with Amina, her conflict changes from trying to love Ahmed to worrying about the prophesy of Saleem. So we do get to understand the different characters, even though it is through Saleem.
ReplyDeleteI think all through the little historical stories about Saleem's past there's more of a dual point of view because we get to see the thoughts of Saleem's ancestors, but Saleem also interjects with his own thoughts as well. Therefore I don't think that there is truly ONE viewpoint, but more like TWO. I think the author does this so we get to see Saleem's point of view about his ancestry and also to make the ancestor's stories more interesting because we get to know what they think as they act.
ReplyDeleteWe can tell that Saleem pays a lot of attention to detail and loves to talk about things he's seen or heard about. At the beginning of the book, he says how he devoted his life to spice-making, but he could just as easily have become a story-teller or something. I feel like he's the kind of person who would be really elaborate and excited when he talks, using lots of hand motions and that kind of thing, like an actor or something.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Greer. The story is a compiling of all the memories of his family. He writes them down and adds a little personal touch but ultimately it is the views of his family.
ReplyDeleteMarcella I totally get what your saying because I think he's so elaborate when he's telling his stories and the little comments he adds into his ancestor's stories are always funny and excited. Therefore you can't really imagine him any other way than elaborate and excited if he was telling his story in real life. But in the story he says that he not only devotes his life to spices, but also to recording his past and he records his past with his ancestor's stories, so in reality he is sort of like a story-teller too.
ReplyDeleteSaleem definetly is an interesting narrator. I've enjoyed his little personal interjections too. It's clear that he's passionate about what he's narrating, and his tone will probably become increasingly excited as the story starts to focus more directly on his life.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, Greer. I was just thinking about how he seems so personal, like you could sit and listen to him talk for hours. I feel like I know him so well, like his little quirks and stuff because of the style that the book is written. This is an amazing book in that it makes me feel like I've already met the Saleem, even though he was born barely a chapter ago.
ReplyDeleteBecause Rushdie writes Saleem's perspective in a way that we as the readers get to experience everyone else's lives in the story, it feels like we know most of the characters very well. As Christian said, the story is told through one perspective, yet we get to taste everyone else's lives as well. Ultimately, like Laura said, Saleem filters the information of his ancestors. Therefore I feel that it is mainly one perspective. Rushdie created Saleem as such a complex and observant character. And through the way Saleem describes all the other characters, we get a description of him as well.
ReplyDeleteI think the little comments and interjections help us understand him a lot better so even though we don't understand anything about his life we get to learn about his personality first. I think this will help when he starts talking about his youth and since we already know about him when he's older, we get to see all the events in his youth that change and mold him into how he is now, as an adult.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think we only see the story through Saleem, but we definitely get his opinion on the stories he tells. I agree with the point that Saleem filters his stories. We only get to see what he chooses to tell us, but I assume he tells us the most relevant information we need that is useful later on. I also feel that by reading the story through Saleem's perspective, it becomes more personal than reading it through a third person narrator. We get to know Saleem through his opinions and witty comments.
ReplyDeleteThe detail and how Saleem describes things tell us that he is a very nitpicky, type A person. He is also a wordsmith because the book flows quite well.
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