Essay | Hypocrisy in the Perfect World of "Haroun and the Sea of Stories"

Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", which was initially a response to Rushdie's unjustified fatwa shows perfectly the impossibilities of utopias. The philosophy of a society living in complete harmony has been attacked in great works such as Brave New World and Animal Farm. The notion of socialism has not died down, but rather is still being experimented with and discussed. China still is the last stand of the former USSR, and many Arab countries resort to quasi-dictatorships. Salman Rushdie responds to the continuance of this form of governance which strips human rights and dignity away with the supposed utopia of "Gup." Externally, Gup is a faultless, ideal world, where the Sun shines eternally, where all citizens care for the Sea of Stories and are bestowed with free speech and choice. However, many aspects of Gup make it impossible to be a true utopia persecuting the Chupps and leaving the operations and knowledge for the Eggheads, the future of Gup is dependent upon qualities which make it dystopian. By presenting the hypocrisy of a world that embraces only free speech, eternal sunshine, and unadultered freedom, but persecutes the Chupps and leaves all responsibility in the Eggheads, Rushdie advocates for balance between the polar opposites of society.

The first and most obvious set of reason for Gup's dystopia stems from its segregation and suppression of the Chupps, the shadow brethren of the Gups. When Haroun first meets the Gups, he describes them as some of the most energetic, fun, immaculate, carefree people; free to express all of their feelings and emotions in a welcoming environment. Filled with characters fun and animated, Haroun describes them as ."..all excitement and activity. Guppee citizens, who were similarly diverse, all were of every shape and size." "Chitter-chatter a scatter" all throughout the city, its inhabitants seem pleasantly occupied with their own meanialities and the care of the Sea of Stories. Haroun begins to then notice the enormous barrier at one end of the city, and questions one of the Guppees about its purpose. He is told of the "villainous, horrid" people who were a threat to the Guppees but are now...
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