23 pages • 46 minutes read
Salman RushdieGood Advice is Rarer than Rubies
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1987A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Geographical Context: The Partition of India
The United Kingdom signed the Indian Independence Act in 1947, granting India independence and separating what was previously British India into two countries: India and Pakistan. Besides dividing provinces from one another, the partition also divided two provinces internally: Bengal and Punjab. This decision threatened to make members of various religious groups minorities in the newly established regions and so sparked one of the largest mass migrations seen in history. As Muslims made their way west to Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs made their way to India, violence erupted and millions were massacred. The bloodiest of these attacks occurred around the newly erected borders in the Bengal and Punjab provinces.
The exodus of the British Raj and subsequent partitioning of India forever transformed the people impacted by each event, and Rushdie often explores these consequences in his writing. Though Pakistan is never referenced in the narrative, Rushdie mentions the cities Lahore, Multan, and Bahawalpur, all of which are in the West Punjab province in Pakistan. Implicitly, the story unfolds against this backdrop of division, migration, and upheaval, laying the groundwork for its exploration of Colonialism’s Displacements and Destabilizations.
Related Titles
By Salman Rushdie
East, West
East, West
Salman Rushdie
Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases
Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases
Michael Chabon, ed., Ayelet Waldman, ed., Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Meg Wolitzer, Louise Erdrich, Héctor Tobar, Neil Gaiman, Jacqueline Woodson, Rabih Alameddine, Ayelet Waldman, Brenda J. Child, Michael Chabon, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Salman Rushdie, Jesmyn Ward, Aleksandar Hemon, George Saunders, Scott Turow, Timothy Egan, Steven Okazaki, Sergio de la Pava, Andrew Sean Greer, Geraldine Brooks, Anthony Doerr, Brit Bennett, Yaa Gyasi, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, William Finnegan, Marlon James, Morgan Parker, Jennifer Egan, David Cole, Lauren Groff, Ann Patchett, David Handler, C.J. Anders, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Cunningham, Elizabeth Strout, Li Yiyun
Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Khalifa Brothers, #1)
Salman Rushdie, Paul Birkbeck, Paul Brickbeck
Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991
Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991
Salman Rushdie
Joseph Anton: A Memoir
Joseph Anton: A Memoir
Salman Rushdie
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Salman Rushdie
Midnight’s Children
Midnight’s Children
Salman Rushdie
Quichotte
Quichotte
Salman Rushdie
Shalimar the Clown
Shalimar the Clown
Salman Rushdie
Shame
Shame
Salman Rushdie
The Enchantress of Florence
The Enchantress of Florence
Salman Rushdie
The Golden House
The Golden House
Salman Rushdie
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Salman Rushdie
The Moor's Last Sigh
The Moor's Last Sigh
Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses
Salman Rushdie
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
Salman Rushdie
Victory City
Victory City
Salman Rushdie