East, West
49 pages • 1-hour read
Salman RushdieEast, West
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, and physical abuse.
Radio
In the short story “The Free Radio,” Ramani is thrilled by the government incentive of a free transistor radio and voluntarily agrees to be sterilized. Such sterilizations were a part of the 1975-1977 State of Emergency program imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for population control. Although countless other, predominantly economically disadvantaged men underwent forced sterilizations, Ramani willfully undergoes a vasectomy to please his new bride, the thief’s widow. When the narrator questions his decision as self-endangerment, Ramani assures him it is okay because he will soon have his own radio.
Ramani’s radio “reward” is a symbol of exploitation. The government promises a flimsy prize for a devastating consequence. The forced sterilizations were a form of eugenics—targeting poor or mentally and physically unwell groups to “cleanse” the larger population of weaker genetic contributors over time. The radio is meant to incentivize this form of “scientific racism.” Radios are an archetype of connection to global events. Whoever has a radio might be in touch with the current events and thus aware of political happenings. Ramani’s imagined radio indeed offers him a sense of superiority over his community, convincing him that he is connected to something larger than himself and beyond the insular village. He walks around the town pretending to hold the radio to his ear and spouting off imagined broadcasts. His behavior conveys his desire to be relevant to the collective, while he is otherwise being victimized by his society.
The Prophet’s Hair
In the short story “The Prophet’s Hair,” the vial containing the Prophet Muhammad’s hair is a symbol of superstition. When Atta and Huma’s father, Hashim, finds the vial in the lake outside his house, he decides to keep it despite knowing it is a sacred relic which was recently stolen from “its shrine at Hazratbal mosque the previous morning” (43). The narrator asserts that his “duty as a citizen was clear: the hair must be restored to its shrine, and the state to equanimity and peace” (43), but Hashim (a man of logic and numbers) makes the opposite decision because he disbelieves in the hair’s alleged power. Hashim also holds that the Prophet would have disapproved of fanatics worshiping remnants of his physical body, and wants it for his own extensive collection of prized curios. This decision quickly proves fatal, as the hair takes control of Hashim and distorts him into an unrecognizable person. The hair’s power ultimately reveals Hashim to be a greedy, self-involved tyrant, thus conveying the collection’s theme of The Illusions Provided by False Stories and Promises.
Ruby Slippers
In the short story “At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers,” the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are a symbol of hope and longing. The narrator attends the auction where the famous movie prop is being sold because he hopes to buy the slippers. A flashback reveals that the narrator is still pining after his ex-lover, Gale, and hopes to procure the slippers, gift them to her, and win her back. The narrator is so heartbroken over his unrequited love that he decides to take extreme measures to convince Gale that they are meant to be together.
The slippers represent the unattainability of the narrator’s dreams. As the pop culture reference suggests, the ruby slippers are the stuff of fantasy. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is supposed to click her heels together to return to her home in Kansas—a magical spell the narrator essentially hopes will work for him, too. His relationship with Gale once offered him a sense of home and belonging. Without her, he feels as if he is wandering with no sense of direction. Attaining the shoes is his imagined gateway to ultimate contentment.
The ruby slippers also symbolize the mythic promises of Western culture. During the auction, the slippers’ price grows higher and higher. The more expensive they become, the more the narrator feels as if he is “doing battle with an invisible world of demons and ghosts, and the prize is my lady’s hand” (101). Participating in the auction divorces the narrator from reality, while augmenting his desires. He will not be satisfied until he gets the slippers, even while the slippers become less and less attainable. The same is true of Western promises of success and fulfillment—particularly in the context of a capitalist economic system.
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