Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Rushdie’s book contains several allusions to the Kathasaritsagara and Arabian Nights.

• What is the purpose of these allusions? (topic sentence)
• Explain at least three features of Haroun and the Sea of Stories that function as allusions to one or the other of these texts. Show how each allusion supports your interpretation of Rushdie’s purpose for making the allusions.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how your interpretation of Rushdie’s purpose connects this aspect of the text to the text’s larger concern with either The Importance of Stories or Linguistic Playfulness and the Slippery Nature of Language.

2. A common feature of magical realist texts is political satire.

• What aspect of politics does Rushdie satirize in this novel? (topic sentence)
• Give three pieces of evidence from different places in the novel that demonstrate Rushdie’s political satire. Show how each example supports your interpretation of what aspect of politics Rushdie is satirizing.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the novel’s political satire supports its larger concern with Freedom of Speech as the Greatest Power of All.

3. Clocks and time play a significant role in this story.

• What is the symbolic significance of clocks and time in this novel? (topic sentence)
• Give three examples, drawn from the beginning, middle, and end of the story, that support your interpretation of what clocks and time signify.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this symbolic motif supports a larger idea within the novel.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Magical realist novels often incorporate irony. Where in the novel do you see examples of irony? What types of irony are used? What are Rushdie’s purposes in using irony—is he making a political point, distancing himself from the “magic” in order to increase his narrative authority, creating humor to engage the reader, or something else?

Write an essay that analyzes Rushdie’s purposes in incorporating irony into Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Connect your analysis to the novel’s thematic concern with Linguistic Playfulness and the Slippery Nature of Language. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. Recall that metafictional stories are, essentially, stories about stories. What metafictional elements do you see in Haroun and the Sea of Stories? What is the purpose of these elements? How does this purpose connect to events in the author’s own life?

Write an essay that analyzes Haroun and the Sea of Stories as an example of metafiction. Connect your analysis to the novel’s thematic concerns with The Importance of Stories and Freedom of Speech as the Greatest Power of All. Support your arguments with evidence drawn from throughout the novel as well as evidence drawn from research into Rushdie’s life and the characteristics of metafiction, making sure to cite all quoted evidence and evidence drawn from outside sources.

3. One of the clearest motifs in the novel is that of duality. What does duality mean? How does Rushdie use both characterization and setting to reinforce the motif of duality—which people and places in this novel seem divided into two opposite sides or seem to simultaneously embody two differing natures?

Write an essay that analyzes the motif of duality in Haroun and the Sea of Stories, explaining how both characters and settings convey this motif and offering insight into how this motif supports the novel’s larger meaning. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.