Since we've talked a bit in class about the relationship of Rushdie and language - particularly his idea of 'owning' English, of taking parts of colonial literature and including it within his own narrative and of manipulating the language to create new words; both the author and the narrator come across as people confident with their use of language. (I believe this conceit on the part of the author can be summed up in its entirety with the word chlorophyllosophy.) This is precisely why I found the narrator's description of his parent's romance particularly interesting - it is one instance in the text whereby this very faith in language is undermined in the face of an event that is seen as inevitably ineffable.
''To hell with high affairs of state! I have a love story to tell'' (87)
With this note of certainty, enthusiasm and above all - confidence - begins the author's attempt to re-tell the 'love story' of his parents. Immediately, though, he undermines his own ability by claiming that he ''can't do this stuff. This is my mother and father I'm talking about...'' (88)
The narrative, then, fails as the sudden hesitation on the part of the narrator allows him to reflect on his own emotions of shame. It is not only his own shame that obstructs the narrative, but also the perception that he must feel his mother's share of shame too - ''I am in possession of her share of bash as well as my own'' (88)
This passage then becomes important when considering the relationship of the narrator and language, as it provides us with an exception in which the control over language is temporarily broken in the face of emotional hesitation on the part of the narrator.
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