The Moor Mix

Salman Rushdie has used various techniques to add to the expressiveness of his texts. One interesting idea was the representation of 'deformed, abnormal and handicapped' figures often coupled with mental disability. There are many examples of such characters in the Moors Last Sigh. Some are mentally or psychologically challenged such as Aurora and Abraham where as others are physically abnormal for example Moor and Raman Fielding.Particularly Moraes Zogoiby (Moor) epitomizes this abnormality and dis-figuration. 

Through Moors deformed self, Rushdie adds a very interesting dimension to his work - Moor's troubled identity which in turn is linked with his ancestral history and the life experiences he has. A persons face or his figure and by extension his whole body is the territory upon which a persons identity confines itself to.Using Moors figure, Rushdie confronts the readers perception of identity through notions of normality and abnormality/alterity.  It particularly fits in here because a persons face also represents his or her unique identity, by depriving Moor of a 'normal face' Rushdie manages to rip off his identity as well. Moraes Zogoiby mentions this himself in the novel,

""my peeling skin took with it all elements of my personality. I was becoming nobody, nothing; or rather, I was becoming what had been made of me."

   Another interesting viewpoint is looking at Moors troublesome body which has been compared to battlefields and warzones by linking it to his ancestral history.Tracing Moors genealogy, we see that he is the product of two polar backgrounds His mothers side representing the european Da Gamas christianity where as abraham zogoiby (his father) adds to Moors disfigured self the Indian Jewish traits. Moors deformed self then becomes a proxy or a reminder of all the conflicts and tussles that occurred in his familial history.It can qualify as a reunion between these opposing genealogies but then Moors over-all abnormality very well show how this mix ended up in a disappointment. Moreover, moors abnormal and disturbing pace of growth and the disparities within can be seen as the offshoot of disparities in the political India as well which was also characterized by regional differences, hegemony of one over the other and the marginalization of the minorities.