Advocacy for Freedom in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Abstract

The study on Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories explores the severe oppression faced by the characters like Haroun, Rashid, and Soraya and their longing for freedom. How these characters experience existential crisis and what they perform to release them for their meaningful living in the autocratic sphere, wherein reason does not work is the primary objective of this investigation.

Employing existentialism as a theoretical tool, the research imparts knowledge on human advocacy for freedom depicted by Haroun. Represent the existential theorists like Paul Sartre advocate human freedom in the absurd world, wherein the regime controls social mechanism to retain hegemony in the narrative. Rashid, a storyteller is deployed for political benefits of the political class. However, he is not aware of how he has been exploited. Haroun, the protagonist endeavors to emancipate his relatives for the collective existence.