Fluidity in Cultural Identity in Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Abstract

This article explores fluidity in cultural identity through the analysis and
interpretation of Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Culture and
identity are important areas of postcolonial and cultural studies. Cultural
identity constantly changes due to diversity, as Rushdie shows the fluidity of
cultural identity to depict the social, cultural, political, linguistic, and
ecological differences between the sunlit land of Gup City and the perennially
dark land of Chup City. The differences between Guppees, who represent
liberal, pluralistic, and multicultural views, and Chupwalas, who represent
various types of conservative world views, reveal people's antagonistic
position. This difference also refers to a conflict between fundamentalism and
Western literary modernism. The novel presents postmodern concepts, fluidity
of cultural identity and the formation and reformation of identity, which are
applicable to race, culture, and identity. The travels of Haroun Khalifa are an
adventurous journey where he encounters different kinds of people in different
places. Haroun anticipates a shift in cultural identities between Guppees and
Chupwalas. Rushdie thinks that stories have the power to dominate silence,
corruption, and oppression and to form new cultural identities. Rushdie's
storytelling power represents various cultural identities as well as the change
and formation of cultural identity. This article highlights fluidity in cultural
identity in the context of postcolonial cultural studies.