Quote from the book: "No matter how determinedly one feels a country, one is obliged to take along some hand-luggage; and can it be doubted that Omar Khayyam (to concentrate on him), having been barred from feeling shame at an early age, continued to be affected by that remarkable ban throughout his later years, yes, long after his escape from his mothers' zone of influence? Reader: it cannot. What is the opposite of shame? What's left when sharam is subtracted? That's obvious: shamelessness." (33)

This quote exemplifies the overall theme of shame in the novel. It begins with the Shakil sisters giving birth to Omar Khayyam, and mothering him after the sisters' father dies. They live in a grand estate in a country that Rushdie identifies as similar to Pakistan, but not exactly Pakistan (though through political connections, it is obvious that it is Pakistan). Omar does not leave this estate until he is twelve to attend school. Before that he is observing the outside world with a telescope. When the sisters decide to purchase him supplies for school, the city begins to talk about the controversy that has been boiling for years. Omar's life becomes a bit hectic with all of the heckling from firmly Muslim believers and when he fathers a child with a girl he put into a trance that he has been following with his telescope for years. Rushdie continues with this story line and focuses on General Raza Hyder and Prime Minister Iskander Harappa. The two battle for power of this pseudo-Pakistan and bring about their own versions of shame and honor in the contexts of politics and family. The ending can be simply said as this: the general, who in a Western belief system is evil, overthrows Harappa and kills him. In a way, I see how the opposite of shame is not honor, but rather shamelessness, because honor is hard to come by and honor largely goes unnoticed. Shame is always given all of the attention.

Connections: The first connection is with the story's initial baby boy: Omar Khayyam. With his childhood, the theme of isolated upbringing is noticeable. Because the Shakil sisters are staying in their mansion for years, they seem to embody a burka to ignore what the outside world would consider shameful. The mothers birth him miraculously without a father, while still being very ignorant of the idea of human fortification (at first the sisters believe the nipples are the nexus of fertilization). While the rest of the city is aware of a Shakil son, they are not knowledgeable about the idea of there being no father. Omar is born into a world that will subject him to shame because of something that was not his fault. In this instance, shame can be avoided by isolation, proving that shame is purely a social phenomenon; that shame of one's self is often warranted by others. If all humans were isolated from one another, shame would not exist. Shame is about crossing the boundaries of society.

Secondly, we see shame being associated with the female gender. We see this with the Shakil sisters' image of being unwed mothers. In a second case we see this with a small side story in England of a father performing an honor killing on his daughter for having sex with a boy, to which Rushdie comments on pride and important relationships. But perhaps the best example of gender and shame comes from General Raza Hyder fathering a daughter, Sufiya Zinoba, with his wife. General Hyder is adamant on having a son, and even questions her genitalia to the doctor to see if she will become a boy later on in life. Clearly, being a woman is as what the Chinese would say "the birth of a girl is a small joy."

Also, the idea of marianismo becomes screwy with Arjumand Harappa, the daughter of the prime minister, who is known as "virgin ironpants". At one point she is twenty and has not married a boy, which means that she is pure in Qur'anic law, but testy for the city's matchmakers who are desperate for her to attach her to a man, to submit her to a gender hierarchy that utilizes her for making offspring, which requires sexual contact. Also, "Loathing her sex, Arjumand went to great lengths to disguise her looks" (162), showing that femininity is seen as an obligation to a patriarchal system. Arjumand desperately tries to escape her destiny of becoming a mother, but still manages to keep herself a virgin.

Thirdly, Rushdie recognizes himself as the narrator and gives his own personal insight on the subject of shame. Rushdie talks about his encounter with some English elite who were on the subject of this pseudo-Pakistan. Shame, on their eyes, was a common feature of the Middle East; that shame was to be only found in the villages of homes that housed the Qur'an. Rushdie says that shame "is not the exclusive property of the East" (22). However, he does not give an example of shame in the West, save for the Islamic honor killing in England. Perhaps shame in the West is thinking that we Westerners have no shame, and that the East is full of barbarians. I have some belief in this, because Western diplomacy tends to take a parenting, didactic tone to it, especially to developing countries. We, according to us at least, have the best answers, and the rest of the world needs to understand this.

Visual Representation: The picture shows women in Iraq in line to vote. The fence around them is for segregation; in that men have their own line, and women have their own line. Women, as we can see from this photo, are outnumbering men. From the book: "'Suppose you hold elections and he wins, sir,' Colonel Shuka ventured as his face acquired the most dolorous expression Raza had ever seen on the unhappy countenance, ' beg for pardon, sir, but what'll he do to you?' Raza Hyder looked surprised, 'What is this do?' he cried. 'To me? his old comrade, his family member by marriage? Have I tortured him? have I thrown him in the public lock-up? then what is there for him to do?'" (236)

Politics in the pseudo-Pakistan are intense, and Raza does end up in prison and killed. Going back to gender dimensions and Shame, the women seem to be independent and unwilling to go to extreme measures to get their points across. If anything, the women of the book mostly find ways to avoid more problems. So the picture above shows the participation of women in politics, perhaps as a cooling device to prevent more testosterone in bloody politics.

Questions: How do politics in this pseudo-Pakistan relate to the current political state of Pakistan, from the assassination of Benazir Bhutto to today? Why is it that men are preferred in political positions by men, perhaps just for military prowess? What is the literary purpose for the Omar storyline in the beginning only to be stopped for a different one, does that start the reader off with an Eastern shame? In Muslim societies, how does sexual interactions disagree with Islamic law; why is it that the men are not given honor killings for the same crime?

Reflection: Shame is a much easier book to read from Salman Rushdie. While the other book, The Satanic Verses seem like a postmodern film on cocaine, this one takes on a more traditional flow of narration and keeps to one perspective. However, he does stay true to his roots in non-linear story lines, as he switches around with various side stories. Shame I think, would be a better book to read first in order to warm up to his voice.

Shame, overall, gives an easy to follow story while exploring the themes of Islam, gender, and politics. Its title explains most of the trials in the book and gives you a very smart bias to guide you throughout. I would recommend this book to an high schooler because of its easiness to dissect.