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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Book 1: The Perforated Sheet
Explanation and Analysis—Pig's Skin:
Toward the beginning of the novel, the boatman Tai speaks with Aadam Aziz, reprimanding him for his newly acquired Western habits and belongings. Tai does not trust foreigners—and once he discovers something foreign haunting Aadam Aziz, recently returned from Germany, he shuns the young man. Rushdie communicates Tai's distaste for Westernization using hyperbole:
"We haven’t got enough bags at home that you must bring back that thing made of a pig’s skin that makes one unclean just by looking at it? And inside, God knows what all."
One cannot be made unclean simply by looking at a pig or pig product—in Islam, only the consumption of pork is prohibited. In the above passage, then, Tai's over-exaggerated pronouncement serves to emphasize his distaste for that which is foreign—specifically, Western. The bag is not only made of leather, but it is also from Heidelberg. Its presence symbolizes both the geographical and intellectual colonization of India, representing not only European medicine but a European mindset. Tai is reticent to trust someone who would align themselves in any capacity with European powers, even a man like Aadam. Tai detests the Westernization that Aadam has undergone.
Related Themes:
Book 1: Under the Carpet
Explanation and Analysis—Alia's Bruises:
Toward the end of Book 1, Section 4—Under the Carpet, Alia receives the upsetting news that her sister, Mumtaz/Amina, will soon be wed to Ahmed Sinai. Alia previously made it known that Ahmed Sinai was the man she intended to marry, so she is deeply hurt by her sister's actions. Saleem communicates this hurt to the reader through the use of hyperbole, comparing Alia's experiences to those of her father:
[Alia] had been bruised even more badly than her father in Jallianwala Bagh; and you couldn’t see a mark on her.
Aadam survived a massacre at Jallianwala Bagh with only a bruise on his chest to show for it. His experience was deeply traumatizing, leaving him only one amongst a handful of people to survive mass slaughter at the hands of British imperial forces. In a pointed instance of hyperbole, Saleem compares this experience to the metaphorical bruises Alia receives when Ahmed marries her sister instead of her. It is clear overstatement for Saleem to assert that Alia "had been bruised even more badly than her father." As such, Saleem's use of this hyperbolic statement should not be taken literally. Rather, it should be interpreted as representing the emotional depth of Alia's disappointment and resentment.
Related Themes:
Book 1: A Public Announcement
Explanation and Analysis—Soldier's Knife:
As a means of beginning Book 1, Section 5—A Public Announcement, Saleem uses parenthetical asides to allude to the forthcoming independence and Partition of India (which split India into two separate countries, India and Pakistan). In one such aside, Saleem discusses the Earl of Mountbatten, final British viceroy over India, whose technique for dividing the continent is hyperbolic indeed:
(But, of course, in fact Earl Mountbatten, the last viceroy, would be with us any day, with his inexorable ticktock, his soldier’s knife that could cut subcontinents in three, and his wife who ate chicken breasts secretly behind a locked lavatory door.).
This passage alludes to the fact that colonial empires tend to draw lines and divide their occupied territories on a whim, often creating borders (i.e., the Partition) that generates massive conflict between different religious or cultural groups in those occupied regions.
Saleem utilizes hyperbole to get this idea across. Knives cannot literally "cut subcontinents," of course, but in this fantastical and symbolic imagining of the Partition process, the British cut up India the way one might cut up a loaf of bread—with ease and nonchalance. Saleem emphasizes the relative seriousness of this process for the colonized people vs. the colonizing force. The Earl's actions, which, in reality, have massive implications for the welfare of colonized peoples, are placed on the same level as his wife's consumption of a chicken breast.
Related Themes:
