BA3 - (CS) "Haroun" /Themes & Meanings

There are several themes that occur throughout ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’, one of the recurring ones being the opposition and differences between what is good and evil. Haroun perfectly describes this by thinking to himself, ‘Gupp is bright and Chupp is dark, Gupp is warm and Chupp is freezing as a shadow. Guppies love the ocean; Chupvalla’s tried to poison it. Guppies love stories and speech, Chupvalla’s, it seems, hate these things just as strongly. It was a war between love…and death.’ Most of the book describes how different the lands of Gupp and Chupp are, and how conflicting their views may be. Iff describes Khattam-Shud as “the prince of silence and the foe of speech”. Using the word ‘foe’ implies that this is someone who is definitely not favoured in the land of Gupp.

The theme of naivety is also very present within the book, especially between the younger characters. For example, Princess Batcheat wandering into the “Twilight strip” with her handmaidens even though she knew it was dangerous. This can also be seen with Prince Bolo’s overall personality, as he acts without logically thinking through a situation first. This is apparent when he meets Mudra, as he suggests to “seize him and put him in chains”. Considering how strong Mudra is and the information he knows, this wouldn’t be seen as the most knowledgeable answer. The book also says that his “athleticism and swordsmanship were beyond anything Haroun had ever seen.” Prince Bolo also becomes very temperamental whenever someone criticizes him or his intentions of saving Princess Batcheat, this can be seen when he says, “Foul water genie! Shall I run you through? You dare suggest that my Batcheat went there…for love?” This also highlights how focused Prince Bolo is on the Princess, when he also needs to think about everything else which is happening around him, like the war between Gupp, Chupp and Khattam-Shud.

Another theme which is present within the novel is a quote from Blabbermouth to Haroun, which is how he “shouldn’t judge a book by its cover”. Not only is this apparent in the reveal of Blabbermouth’s actual gender, however we also see this when Haroun meets Mudra. He appears to have ‘terrifying eyes’, as thought by Haroun as well as carrying a “blade as dark as night”. All of these point to negative connotations, however the characters from Gupp find out that him and his shadow are “both in favour of peace”. This very much links to how our initial first perceptions of certain characters can easily change. The water genie, Iff also states how the dark “has its fascinations, mystery, strangeness, romance”, this further suggests how the darkness and shadows aren’t always necessarily associated with evil and malevolence. The opposite is also true for characters that are initially perceived as being good, as Soraya left Rashid at the beginning of the novel.

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