Catlin Castan
East,
West
21 March 2013
“The
Courter”
In Salman
Rushdie’s novel East, West, he writes
a story called “The Courter” in which he confronts the transitioning of homes.
Rushdie introduces Mary, a girl who moves from India to England and struggles
to integrate into the new culture. Rushdie includes that Mary feels she
undergoes an, “enforced exile from the beloved country of [her] birth and moved
[her], stirring things that had been buried very deep”(178). Mary reveals, “…India
felt as far away as Paradise”(175). In this quotation, Rushdie suggests that
Mary’s home still exists within her mind. Mary refuses to allow herself to
assimilate into the new culture of England, because she continues to daydream
about India. For Mary-- India is her Paradise: her perfect home.
During her time in England, Mary
meets the “Courter”. Rushdie explains a language barrier-- for Mary, “the
letter p was a particular problem”(176). However, he, “did not mind. But his
name, this courter, this he would try to be”(177). In allowing Mary to call him
as she pleases, or how she is capable of calling him, Rushdie allows for a
chance at a relationship between these two characters: between India and England. As their
relationship progresses they discover the game of chess, and it becomes, “their
private language”(194). This takes away the cultural barrier and allows Mary to
feel comfortable in England. Through her relationship with the Courter, Mary
finds a sense of home.
In this story of “The
Courter” Rushdie is perhaps suggesting that an individual does not necessarily
feel rooted in a place but in the mind. Once an individual’s mind is rooted in
a homeland, it becomes their home: an “imaginary homeland”.
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