A Good Satire Goes a Long Way

Satire is s deeply rooted literary analysis of the world at large. In many cases it is used to bring us a peg down from our usual way of thinking and allows us to see the world in a comical light. This literary approach is an ideal way to show people a humorous and yet sometimes ironic look at society or important issues of the day.

Salman Rushdie, from the book “East, West” provides a good insight into satire through his short story “The Prophet’s Hair”. In this story, Rushdie tells the tale of a middle aged moneylender, Hashim, and his family and how they were uprooted by the man’s discovery of the prophet Muhammad’s lost strand of hair.

Hashim used to be an easy going man. He prided his life on the fact that he was an honorable man and that he could be able to teach his children the value of money and how to live their lives through the values of thrift, plain dealing, and a healthy pursuit of independence and spirit. But this all changed when he one day came upon the hair of Muhammad floating down the lake that resides near his home. With this discovery Hashim changed all his ways. He became a devout Muslim, forcing his family to pray five times a day, read the Koran for two hours each day, have his daughter ,Huma, wear a veil, and beating his wife and children if they did not accept these new changes..

This sudden transformation was extremely ironic because it was all based on a religious icon, which in Islam, is looked upon with skepticism and distrust. Yet, Hashim simply explained this away by saying “The prophet would have disapproved mightily of this relic-worship. He abhorred the idea of being deified! So, by keeping this hair from its distracted devotees, I perform – do I not? (East, West, Pg.44). This rational allowed the man to keep the relic and in turn was the catalyst for his transformation. Yet, the entire notion of not allowing others to worship this relic, while doing so himself, seemed very hypocritical.

To make matters worst, this new found change made Hashim’s family turn on him. His son and daughter hired a thief to steal the relic and hopefully return their family to normal. Yet, what actually happen was his son was beaten to death, he accidentally killed his daughter, his wife went mad, and he killed himself. The relic and religious transformation actually destroyed his family instead of saving it. The hypocrisy of his actions and his sudden transformation were all based on a relic. A relic that Muhammad himself would of disproved. The end results were as misled as the basis they were founded upon and equally as shocking.

The entire story is extremely satirical in the effect that Hashim, the moneylender, is transformed by the very object he wished to keep from others. His selfishness and hypocritical stance on a relic, he himself should not posses, is the very catalyst that ruins his life. Had he simply returned the hair to its rightful place, none of the misfortune he endured would have befallen him, but instead his greed and possessive nature over a relic were to lead to a course of events that ironically destroyed his family.