Satire In "The Prophet's Hair"

What is satire you may ask? Well by definition it is a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn. Basically it is using something ridiculous or putting someone in a ridiculous and pretty much unbelievable situation to make fun or point a finger at someone. The story The Prophet’s Hair in the book East, West by Salman Rushdie is a perfect example of satire.

In the story I believe that Rushdie is trying to satirize the religious relic that the farther Hashim finds in the water. The whole story is about how a very loving family becomes divided over a piece of hair that is said to be from the prophet Moses.

In the story early on we can see that the family is very loving towards each other and very close knit. “The conversation had been filled with those expressions of courtesy and solicitude on which the family prided itself.” (p. 41) So we see that the family had a lot of pride in themselves for the way they acted towards each other and even in the way they each conducted themselves. Hashim even goes as far as to call himself a great man because he is “Living honourably in the world.” (p. 41) The family thinks very high of themselves and one could go as far as to call them stuck up. It is almost like they think they are pretty much perfect.

Then one day Hashim is about to leave for work and he finds a vial in the water. This vial turns out to be a relic containing a piece of the Prophet Moses’ hair and it had been stolen from the Hazratabl mosque. “His eyes bulged even more than they always had, they were red-rimmed, and his knuckles were white. He seemed to be on the point of bursting!” (p. 45) The relic takes over Hashim. The first day he had it he ended up sitting in his room with all of his collections and just starring and holding the relic.

At dinner that night, Hashim exploded on his family telling them all their faults. He called his son a “Dope” because he wasn’t good at school, he called his daughter undisciplined because she walked around without wearing something to cover her face, and he proceeded to announce that he had a mistress and wanted a divorce from his wife. The family was so distraught with his actions Atta decided that something had to be done about it. He went to his sister and told her his plans. He stole the relic and almost got to the mosque when he realized it had fell out of a hole in his pocket. When he returned home he found that his father had found the relic and had beaten the truth out of his mother and his sister as to where and who took the relic.

These events led to Huma, the daughter, to go out and hire the most evil and soulless thief there is. When he breaks in all hell breaks loose and Hashim kills his daughter and then himself. The thief escapes, but is later shot by the uncle of the family who is a police officer and ends up dying. So everyone dies except for the wife who is committed because she goes crazy after witnessing all the chaos.

Rushdie was using this story to show how something so small can have a huge affect on someone. And that greed is a horrible thing. He uses a story that is almost unbelievable and very ridiculous to get this point across. He uses satire.