In the book I am currently reading called Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The son of Rashid called Haroun lived in a country called Alifbay. Alifbay was a country of sadness where all of its inhabitants were something of a sorrow crowd, where the cities were towered with soaring sadness factories. In this country of sadness the was a story teller Rashid Khalifa who was loved by all the country. He would rattle on story after story to the people. His wife Soraya was a sweet woman and used to sing and hum to her hearts content however one day her song disappeared. Rashid: who was to enveloped in his stories didn’t pay much attention to Soraya’s lack of song.
“Then something went wrong. (Maybe the sadness of the city finally crept in through their windows.) The day Soraya stopped singing, in the middle of a line, as if someone had thrown a switch, Haroun guessed there was trouble brewing. But he never suspected how much.
Rashid Khalifa was so busy making up and telling stories that he didn’t notice that Soraya no longer sang; which probably made things worse. But then Rashid was a busy man, in constant demand, he was the Ocean of Notions, the famous Shah of Blah.” (pg. 15 – 16)
This quote shows how even in the happiest household in the country became infected with sorrow. As well as this, the quote serves an example of overshadowing the future events when Haroun told the reader that: he never expected how much trouble was brewing. This could infer that in future chapters there will be much more at sake than Soraya’s singing. As well as this the quote talks about how even Rashid Khalifa could be so busy as to overlook his own wife’s happiness. This also connects to when Soraya becomes to feel neglected later in the book, and leaves Rashid Khalifa for Sengupta who- in her words – has no imagination.