User:Apollonia13

The Firebird’s Nest Salman Rushdie wrote this short story in 1997. The story tells the experience of a modern American woman who is engaged to an Indian (Hindu) man of noble origin and accompanies him to his, now deteriorated, but times of yore lavish, palace in India. Once there, she is received with mixed feelings by the local population. The bride soon discovers that she is pregnant, and secretively makes plans to go back home to have her baby in America. While she is having these thoughts, life in the story unfolds and the reader is aware of the terrible drought that is devastating that part of India; manifesting itself as fire and death. Death by fire, as performed in the ritual of ‘sati’ by the local women, is given an important role in the story and gets personification in the Firebird’s mythical character. Simultaneously, the American bride is fabled as the deity that will bring rain, and thus, riches to the region. Finally, the malevolent Firebird is overpowered by the much needed rain that one night, falls. Recurring to effective literary devices, the author closes the story conveying the feeling of liberation and hope in the future.

Characters: Mr. Maharaj The American Bride Miss Maharaj Villagers The Firebird

Literary recourses The narrating voice is the omniscient type The narrating time line is continuous. The literary style has been characterised as magical realism.

Some of the human issues addressed in the story: poverty, want, changing conditions, women’s rights, cultural diversity, social circumstances, love, death, birth... Reference links: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1997/06/23/1997_06_23_122_TNY_CARDS_000378540 http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1997/06/23/1997_06_23_122_TNY_CARDS_000378540 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3400541.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1893031.stm http://www.lakshmifilms.com/padma_lakshmi_press22.htm