Cadet Killian Buckley's Blog

Throughout The Satanic Verses, there is discussion of racism and class strife in 1980’s Britain.  Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of that time, placed heavy restrictions on the influx of immigrants into Great Britain.  Rushdie intended his novel to be the voice of the immigrant and he wanted to display the harshness, in literary form, of the British government.  Unfortunately, much of this was overlooked by the British government.  In fact, they protected him and applauded him for his fight for the freedom of speech.  While the immigrants, those he wished to portray as victims of the country, were against him.

Articles

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandartsdaily/sir-salman-rushdie-on-the-continuing-satanic-verses-controversy/5712892

This Western article discusses the controversy and the recent rise of radical Islam.  Rushdie comments on this during the interview but mainly stays on the discussion regarding his book.  He states that he wished that his book could be removed from the controversy and judged on its own merit.  However, it is key to note that this interview only discusses the issue that people had with the religious excerpts.  They do not discuss the excerpts regarding the portrayal of the British government.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/11/salman-rushdie-satanic-verses

This is another British source which discusses the controversy.  The article particularly discusses the role that religion and the tension between East and West.  However, near the end of the article, it does discuss how Rushdie’s intention was to represent all classes and races and to open up the discussion of racism in Britain.  He wanted to discuss “taboo” topics that are often not brought up in order to start the conversation.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1408668?sid=21104892649391&uid=70&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=4

This article is from an academic journal and discusses the policies of Great Britain after WWII in regards to immigration.  Due to the immense casualties and destruction of WWII, Great Britain needed immigration to supplement its workforce.  However, like Rushdie’s novel portrays, there was a great deal of discrimination against these immigrants. This article discusses how British policymakers dealt with immigration during this time period.

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