Lucky [______] - WHY NOT?!

“Come on baby….blackjack….lets go, you can do it!” as the pompous older gentleman shows me his lucky rabbits foot, stroking it gracefully with every card unwrapping the deck. There are a lot of people like this, who have utilize some sort of object that they believe has something to it, some kind of charm that will bring luck or good fortune. I am not one of these people, I believe in what I see, not what I feel, but that is not working out so well for me in blackjack, maybe I should switch and find a lucky medallion or a baby Buddha that will help me out when I need it. Maybe these people that feel this connection with an object have simply encountered a moment of enlightenment with the object and it seems stupid to simply turn away. Maybe having a lucky rabbit’s foot or braid of hair really works out, Salmon Rushdie’s stories put a twist on satires, his writing actually seems to redirect focus.

Salmon Rushdie’s composition of short stories in East, West puts an interesting perspective on life by removing the superficial and focusing on reality. Although I have not read the infamous Satanic Verses by Rushdie, after consuming his literary work I am sure I will soon do so. It is interesting that after the publication of this work Rushdie was forced into hiding for years. The Muslim community strongly opposed Rushdie’s ideologies and his train of thought, in fact the Ayatollah even put out a death sentence on Rushdie’s head.

The Prophets Hair is a great example of the dehumanization of individual actions across cultural borders. Different cultures however react differently towards an object, or a relationship to an individual such as Mohammad. The story is a slice into the life of Hashim who is wealthy moneylender who takes possession of a stolen artifact, and through his greed, Hashim collected the vial and took it home and discovered that “he was in possession of the famous relic of the Prophet Muhammad” (p 43), which ends up slaying his family. In a hasty attempt to avenge the thief Hashim strikes down his daughter, only to follow up with his own suicide soaked in guilt. The only member of the family left was the wife, who inevitably ended up in an institution for the insane, the relic actually forced the family to crumble.

I think that having materialistic possessions of this dimension is a benefit to society in an interesting way. I believe that there are quite a bit of people out there that are looking for an answer of some kind, looking for something that eases them to sleep at night – these objects are their answer. These kinds of beliefs give hope and reason to people, people who are struck with misfortune may be looking to change their life around, and on the contrary that have been lucky have something other than themselves to thank for the way things have been going. The Prophets Hair is well written and gives the reader a perspective on relationships, connectivity, and beliefs which in turn gives a critical view of life and how it played out behind some closed doors, maybe even the relic sitting on the blackjack table.