The Land of Gup, on the other hand, is a land of complete Freedom of Speech, even to those that would criticize the land’s leaders in what might be considered anarchy.
Chup, therefore, is not only a land of darkness, but also a land of complete silence and censorship. Khattam-Shud wishes not only to poison the Sea of Stories, but he also wishes to silence the stories completely. Chupwala and its dictator Khattam-Shud represent this censorship. This is largely a reflection on Rushdie’s own experience of censorship when the Ayatollah placed a fatwa upon him for his depiction of Islam in The Satanic Verses.
The idea of censorship is a sustained motif in the novel. In this way, Rushdie suggests that a person’s stories compose their identity and dignity. Haroun’s quest is not just an adventure to return Rashid’s stories to him, but it is also a son’s journey to give meaning to his father’s life. Without his stories, Rashid finds that he has no way to support himself or to justify his life. Both of the people that Rashid Khalifa loves, his son and his wife, both turn on him and tell him that his stories are not real and do not matter. The conflict that begins the action of the novel revolves around the importance of stories in a person’s life.
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