Stories are the central means by which we demonstrate our desire for a meaningful life. It is through stories that we convey our wishes, fears, and values. It is through stories, and through the sense of our lives as a story, with a beginning, middle, and end, which we create a sense of purpose and direction. Through the stories we tell and the stories that engage our interest that we reveal, and discover where we are coming and where we are going. It is also through telling our stories and listening to the stories of others that we connect with them on the deepest level. Rushdie conveys beauty in his descriptions of the "other world" and his ability to keep the fantasy and reality world separate.
             In a make-believe world, the story of Haroun is created. Haroun fights between the power of free imagination and the powers that oppose it. Haroun's father, whom is Rashid, the Shah of Blah, is a professional storyteller. He seems to be a popular figure at public events. He expresses the issues of freedom of speech and imagination, and the political reality. After his wife leaves him Rashid loses confidence in his powers of story telling, haunted by his son's question: "What's the use of stories that aren't even true?" (22) Haroun will find his answer when he travels on his quests. This is when Haroun discovers this fantasy world filled with water genies, mechanical birds, fantastical creatures, Guppees and Chupwalas. He learns that the enemy of all stories, the sinister Khattam-Shud, is polluting the Ocean of the Sea of Stories, the source of all stories.
             Rushdie's intricate stories that are within this unique story are carefully woven in with each other. For example, Haroun took a drink from the Ocean, on one of his many journeys, however, the princess-rescue story turns out wrong. The hero who climbs the tower where the princess is imprisoned is transformed into a spider. The princess d...