The Collapse of Harmony

“The only difference between me and a mad man is that I am not mad”

-Salvador Dali

            Paranoid schizophrenia has plagued millions of people throughout history.  Sometimes people “snap”, some are born displaying tendencies long throughout their lives.  The saddest reality is, however, when the disease drives someone to violence against him/herself or others.  Eliot Crane, the fictional writer Salman Rushdie’s short story “The Harmony of the Spheres”, is a paranoid schizophrenic who attempts suicide twice, and succeeds the second time.  Ultimately, the protagonist of the story, Kahn, escapes the trappings of what he sees his friend Eliot go through.  He accomplishes his eschewing of being consumed by bizarre “snap”-inducing stigma by not mixing his world with a “spiritual” world.  Ultimately, this story promulgates Rushdie’s own sort of ambivalence towards religion, and how it must be dissected and monitored.

            Eliot Crane is a truly bizarre man.  He blindfolds himself and drives down a motorway into oncoming traffic; he passionately studies the occult; he constantly makes claims that he can offer those around him and himself alternative paths towards enlightenment.  All of these actions are impulsive: they occur during “brainstorms”, Crane’s name for his psychotic episodes.  He is constantly striving to achieve “harmony” among his spheres, one being reality, and the other being unreality.  He never achieves this balance, however.  His obsession with the occult and paranormal consumes him; he craves the very stimulus that induces his “brainstorms”.  Perhaps Rushdie is trying to say that once we begin to crave a fountain of “knowledge” or blind faith, insanity quickly follows.  The line between the spheres is blurred, and instead of spheres the figures become abstract.

            Kahn is equally an unusual man.  He somewhat idolizes Crane for his fame and regard, yet is wary of Crane’s instability.  Rushdie portrays Kahn as the most human of all the characters of this story.  Kahn lusts after an old flame (coincidentally Crane’s wife), even while married, yet maintains a certain “down to earth”-ness that keeps him grounded when confronted by many entities that try to control him.  Kahn is the protagonist of this story by showing his strength to deny externalities from dominating him.  The ideas that are presented to him are intriguing: the occult, a paranoid schizophrenic, a domineering sea-captain woman (Crane’s wife), and an extremely intelligent yet jealous wife (Mala).  Kahn is the only character to come close to achieving “harmony” among his spheres.

            The moral of the story is “be yourself.”  Once a person starts letting others define their reality, chaos brews in the form of blurring that reality from one’s perception of reality.  A clear mind keeps Kahn from killing himself, and by not delving into any one area of activity too deeply.  The excesses of supernormal beliefs and faiths have driven people to kill, either themselves or others, and Rushdie knows this fact better than most.