What is the Impact of Terrorism on Culture and Identity in Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar The Clown?

In Shalimar the Clown, Rushdie shows that the impact of terrorism on culture and identity exists on both political and personal levels.

One of the reasons why Rushdie's work is so effective is because it provides a complex view of terrorism.  The work shows that terrorism's roots are as much personal as they are political.  As a result of existing on multiple levels, terrorism is shown to have a profound impact on culture and identity....

In Shalimar the Clown, Rushdie shows that the impact of terrorism on culture and identity exists on both political and personal levels.

One of the reasons why Rushdie's work is so effective is because it provides a complex view of terrorism.  The work shows that terrorism's roots are as much personal as they are political.  As a result of existing on multiple levels, terrorism is shown to have a profound impact on culture and identity. Rushdie depicts terrorism as part of a new globalized world where “Everywhere was now a part of everywhere else,” and “Everyone’s story was a part of everyone else’s.”  As a result, terrorism is not static.  It is dynamic and it can be felt in so many different areas because it intricately exists in so many different terrains, thereby profoundly impacting culture and identity.

Shalimar embodies the existence of terrorism on multiple levels.  His love of his native Kashmir and Boney are so intensely powerful that when both are ruptured, Rushdie shows how terrorism is both personal and political.  When Shalimar says to Boney, "I’ll kill you and if you have any children by another man I’ll kill the children also,” it shows how the intense passion can be as   destructive as creative. Shalimar's murder of Max operates on both levels.  In Shalimar's mission, Rushdie is able to show how terrorism impacts culture and personal identity.

Rushdie sets side by side the "the beauty of Kashmir" with its "gorgeous terrain and the jovial lifestyle of the villagers of Pachigam" to military occupations that shattered this reality. Rushdie is able to show how terrorism grows from personal hurt into political action.  When Shalimar's mother curses the Indian soldier, it is an action that is cultural and identity- based.  

Rushdie shows that terrorism grows into something political from a seed that is personal.  He shows that terrorism impacts cultural and social identity because it "take beauty and creates hideousness," leaving behind vengeance and anger.  Shalimar's personal vendetta against those who broke his heart helps to fuel his time in terrorist camps.  The ending of the novel where Shalimar hunts down Kashmira Noman is as much political as much as it is personal.  The "virginal blade" that Shalimar reserves for his victim shows the extent to which terrorism impacts culture and identity in the modern setting.