2. I have been only the humblest
of jugglers-with-facts; and that, in a country where the truth is
what it is instructed to be, reality quite literally ceases to exist,
so that everything becomes possible except what we are told is the
case.
This quotation occurs in Book Two, at
the end of the chapter titled “Jamila Singer.” Reflecting on his
time in Pakistan, Saleem makes an explicit argument against the
strict political control and religious dogmatism of the Pakistani
government. In a nation defined by one official perspective, with
a government that violently rejects any threat to its singularity,
reality cannot exist, since reality is inherently composed of multiple
perspectives. Reality is not just composed of a single truth, as
the repressive rulers of Pakistan would have the people believe.
Lies become necessary to live in a place like Pakistan, in order
to maintain the fiction of singularity. Saleem argues that although
his narrative may play fast and loose with historical facts, his
story is still more truthful and authentic than the Pakistani government’s,
because his tale celebrates and welcomes plurality, a multiplicity
of perspectives, and the possibility of contradiction.
