Suicide Leads to Realization

    What happens when we no longer able to distinguish reality from imaginary? Do we become insane. Eliot, a character of Salman Rushdie's East West “Harmony of the Spheres”, argues what we need is harmony to remain sane.

    After Eliot commits suicide, our narrator, Khal, dives into his view on Eliot's life. Eliot's studies, books and mind are shown from Khal's point of view. Eliot was battling “A simple biochemical imbalance” which is causing him to have paranoia schizophrenia. Though he was suppose to take medication, Eliot did not because it effected his working skills. While taking the medication, Eliot would be unable to write which made the schizophrenia much better, on the other hand, he would become even more depressed.

    Allowing Eliot to write, made Eliot ponder events, laws, and religions that would make any man crazy. Delving so deep into these subjects, to write his book, Harmony of the Spheres, required him to focus on one subject, losing his harmony with everything else happening around him. Needing harmony to remain sane, Eliot spirals deeper and deeper.

    Yet, He is not the only one that is focusing on just one subject. Khal also falls into this trap of focusing on a single object, which does not allow him to see the full picture. He is focusing on Eliot so intently, he oversees the affair that his wife, Mala, is having with Eliot. How could this be possible with Khal being so in tune to what Eliot is doing?

    Without harmony we will all become lost and insane. We need a balance of everything that effects us, “our spheres”, so we can allow ourselves to come to the true realization of what is actually happening. Eliot hides these truths from Khal. until Eliot commits suicide, Khal does not realize the book Eliot was suppose to be writing writing, Glendower manuscript, was in reality a compilation of rants and stories. All appearing fake to Khal because of the inability to sort about reality from fiction since he is not fully in tune with everything around himself.

    With Khal's spheres out of harmony, the shock of the affair being real brings him to the conclusion he has no grasp on reality just like his dead friend Eliot. Though Eliot and Khal can not understand reality for separate reasons, they both still end with the same problem.

    Keeping a board range and making sure our spheres are in harmony with each other, we can avoid the inability to determine reality from fiction. Balance between all aspects of our lives will help us gain a better understanding of what and how these things are effecting us. If our focus begins to narrow, we can become lost from reality, gaining the curse of not being able to determine what is real and what is imaginary.