The motif of government instability
In The Free Radio, we learn about a conspiracy of the Indian government to combat overpopulation by involuntarily sterilizing poor people. In Christopher Columbus, we see the moments just before Queen Isabella grants him the charter that leads to Europe's conquests in America. In Chekov and Zulu, spies are observing powerful Sikhs hoping to learn more about Gandhi's assassination. These stories help to cast a shadow of doubt on government involvement in the daily affairs of the citizens. The stories criticize the misuse of power.
The pillars of the west
Rushdie offers us his picture for what the West is like. He does this in book two in this collection, he writes indirectly about the conquest of America (in Christopher Columbus), The Wizard of Oz, and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Interestingly, the first book doesn't mention any entertainment or serious literature, and the second book doesn't include much about government or religion.
The Prophet's hair
In one story, The Prophet's Hair, a moneylender accidentally comes into the possession of a religious relic, a lock of hair allegedly from the head of the Muslim prophet, Muhammed. This lock of hair is so powerful that it drives him insane, and his own family conspires against him, to save him. This might represent the overwhelming powers of good. As a moneylender, the implication is that he makes his money by usury of some sort, so perhaps the reason he can't handle the lock of hair is that he is compelled about his own integrity.
Yorick and the skull
One of the greatest symbols of all time makes a guest appearance in this collection, in the story, Yorick. Now, Yorick is the jester who dies before Shakespeare's Hamlet, the same Yorick whose skull Hamlet raises up in his meditations on death. He says, "Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well; he was a fellow of infinite jest." In this story, we see that infinite jest up close. This story is about young, happy Hamlet, before he loses his innocent naïvety. Therefore, this story is about innocence and experience. The dark undertone of the story comes from the reader's knowledge about Yorick's fate (which is all of our fate, as Hamlet later learns).
The "spheres"
In The Harmony of the Spheres, the narrator describes his difficult and tragic relationship to a beautiful person who was plagued by schizophrenia who eventually killed himself. The title is a reference to the idea of the order of the spheres, the popular belief that the universe is order in layers, and that those layers spin harmoniously among each other. In other words, the allusion serves as a symbolic reminder that although everything looks chaotic on the surface, humans can band together and choose to believe in the order of the universe instead of only seeing the suffering and darkness that life often brings.
