How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
[...] He once told me: 'When Muhammed prophesied, people wrote down what he said on palm leaves, which were kept any old how in a box. After he died, Abubakr and the others tried to remember the correct sequence; but they didn't have very good memories.' Another wrong turning: instead of rewriting a sacred book, my father lurked in a ruin, awaiting demons. (1.6.10)
It looks like Saleem isn't the only one obsessed with a book. His dad is, too. But while his dad wants to put things in the right order, Saleem doesn't even care about getting events entirely wrong.
Quote #8
By the time the rains came at the end of June, the foetus was fully formed inside her womb. Knees and nose were present; and as many heads as would grow were already in position. What had been (at the beginning) no bigger than a full stop had expanded into a comma, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter; now it was bursting into more complex developments, becoming, one might say, a book-perhaps an encyclopaedia-even a whole language. (1.7.44)
What a cute paragraph! Can he walk yet? What do you think it tells you about Saleem that he imagines himself as completely made out of words?
Quote #9
'Oh yes.' my father said as Methwold cocked a grave unsmiling head, 'many old families possessed such curses. In our line, it is handed down from eldest son to eldest son-in writing only, because merely to speak it is to unleash its power, you know.' (1.8.18)
Just as Tai prioritized the spoken word over the written word, Ahmed Sinai acknowledges that the spoken word has more power than the written word because the written curse doesn't do anything, but the spoken curse does.