Good Advice is Rarer Than Rubies

This study guide will help you analyse the text “Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies” by Salman Rushdie. We will show you examples of elements in the text that will be relevant for your analysis. In these notes, we will focus on the summary, plot and structure, characterisation, and themes.

Presentation of the text

Title: “Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies”
Author: Salman Rushdie
Genre: Short Story
Year of Publication: 1974

Salman Rushdie (1947- ) is an Indian-born British citizen. His literary works are mostly set in the Indian subcontinent and deal with cultural themes. Rushdie has become a controversial author because of his novel The Satanic Verses which was considered offensive by many members of the Muslim community, including religious leaders. Rushdie has been living in the US in the last 15 years and enjoys great popularity. The short story in your textbook is part of a collection titled “East, West”.

Excerpt

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Structure

“Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies” by Salman Rushdie is organised around a twisted plot, meaning that things turn out to be different from what they had seemed initially. A woman goes to the British Embassy to get a visa to go to her fiancée in London and meets a man who tries to offer her a fake passport that would secure her travel. In the end, we discover the woman never really wanted to go to England, and that she used the man’s advice to make sure she is not given a travel permit.

The story can also be interpreted as structured in two parts: before Rehana enters the embassy and after.