Salman Rushdie delivered a 1996 commencement speech at Bard College encouraging students to defy injustice and stand up for their rights and freedoms. He recalled facing injustice as a student at Cambridge University, when he was wrongly blamed for vandalism and almost prevented from graduating. Rushdie believes humans have power over gods, not the other way around, and that defying gods is necessary for humanism, freedom, and realizing one's potential. While the speech advocates challenging irrational authority, it could be seen as promoting an extreme view of defiance that may not always lead to positive outcomes.

1. A 1996 COMMENCEMENT SPEECH
Salman Rushdie
India
Prepared by Shashi Kayastha Kaspal

3.  1947in Bombay
 British Indian novelist
 Author of the The Satanic Versus

4. Do not bow your heads. Do not know your place.
Defy the gods.

5.  Speech delivered at Bard College in front of
graduate student on the occasion its commence
day ON 25th of May 1996.

6. BASIC VOCABULARY
 Appalled
 Avenge
 Defiance
 Clutch
 Defy
 Fingently
 hubris
 Lumpy
 Myriad
 Reverentially
 Topple
 Vicissitude
 Vindictive

7. RECALLING HIS GRADUATION
 Student of Cambridge university- year of 1968:year
of protest

8.  Suffered as student in many ways
 Few night before his graduation days:
ANONYMOUS damaged the wall, furniture and all
parts of his room with brown gravy and onion
sauce.
 College instantly held him solely responsible and
made to pay compensation before the graduation
ceremony.

9. He went to parade wearing
brown, he is thrown back in gown.
He changed black shoes and
reached in the procession timely.
Otherwise he would have to wait
to get graduation next year.

10.  At the time of receiving certificate
he had to held the little finger of
the university officer and he was
guided to vice chancellor.
 He was made to kneel down at
his feet and raise his hand to
begging for degree in Latin
Language.

11.  Regret for his surrender and fells that he has gown
more stubborn since then.
 “Injustice today still conjure up in my mind”

12.  He also shares his admiration towards Bard
College for offering him a place on the faculty of the
college during his hard times after threats made
against him by the mullahs of Iran.
 Suggest to stay bold and defending in all kinds of
injustices

13.  Every human rightfully deserves the justice and
freedom.
 Human obtains ultimate power not the god.
 He takes god as means of hindrance in the way of
self actualization and defying the god is the way to
humanism and believing in oneself.
 Defiance is the inevitable and essential means of
freedom.
 Human potentiality remains hidden until he defends
all the injustices and challenge the god.

14.  Hubris: extreme arrogance AND sin of defying the
god.
 He claims that he was accused not only of spoiling
the room and wearing the brown shoes but also of
the hubris.
 But he believes that such attitude of challenging for
rightfulness is essential.

15.  Gods always demands for your respect to them ,
hence confines you criticality and livelihood.
 He illustrates many lines of the Greek stories to
prove that we have to challenge god, and human
always has a kind of collision with god.



16.  Arachne (great artist) : made embroidery to show
the weakness of god
 Queen Niobe of Thebes tells the people not to
worship Latona, mother of Diana and Apollo.
 Prometheus has challenged the misdeeds of god
 God has done many crimes and cruelties.
 God has not created the human rather human has
created god.
 Student must be guided by better nature which
means to be inquisitive, creative, demanding ,
competitive defiant to enjoy free and sovereign life.

17. INTERPRETATION
 Salman Rushdie, the popular scholar of the world, the writer of
many novels has delivered this speech in the commencement
day of Brad college of New York. In the speech he has
advocated for human right and freedom, which presents the
message that we have to live dignified and sovereign life and
defend for our unalienable right of freedom and justice. We
should not surrender to any post and power in the name of our
unalienable rights since these are our fundamental right. He
regrets that he faced all the injustice and did not challenged
the prejudice in his college. So he wants the students to
believe in self and be guided by the better nature not by the
god since the god himself is criminal and unjust. It questions
the existence of god and his power. Thus, this speech mainly
highlights the theme of self respect and dignity of life by
challenging unnecessary and useless culture of the rule of
god because freedom and right cannot be achieved by
surrendering but by fighting. It also encourages the people to
be ready to fight against irrational power.

18. CRITICAL THINKING
 The speech is quite motivating and though provoking since the
essay suggest the students to live dignified life by obtaining the
unalienable right of justice , self actualizing and through the
better nature. However, some ideas in the speech are not
convincing. The concept of domination is crime can be
accepted; but can we say that a rules of any institution of
wearing black shoes is domination? Can we always go against
the system of protocol and institution. Every citizens might have
their own perspective about right and freedom, what if all try to
live in their own way rejecting the rules? He encouraged the
graduate to defend for freedom , can all short of defiance leads to
positive result. His expression of defying god is too extreme and
can not be easily accepted by the cultured people since they take
god as their creator, preserver, caretaker , such as parents,
nature are god for may of us. So is that means to challenge our
origin and senior. He could have been more specific focusing on
defending the worthless culture and tradition .

19. ASSIMILATION
 Recall a moment of injustice you faced in your life
and talk about your realization.

20.  “Defiance is an inevitable and essential aspect for
freedom and right”
 Yes, I partially / strongly/disagree about the view of
“diffidence…. for freedom” mentioned by ‘Salman
Rushdie’ in speech delivered at Bard College in front of
graduate student on the occasion its commence day ON
25th of May 1996, which urges us to raise a strong voice
against the injustice and domination so that we can get
our unalienable right of fairness and freedom.
 What is freedom.
 Instances of justice and freedom form the topic .
 How defiance can give you freedom. Add your criticality
too
 Give a balanced conclusion.

21.  Rushdie says that the college of Cambridge pride
themselves on ‘the ancient tradition of fairness and
justice”. Does he mean what he says or as he being
sarcastic ?