Mythical Misconceptions and Fictitious Fact

Unicorns are mythical creatures. They don't actually exist, but they have a clear and defined appearance and character. One horn, associated with sparkly things...we all acknowledge unicorns uniformly as if they were a common housepet and not a fictional creation.

In Orientalism, Edward Said strives to prove similarities between the concept of Orientalism and the concept of unicorns, so to speak. Orientalism itself is a myth, according to Said, and has developed from a political idea of what was considered the strange opposite of the West into a stereotype taken for granted as truth. The stereotype is far from sparkly one-horned horses, however; "Orientals" are considered tribal and untrustworthy at best.

The extent to which Orientalism has penetrated the minds of Westerners in particular reveals the vulnerability to ideas in modern times as well. Said wants to turn the myth of Orientalism into a discussion topic, as the self-fulfilling output of Eastern nations without discussion fuels the myth's power as a fact. With many issues we face in today's society, following racial issues such as the Ferguson debates, or gender divides in politics and others, the media expands stereotypes into supposed fact.

Said discusses the impact that art and culture in the East had on supporting the stereotypes, as both self-fulfilling prophecies and a doubt in the Eastern nations themselves. The media today parallels the effect of art by displaying stereotypes to ignorant viewers and readers and using its malleability to fit the mythical opinions of everything from foreign nations to celebrities. This transformation from stereotype to fact affects anyone studying the particular topic, and Said speaks to the importance of discussing actual proof and causes of stereotypes in order to redefine them and find real facts.

Moreover, in God of Small Things, the characters are conflicted about their own identities in India in terms of maintaining culture in an anglophilic world. Their culture is lost in stereotypes, giving them no history to return to and no basis for defining their culture other than the myths that have been made out to be facts. If they were able to openly discuss what caused the disruption of their culture into this mythical fact they might be able to, according to Said, redefine what it means to live in India, or the Orient, or be a unicorn.