The Satanic Verses

Saladin is one of the two protagonists in The Satanic Verses. He is an Indian voice actor who hates the country of his birth. He does not want to be Indian; he would rather be a white British man. After attending school in England, he displeases his father by announcing his intention to live in England. He adopts an English accent and takes on views he believes are typically English. He marries a rich, white English woman named Pamela; the marriage, to Saladin, is a demonstration of whom he desires to be, rather than who he loves. In essence, Saladin's life becomes a performance of Englishness. He plays the imagined role of an Englishman, but the English public view him as an Indian man. The immigration officers assume he is an illegal immigrant, and casting directors refuse to hire him for roles that show his face. As much as Saladin would like to be a white Englishman, the people of the country he loves so much never accept him as one of their own. As a result, he is caught between two worlds and does not feel at home in either one. Saladin's life is a desperate and doomed attempt to escape his ethnic identity.