Structure

The beginning of the story “Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies” by Salman Rushdie introduces the main characters to the readers – Miss Rehana and Muhammad Ali – and the context – Miss Rehana’s trip to the British Embassy (p. 282, ll. 1-10).

In the middle part, tension increases while Muhammad Ali explains to Miss Rehana the type of intimate questions she is going to be asked by the Embassy clerks: “Muhammad Ali spoke brutally, on purpose, to lessen the shock she would feel when it actually happened. Her eyes remained steady, but her hands began to flutter at the edges of the desk” (p. 284, ll. 2-5). Miss Rehana’s reaction at Muhammad Ali’s words foreshadows that she will use his information to get the questions wrong on purpose.

A flashback is introduced when Muhammad Ali recalls his typical way of scamming vulnerable women looking for a visa: “It was at this point that Muhammad Ali usually began to whisper, to mention that he knew a man, a very good type, who worked in the ...