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Midnight's Children
First edition cover
Author	Salman Rushdie
Cover artist	Bill Botten
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Publication date	April 1981
Media type	print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	446 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 022401823X (first edition, hardback)

Midnight's Children is a 1981 novel by Salman Rushdie. It centres on the author's native India and was acclaimed as a major milestone in postcolonial literature.

It won both the 1981 Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the same year. It was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary.^[1][2] Midnight's Children is also the only Indian novel on Time's list of the 100 best English-language novels since its founding in 1923.^[3]

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 Book One 1.2 Book Two 1.3 Book Three 2 Major themes 3 Literary significance and criticism 4 Characters 5 Movie 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

This section requires expansion.

Midnight's Children is a loose allegory for events in India both before and, primarily, after the independence and partition of India, which took place at midnight on 15 August 1947. The protagonist and narrator of the story is Saleem Sinai, a telepath with an extraordinary nose. The novel is divided into three books.

[edit] Book One

The first section details both the peculiar roots of the Sinai family and the earlier events leading up to India's Independence and Partition, connecting the two lines both literally and allegorically. Saleem is born at the exact moment that India becomes independent. From that point on, Saleem Sinai feels the pressure of his chronology and invests his life and narrative in describing the zeitgeist of his child- and adulthood.

[edit] Book Two

During his childhood, Saleem discovers that he, as well as all children born in India between 12 AM and 1 AM on August 15, 1947, are imbued with special powers. A significant portion of the plot details the attempt by Saleem to use his powers to convene the eponymous children. The convention, or Midnight Children's Conference, is in many ways reflective of the issues India faced in its early statehood concerning the cultural, linguistic, religious, and political differences faced by such a vastly diverse nation. Saleem acts as a telepathic conduit, bringing hundreds of geographically disparate children into contact while also attempting to discover the meaning of their shared miraculousness.

Saleem's Muslim family emigrates to Pakistan and back in the decades after the Partition, but during the Indian-Pakistan War Saleem simultaneously loses the majority of his family in an air raid.

[edit] Book Three

Saleem suffers an amnesia-inducing accident that lands him a curious position in the Pakistani army. Again, the strange trail of his life affect and are affected by the history of the Subcontinent as he participates in the 1971 war between East Pakistan and West Pakistan.

Saleem enters a quasi-mythological exile in the jungle of Sundarban, where he is re-endowed with his memory. He then returns to human settlements in Bangladesh, where he not only discovers old childhood friends from Bombay but also now slightly older Midnight Children. He accompanies one back to Delhi illegally, where, in failing to reconnect with the remnants of his biological family, he takes up residence (and a wife) in a ghetto of street performers and Communists. Meanwhile, Indian politics continues, and eventually reclaims him during the Indira Gandhi-proclaimed Emergency and her son Sanjay's "cleansing" of the Jama Masjid slum.

For a time Saleem is held as a political prisoner; these passages contain scathing criticisms of Indira Gandhi's overreach during the Emergency as well as what Rushdie seems to see as a personal lust for power bordering on godhood.

The Emergency signals the end of the potency of the Midnight Children, and there is little left for Saleem to do pick of the few pieces of his life he may still find and write the chronicle that encompasses both his personal history and that of his still-young nation; a chronicle written for his son, who is equally chained to history by birth but also possesses the potential for the miraculous.

[edit] Major themes

The technique of magical realism finds liberal expression throughout the novel and is crucial to constructing the parallel to the country's history. It has thus been compared to One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

The narrative framework of Midnight's Children consists of a tale -- comprising his life story -- which Saleem Sinai recounts orally to his wife-to-be Padma. This self-referential narrative (within a single paragraph Saleem refers to himself in the first person: 'And I, wishing upon myself the curse of Nadir Khan. ...'; ' "I tell you," Saleem cried, "it is true. ..."') recalls indigenous Indian culture, particularly the similarly orally recounted One Thousand and One Nights. The events in Rushdie's text also parallel the magical nature of the narratives recounted in the One Thousand and One Nights (consider the attempt to electrocute Saleem at the latrine (p.353), or his journey in the 'basket of invisibility' (p.383)).^[4]

The novel is also an expression of the author's own childhood, his affection for the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) in those times, and the tumultuous variety of the Indian subcontinent. Recognised for its remarkably flexible and innovative use of the English language, with a liberal mix of native Indian languages, this novel represents a departure from conventional Indian English writing. Compressing Indian cultural history, "Once upon a time," Saleem muses, "there were Radha and Krishna, and Rama and Sita, and Laila and Majnun; also (because we are not unaffected by the West) Romeo and Juliet, and Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn" (359), Midnight's Children chronologically entwines characters from India's cultural history with characters from Western culture, and the devices that they signify -- Indian culture, religion and storytelling, Western drama and cinema -- are presented in Rushdie's text with postcolonial Indian history to examine the effect of these indigenous and non-indigenous cultures on the Indian mind and in the light of Indian independence.^[4]

[edit] Literary significance and criticism

From its publication in 1981, Midnight’s Children has become a standard work on university syllabi and has enjoyed an international readership that catapulted its author almost overnight to the very forefront of world authors. It was awarded the 1981 Booker Prize, the English Speaking Union Literary Award, and it was awarded the James Tait Prize. It also was awarded the Best Of The Booker prize twice, in 1993 and 2008 (this was an award given out by the Booker committee to celebrate the 25th and 40th anniversary of the award).^[2] In 2003 the novel was adapted to the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[5]

It has been compared in its scope and execution to works such as James Joyce’s Ulysses, Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. Like them, Rushdie’s novel presents an encyclopaedic exploration of an entire society through the story of a single person. It is able to do this, in part, by merging with the novel form a number of non-Western texts such as the Sanskrit epics, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata and, most consciously One Thousand and One Nights.

The novel ran into some controversy for its open criticism of Indira Gandhi, India's then prime minister, and the Emergency that she imposed on the country.

Rushdie wrote a television adaptation of his own novel in five episodes, which was about to begin filming in Sri Lanka when the government abruptly withdrew its permission and the project had to be abandoned. Rushdie published his adaptation as The Screenplay of Midnight's Children (London: Vintage, 1999).

[edit] Characters

• Saleem Sinai - The protagonist and narrator, Saleem Sinai is a telepath with an enormous and constantly dripping nose, who is born at the exact moment that India becomes independent. He is constantly referred to as "the nose" in the book, from the prophecy made about him "knees and nose."

• Jamila Singer - Saleem's sister, named Jamila Sinai at birth, nicknamed the Brass Monkey during her childhood. She goes on to become the most famous singer in West Pakistan.

• Aadam Aziz - Aadam Aziz is a doctor and the father of Amina Sinai, or Mumtaz. He has many children with Naseem Ghani, and struggles with questions of the existence of God throughout his life.

• Tai - A boatman, Tai is a friend of Aadam Aziz. At times he demonstrates his ability to predict the future and, while most people consider him insane, he in fact makes several insightful remarks, the most important of which is his advice to Aadam Aziz to "follow his nose."

• Naseem Ghani - Naseem Ghani is the daughter of a landlord and the mother of Amina Sinai, or Mumtaz Aziz. She is a dramatic and strong-willed character who possesses a lot of power in her relationship with her husband Aadam Aziz. Later referred to by Saleem as "Reverend Mother".

• Ghani the landowner - Naseem's father.

• Padma Mangroli - Saleem's lover and, eventually, his fiancée, Padma plays the role of the listener in the storytelling structure of the novel.

• Oskar and Ilse Lubin - German anarchist friends of Doctor Aziz.

• Alia - The sister of Amina Sinai, or Mumtaz, Alia suffers from a lifelong love for Ahmed Sinai, whom her sister Mumtaz marries. Her resentment toward her sister manifests itself in the meals she cooks, and therefore affects those who eat what she prepares.

• Mumtaz - Mumtaz, the sister of Alia, has her name changed to Amina when she gets married. Rushdie repeatedly describes Amina Sinai as "assiduous" in her wifely efforts. By sheer willpower, she forces herself to love her husband Ahmed Sinai. However, during her marriage to him she also has an affair with Nadir Khan, to whom she was married for two years in her youth, although they never consummated the marriage.

• Hanif - Saleem's uncle Hanif is a screenwriter who enjoys some fame in his youth, but who grows disillusioned later in life with Bollywood and the superficiality of the film industry, and commits suicide. Husband to Pia, a former actress and eventual joint petrol-pump proprietor with Naseem (her mother-in-law).

• Mustapha - Saleem's uncle, the brother of Mumtaz, marries Sonia.

• Emerald - Saleem's aunt, the sister of Mumtaz, marries General Zulfikar.

• Mian Abdullah - (Also known as the Hummingbird) A pro-Indian Muslim political figure, who dies at the hands of assassins.

• Nadir Khan - Mumtaz's first husband, Nadir Khan is the Hummingbird's personal secretary. After the Hummingbird's assassination, Nadir hides in the Aziz household for a few years, where he has a relationship with Mumtaz.

• Rashid the rickshaw boy - A boy who informs Doctor Aziz that Nadir Khan needs a place to hide.

• General Zulfikar - The husband of Emerald, who is involved with Pakistani political events.

• Lifafa Das - A peep show street man who leads Amina to seer.

• Shri Ramram Seth - A seer Amina visits while pregnant.

• William Methwold - An Englishman from whom the Sinais buy their house in Bombay. One day before selling his estate, Methwold invites Wee Willie Winkie and his wife, Vanita to perform for him. At one point he sends Winkie out to fill a prescription of his, and seduces Vanita, resulting in Vanita becoming pregnant. It is Methwold, then who is Saleem's biological father.

• Ahmed Sinai - Saleem's father and Amina's husband.

• Wee Willie Winkie - Shiva's father and Vanita's husband.

• Vanita - Saleem's biological mother, who dies during labor.

• Mary Pereira - A midwife and servant, who switches Shiva and Saleem at birth.

• Doctor Narlikar - A Gynecologist and businessman.

• Doctor Bose - The doctor who delivers Saleem

• Evie Lilith Burns - Saleem's American childhood sweetheart.

• Sonny Ibrahim - Saleem's neighbor and friend.

• Joseph D'Costa - Mary Pereira's lover, who is politically radical.

• Shiva - A boy who is born at the same moment as Saleem. They are switched at birth, and Shiva possesses an amazing ability to fight. Shiva is the knees in the prophecy of "knees and nose" and is the possessor of abnormally large knees.

• Parvati-the-witch - One of midnight's children, and a friend (and wife)of Saleem.

• Homi Catrack - A man who has an affair with Lila Sabarmati and is subsequently murdered by Commander Sabarmati.

• Lila Sabarmati - Commander Sabarmati's wife, who is shot, but not killed, by him for having an affair with Homi Catrack.

• Commander Sabarmati - The husband of Lila Sabarmati who shoots his unfaithful wife and murders her lover.

• Alice Pereira - Mary's sister, who works for Ahmed Sinai.

• Uncle Puffs - Jamila Singer's agent.

• Tai Bibi - A 512-year-old whore who Saleem visits.

• Farooq, Shaheed, and Ayooba - Saleem's fellow soldiers in the Pakistani army.

• Sonia - Mustapha's wife

• Durga - A wet nurse for Aadam Sinai and a succubus to Picture Singh.

• Aadam Sinai - Saleem's son. (Shiva's biological son)

• Picture Singh - A snake charmer and a friend to Saleem.

• Musa - The disgraced servant of Ahmed Sinai whom later Mary mistakes for ghost of Joseph D'Costa.

[edit] Movie

A movie is being planned with acclaimed director Deepa Mehta, who has previously directed films such as Fire and Water, bagging the rights to the book. Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das are set to play important roles, Salman Rushdie will have a cameo in the film as a fortune-teller. The actor Imran Khan has been suggested by Rushdie to play the protagonist Saleem Sinai.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Detailed Critical Analysis on diverse issues of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children in INDIAN LITERATURE: A Critical Casebook
• SparkNotes Analysis of the Text
• Santiago Juan-Navarro, “The Dialogic Imagination of Salman Rushdie and Carlos Fuentes: National Allegories and the Scene of Writing in Midnight's Children and Cristóbal Nonato.” Neohelicon 20.2 (1993): 257-312. [1]