Autobiography as History : Midnight's Children By Salman Rushdie

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Autobiography as History Midnight's
ChildrenBySalman Rushdie
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The Author

• Born in Bombay in June, 1947
• Studied in Cathedral School, Bombay
• Left for England in 1961
• Completed schooling at Rugby
• Degree in History from King's College, Cambridge
• Worked with a multimedia theatre group and an
  advertising company

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The Book

• The tale of Saleem Sinai an individual born at
  the exact instant of India's independence
• The tale of post-colonial India
• Connection between the two allegorical and
  literal. e

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The Themes

• Magical Realism
• characterized by an equal acceptance of the
  ordinary and the extraordinary
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García
  Márquez a classic of this Genre
• Autofiction Fictional (?) Autobiography
• Life narrative presented as metaphor for a
  nation's journey
• Trivializing/Personalizing History

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Salman and Saleem

• Saleem Sinai born on 15th August 1947 Salman
  Rushdie born on 19th June, 1947
• It was a family joke that the British left only
  two months after my arrival
• Very similar parent profiles
• Like Saleem, Rushdie's maternal grandfather was
  officially Muslim, but was an agnostic

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Salman and Saleem

• When Salman was a child, the Rushdie family lived
  in a colonialist estate called Windsor Villa
  which probably served as a model for Methwold's
  Estate
• Like Saleem, Salman had a nanny called Mary.
• The young Salman Rushdie also believed he was the
  center of the universe.
• Being the only son and eldest child in a
  middle-class Indian family does make you tend to
  think that the world revolved around you

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Salman and Saleem

• One major difference Rushdie was sent to
  England at the age of 14 and has lived in England
  ever since
• Saleem Sinai lived all his life in the
  sub-continent.
• Saleem's Indianness is a function of Rushdie's
  Britishness
• Previous political novels Waiting for the Mahatma
  and Kanthapura were focussed on the village/town
  than the nation

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Autobiography as History

• Saleem's personal story inextricably linked to
  the story of India
• Various narrative devices used to establish this
  connection
• Timing and Circumstances of births used as
  powerful metaphors
• Traits of individual matched with the nation
• Various historical events linked with Saleem's
  friends and family

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Birth Pangs

• "I had been mysteriously handcuffed to history,
  my destinies indissolubly chained to those of my
  country"
• But that's not all!
• 1000 other children born at the same instant
  represent India's post-independence generation
  and the power it had

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(More) Birth Pangs

• Saleem's child born at midnight of the day when
  Emergency was imposed in India
• Parvati's 13-day labour gt the 13 day of
  political turmoil preceding Emergency
• Nightmarish parallels between the travails of
  India and Parvati

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• come on Parvati, push, push, push and while
  Parvati pushed in the ghetto, J . P. Narayan and
  Morarji Desai. . . . were forcing Mrs. Gandhi to
  push. . . . the Prime Minister was giving birth
  to
• a child of her own. . . . suspension of civil
  rights, and censorship-of-the-press, and
  armoured-units-on-special-alert, and
  arrest-of-subversive-elements.

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The Individual..and the Collective

• Only individuals in typical Historical texts
  Kings and Emperors.
• What about the common man?
• Attempt to present history through the
  autobiography of a comman man

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• I have watched the mountains being born I have
  seen Emperors die . . . I saw that Isa, that
  Christ, when he came to Kashmir. Smile, smile, it
  is your history I am keeping in my head.
• Tai is accorded the central place in the
  narrative.

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History Comes Home

• Rushdie shows history's momentous often violent
  events as having trivial causes linked to his
  family and friends.
• Language riots in Bombay
• Emergency imposed by the Widow
• Murder of Homi Catrack by the husband of Lila
  Sabarmati (remember the Nanavati case?)
• Theft of the Prophet's Hair

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History Comes Home

• Family members and friends are closely linked to
  historical/political figures
• Salim's uncle Zulfikar is a Pakistani General who
  helps Ayub Khan seize power
• Salim's mother first married to Shaikh Abdullah's
  right hand man

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The Magic in Reality

• Fantastical occurrences included in the real
  world and presented as normal events
• The powers of Salim and other midnight's children
• Narlikar's luminescent ashes and Ahmed's fading
  skin
• The view of history centered around Salim and his
  family

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The Magic In Reality

• I was born in the city of Bombay...once upon a
  time.
• Is the presence of 'magical' events a metaphor
  for the role of religion in the Indian society?
• Is it present to pander to the West's view of
  India as a country of tantriks and yogis?

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Points to Ponder

• The troubles of Salim and Midnight Children
  symbolize the troubles of post-independence India
• Rushdie blames the system.
• But what did the children, with their special
  powers and abilities do to change/overcome the
  system?
• Does this inaction symbolizes our lethargy to
  carve our own destiny?

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Thank You

• Questions?