Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children tells the story of Saleem Sinai and takes place throughout the history of India during the year 1915-1978. As Saleem is approaching his 31st birthday, he tells his life story to his confidant Padma, since he prophetically foresees his impending death. The retelling of his life begins with his Grandfather, Adaam Aziz, and the events leading to Saleem’s birth. Saleem’s character is interesting because of events and qualities that have set him apart. He was switched with another baby at birth and was born with telepathic powers. Importantly, Saleem was born at the exact hour of India’s independence from British rule. This correlation leads to the turning points of his life coinciding with various major events that happen within India. The novel concludes with Padma proposing to Saleem, and suggesting that their wedding be on his 31st birthday. Saleem refuses the proposal because he prophesied that his death would be on that day.
Salman Rushdie introduces his readers to numerous thought-provoking ideas through the novel. The attention to detail regarding Indian history, geography and culture are evidence that Rushdie is a native of India. “Salman Rushdie is the quintessential migrant: born in India, schooled in England, forced by his parents to move to Pakistan and finally exiled back in Britain”( Schröttner). The novel includes many major themes that are not only specific to India, but can be universalized as well. Rushdie includes the juxtaposition of destruction and creation, and fate and freewill, as well as themes surrounding identity crisis and fragmentation.
The theme of destruction vs. creation repeatedly appears throughout the novel. The most prominent symbols of this theme are Sal...
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...complex idea of life and death.
Works Cited
Jiangyumengmeng. "Fragmentation and Its Significance in Midnight's Children."Possession
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Marinescu, Alina Petra. "Saleem Sinai – Number One of the 1001 Midnight’s Children."Journal of Comparitive Research In Anthropology And Sociology Winter 3.2 (2012): n. Pag.
Compaso. University of Buchares, 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Schröttner, Barbara Theresia. "The Value of Post-colonial Literature for Education Processes:
Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children." European Educational Research Journal 8.2.
(2009): n. pag. Print.
Weidman, Aaron C., and Jessica L. Tracy. "Saleem, Shiva, and Status: Authentic and Hubristic
Pride Personified in Midnight's Children." UBC Emotion and Self Lab (n.d.): n. pag.
University of British Columbia. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
One of the main themes throughout the book is the title of the book “Night”. There are references from Eliezer about night during the book, which are full of symbolism. The word “night” is used repeatedly, and Eliezer recounts every dusk, night and dawn through the entire book. For instance, Night could be a metaphor for the Holocaust—submerge the family and thousands of Jewish families in the darkness and misery of the concentration camps.
...r to the creation but rather to Victor, the creator. Victor took something (the power to give life) for himself that was too great for any man, and by doing so destroyed himself and everything he loved. The theme is that there is knowledge that man was never meant to have, and that such knowledge is ultimately destructive. There is a great quotation from the book that goes along with this theme statement: "...now dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier the man who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow."
Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, is indisputably a master narrator. His refreshingly distinctive style is rampant throughout the work, as he integrates diverse character perspectives as well as verb tenses to form a temperament of storytelling that is quite inimitably his own. In his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, he explores the intertwining lives of two drastically different Afghani women, Lailia and Mariam, who come together in a surprising twist of fate during the Soviet takeover and Taliban rule. After returning to his native Afghanistan to observe the nation’s current state amidst decades of mayhem, Hosseini wrote the novel with a specific fiery emotion to communicate a chilling, yet historically accurate account of why his family was forced to flee the country years ago.
Indulging the plot into the political and social situation of Afghanistan at the time, Hosseini profoundly incorporates a strikingly realistic theme into the novel and expands the outreach of his ideas to the extent that they can be applied to the present-day state of affairs. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the lives of the women, men, and children presented are derived and driven by the customs and traditions that root from the country’s political and cultural backdrop. Centering the many twists of the story on the political and cultural influences in Afghanistan, Hosseini develops the novel in close parallel to reality and presents a story that motivates to endure and always be optimistic. The influence of the political and cultural backdrop on the novel signifies the harsh reality of life in developing nations that persists even today and presents the hardships that life poses, along with the inequality that accompanies it.
Ansary, Tamim. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009.
Overall, Khaled Hosseini wrote a story, based on experiences from his own life and the history of Afghanistan from the turn of the 20th century until present day. He added the universal human theme of being good again, allowing this book and these characters to appeal to readers everywhere. He also crafted one of the most successful and popular novels in the Afghan American genre. Looking at the The Kite Runner from the outside in, or from the perspective of the author’s life and Afghanistan’s past, it is easy to see that Hosseini manages to open the eyes of the Western reader. A person on this side of the International Date Line is forced to reconsider their general perspective and beliefs about Muslims and Afghanistan after picking up The Kite Runner.
In the short story The Prophet’s Hair, the author fills the plot with all sorts of messages of exaggeration and religious implications and customs. There are also symbols of the need for segregation between the state and religious beliefs, and societal greed and corruption. The author, Salman Rushdie, wrote The Prophet’s Hair as an inflated tale of what is emphatically seen as the Muslim ‘norm.’ Although it plays to the closed-mindedness of the typical Westerner, the much bigger point of this over-exag...
Rushdie, Salman. `Outside the Whale' Imaginary Homelands: Essays and criticisms 1981-1991 Penguin Books Ltd. (1992)
In the story Dark They Were And Golden Eyed, by Ray Bradbury, a great story that he develops themes of fear, change and symbol and label. The author uses techniques of similes, metaphors and personification that explain and convey them to the reader very powerfully.
When discussing the controversial authors of Indian literature, one name should come to mind before any other. Salman Rushdie, who is best known for writing the book “Midnights Children.” The first two chapters of “Midnights Children” are known as “The Perforated Sheet”. In “The Perforated Sheet” Rushdie utilizes magic realism as a literary device to link significant events and their effects on the lives of Saleem’s family to a changing India. In fact, it is in the beginning of the story that the reader is first exposed to Rushdie’s use of magic realism when being introduced to Saleem. “On the stroke of midnight/clocks joined palms” and “the instant of India’s arrival at independence. I tumbled forth into the world”(1711). Rushdie’s description of the clocks “joining palms” and explanation of India’s newfound independence is meant to make the reader understand the significance of Saleem’s birth. The supernatural action of the clocks joining palms is meant to instill wonder, while independence accentuates the significance of the beginning of a new era. Rushdie also utilizes magic realism as an unnatural narrative several times within the story to show the cultural significance of events that take place in the story in an abnormal way.
Perhaps the main reason I liked this book was the unfaltering courage of the author in the face of such torture as hurts one even to read, let alone have to experience first-hand. Where men give in, this woman perseveres, and, eventually, emerges a stronger person, if that is even possible. The book’s main appeal is emotional, although sound logical arguments are also used. This book is also interesting as it shows us another face of Nasir – the so-called “champion of Arab nationalism” – who is also the enemy of pan-Islamism. The book is also proof of history repeating itself in modern-day Egypt.
In his short story, “The Prophet’s Hair,” Salman Rushdie make use of magic realism, symbolization and situational irony to comment on class, religion, and the fragility of human life. The story is brimming with ironic outcomes that add to the lighthearted and slightly fantastic tone. Rushdie’s use of the genre magic realism capitalizes on the absurdity of each situation but makes the events relevant to readers’ lives. In addition, the irony in the story serves as a way to further deepen Rushdie’s commentary on class and religion. Finally, his use of symbolization focuses on the concept of glass, and just how easily it can be broken.
Hamid’s fiction deals with varied issues: from infidelity to drug trade in the subcontinent and, in the light of contemporary developments, about Islamic identity in a globalised world. His first novel, Moth Smoke (2000) won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award in 2000. His other novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Decibel Award and the South Bank Award for Literature. This book serves as a testament to his elegant style as he deftly captures the straining relationship between America and Pakistan.
There have been very few writers who have been dogged by controversy throughout their careers. Some have been persecuted in less enlightened times such as Mark Twain, and some have been ridiculed by the press like Edgar Allan Poe. Yet, Salman Rushdie was the first author in the free world to have been pursued from across continents and forced into hiding because of a death sentence by a foreign government. To say Salman Rushdie is a very controversial writer in today’s society would be a gross understatement.
In this book , Esposito provides a succinct, up-to-date survey of the Islamic experience, an introduction to the faith, belief, and practice of Islam from its origins to its contemporary resurgence. He traces the emergence and development of this dynamic faith and its impact on world history and politics. He discusses the formation of Islamic belief and practice (law, theology, philosophy, and mysticism), chronicling the struggle of Muslims to define and adhere to their Islamic way of life. Equally important is the essential information Esposito provides on the contemporary world of Islam, from Muslim responses to the challenges of colonialism and modernization to the reassertion of Islam in politics and society.