In what ways can Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children' be called a 'novel of partition'?

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British
Cover of the book In what ways can Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children' be called a 'novel of partition'? by Martin Lieb, GRIN Verlag
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Martin Lieb ISBN: 9783638050418
Publisher: GRIN Verlag Publication: May 19, 2008
Imprint: GRIN Verlag Language: English
Author: Martin Lieb
ISBN: 9783638050418
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Publication: May 19, 2008
Imprint: GRIN Verlag
Language: English

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 66%, University of Sussex (University of Sussex - Humanities), course: Postcolonial Perspectives, 3 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: I will not quite deal with the novel just under this focus, as the question was probably intended to be, but I will also discuss the book under the aspect of East and West, Orient and Occident ( if such separations are possible is certainly another question), and maybe make some references to Rushdie's more recent novels the ground beneath her feet and Fury. Midnight's Children tells the life story of two children who are born exactly at the stroke of midnight on August 15th 1947, the day India and Pakistan achieved their independence from Great Britain, in a Hospital in Bombay. They are exchanged at birth, and so the narrator, Saleem Sinai, grows up in a well-to-do Muslim family, while his later rival, Shiva, has to live in a low-caste Hindu environment. Shiva is not even raised by Saleem's biological father, since his wife, who dies right away, has been unfaithful to her husband with a departing English colonist. Rushdie intermingles the life and family story of Saleem, who tells it, orally and in his probably dying days, to a young woman named Padma, with the history of the Indian subcontinent in his 30 years of life. Together with India, 1001 children ( see the reference to Princess Scheherezade and the Oriental, Arabian Stories of 1001 Nights) are born in the hour of midnight, who all develop special gifts, one can travel through time, the over can change sexes and Saleem becomes capable of telepathy, which makes him an omniscient narrator and, with Shiva closest to midnight and so most powerful, the possible head over the 'midnight parliament', in which he could gather all the Midnight's Children to save the nation, but the project is not undertaken, because it would reveal Shiva, now a brutal killer and India's greatest war hero, the truth about his parents. In this summary of the plot, which is not totally correct, I think, I have already done a little bit of interpretation, but now I will devote myself fully to the discussion of the essay question and the differences between East and West, as presented by Rushdie, and maybe point to a few developments he seems to have made in his recent novels.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 66%, University of Sussex (University of Sussex - Humanities), course: Postcolonial Perspectives, 3 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: I will not quite deal with the novel just under this focus, as the question was probably intended to be, but I will also discuss the book under the aspect of East and West, Orient and Occident ( if such separations are possible is certainly another question), and maybe make some references to Rushdie's more recent novels the ground beneath her feet and Fury. Midnight's Children tells the life story of two children who are born exactly at the stroke of midnight on August 15th 1947, the day India and Pakistan achieved their independence from Great Britain, in a Hospital in Bombay. They are exchanged at birth, and so the narrator, Saleem Sinai, grows up in a well-to-do Muslim family, while his later rival, Shiva, has to live in a low-caste Hindu environment. Shiva is not even raised by Saleem's biological father, since his wife, who dies right away, has been unfaithful to her husband with a departing English colonist. Rushdie intermingles the life and family story of Saleem, who tells it, orally and in his probably dying days, to a young woman named Padma, with the history of the Indian subcontinent in his 30 years of life. Together with India, 1001 children ( see the reference to Princess Scheherezade and the Oriental, Arabian Stories of 1001 Nights) are born in the hour of midnight, who all develop special gifts, one can travel through time, the over can change sexes and Saleem becomes capable of telepathy, which makes him an omniscient narrator and, with Shiva closest to midnight and so most powerful, the possible head over the 'midnight parliament', in which he could gather all the Midnight's Children to save the nation, but the project is not undertaken, because it would reveal Shiva, now a brutal killer and India's greatest war hero, the truth about his parents. In this summary of the plot, which is not totally correct, I think, I have already done a little bit of interpretation, but now I will devote myself fully to the discussion of the essay question and the differences between East and West, as presented by Rushdie, and maybe point to a few developments he seems to have made in his recent novels.

More books from GRIN Verlag

Cover of the book A Right to Life before Birth. Human Dignity in Biolaw - The Broken Promise? by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Sainsbury's. Market systems, governmental regulations and coorporate responsibilities. by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Die Zwei-Säulen-Strategie der Europäischen Zentralbank by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book George Eliot's 'Silas Marner': How a Man's Life is Influenced By his Environment by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Der Fürst als Notbischof - Luther und die Fürstenreformation by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Das Verhältnis des strafrechtlichen Schuldbegriffs zum Angstaffekt by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Qualitative Sozialforschung nach Anselm L. Strauss - Genese und Fundament der Grounded Theory by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Auswirkungen der aktuellen Sicherheitsstrategien der EU und USA auf die klassische Entwicklungspolitik by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Probleme bei der Ermittlung des Umfangs der Schattenwirtschaft by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Erstellung einer einfachen HTML-Website mit Hilfe des Texteditors by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Frauenbenachteiligung in Afrika by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Ist Online-Beratung eine unterstützende Methodik zur Problemlösung Jugendlicher? by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Erarbeitung der Positionen Einsteins, Newtons und Möbius im Hinblick auf den Zusammenhang von Wissenschaft und Verantwortung in Friedrich Dürrenmatts 'Die Physiker' by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Multimodellierung des Interkulturellen Managements. Für die Ausbildung und die Praxis by Martin Lieb
Cover of the book Phänomen Messie: Eine neue Form der Zwangserkrankung? by Martin Lieb
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy