The Language Wars: analyzing Rushdie's style pp. 273-336

For this post, please analyze one of the passages below. In class, we will analyze each one: you should contribute when we get to yours. As we've established, Rushdie employs a "dialogic" style, meaning that he writes in many voices. As you look closely at the passage you've picked, try to pick out the voices: the author/narrator; the voice of the Indian people; the scientist or specialist; the poet; the historian; the ordinary or uneducated person, etc. What satirical purpose does he create through mimicry? Also, analyze his use of allusions, rhythm, tone, imagery, repetition, inside jokes - and other techniques of literary poetics. Passages: 1. p. 273, beginning "Sensing Padma's..." and ending "...passed us by." 2. 274-275 from "Not the dark one..." to "...lots of fun." 3. From "My mumani" (276) to "..Life of a Pickle-Factory" (277). 4. From "The ghost of Joe..." (280) to "..confusion you will unleash." (281). 5. From "When I returned..." (285) to "..was a terrific exit." (286). 6. From "In this way..." (292) to "...with one single thing." (293). 7. From "Who listed..." (295) to "...with the Reaper. (With my help.)" (296). 8. From "I confess: what I did..." (297) to "AFTER NEHRU, WHO?" (298). 9. From "KNOW, O UNBELIEVERS..." (306) to "...of Good Family." (307). 10. From "It was said; could not be unsaid..." (312) to "...would probably have approved." (313). 11. From "Of course, I nodded." (332) to "...over the bed like a shroud." (333).

MICHAEL Rushdie---------

rUSHDIE mentions that everything has shape if you look for it. There is no escape from form, immediately after comparing the different sources of blood. The "rioters spilling eachothers blood" the blood of "his mothers cheeks. drifting off from the subject to discuss the affairs of his "inner world" then returning to the mutilation of saleem sinai. I feel that in the line of no escape from form, rushdie is merely considering the tendency to look for patterns in chaos, and eventually finding them. in terms of style I this jump from one telling to another subject displays the non linearity of rushdies style, he jumps on tangents and allows them to loose steam in his ranting. He has so much to say in dealing with the entitiy of india that , some things are put on stand by while he explains others departments of his mental chasm. wHICH IS understandable for someone who uses his own mind as a forum for telepathic communication.

Anna –Rushdie- 2/28

I'm having some trouble figuring out what Rushdie is doing, for a book that I began reading as sheer genius, and though I still think that on a large scale it is, (and even in the tiniest of details- also brilliant) it is very difficult to string at one time, more than one theme along, for example wondering about the witchcraft brew Padma brings home for the author for his fertility that sends him into fever (the heck does that mean?) and then the Evie American with the bicycles and all the commentary on race and children (innocence but also play and violence) this brings up, to the using of famous gods with well known characteristics to be devious characters, to falling in love with the ugly bits of people. So much action and metaphor and detail, so little explanation. I latched onto one line where Rushdie said (I paraphrase) reality can have metaphorical bits but this does not make it less real. This is what I latch onto. Oh and I really like how when he falls in love with Evie its because she is both snake and ladder, of course.

Jason - Rushdie - 2/28

The further along in the book I get the more it seems the structure of it deals with the juxtaposition or superimposition of the workings of the inner mind and the workings of the everything else outside of the mind. Much of Saleem’s narrative style could be explained as having the quality of attributing the processes of his mind, which he describes as being “messy” (with ideas and ideas of things leaking into one another so that they overlap and create new meaning or meanings that otherwise wouldn’t exist), and placing those “messy” associations into the world outside of his mind.

By doing this, Saleem implicitly creates meaning in things. This is evident in almost any section of the novel where one object is associated with another. This practice of creating meaning seems to finally come into direct opposition with Shiva, the other original Midnight Child, who holds the exact opposite opinion: there is no meaning or purpose for why things are the way they are.

On Pg. 252-3, Saleem has a mental conference with Shiva, during which time Shiva essentially states that he seeks to control the M.C.C. and make it do what he wants. This seems to set the stage for an “epic battle between good and evil.” The joke might be that this encounter with Shiva, and all other M.C.C. members for that matter, are all within Saleem’s mind. If so, the story in which Saleem the character exists might just be a veneer for a debate over whether things have meaning or not.

And because Saleem seems to believe in form (by performing his duty as narrator he implicitly looks for it) that belief might be justification enough to say that meaning exists in the world (which appears to consist of a mixing of the inner mind and the outer enviorment). But because there seem to be two sets of inner-minds (that of the young Saleem the character and that of the older Saleem the narrator) and two sets of external realities (that of the family history and political history in which Saleem the character lives and that of the pickle factory and Padma in which Narrator Saleem lives) it seems difficult to attribute more truth to one set of perspectives over another. They all could be the same illusion, which might mean: that to believe in meaning and purpose is to deceive yourself.

Jane-Rushdie-2/28/2011

Throughout the narrative we find ourselves questioning Saleem as a reliable narrator and whether or not he is in fact, insane, which is why is find the opening paragraph of All- India Radio telling about Saleem's interpretation of history to be truthful. At the end of the passage when he says, "I reiterate, without a sense of shame, my unbelievable claim: after a curious accident in a washing-chest, I became a sort of radio" (Rushdie, 189) I was reminded of an earlier passage wherein several villagers find Saleem's grandfather's optimism in the face of revolt and bloodshed disconcerting: "The old men at the paan-shop at the top of Cornwallis Road chewed betel and suspected a trick. I have lived twice as long as I should have,the oldest one said, his voice cracking like an old radio because decades were rubbing up against each other around his vocal chords" (Rushdie, 38). This seems to correspond to Rushdie's metaphor of the distortion of the movie screen when seen up close to our perception of history when in the present. As another modern device, the likening of the old man to the garbled sounds of a radio being the result of decades past melding into one another speaks further Saleem comparing himself to a radio and whether then we can trust him as a reputable source of knowledge on India's past. 

Karol - Rushdie -2/28

I had an 'ah ha' moment with the song that keeps coming up how-much-is-that-doggie-in-the-window (165,298)This seems to be satirical of a concept of love at a distance. Amina is in close proximity to the first example grappling with the dream of an "unnameable" husband. In the second occurrence it lies in proximity to reference to Crusoe (emblematic for colonial literature).  In Rushdie's context I think it is making fun of the west's obsession with objectified and unreachable images from less developed parts of the world. Laika is also mentioned giving grounds to this premise because of Wests reaction to a dog being sent into space to die.

I do think that the characters are comic but I think I are something more, they are cartooned. The exaggerations of their features make them less life like and therefore more life like to interface with. Kind of a response to the "uncanny valley" that happens with excessive realism. Jonathan Swift does something like this with the his portrayals of the Irish.

Eidia- Rushdie- 2.28.11

Punishment and Atonement

Distributed via several passages, in Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children, there are several examples of the relationship between punishment and atonement, action and reaction.
There are the naive and disciplined examples of Amina's power to forbid her children from speaking, a common punishment for their misdeeds, for she cannot bring herself to raise her hands on them. The example of the wash closet, Saleem's coincidental witnessing of his mother's nudity and still intact vulnerability towards Nadir resulted in a days worth of silence. Later, the Brass Monkey awakes the next morning, eagerly urging her mother to retract the punishment, for Saleem has been good, he has not spoken since the sentence. Once allowed to speak; however, Saleem addresses the family with the news of his interaction with the archangels, leading to a powerful strike to his ears, partially deafening him. Along with Saleem's punishments, the Brass Monkey, the family's original malicious child, reputed for her shoe burning habits and fierce actions, has faced these punishments at a multiple rate.
Elevated, in a graver manner, there are the sins of the adults, and their punishments. One of the most striking and burdensome punishment is that of Mary Periera, who has been concealing her crime from the entire society: the exchanging of babies. With this act, Mary Periera inherited a sense of guilt, so prominent, that the apparitions of Joseph D'Costa reestablished several times, leaving Mary bewildered, paranoid, sleep deprived, but incapable of admitting her crime, severely heightening her already intense sense of guilt.

Hannah-Rushdie-2/28

Saleem's mother, Amina, is described as taking the "burdens of the world" upon her own back on page 180. She becomes a Christ like figure because of her loyalty to her family and community, her ever lasting guilt and most importantly, the sacrifices she goes through in order to feel rid of her "sins" (seems like being human is too daunting for her).

"'Amma, maybe you're a mermaid really, taking human form for the love of a man-so that every step is like walking on razor blades!' My mother smiled, but did not laugh" (179). Amina feels responsible for her husband's impotency and her inability to love him as a whole that she is full of guilt. She even blames herself for Monkey's disinterest in feminine qualities, her son's big nose and gambling to support the family. It seems as if catering to human nature and letting some things go isn't what Amina is willing to do for herself. She seems to be striving for an inhuman, or perhaps spiritual, type of life because she can't deal with having to let go of Nadir. According to the Bible, Christ was born in a manger and grew up as a carpenter's son, yet was crucified for the world's sins and is now in Heaven. Amina, then Mumtaz, was tucked away into darkness with Nadir (simpler times) then suddenly thrust up into another marriage, having to pay for her secrets and guilt by being a Christ like figure to everyone else around her.

On page 180, Amina seems to have a fog of guilt around her head (Christ and his crown of thorns, representing and mocking his claim to be the son of God). Everyone who came in contact with Amina felt the need to confess their sins, such as Lila Sabarmati and Hanif. Afterwards, they felt better about themselves. Maybe this air of confession was due to the fact that Amina was regarded as being put together and able to handle everyone else's problems, since she was seen as a Christ like figure (untainted and pure). She is portrayed as a relatively moral woman and I feel Saleem decides to speak about this right before the bathroom incident in order to show the reader that not everybody is as strong as they seem.

Joseph-Rushdie-2/28

The abilities of the Midnight's Children are undoubtedly comic, and Rushdie sets it up from the very beginning: He comments that "synchronicity on such a scale would stagger even C.G Jung." (This is later undermined, or at least I think you could make a case). It must be noted though that for Indian culture, the abilities of the children are, on a whole, not that staggering. Rudhie remarks:"But no literate person in this India can be wholly immune from the type of information I am in the process of unveiling-no reader of our national press can have failed to come across a series of-admittedly lesser- magic children and assorted freaks."

The thing that I find most fascinating is the solipsism that most of the children's gifts create: There is the case of Sundari, whose beauty ultimately leaves her disfigured and she has to hide behind a mask(I found this one particularly interesting because there is a very similar case in 'Infinite Jest');there is a girl who cannot be crossed because her words literally harm others;there is the boy who has the curse of forgetting everything he ever saw(a contrast to the famous Borges story, "Fumes the Memorious").

Rushdie makes a big deal out of talents being greater if a child was born close to the exact minute. However, many of the children's abilities seem haphazard and not adhering to any temporal logic. For example, there are two children who are born rather late but possess pretty enviable powers: Rushdie speaks of a child who believes himself to be a reincarnation of Rabindranath Tagore and "extemporizes verses of remarkable quality". Such a literary and oratory gift would seem to be a valuable power. Also, Rushdie describes late blooming siamese twins, with one head of a boy and one head of a girl, who are able to speak every dialect. That seems like a vital power as well. Does time of birth really play that big of a difference if such great powers are possessed by the supposed 'freaks'? Furthermore, there are some children born closer to the hour who possess some questionable powers: For example, there is a girl who multiplies fish. Given the choice, I would certainly choose the powers of some of the children of the later minutes. There seems to be an element of comedy and mockery in the face of Saleem trying to construct a methodology.

 The biggest instance in support of Saleem's theory is the two births that are closest to the minute: The birth of Saleem and the birth of Shiva; knees and nose. Shiva is given the gift of war, the ultimate divisive action. Saleem is given the gift of communication, the ultimate chance for regeneration. Destruction and regeneration cannot help but be inextricably related, and these two are forever bound together. Many of the children seem comic and random, but it is clear that the timing and proximity of these two births were no accident.

Will - Rushdie - 2/28

On page 189, Saleem writes, "Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems . . . "  Saleem illustrates this thought with the image of sitting in a large movie theater.  As a person moves closer and closer to the screen, the picture becomes less and less cohesive, until finally " . . . the illusion dissolves­—or rather, it becomes clear that the illusion is reality."  The second part of the book is constructed as if Saleem and the reader are moving closer and closer to the screen of the present.  Even for Saleem, as he gets closer to his present reality the story gets more chaotic, and it is harder for him to understand the order of events.  One needs distance from "reality" in order to make narrative sense of it. 

Narrative cause-and-effect is amplified in movies.  Saleem's uncle Hanif Aziz is a failing director who introduced the world to the "indirect kiss" (162), in which the love of a young couple is expressed by sensuously kissing objects like tea cups in front of each other.  The scene where film language is used most effectively is the scene where Saleem spies on his mother's meeting with Nadir Khan (renamed Qasim) on pages 247-249.  They meet at the Pioneer Cafe, a restaurant frequented by film extras.  Amina and Qasim are both "screen-names" they've taken on to play "half-unwanted roles."  Saleem shoots close-up on a pack of cigarettes on the table between Amina (Mumtaz) and Nadir (Qasim), then their hands enter the frame, hovering above each other but unable to touch.  To signal that they truly love each other, they perform an "indirect kiss," Amina pressing her lips to one side of a glass and Nadir pressing his lips to the other.  Saleem is so shaken that he says, "I left the movie before the end."  Yet the question arises of how Saleem saw all this through a corner of a grimy window?  Does he actually remember this or is it a filmic reconstruction? 

The concept of the "indirect kiss" is the high achievement of Hanif's career.  It shows metaphorically what is dramatized elsewhere in the book:  all love is expressed indirectly.  Aadam Aziz and Nasseem fall in love through a perforated sheet; Mumtaz (Amina) falls in love with Nadir in the shadow shadows of a vault, casting him side-long glances as she changes his chamber pot; Saleem expresses his love for Evie by learning to ride a bike; Brass Monkey shows her sibling love for Saleem by fighting Evie.  No one just says, "I love you," because it is insufficient.  Thus Hanif's "indirect kiss" is a much more realistic image than his scripts about pickle factories.         

Rushdie - post suggestions - 2/28/11

Posts should refer at least partly to 206-271. Make them analytical: try to work out some question of meaning, significance, the structure of the book, etc. Avoid posting generalized responses. Read all the questions. They are intended to spur ideas about this extravagant work of literature.

• relating to the question of religion as a presence in Rushdie's world, consider the transformation of Saleem's mother ("she took on the world's guilt") into a saintly, even Christlike figure just before the bathroom incident.
• the question of impotence: Padma's attempt to cure Saleem using herbs; Ahmed's confession of impotence to Narlikar and Dr. Narlikar's reaction, followed by Narlikar's unexpected passion for his wife... which is described in terms reminiscent of tantric practices... the awakening of chakras and prana (energy) from the lowest to the highest... try to intepret or discuss these strange passages.
• conflict or strife between the sexes: Narlikar's female relatives who wish to build a female-only colony on Methwold's estates after Narlikar's death.. the "strong, hairy-armed women" at the beginning of "All-India Radio." Female bodybuilders in Ghani's house... etc. Are these comic elements or signs of a female revolt or the breakdown of traditional sex roles...?
• Consider the passage at the beginning of "All India Radio." How does the book deal with questions of history and truth as measured and recorded by modern devices: such as radios, medical instruments, movies, public address systems, etc.? If you like, compare this to the problem of truth and history in Naipaul.
• On p. 193, Saleem performs an act of contrition. The story contains many such incidences of punishment and atonement. What are the transgressions for which characters are likely to be punished? What does this say about concepts of authority or morality in the novel? (Power relations in Naipaul were largely social or political. Here power and authority are often within the family...)
• Consider the types of events that lead to Saleem's transformations: an encounter with his nude mother, trauma to one ear at the hands of his father and to another during a bicycle accident... Later, trauma to the nose causes a change in his powers. Why do these mundane physical events (including the time of his birth) - rather than something more mystical or spiritual - cause such transformations? 
• Comment on Sonny's and Saleem's courtship of the American Evie Burns, which involves a lot of bicycle-riding. Bicycling fits with the "carnivalesque" because it is a part of circus life. Consider this in light of love as a whole in the novel.
• Starting on 224, we have a lengthy description of the Midnight's Children, including all their various powers. Comment on Rushdie's choice of powers and abilities. They are not like the Justice League or something. Is there a comic message here?
• Alternatively, comment on the Children as an alternative family in light of the families in the novel in general. Alternatively (again) consider the Children as a parody of some political body (then the novel as a whole would be an allegory).
• p. 242: passage about the selectivity of memory followed by a discussion of world religions: obviously history, autobiography, and folk stories all involve selective memory... The passage may suggest that all stories are "maya" or illusion. Discuss.
• Brahma is a many-headed god: a many-headed monster hardly worshiped in India. On page 217, there is a line referring to language as an "endless ant-trail." This may in turn refer to a famous Hindu story involving a trail of ants. Brahma, remember, is the creator god. Can you relate this story to the idea of creation or building in this novel?
• This book's form may be more associative than linear: that is, it jumps from one thing to another connected thing in a "hypertext" manner, rather than telling a straightforward story. Consider the passage about blood on 258-259, containing the line "Everything has shape if you look for it. There is no escape from form."

Michael Rushdie---------

Bakhtin's concept of dialogism states that language and every idea Incorporated within language is in relation to past constructions of shared definitions and understandings of existence.meaning that everything anybody ever says always exists in response to things that have been said before and in anticipation of things that will be said in response. everything plays off each other, keeping mind all aspect of conciousness past present and future.  In relation to hegemony, the accepted terms and definitons in language and communication must then be placed by the higher classes or dominant classes, Dominic Strinati (1995): Dominant groups in society, including fundamentally but not exclusively the ruling class, maintain their dominance by securing the 'spontaneous consent' of subordinate groups, including the working class, through the negotiated construction of a political and ideological consensus which incorporates both dominant and dominated groups.
 InRushidie writing i see an attempt to break away from the imposed truisms by invoking a voice of hindsight. Rather than accepting the past as it played out Rushide creates a character assuming the highest of classes through narration, thus being given the oppurtunity to create language all together. The carnaveleque is an attempt to break away from set ideologies by pursuing fantasy and the ridiculous in the same way saleem alters the details of his life through his free wheeling narration. saleems truth is seen through his perspective consisting of every truth to be believed in his past.

Jason-Rushdie-2/23-Magical Realism

Given the argument that it may or may not be possible for a Westerner to fully comprehend another culture’s means of communicating about itself, in terms known to itself, and known as “normal” terms within the culture, I think Rushdie’s writing style still combines elements of relatable “realistic” life (that a westerner could understand) with an exaggerated, metaphorical-perspective-taken-for-literal-perspective approach that could be labeled fantastic-realism or even magical realism. One instance of what could be called Rushdie’s magical realist perspective is when the narrator, Saleem, uses his ability to read minds in order to find out “what makes [Evie] tick.” In the passage where this happens, it seems Rushdie is playing with the idea (which comes from the Novel- a western convention, I think) of the narrator’s omnipotent perspective, the ability to go into a(nother) character’s head to find out what they’re thinking, and attributes that power to the character of the narrator within the frame of the story so that it reads like a supernatural, magical power, one that is outside the bounds of a realistic story. But then again, I think Rushdie plays with both the idea of magical-realism as a construction placed upon cultures other than those that are Western and the idea of non-Western cultures having a different conception of what is taken to be literal. He seems to be making magical realism out of conventions of the Novel (which might be an “othering” of the Western perspective for Westerners?) and mixing in exaggerations of cultural perceptions that a Westerner might find unbelievable or magical in the first place.

Karol - Rushdie/Bhaktin -2/22

S0o, I am also reading The Brothers Karamazov and let me tell you the two novels share what Bhaktin calls elements of the canivalesque. I understand this term in reference to sound. At a carnival as one proceeds it is structured to pull at the individual's desires in multiple directions thus disorienting them. For Bhaktin this disorientation is dialectically oppositional but frees up the audience to embrace the actuality of what the expressions and gestures that make up language are saying underneath what they are saying. Bhaktin also revised Aristotle's rhetorical model adding something he calls the "hero." In the case of this book the hero is India in all her manifestations.
The whole of the book employs subjective speakers inter-playing against each other. The language riots (241), the conference, but the example that stuck out to me as particularly Dostoevskian is the scene on p279 where Shiva gives a tirade asking why there is evil in the world (sounds an awful lot like The Grand Inquisitor speech given by Ivan Karamazov).

Hannah-Rushdie-2/23-Bakhtin

"This process is 'multiply enriching' (Ibid), it opens new possibilities for each culture, reveals hidden 'potentials' (Ibid.), promotes 'renewal and enrichment' (Bakhtin, p. 271) and creates new potentials, new voices, that may become realisable in a future dialogic interaction."

"The aspiration of carnival is to uncover, undermine - even destroy, the hegemony of any ideology that seeks to have the final word about the world, and also to renew, to shed light upon life, the meanings it harbours, to elucidate potentials; projecting, as it does an alternate conceptualisation of reality."

Bakhtin's description of dialogism sheds light on Rushdie's style through Saleem's telepathic encounters. As he goes through others' thoughts, such as of a starving infant to the Prime Minister (page 199), Saleem literally reveals "hidden 'potentials'" that wouldn't have been made available unless he was able to connect telepathically. He uses run on sentences on page 194 in order to show his family's thoughts, like his father's fantasies about his secretaries or his uncle's sadness. New voices throughout India are introduced that reveal a different perspective on its culture and also the draining of culture (page 204 -"The businessmen of India were turning white" literally and metaphorically). Being able to listen to the nation's thoughts excites Saleem as first, but also pains him as he realizes his family's and country's issues and faults. "Soon the cracks will be wide enough for them to escape" (205) - perhaps referring to what Saleem gathers from everyone he hears and other midnight children?

Rushdie's decisions to make Saleem represent India is carnivalesque in my opinion because, as mentioned before, he uncovers what others are thinking and their motives for their actions. Rushdie adds a mystical element to this novel, changing what is seen as reality to Saleem and to the people around him.

Dan - 2/23/2011- Rushdie-Magical Realism

Rushdie interjects fantasy with the mundane in Midnight’s Children.  This according to the article is the simple and “straightforward” way of describing the term magical realism. A term that critics have constantly called Midnight’s Children on a certain level Rushdie’s novel does contain this genre very much so. But this may just be the modern eye and due to the times it was written in. It is a historically accurate piece that contains elements of intense and sometimes over looked fantasy. But in Rushdie’s eyes his tale is probably seen more as a modern folklore than that of magic realism. Especially due to the fact the story contains so many references to the other folklores before like the Bible (Aadam/ Adam).  It also relies on (from this much in) the famous hero’s journey (Monomyth’s) format in which  follows a heroes rise to be the “chosen one.” Similar narratives can be seen in The Odyssey, the bible, and Star Wars. 

Rachel - Rushdie, 2/23 (Magical Realism)

I really don't know much about magical realism.  However, the link that Robin posted claims: "The fiction in form and language often embraces the carnivalesque..."


...???


After using Google to figure out what the hell "carnivalesque" means, I found the following passages to be relevant, within the context of Midnight's Children...


(p. 155-156)  Snakes escaping all across India.  Rushdie seems to spend a lot of time on this passage, and it later this ties in with Saleem's favorite board game, snakes and ladders (p. 160)  I have no idea what the significance of any of this is, but I can see that it's there.  Also, there is a snake on the book cover, so cearly this means it has to have some sort of significance!  (I'm getting frustrated because whenever I try to grab this novel by the throat and just pin it down, it slips away!  Maybe that's the symbolism...slippery like a snake.)  But the text does state that "religious leaders described the snake escape as a warning - the god Naga had been unleashed, they intoned, as punishment for the nation's official renunciation of its dieties."


Snakes, particularly cobras, are such mythical animals...a cobra was supposed to have offered the Buddha shade with his hood, no?  So within this context, they're royal.  (Or is that wrong?  To be honest, I'm kind of struggling with the concept of where Hinduism ends and Buddhism begins...)


REGARDLESS...the mythical element remains.  That's apparently a big component of magical realism!


It's Eastern!  It's exotic!  It's got a snake on the book cover!  It's Midnight's Children...magical realism and all.

Joseph-Rushdie-2/23-Bakhtin

For Bahtkin and his theory of dialogism, “Everything means, is understood, as a part of a greater whole — there is a constant interaction between meanings, all of which have the potential of conditioning others. Which will affect the other, how it will do so and in what degree is what is actually settled at the moment of utterance.” Bathkin writes,"Two voices is the minimum for life, the minimum for existence'. A dialogic work carries on a relationship with other texts, and we can observe this in the works of Salman Rushdie. Catherine Pesso-Miquel writes that Rushdie often states that “India only possesses unity and wholeness, purity and authenticity, in a myth invented by the Brahmins.
 India was never one and whole before the English colonization, and the departing English colonizers have left traces which cannot be erased.”


We can see multiple instances of this intertextuality and cultural hybridity in 'Midnight's Children', most notably when comparing it to the works of 'Tristram Shandy' and '1001 Nights'. Rushdie uses Sterne's narrative technique to create a contemporary critique of ideology and identity(Both authors(and books) have fragmented relationships with Britain(Sterne was born in Ireland/Rushdie in India), Both books deal with descent, and both address the nose/penis as a part of identity). In Tristam Shandy, Sterne depicts his characters as people clinging to ideologies, and he enjoys parodying them as the changes in human thought occur. It is a consistent undermining, and one that justifies a rising and falling narrative structure . Rushdie employs this same tactic to raise questions about identity in a much more fragmentary manner: Tristram Shandy describes a book as “a history-book, Sir (which may possibly recommend it to the world) of what passes in a man’s own mind”  while Saleem Sinai describes the book he is creating as a much more robust and wide attempt; a 'swallowing of worlds" where he is everything that came before and everything that will come after. I find it interesting to contemplate the relationship between these two texts, how the execution differs, and how it relates to Bahtkin. 

Will - Rushdie - 2/23 - Bakhtin

The dominant ideology of the Sinai family is that Saleem, the son born at the moment of Indian independence, is destined for great things.  Amina and Mary Pereira lavish attention on the baby, and Saleem is in such high demand that Amina agrees to "lend" Saleem "on a kind of rota basis, to the various families on the hill" (146).  Even the image of happiness and prosperity projected by the Sinai family seems to be geared toward making their son great.  Saleem writes, "For their attentions, they expected, from me, the immense dividend of greatness" (178).  This expectation is a burden for Saleem, and even at nearly-nine he is confused about how to go about achieving this greatness to the satisfaction of his family. 

Saleem's confusion vanishes when he begins hearing voices.  He sees his gift as "the beginning of the repayment of their investment" (187).  Everything in the family is ordered around the ideal of the son destined for greatness, and Saleem cleaves so closely to this ideal that he believes he is become a prophet like Muhammad or Moses.  This special condition is the utmost expression of the hegemonic ideal of the family.  Yet when Saleem reveals his gift, the family is horrified, perhaps because the essence of their ideal has been amplified to the level of obscenity, or because when made so plain by Saleem the family's ideal becomes unrecognizable.  Saleem has accidentally subverted the hegemony of the family by giving the ideal its utmost expression, and the family's reaction is extremely violent.

Listening to his family's thoughts, Saleem continues to see the crack's in the family ideal.

He discovers his father's lust for secretaries, his uncle Hanif's depression over his failing film career (194), and his mother's yearning for Nadir Khan (195).  Saleem's mind becomes a carnival, described by Bakhtin in the reading as offering "the chance to have a new outlook on the world, to realize the relative nature of all that exists, and to enter a completely new order of things."  Central to the carnival is the concept of dialogism, "the plurality of 'fully valid consciousnesses,' each bringing with them a different point of view, a different way of seeing the world."  The voices entering into Saleem's head are part of that dialogism, "the unconscious beacons of the children of midnight, signalling nothing more than their existence, transmitting simply:  'I'" (192).  Each voice he hears helps him see the world in a different way, beyond that of existing hegemonic ideals.

According to Bakhtin, only by "being outside of a culture can one understand his own culture."  It may be that Saleem can tell the story of all India because he can hear the voices of every Indian, seeing beyond hegemonic ideals.  Paradoxically, his gift of hearing all voices makes him a figure on the margins of culture.  Because he is "outside" the culture, he can better understand and represent that culture.

individidualized assignments Rushdie up to page 237

This one requires just a little bit of outside reading and an intellectual experiment. I'm going to ask you to see Rushdie through  a certain critical theory. Each student will be assigned a theory to apply to the novel. You will need to read and understand a short description of the theory, linked in this message. How, in each case, can the theoretical perspective be applied to Midnight's Children?

You should indicate the theoretical perspective with which you're working in the subject line: e.g. Karol - Rushdie - 2/23 - Bakhtin. In class, I will ask each group to expand on their take on Rushdie through the lens of their theoretical approach. You should bring a print out of the theory text that you use. All posts should refer to pp. 133-237. E-mail me if confused.
Here are the assignments and the links you will need:
Karol / Michael / Hannah / Joe: Bakhtin's idea of dialogism. How exactly does this idea shed light on Rushdie's style and the world of his book? Be as specific as you can. (The linked text is about Gramsci and Bakhtin. Read both parts.)

Anna / Joseph / Eidia: Rushdie's world as the expression of a Jungian vision. Whether intentional or not, does Midnight's Children view the self and the world through a Jungian point of view?  Be as specific as you can.

Jason / Rachel / Dan / Will: Rushdie is frequently described as a "magical realist" author. Certainly he has never identified himself as such. And some critics consider our use of the term problematic. Try to evaluate whether or not Mindight's Children belongs in this genre.

Michael - 2/16 - Naipaul

Many factual errors and claims giving rise to questioning are made my saleem as narrator throughtout the novel. He speaks as if telling a story to a dinner party or a close friend eager to understnd his feelings towards his existence in unison with india. For instance he misplaces Gandhi’s death, an obviously monumentall moment in India’s history, as well as willfully misremembers the date of an election. He frets over the accuracy of his story and worries about future errors he might make. Yet, at the same time, after acknowledging his misrepresentation , Saleem decides to maintain his version of events, since that’s how they appeared to occur to him and now there can be no going back. Despite its potential historical inaccuracies, Saleem sees his story as being of equal importance as the world’s most important religious texts. for example he explainsns how this is not only his story but the story if india entirely. the relation between mythical txts i feel lies in the choice to belive them not based upon fact in the same way saleem believes his own story.

Dan - 2/16/2011 Rushdie

The character of Aadam Aziz is necessary because he enables Saleem (or more so Rushdie) to describe the climate of India at that time. It is Rushdie’s foundation for the story.  Especially giving a background description of Kashmir, which is a described as a lush and beautiful place in 1915. Rushdie also makes character development coincide with historical events examples of this can be seen in Saleem being born the hour of India’s Independence. It can also be seen with the war ending as Aadam sees Naseem. These odd coincidences help tie the characters into the historical atmosphere of the story.

What is Rushdie trying to say with these connections?

Hannah-Rushdie-2/16/2011

The prophesy of Saleem's birth on page 96

"There will be two heads-but you shall see only one- there will be knees and a nose, a nose and knees... Newspapers praise him, two mothers raise him... Sisters will weep; cobra will creep... Friends mutilate him - blood will betray him... Soldiers will try him- tyrants will fry him... He will have sons without having sons! He will be old before he is old! And he will die... before he is dead". 

When Mary Pereira switched Saleem at birth, he became Amina's "other" son and even when they found out about the mix up, it didn't make a difference. I'm sure that the "what ifs" of that moment will be echoed throughout the novel as we see both Saleem and Amina's biological son grow up. Because of Mary's guilt, she ends up being Saleem's second mother.

I haven't read past 133 yet, but since Saleem was born on the stroke of midnight of India's independence, he embodies the country and what it is going to go through (and its past). He has telepathic powers "linking him to India's 1,000 other 'midnight children'... endowed with magical gifts" (back cover). These are his metaphorical brothers and sisters that will be (I'm assuming) ravaged by some sort of downfall ("Blood will betray him, etc. etc.). The prophesy says that Saleem will be just as old as his country, meaning he represents India as a whole and everything the country goes through, which means Saleem will go through those moments as well. 

"... cobra will creep..." (96) - After some Googling I found that in India, snakes represent time and accepting the future while abandoning the past. It also has ties with being wise. Saleem will forever be part of the past, as certain circumstances got him where he is now (and mentioning his family history) and will be part of the present and future. It's as if he is some sort of all knowing being (he should have blue skin), closing gaps between time and history.

...and snakes represent eternity - you know, a snake eating its tail - and "Sinai" means snake or something related to snakes. Just a note: Amina hasn't found out about the mixup on p. 133; she assumes that Saleem is her son. We should look back at your post later, because many aspects of the prophecy make more sense as the book goes on. I guess that's the way with prophecies... Robin.

anna –Rushdie- 2/16

There is a lot of life in this book, an exhausting amount, rainbow colors etc..Rushdie seems to know exactly what the reader is thinking and manipulates us (though in a different way from the way Naipaul manipulated us) to believe certain things, to hope for the cause and effect of certain bait traps..and then with us in the palm of his hand he gives the bait away to the air and gives a different answer all together. NOW he has done this multiple times, I am beginning at page 133 to get it. Padma may too. So his parents are not his birth parents, he may not actually have two heads, but what other traps will be laid. How will Musa end the world on accident? (Does musa mean mouse btw?) Who will this other little "something of a shiva" boy be? WellI should hope not what I could expect.

Karol - Rushdie -2/16

xxvi) the peforated sheet is not the only thing with holes in it; before we get to it, on page 5, about Aadam: "Many years later, when the hole inside him had been clogged up with hate, and he came to sacrifice himself..." People, throughout the book, have holes in them.

“One Kashmiri morning in the early spring of 1915, my grandfather Aadam Aziz hit his nose against a frost-hardened tussock of earth while attempting to pray. Three drops of blood plopped out of his left nostril, hardened instantly in the brittle air and lay before his eyes on the prayer-mat, transformed into rubies. Lurching back until he knelt with his head once more upright, he found that the tears which had sprung to his eyes had solidified, too; and at that moment, as he brushed diamonds contemptuously from his lashes, he resolved never again to kiss earth for any god or man. This decision, however, made a hole in him, a vacancy in a vital inner chamber. leaving him vulnerable to women and history.” (15)

The hole in Adam Azziz before it is “clogged up with hate” (16) is created in this scene where he apparently curses god (or stops praying); “a vacancy in a vital chamber” materializes in him. These holes for him are compromises but Nassem they are different.

For Nassem the holes come in her fragmented projections of her love for Aadam become her visage of the perforated sheet. However, this sheet is also figuratively and literally how Aadam sees her, through “brief fragments of her body.” (72) This represents the fragmentary limits of human interaction and how they can never love each other wholly. For Ahmed Sinai the holes converse with each other indiscriminately:

“Each day she selected one fragment of Ahmed Sinai, and
concentrated her entire being upon it until it became wholly
familiar; “My God,” she told
herself, “it seems that there are a million different things to love
about every man!” But she was undismayed. “Who, after all,” she
reasoned privately, “ever truly knows another human being
completely?”(89)

This is striking that she was undismayed - not dismayed that she could never see the whole of him and therefore achieve love... Love, as her duty as a Muslim, is a process for Amina... it appears to be a religious act. .....  Aadam resolved never to kiss earth, creating a hole. Does that mean that the man of science became estranged from the earthy wisdom of the ferryman? Understanding this book is a process, too, which defies completion - I guess. Robin.

Jane- Rushdie- 2/16/11

In reference to Judaism-

Tai pushes the shikara off from the jetty. Spits. Begins to row away. "I Knew it", he says. "You will use a machine now instead of your own big nose" (Rushdie, 17). All of Rushdie's various uses of spit struck me  as having Judaic underpinnings. In the first creation story of Genesis, God forms Adam and Eve out of clay and spit- in the second, he uses his breath. Given the emphasis placed upon ancestry in the Old Testament, it seems as though there is a correlation between the act of spitting and the importance of Saleem's heritage in the narrative. In the passage wherein Tai bids goodbye to Saleem's grandfather as he leaves him at the house that belongs to Ghani, after Tai berates him, Tai seems to cast a foreshadowing of Aziz's future- telling him he will opt for a western object that signifies progress rather than his nose, a mark of his forefathers. The fact that Taj spits as he says this seems to underscore the role of spit as a kind of corollary of Saleem's descendants.

Rachel - Rushdie, 2/16

At first, I was convinced that Mumtaz was going to be Saleem's mother...she is, after all, described as coming out of the womb "black as midnight."  The narrator is born at midnight.  And the book is called, Midnight's Children...durrr.


Anyway...I can see that Rushdie is somehow linking the ideas of dark skin, darkness, and being underground.  Thematically, that's clear.  I'm just not sure what it is he's trying to say.  Does it have something to do with social status?  We are in a country where the caste system is rampant.  Does it have to do with emasculation?  (Nadir Kahn is a poet and a refugee, both of which are kind of "unmanly" things - and my gender studies mind twitches at the use of this word - to be.   He even gets chased out of the cellar after they realize Mumtaz is still a virgin.  Feminization?  Yin and Yang, or is that too Confuscius for this book?

Young Mumtaz remarries later, in June, the bright, sunshiney month.


...???


I'm not really sure what to write about all these things.  I can just see that they're slowly being developed as themes, and inevitably they'll be woven together, like threads.  But if I made preemptive judgement, I'd be just talking out of my ass.


Not trying to be crude...just honest.  Arrrgh.

Well, you're right. And this is how the reader feels... how to make sense of all these things. And will they be woven together? After all, the tale of birth and ancestry turned out to be the wrong tale! Robin.

Jason - Rushdie - 2/16

Based on Saleem’s narrative, it seems to be irrelevant whether what he says actually happened in the reality of the story or even in the reality that the story is superimposed upon. On page 87, Saleem states, “‘What’s real and what’s true aren’t necessarily the same.’ True, for me, was from my earliest days something hidden in the stories…True was a thing concealed just over the horizon…” What I take this to mean is: despite the factual accuracy of a given event there is an underlying meaning to that event which can then be manipulated into another form, another kind of “factual event,” so that it appears to be presented differently, though the meaning remains basically the same. This little passage seems more or less to be a discussion of magical realism and its power to take the latent meaning of something and presenting it in some other way. An example of this follows immediately after the passage above in which Saleem says that, based upon this criteria for the truth, his mother really did know about him six months before his birth (presumably referring to the events at Ramram’s prophecy-giving ritual) and that his father really did come up against a demon king (here presumably referring to Ahmed’s encounter with the Ravana Organization). In both instances one fact is replaced with another, but because the meaning or intent of the meaning is the same, the factual descriptions of these events are in a way interchangeable. In these terms, the question as to whether Saleem is a reliable narrator who “tells the truth” is still applicable. The truth that Saleem tells is a subjective truth, though because many facts are presented in a “magical” light they may seem to be beyond the scope of subjective observation. These magical details/facts are perhaps an even more subjective version of the truth since the facts presented to the reader are based upon the frame of reference of the narrator (Saleem) who’s presumably the source of the novel’s seemingly distorted and exaggerated picture of reality.

Eidia.1.16.11- Rushdie

Different ways of falling in love or learning to love:

 In Rushdie's Midnights Children, the notion of love is fragmented, and through two primary examples (Aadam/Naseem and Amina/Ahmed), this concept is displayed in parallels. With the case of Aadam and Naseem, love is presented as an illusion, only to be merely accepted through Aadam's gradual introduction to Naseem, in physical segments. He receives Naseem as a body, without recognizing her soul and mind, which later when fully conceived after marriage, Aadam realizes to be a contradiction to his own set of ideologies and principles of life. His love for Naseem was merely illusory, which through commitment of marriage resulted in companionship, lacking any sort of mutual understanding, a mentally fragmented, dysfunctional relationship. Purely obligated towards the title of "marriage", but conducted through compromise. In a similar manner, in the second generation, Aadam and Naseem's second eldest daughter, Mumtaz/Amina, attempts to love her husband Ahmed. In this situation; however, Amina receives a husband (Ahmed) as a whole, but finds it necessary to thread him together in fragments. She begins to individually gather minute details of his character, learning to love them, making them grander by focusing on the beauty of such aspects. (ex. his loud voice, moods before and after shaving, disproportionate lips). As a result, just as her father had erred in recognizing his love as partial to Naseem's physicality, Amina commits the same misjudgment, for she begins to love Ahmed's distinct characteristics, completely disassociating them from his personality-- as a whole.

Mumtaz's assiduousness leads her to love her husband piece by piece. But is it false? I'm not sure... After all, India itself and the novel itself are composed of a million parts. But Mumtaz/Amina's true love was for Nadir - she never forgot him. This flies in the face of western notions of romantic love... in so many ways. Robin.

Will - Rushdie - 2/16

Though this is a novel set in India, that doesn't stop Rushdie referencing myths from other cultures.  One example is the character of Mary Pereira, described as "plump, virginal" (115), who is transformed into Saleem's other "mother" when she switches the name-tags of the two babies born at the stroke of midnight (echoing the idea that Ahmed became Mumtaz's father after renaming her Amina). 

We meet her on page 114 in a confessional where a young priest tells her that Christ was blue.  She asks because of an argument she had with an ex-lover, Joseph D'Costa, who is something of a marxist, informing her that "the air comes from the north now," (116) not the west.  When Joseph tells her that poor people are rioting in the streets, Mary says, "But Joseph, even if it's true about the killing, they're Hindu and Muslim people only; why get good Christian folk mixed up in that fight?"  Joseph replies, "You and your Christ.  You can't get it into your head that that's the white people's religion?" (116).  In this way, Christianity is associated with the rich and powerful, maintenance of the status quo, looking the other way, and tacit support of violence.  Islam and Hinduism are associated for D'Costa with the poor Indians, and these religions could be a conduit for nationalist and revolutionary spirit.  Mother Mary Pereira perpetrates her own "private revolutionary act" (130), giving a poor-born baby to a rich family, because she wants to impress Joseph.  Ironically, she gives a rich life to the fair, half-white son of William Methwold, and a poor life to the darker Indian baby.  Mary's act shows the complicated ways religion, politics, and race play off each other in the novel.

I have a funny thought about this - Padma feels deceived that Saleem (similar to Salman, who had an actress-model wife named Padma) is half-white. So does the reader, expecting a testimony of the South Asian experience. It's a joke, I think. Also, in Mary's desire to win Joseph's love - I think there are echoes of the Hebrew Bible here: women are always trying to win the love of the patriarchs by producing children. Robin.

Joseph-Rushdie-2/16

I wanted to discuss the role that spit has played so far in our reading of ‘Midnight’s Children’.   Our first real encounter with spit is in the beginning of the chapter appropriately titled: “Hit-the-Spittoon”. Saleem describes to the reader that he is falling apart, “brained by spittoons”.  This is an odd phrase, but if we read further I believe my interpretation of spit as memory can be corroborated. In the next paragraph, Saleem states: “It is important for me to remain calm. I chew betel nut and expectorate in the direction of a cheap brassy bowl, playing the ancient game of hit-the-spittoon: Nadir Khan’s game, which he learned from the old men in Agra”. It is as if memory and legacy is embedded in the saliva’s of the men who have spit into the spittoon, and Saleem is anxious that he will eventually be reduced to a salvia remnant.  It is also telling that it is “Nadir Khan’s game.” Nadir Khan was the first husband of Amina, and a reason for their divorce is his impotence. Saleem is also impotent, and his impotence is treated as if it is a game of Nadir Khan’s ‘Hit-the-Spittoon’: "Despite Padma’s many and varied gifts and ministrations, I can’t leak into her…Despite everything she tries, I cannot hit her spittoon.”

What is the connection between the spittoon and impotence? I think there is a connection between both men’s (Nadir/Saleem) freewheeling, abstract flights of fancy and the two women’s (Amina and Padma) pragmatism and rationality. I was thinking of the ‘Evil Eye’ in India and Pakistan legend.  According to John Abbot in the book “Indian ritual and belief: the keys of power”, spitting is sometimes used to protect someone from excessive admiration (Thus Abbot says it is common for mothers to lightly spit to the side of the child to suggest a sense of fallibility that protects against the ‘evil eye’). In the case of ‘Midnight’s Children’, perhaps the criticisms (a form of verbal ‘spitting’ or disapproval, if you will) that Padma provides for Saleem is a way to dispel his excessive self-indulgences, and this leaves him impotent? If this were considered, why would criticisms leave him completely impotent? Is he nothing if he is not indulging in fantasies and mythologizing himself?

Great post. - Robin.

Rushdie for 2/16: unity and partiality

In Nabokovian fashion, Rushdie has written a novel that is composed of many details and a complex time scheme (as in Nabokov's Ada). As a result, it is difficult to discuss the book in a linear fashion. So, in our posts, let's embrace the particulars - the details. In class on Wednesday, we will discuss (close read) six or seven key passages from the text. Please choose more than one of the following motifs / themes / questions in the atomistic world of Midnight's Children as a basis for your post about pages 3-133. Please read through them all; they are intended as an incomplete list of themes: What are the significances of:  i) Mumtaz skin color and her "underground" first marriage and the reasons for its failure; iii) different ways of falling in love or learning to love; i.e. the case of Aadam and that of Mumtaz/Amina in her attempt to love Ahmed; iv) pickles, pencils, potency; v) colors: red (mercurochrome, blood, betel juice), blue (Krishna); vi) knees and nose and powerful physical attributes; vii) the prophecies of Saleem's birth and significance: "even fortune tellers have limited gifts" (131); viii) monkeys (Amina is the Brass Monkey; "the mnkeys are possessed of an overriding sense of mission" (93), snakes (Saleem plays Snakes and Ladders), or birds (Mian Abdullah is known as the Hummingbird; Aziz's father is deprived of birds due to cold weather in Kashmir);  ix) various uses of the ideas of spitting: "despite everything she tries, I cannot hit her spittoon"; spitting is also an old man's game and a marital activity for Mumtaz and Nadir Khan), etcetera;  (18); x) paradox of partitioning as unification - relation of this to Methwold's center-parted hair; xi) theme of history as myth in MC and in Naipaulr's BITR; xii) view of sexuality in MC and in Naipaul's BITR; xiii) "magical elements" in postcolonial fiction: what purpose do they serve that is peculiar to this kind of fiction? xiv) Naipaul's realism and focused, subjective (from one person's point of view) storytelling versus Rushdie's approach - do their styles conceal differing political attitudes? xv) who loves truly in this story and why? xvi) Rushdie's use of an intense build-up to Saleem's birth - ironic or satiric? xvii) heritage and ancestry; xviii) find one verifiable historical event: is it presented as truth or folkloric storytelling?; xix) find one reference to Judaism, one to Catholicism, one to Hinduism - Islam is hidden in plain sight; xx) Naipaul's attitude toward superstition appears to be negative; how does Rushdie's apparent attitude differ? xxi) we know there are references to A Thousand and One Nights: does the double birth echo any well-known sources? xxii) the first passage contains three genres of discourse: autobiography, fairy tale, and history... does the book contain drama, the major mode of fictional narratives? xxiii) often when we read first-person narratives, we ask: are the events "true" or just the character's fabrication? how would you answer that question here or is it even relevant - is it the wrong question for this kind of fiction? xxiv) on page 129, Rushdie quotes at length from Nehru's "Tryst with Destiny" speech: how does this historical document relate to the story at hand?; xxv) failed or foiled attempts to have children - Mumtaz/Nadir; Saleem's childlessness; Saleem's unrelatedness to the Sinai family; Alia's childlessness; India's "children" in the form of Pakistan and Bangladesh; Wee Willie Winky's cuckolding by Methwold; Dr. Narlikar's campaign to promote birth control; xxvi) the peforated sheet is not the only thing with holes in it; before we get to it, on page 5, about Aadam: "Many years later, when the hole inside him had been clogged up with hate, and he came to sacrifice himself..." People, throughout the book, have holes in them.

Jane- Rushdie- 2/14/10

1. "(...And already I can see the repetitions beginning; because didn't my grandmother also find enormous...and the stroke, too, was not the only...and the Brass Monkey had her birds...the curse begins already, and we haven't even got to the noses yet!)" (Rushdie, 7).

Saleem Sinai's voice has an adolescent, enthusiastic quality coupled with colloquial speech combined with moments that are filled with lyrical, vivid descriptions. The colloquial quality of his voice is matched with an intellect that does not quite seem pretentious- but stems from his education abroad. By jumping around in the story and referencing upcoming passages in the narrative, Saleem emphasizes his voice and presence as the narrator and creates and effect on the reader of being enthusiastic listeners and participants in the story. There is an air of innocence and naivete in Salim's voice.

Anna –Rushdie- Valentines day

I love this book. Rushdie puts a terrible amount of stuff into every line, but once you get into it you stay into it. He has an amazing way of flitting from macro view to micro view to macro view to micro. The prose is very abstract and flowery and poetic and I can tell Padma is his “device” to keep the reader anchored. I don’t mind it. Padma is the reader, the logic hungry tell me next. Rushdie is certainly the storyteller here, and the story he promises to make an epic fairytale. It seems to me to be a bit like an Indian One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Joseph-Rushdie-2/14

-The voice of the protagonist in 'Midnight's Children' is a playful, very self aware one. It is not the reportage, streamlined style of Salim in 'A Bend in the River'. At multiple points in 'Midnight's Children', he acknowledges his presence to the reader, and he is very aware of his role as enchanter and storyteller. I enjoy this first person self awareness, mainly because(in my reading experience) a first person narrator who acknowledges their presence is usually a deranged or sick person. It's nice to have a seemingly fun and sane narrator be self-referential.

Rushdie is obviously a lover of language and rhythm, and I can really sense his admitted influences; most namely Vladimir Nabokov and Thomas Pynchon. This novel is full of inventive energy(Rushdie, before reading a selection from 'Midnight's Children', once remarked that it must be like when the Rolling Stones are asked to play 'Satisfaction'). I could pick so many passages from what we have read, but here is perhaps my favorite. It is the opening passage of 'Hit-The-Spittoon':

"I mean quite simply that I have begun to crack all over like a old jug-that my poor body, singular, unlovely, buffeted by too much history, subjected to drainage above and drainage below, mutilated by doors, brained by spittoons, has started coming apart at the seams".

I marveled at things like 'Mutilated by doors' and 'Brained by spittoons'. Beautiful stuff. The pacing is this particular passage is masterful, as something as rough and robust as a jug is transformed into nothing but a ball of wayward strings.

Karol - Rushdie -2/14

         One of many things that Rushdie does extremely well is transpose symbols, in some cases, engendering them out of roles. For instance, the muscle-bound women wrestlers who protect Naseem’s virtue (33) take the procession of phallic (nose) imagery up to that point to sexual non-being of their masculine features. There is the repetitive reference to the nose in close proximity to signs of absurd virility but that seems to only set the tone. 

         The references to Heidelberg seem to be a similar kind of strategy. It functions to bridge the Amero/European  readership to conceptualize Kashmiri plot with that of the river valley  Heidelberg region (“mountain of the saints”). Then again, it is the equivalent of an Easter egg in a computer program, except for academics to find. It is almost as if Salman Rushdie had his sights on the booker in the early stages of his process. This history might have needed to be told in the form of myth to be more coherent.

          Rushdie’s use of sexuality and Naipaul’s differ profoundly. While I prefer Rushdie’ s I think this weekend it became apparent to me why sexuality is so prevalent  in this discourse. If the last two books we have read deal with identity construction of people of Diasporas;’ then the sexual conceit becomes obvious in something Osho says about sex and creation. The only way and individual comes close the Big Bang i.e. creation is procreation. I do think it appears symbolically due to the theme of pre and post national distinctiveness but it also appears as a baser precursor identity. With all the inherent boundaries of nationalistic identity construction one has to wonder whether the precursor isn’t superior. Rushdie’s book intertwines sexual and national images in a way that argues against me but it is overtly sexual.

          The theme of authenticity can be further reduced to legitimacy in Rushdie’s narrative whereas A Bend in the River deals with a somewhat purified authenticity that is irrelevant to the flow of history that inhabits its river basin. “So I was brought to my mother; and she never really doubted my authenticity for an instant.” (152) Because of his mother’s high hopes for him even before birth what is spoken of as authenticity can be viewed in terms of legitimacy in the wake of new government and what is expected of the hero. To Naipul legitimacy becomes irrelevant because of the powerlessness of his characters.

Eidia- Rushdie- 2.13.11

8. Language - 

Stylistically, Midnight's Children, emphasizes a variation of linguistics involving colloquial speech intertwined with elegant "high" bred and educated dialogue. In the introduction, the narrator seems to be at conflict with his own thoughts, and we the readers are lured into this confusion, indecisiveness regarding at which point the tale of Saleem Sinai should embark. By creating this scene, Rushdie begins to allow the readers to become one of Saleem's audience members, almost in a sense enrolling in the same mode of eagerness displayed via Padma, an attentive yet restless listener. We are turned into curious little children, and Saleem a master craftsman of storytelling. 

Basically, thus far, the form of language is divided between descriptions and dialogue. While most of the narrative details are provided via Saleem's perspective, the dialogue inserts an array of voices, exerting a spectrum of speech. An example of this tactic is cleverly displayed during the earlier passage of Tai's boat. We are aware that Aadam Aziz is to attend to a certain landowner's ill daughter, and with this ensuing task, comes a series of dialogues shifting between Tai and Aadam, Aadam's mother and Aadam, and lastly Ghani and Aadam. This rhythmic mode conversation displays the colloquial banter of a semi rogue like quality of Tai, who uses a very strong sense of reckless hatred towards Aziz's western grooming and bag, and also introduces a series of Hindi words, "nacho", "tu" (informal "you"), "aap" (formal "you"), we are also given a sense of non factual form of Indian folklore, tales which are transferred by mouth, generation to generation. 

This mode of dialogue carries itself into many more parts of the novel, including the scene in which Amina pleads with Ahmed not to purchase Methwold's Buckingham Villa, which so beautifully synchronized with Ahmed's conversation with Methwold, who so magnificently hypnotizes Ahmed, successfully maneuvering him into purchasing the house. What follows is a series of remarks between the neighbors of the four homes owned by Methwold, each bringing forth a series of detestation regarding the remnants of British lifestyles, from the ceiling fans, goldfish, to almaris, all of which seem to taunt the tenants, bewildering them with a burden. 

Rachel - Rushdie, 2/14

I love this book.  "There are dynasties waiting in it, like snot."  (p. 8)

Not going to lie - I was tempted to leave that as my entire post.  But no.  I'll be good.

Since rivers seem to be a common theme in books by Indian - or expatriated "Indian washed" people, like Hesse - I'm going to talk about the ferryboatman, Tai.  (Isn't there a similar character in Siddhartha?  I forget.  I read that my senior year of high school, and my teacher referred to it as: "the book to write about when you have no idea what to write on your AP exam essay."  His reasoning for this, I gathered, was the fact that Siddhartha is the Moby Dick of contemporary literature...its main theme is aslkdjgwieg???, also known as "whatever you want.")

Either way, Rushdie introduces the river as point where modern India and traditional customs clash.  Tai, the riverboatman, was once friendly with the young Aadam Aziz.  You might even say close, and in a taboo way, since on page 10, Aadam's mother tries to wash lower-caste Tai's "germs" off her son.

But when Aadam comes home from German medical school as Dr. Aziz, his strong friendship with Tai degrades into skepticism and distrust.  This is primarily because the riverboatman deeply distrusts European influence, especially that of modern medicine.  On p. 16, Rushdie writes:

"...Do you still pickle water-snakes in brandy to give you virility, Taiji?  Do you still like to eat lotus-root without any spices?"  Hesitant questions, brushed aside by the torrent of Tai's fury.  Dr. Aziz begins to diagnose.  To the ferryboatman, the bag represents Abroad; it is the Alien thing, the invader, progress."

Does this strike memories of water hyacinths?  Interesting parallel to Naipaul.

Hannah-Rushdie-2/14/2011

The question of truth and fabrication are present in both Naipaul and Rushie's novels. In A Bend in the River, the reader had to decide whether to believe Salim's accounts of his life and the lives of the other characters. This is also present in Midnight's Children. On page 62, Saleem says that "Family history, of course, has its proper dietary laws. One is supposed to swallow and digest only the permitted parts of it... Letting no blood escape from the body of the tale, I arrive at the unspeakable part; and undaunted, press on". Although he claims to be pushing out all the details of the past, there's no guarantee that the narrator is telling the whole truth. He might be fabricating the use of his grandfather's nose or about the prophet and so on. There's always a need to remind oneself that this story is being told from one perspective and from a narrator that wasn't even alive for a section of the book.

The use of ellipses throughout the novel also indicates that Saleem is either leaving certain details out or Rushdie is using them to create a more realistic narration (using ellipses to signify a break to think about what is being written, etc.). For example on page 74, "(But she remained susceptible to the forbidden dream-images of... and was always drawn to men with soft stomachs and longish, lankish hair.)"

On page 87, S.P. Butt said, "If they can change the time just like that, what's real anymore? I ask you? What's true?" What's real and what's true depends on who is telling the story. Saleem's perspective is real and true to him, even when he leaves out certain details, but can be a completely different experience for somebody else.

Will - Rushdie - 2/14

Late in part one on page 121, Saleem writes, "To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world."  In order to understand Saleem's life, the reader has to know all the forces, from decisions made by his grandparents to national politics, that went into the event of his birth.  To understand Saleem's life is to understand something of the story of the Indian nation.  The whole of India, of course, is made up of many parts, many different ethnic and religious groups, and many millions of stories like that of Saleem. 

The image of the perforated sheet is a perfect metaphor for the reader's view of the story, and by extension the view of his own life.  Aadam Aziz doctors Naseem through a seven-inch hole in a sheet, and forms what he describes as "a badly-fitting collage of her severally-inspected parts" (22).  It is this badly-fitting collage that he falls in love with.  Aziz, like every living being, knows only parts of the whole, and through his ignorance makes a bad choice.  Similarly, Saleem tells his story in pieces, flashing forward and back through time, dropping clues about what is to come that only make sense in retrospect, leaving the reader to form his own badly-fitting collage.  The narrative style makes sense because memory is non-linear.  The image of the perforated sheet echoes throughout the story, like in the story of Saleem's mother Amina Sinai, who decides to learn to love her husband piece by piece, but finds she cannot love a certain crucial part of him.

Saleem himself knows less about the meaning of the whole than his confidence would indicate.  He writes as if he is the successor to Tai the boatman, who seemed to know all of history, but his storytelling is also a search for meaning.  He doesn't want to let the jumble of his life be reduced to absurdity.  

Jason - Rushdie - 2/14

So far, Saleem seems to be the narrator of Midnight’s Children. He is particularly concerned with relating his family’s history starting from the time of his grandfather, Aadam Aziz. Saleem associates himself closely with his grandfather because he describes himself as having inherited a similar, if the same kind, of nose his grandfather had, which is apparently very large and seems to be capable of significant feats. For one, Saleem seems to use his nose to smell out the odors of certain memories, which to an extent seems logical enough, though a peculiarity of Saleem’s case appears to be that his olfactory capacity is more or less able to use this sense of smell to determine events that have occurred in the past. This kind of magical-realist detail is further compounded by Saleem’s admission that he is a master cook whose “latter days [have been dedicated] to the large-scale preparation of condiments,” primarily chutneys and kasaundies. After being prompted by Padma (his housekeeper?) to hurry up with the pace of his story, Saleem explains, “things – even people – have a way of leaking into each other,” suggesting a correlation between the process of cooking, or at least the process of something being cooked, and history as a non-linear narrative. In this sense, Saleem’s voice, which is very clearly tied to his sense of history (through his sense of smell), is one of apparent non-linearity. Still, much of the story so far has progressed more or less linearly, at least in terms of plot. Though, the thoughts and ideas expressed by Saleem are at times almost synesthetic and full of interruptions from outside the proper narrative.

Rushdie! for 2/14

Welcome to the bizarre and - I hate this word - magical world of Midnight's Children, one of the masterpieces of the contemporary era. Let's approach the beginning in a more general, meditative spirit. Make your answers a meditation on the following motifs in the text - be as creative with this as you like (this is a prompt that will be repeated for future postings): 1. the voice of Saleem Sinai - how do we know him? 2. the lake and the ferryman: compare with Naipaul's river... 3. parts and wholes (parts of people, the partially visible, body parts... do what you like with this). 4. use of mythic or folkloric or oral tradition story elements 5. the individual and community - the voices of people and the voice of the community or group: where do you hear each voice? 6. echoes of religious stories, such as Genesis 7. (as in Naipaul) questions of truth or fabrication; 8. language - find some passsages that allow you to comment on Rushdie's use of unusual words, words specific to a group, words that don't seem to belong in a story like this; 9. agency: do people do things? or are they somehow pushed into their actions by outside forces: what are these foces?


Many of these can be used twice: you can use a question someone else has used. Just find a different angle. Please refer to at least one passage with page number and quoted beginning.

Hannah-Naipaul -02/09/2011

For my paper, I would be interested in exploring the Latin phrase on page 62. "Miscerique probat populos et foedera jungi" - "He approves of the mingling of the peoples and their bonds of union". On page 63, Naipaul writes that "... the great Roman god approves of the mingling of peoples and the making of treaties in Africa". I would like to compare Salim's life to Virgil's Aeneid, focusing on the Roman hero's accidental landing in Africa instead of Italy, where he was to find the Roman Empire.

Aeneas and his crew, after being caught up in Charybdis' whirlpool, end up on the shores of Africa and through divine intervention by Venus, Aeneas' mother, he meets Dido, the queen of Africa. They fall in love and Aeneas intends to stay with Dido, but Jupiter sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his true fate, which is to fight a war in Italy and claim it as his own. As Aeneas leaves, Dido kills herself with his sword and with her dying breath, condemns Aeneas' future people and predicts a continually raging war between the Africans and future Romans (Page 62 - "... the great Roman god might not approve if a settlement in Africa, of a mingling of peoples there, of treaties of union between Africans and Romans").

Like Aeneas, Salim is a wanderer and is constantly lost. The Latin phrase applies to his life because he is of South Asian descent and is a "mingling" person and cannot come to make "treaties" with Africa. He is constantly torn between what he wants and what is expected of him, such as moving away to the "true Africa" (10) or marrying Nazruddin's daughter and settling down. The distinctions of Europe and Africa are clear in both men, each having to choose one or the other. But for Salim, it's more of having a European mindset and choosing whether to live like an African (what he thought it was to be an African). Salim doesn't have a grasp on his own identity, having to do with his relationships and being a foreigner in a country he lived all his life.