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.