"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.
...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.
No comments:
Post a Comment