Posts for 2/9

Pick a motif or theme that could form the basis of a critical essay on Naipaul. Such a theme should be as specific as possible. 1. It could be Naipaul's treatment of women; 2. representations of the flora in the text; 3. some aspect of Naipaul's style, such as the use of comedy - or 4. the changing narrative voices; 5. the theme of history; 6. a character study of Salim in relation to his concept of masculinity - 7. or in relation to his search for the exotic or unfamiliar (the exotic seems to turn into the familiar for him and vice versa)  - 8. or in relation to his search for identity; 9. it could be about the representations - positive of negative - of being African or Africa as a concept; 10. it could relate the book to some historical event - it should be one that precedes the writing of the book and may have influenced the story; 11. it could be about the representation of South Asians in the book; 12. about the relationship between political and social power and education. 12. symbolism of ships and waterways? 13. the concept of "always something new" in relation to Africa; 14. the concept of abstract math and practical math? 15.


You may pick your own topic. It should be something you can cover in the length of a midterm paper. There's much more danger that it would be too large rather than too small. Whatever you discuss, you must connect it to the overall themes of the book - for instance, how does the presentation of the natural world fit with the book's larger themes and philosophy.


For this post, choose a theme and pick four passages from the book that relate to this theme. You don't have to quote the passages in full, but it should be clear which ones you mean. This is the first step towards writing the paper, since your analysis would be built around significant quotes.

I strongly suggest you begin reading Midnight's Children as soon as possible. Since this is a long book, you must not get behind. It is strikingly different from A Bend in the River.