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.
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