Midnight’s Children

Midnight's Children is a fantastical and surreal reimagining of the ongoing struggles and

conflicts of India and Pakistan as they establish themselves following the achievement of gaining

their independence. One major aspect of these issues which the novel focuses on is the continued

effects colonialism has on both nations as they move forward and shape their new hybridized

national identities. Another emphasized facet is the constructed conflicts between the two nations

based on manufactured boundaries or borders, both the invisible ones made between the two

countries as well as the social boundaries constructed based on cultural, religious, or racial

differences.

Like other postmodern works of the Contemporary era, Midnight's Children focuses on

ambiguity and meaninglessness rather than establishing or reinforcing any absolute definites

from which to draw de facto moral or ethical lessons. This is done in a number of ways such as

the lack of definitively good or bad characters or groups, with Indians extorting and oppressing

Muslims just as the British extorted and oppressed them or the continued escalation of violence

between Pakistan and India with both being morally bankrupt in their bloodthirsty fervor. This

focus on the fluidity of reality, truth, memory, and identity as well as the constant undermining

of expectations, utilization of an unreliable narrator, blunt honesty in the depiction of typically

partisan social issues, and the abandonment of the traditional demonization and sanctification of

the “us-versus-them” mentality make Midnight's Children an exemplar of postmodern literature.

While the fantasy or science fiction elements of Midnight's Children help make the story

more interesting the mystical aspects serve more than just entertainment value. These frequent

mythological aspects are akin to the epic tales of other ancient nations, such as the works of

Homer or Virgil, and highlight the beginning of the formation of a cultural identity just as the
ancient, mystical epics did for previous nations. Further, this mysticism is juxtaposed against the

modern era in which the story is set which creates a sort of cognitive dissonance that serves to

enlighten the reader to the similar struggle experienced by those forced to rapidly forge a new

cultural identity in a constantly changing modern world.

Many of the magical traits are representations of political and cultural traits and

symbolize the importance of or conflict cause by those traits. An example of this is Saleem’s

telepathy power, this represents an open form of communication. Prior to losing this

communication Saleem and his family are able to peacefully exist as Indians in Pakistan.

However, almost immediately after the communication in lost massive conflicts erupt between

the two nations. Similarly, Shiva is depicted as overly violent, antagonistic, and domineering due

in part to the combat capability of his magical power, this symbolizes the view that India is also

overly violent, antagonistic, or domineering because it is more combat capable than Pakistan

which make its actions seem more aggressive.

Another mystical aspect can be seen in the shadow twin duality between Saleem and

Shiva which mirrors the conflict between the predominately Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India.

Saleem serves as a symbol of Pakistan while Shiva serves as a symbol for India, both born at the

same time and both in frequent conflict with each other. Both were born in India, just as Pakistan

was born out of India, and as seen in their switching at birth they were incredibly similar. Their

names and attributes also highlight their roles as symbolic nations, Saleem is a variation of the

Arabic word salim and is also a traditional Islamic name, hinting at the importance of Islamic

Pakistan while Shiva is named after the Hindu deity. Saleem is depicted as smaller than Shiva

just as Pakistan is much smaller than India. Further, Saleem is shown as sickly while Shiva is

shown as healthy and robust which symbolizes the differences in how the two nations faired
economically, with Pakistan lagging far behind the more vivacious India. The conflict between

the twin and their representative nations is made all the more absurd by Saleem’s role in it,

despite being India, without his memories he fits seamlessly into the “enemy” faction which

shows the trivial nature of their perceived differences.

Similarly, Parvati becomes a symbol of peace and the possible end of conflict, however

the animosity ultimately cannot be overcome because of the inability to forget the past and

simply love each other. With the metaphorical Pakistan unwilling to embrace peace, the

symbolic India does so through force, as seen in Shiva’s beating of Parvati. Near the end of the

story Saleem is given another chance to choose love via marrying Padma but again chooses not

to, this paired with his deteriorating health and his prediction of his “breaking apart” serve as the

grim message of the book, the refusal of both sides to move past their history and find a lasting

peace and the further continuation of conflict will ultimately lead to self-destruction.