Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Review by Andrew Linton

Midnight's Children is the story of a man, Saleem Sinai, who was born at midnight August 15th,1947, the exact time that India officially obtained its independence from England. This date is significant to Indians because it represented a birth of new possibilities.

The novel starts:

I was born in the city of Bombay…once upon a time. No, that won’t do, there’s no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikar’s Nursing Home on August 15^th, 1947. And the time? The time matters, too. Well then: at night. No, it’s important to be more…On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact. Clock-hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came. Oh spell it out, spell it out: at the precise instant of India’s arrival at independence, I tumbled forth into the world. There were gasps. And outside the window, fireworks and crowds. A few seconds later, my father broke his big toe; but his accident was a mere trifle when set beside what had befallen me in the benighted moment, because thanks to the occult tyrannies of those blandly saluting clocks I had been mysteriously handcuffed to history, my destinies indissoluble chained to those of my country. For the next three decades, there was to be no escape. Soothsayers had prophesied me, newspapers celebrated my arrival, politicos ratified my authenticity. I was left entirely without a say in the matter. I, Saleem Sinai, later variously called Snotnose, Stainface, Baldy, Sniffer, Buddha and even Piece-of-the-Moon, had become heavily embroiled in Fate—at the best of times a dangerous sort of involvement. And I couldn’t even wipe my own nose at the time.

Rushdie using a framing device in which Saleem in the present day (1977 was the book was written) is telling his girlfriend the story of his life, including the background of his ancestors. Saleem interjects at the beginning and end of each chapter to tell his girlfriend what will be upcoming and her expressions of disbelief or sympathy are also noted.

Saleem’s girlfriend, Padma, expresses disbelief on occasion because Saleem’s claims that himself and the other children born within a hour of midnight were granted supernatural powers. The powers of each of the Children of Midnight were different and in the case of Saleem he had at various periods of his life the ability to read other's thoughts and also an unusually keen sense of smell. These powers help him observe, and sometimes be involved in, the political events of the time.

In most American fiction I have read the extraordinary is only dealt with in the realm of science-fiction.  India, as Rushdie describes it, however, is a place where the majority of people are superstitious.  The local paper reports miracles occurring daily in small villages.  In such a country it does not seem unbelievable that Saleem feels that extraordinary forces have determined his destiny. 

Although Saleem had extraordinary powers due to the time of his birth, he describes himself in uncomplimentary terms as being short with an unusually large nose. He is a sort of "Forest Gump" figure, a simple fool stumbling into major events.

I was not a beautiful baby.  Baby-snaps reveal that my large moon-face was too large; too perfectly round.  Something lacking in the region of the chin.  Fair skin curved across my features--but birthmarks disfigured it; dark stains spread down my western hairline, a dark patch colored my eastern ear.  And my temples: too prominent: bulbous Byzantine domes. (Sonny Ibrahim and I were born to be friends--when we bumped our foreheads, Sonny's forcep-hollows permitted my bulby temples to nestle within them, as snugly as carpenter's joints.) Amina Sinai, immeasurably relieved by my single head, gazed upon it with redoubled maternal fondness, seeing it through a beautifying mist, ignoring the ice-like eccentricity of my sky-blue eyes, the temples like stunted horns, even the rampant cucumber of the nose.

Although the novel contains many characters and references to Indian history it is not too difficult for an American to follow. At various points in the story Saleem will speak in the first person refreshing our recollection of what has happened already and who various characters are. The characters are colorful enough that it is not difficult to keep track of them.

Rushdie once described his writing as tragedy with a lot of jokes; a description which fits Midnight's Children. Saleem and his family suffer many misfortunes during their lives but they are unusual rather than being simply cruel. This idea of the unusual misfortune appeared in Rushdie's real life in the form of the death threat from the Islamic fundamentalists.

I think that Rushdie is the best contemporary author I have read. His work has more energy and verve than most American writers. While some writers take a whole short stories just to create a slightly melancholy mood; in that same length Rushdie would have made 20 jokes, made some political and religious commentary, and described a major life event for several of his characters.

The story is one that could only be told in the form of a novel, as opposed to a movie, because it has so many characters, plot events and themes. It is also suitable for a novel because it is told by one character who relates his thoughts to us. 

Rushdie takes elements from all aspects of culture, including religion, and weaves them into a tapestry. Although some have objected to the use of religious elements in this way, Rushdie does not actively belittle religion. He merely depicts religion as part of the overall culture. It is not unimportant; in fact it is the cause of wars as seen in the fighting between Moslem Pakistan and Hindu India. His characters know their religious stories, as we know of Christ and Moses, from their upbringing even if they do not actively practice the religion and reference these parables in their everyday conversation.

Some conservatives may not like Rushdie because he is a man of the world, not just a good patriotic Indian. Rushdie was educated in England and currently lives there. He has described himself as a person who moves in five worlds but is a home in none of them. This theme of cosmopolitanism vs. parochialism is touched on in Midnight’s Children. For example an educated group of people is described as being as much at home speaking Persian as German. About this group a character remarks "If God meant people to speak many tongues why did he put only one in our heads?"

Much of the suffering that Saleem and his family undergo in Midnight's Children arises from being Moslems in Hindu dominated India.  This conflict continues today as as India and Pakistan are currently still fighting over the bordering province of Kashmir. Saleem's personal story of disillusionment, of youthful optimism being crushed by greed and violence, will always remain relevant. Rushdie’s biggest achievement in Midnight’s Children is weaving both the political and the personal together in one book.