Keith Booker observes that Rushdie often constructs dual oppositions with characters “only to deconstruct by demonstrating that apparent polar opposites are in fact interchangeable and mutually interdependent” (978). In the end, I believe Rushdie disproves the idea that you can be “anything you want to be” in life, however by incorporating traits of both characters he creates a hopeful outlook for the future of India (148).Īlthough Saleem and Shiva seem to represent oppositions, their lives are very intertwined. Furthermore, Saleem and Shiva’s different viewpoints balance each other out by portraying the optimism and pessimism in Midnight’s Children. Examining their individual upbringings is essential to understanding how they are each “victor and victim” and why they have such opposing outlooks on life. Toward the end of his story he remarks, “Shiva and Saleem, victor and victim: understand our rivalry, and you will gain an understanding of the age in which you live (the reverse of this statement is also true)” (Rushdie 515). He serves as a foil to Saleem throughout the novel and Saleem is acutely aware of their strong connection. Shiva is aptly named after Hinduism’s major god of creation and destruction (Cartwright). I think one of the more interesting stories interwoven with Saleem’s is the tale of Shiva, the fellow midnight child with whom Saleem was switched at birth. One can see an exemplary reader and writer in her essay.Īlthough Saleem’s original intent is to tell his own story, he believes that in order to satisfactorily do so, he must also tell of all the other lives and stories that have impacted him: “I have been a swallower of lives and to know me, just the one of me, you’ll have to swallow the lot as well” (4). One of Rushdie’s main ideas is that “To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world,” and he tries to incorporate the whole sub-continent of India into his 533-page novel! Kaity was able to find a thread in that elaborate tapestry and trace it through from beginning to end, thus illuminating the entire magic realist novel in the process. I was impressed by Kaity’s ability to analyze a difficult, encyclopedic text like Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.
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