Marissa Krekeler
Ms. Wilson
AP British & World Lit
October 7, 2013
Summer
Reading Creative Assignment
In
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children,
Saleem’s connection with India alludes to the influence setting has toward
shaping a character’s journey and individuality by showing Saleem change with
his setting.
Saleem,
throughout the book, goes through many changes corresponding to India’s state.
He admits at the end, he had been “…buddha, a basket ghost, and a
would-be-savior or the nation,” (Rushdie, 502). While attempting to find
himself, he moves all around India and Pakistan; as a child with his relatives
making friends and as an adult in war, being “united” with them.
Summarizing
his tale, Salem explains, “…I had been mysteriously handcuffed to history, my
destinies indissolubly chained to those of my country,” (Rushdie, 1). India
suddenly independent, found itself lost as to its position in the world, much
like Saleem’s position in society having no contacts to his biological parents
and being separate b social status from people. Similarly my project is a
clock, specifically a pocket watch, to symbolize the British culture associated
with India before and after its independence and Saleem’s biological father who
was an Englishman.
The
biggest influence India’s history had on Saleem throughout the book was the
Indo-Pakistani wars because Saleem was directly involved in them. His personality
was thoroughly developed after losing friends, experiencing violent imagery,
and becoming isolated. Saleem directly states, “There is nothing like a War for
the reinvention of lives...”, (Rushdie, 468). The war forced Saleem to transition
from a young dreamer with man hopes, as was India at the start of its
independence, to a troubled adult, similar to India’s troubles with government,
religious conflicts, and economic crises.
Saleem elaborates this transition, saying, “…maybe this was the difference between my
Indian childhood and Pakistani adolescence--that in the first I was beset by an
infinity of alternative realities, while in the second I was adrift,
disoriented, amid an equally infinite number of falseness, unrealities and
lies.”
Overall,
Saleem is connected to India, creating the visual ties his environment, culture,
and surrounding people affected his identity.
Saleem describes himself as “the sum total of everything that went
before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am
everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine,”
(Rushdie, 440).
Text:
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children
Essence:
Settings
specifically alter and shape character’s journey and individuality.
Brief
Summary of Text: Saeem Sinai knows his death is near,
and feels the need to tell every story he knows before he dies. Born at the
stroke of midnight, the midnight of India’s independence, Saleem was given
telepathic powers linking him with 1,000 other children born precisely at the
same time. As he explains India’s history, Saleem explains how his life is tied
to the nation; his health and well-being are embodied in India’s political
events.
Prompt:
Some
novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or
in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular
attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then
analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader’s or audience’s
views. Avoid plot summary.
Thesis
which address your prompt: In Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Saleem’s connection
with India alludes to the influence setting has toward shaping a character’s
journey and individuality by showing Saleem change with his setting.
Creative
Project & Explanation: A model pocket watch with twelve
fold out numbers describing twelve important events in India and the
connections to Saleem.
