The use of magical realism within Midnight’s Children is the foundation of the novel and is considered a postcolonial theme through its way of telling history and bringing to our attention the problems of postcolonial identities through different forms of hybridity. Saleem has the ability to communicate with the other midnight’s children through telepathy which demonstrates Rushdie’s use of magical realism, giving the Indians a way to communicate their opinions about their nation amongst each other. These characters now had the ability to give their viewpoints of India’s history through Saleem and give the audience a more accurate feeling of what they all had to endure.
Each character was significant to major historical events that took place in India’s history and he would take those pieces of information and relate it back to his present self. Saleem gives the impression that history can be created just as families can be shaped and established by comparing historical events to his family. Saleem identifies himself as a representation of India and the other midnight’s children looks to him as a leader or “Mother of India,” and through magical realism, these characters are able to create history and establish the events that occurred. Their versions of India’s history contradicts the history that Britain tries to show and Rushdie shows it in a different creative way.
India has gained their independence from Britain, but was now facing a war against Pakistan. At the time that war began, Saleem brings us to where he is now living in Pakistan with his mother, Amina, and everything isn’t the same as it used to be. Their family was happy, as India was happy with their new found freedom, but when India went back to war, Saleem began to notice a downfall within his family in his perspective.
“Let me state this quite unequivocally: it is my firm conviction that the hidden purpose of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 was nothing more nor less than the elimination of my benighted family from the face of the earth,” (Rushdie). RELATED:Critical Analysis Part One
He finds out his family is not actually his family and they begin to resent him. He was once the favorite of the family and now their attention went towards his “sister” Brass Monkey and discovered she was a phenomenal singer so she changed her name to Jamila Singer. Everything turned upside down for India which reflected on Saleem’s life. Saleem tells us the reality of living in Pakistan and that even though some parts of his story may not be factual, it was more real than what the Pakistani government wanted you to believe.
“I have been only the humblest of jugglers-with-facts; and that, in a country where the truth is what it is instructed to be, reality quite literally ceases to exist, so that everything becomes possible except what we are told is the case.,” (Rushdie).
When Pakistan was attacked with air raid ships, he lost not only his grandmother and aunt, but also his mother, father, and their unborn child.
Rushdie reflected the ups and downs of India through Saleem’s life and showed the mindset of many children who were born during the postcolonial era, giving us a better understanding that textbooks would be unable to describe. He and the midnight’s children believed with their abilities they can change the world and make it a better place. Using their abilities the affected the lives of other, but their plans ended up backfiring on them. Such as their mission to inform Commander Sabarmati that his wife Lila Sabarmati was cheating on him. Hoping he would just find the information to be true and leave his wife, the midnight’s children believed they did a good deed. It backfired when he became violent and shot his wife and lover. He became a national hero temporarily, but if we were to look up his real case we would find this story to be true. This is an example of how Rushdie incorporated magical realism to postcolonial actions within his story.
