Midnight's Children Analysis

Name:        Arvin Jonaz Prasetya

Class:        HIST135

Date:        7 November 2016

Theme: Fate

Salman Rushdie employed various techniques in his novel to deliver particular themes that were significant to establish the situation of India at the time. The novel is a theme-driven one and emphasizes on various issues that Salman Rushdie was the reader to note but indirectly. In this respect, the author employs the use of fate in the novel and supports the theme through situations and characters within the novel. Most significant, fate is used to elaborate on the superstitious events and characters in the novel such as Saleem Sinai. Hence, it is essential to establish the theme of fate as the author outlines it and see the importance of the theme in the novel.

The novel is introduced, and the first theme that pops out vividly is the theme of fate. In this regard, the events that led to the birth of Saleem Sinai that night, the same time when India gained independence illustrate his fate and role in the society. More to the fate the befalls Saleem Sinai, the fate of Sinai has determined the fate that he is raised by a father who is not his biological father. Even after Sinai realizes of his true father and grandfather, Aadam Aziz, he still insists that he will remain with his family and that the legitimacy was a matter of belief and not biological. In other words, Saleem Sinai was embracing his fate and that the parent who raised him was his parent despite the lack of biological connection. In this regard, the author successful illustrates fate as a theme in the novel.

For many years, India was being exerted the pressure in political, cultural and religion struggles that characterized the history of the country. More so were the imperialistic actions of the British in India and Pakistan and the children, the likes of Saleem Sinai, Parvati, Shiva and other Midnight children. In this regard, the author first depicts the characters as those with shuttered destinies considering the political and social situation present in India. However, Saleem Sinai and other children stand up to their feet to reclaim their destinies and cursing out the Myth and historical injustices that faced the country. Saleem Sinai standing for the rest of the midnight children refuses t bear the burden of history and embraces his destiny, and it is through this account that the author illustrates the theme of fate in the novel.