Midnight's Children Summary

MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN- Salman Rushdie

Saleem Sinai begins the novel by explaining the exact date and time of his birth i.e. August 15, 1947, at midnight. Saleem’s birth coincides precisely with the moment India officially gains independence from British. As he becomes thirty-one years old, he believes he is going to die and he must tell all the stories trapped in him before he dies.

Saleem opens the story with his grandfather, Aadam Aziz, on an early spring morning in Kashmir. He describes Kashmir as a place of incredible beauty and says that Kashmir was still new, spotless and untouched, looking just as it had during the time of the Mughal Empire. That means, at this point in the story,

In the world of Midnight’s Children, the magical and the filthy are interconnected. As Amina encounters the poor people she had once ignored, Ahmed and his business partners carry huge bags of money for a terrorist ransom. When the Ravana members drop the money, Saleem describes Ahmed and his partners seeking through dirt and leftover to pick it up, just as starving men, women, and children beg in order to survive. The narrative deliberately oscillates back and forth between these two scenes, drawing attention to the drastic division that separates rich from poor in India (haves and

As Amina comes to know about her husband’s heart boot, the public learns about India’s intention to use necessary force against China. As Saleem notes, both of these revelations will end with a rejection. As China boots out the Indian troops and Saleem’s parents boot him out of India. India’s defeat in the war symbolically drains the country’s confidence, just as Saleem’s operation literally drains his congested sinuses. Back in Pakistan, the country’s religious dogmatism attacks Saleem. His life in Pakistan becomes riddled with hypocrisies and