Identity in Salman Rushdie
Examine the construction of identity in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.Colonialism is the consolidation of imperial power through the attempt to govern lands that are now occupied. Postcolonial literature sets out to oppose the colonialist perspective. They develop a perspective that retrieves states of marginality and is concerned with man's quest for his identity. Postcolonial theories relate the quest of their individual hero or heroines to the past of their lives. Salman Rushdie born in an Indian Muslim family is a postcolonial writer. After graduating Rushdie returned home to Pakistan where his parents had moved, whilst there he felt a sense of alienation having been so long away from his cultural roots that he decided to return to England. This is a feeling that many of the postcolonial writers identify with. Many of these writers like Salman Rushdie, Sunetra Gupta and Rukhsana Ahmed are caught in between two cultures that in many cases are very contrasting. It is very difficult for these writers to adapt to both cultures and because of his they find it difficult to construct their identity. This is a problem that the narrator Saleem Sinai faces in Salman Rushdi
Through this Rushdie is trying to imply that there should be unity not opposition because through unity they will be able to succeed, perhaps Rushdie is trying to suggest to the midnight's children that if they work together they will be able to succeed in finding their identity. "Rushdie set the book firmly in history so that the book was rooted in this worldly and the contemporary. This caused a problem, as many people confused parts of their culture as being part of their religion, which was a problem and still is for many of the second generation. Both groups try to make the world in their own images; they fight for the same territory. Saleem is not India but a segment of India as is Shiva. In Midnight's Children Rushdie tells the story of India's independence and Pakistan's creation, a union of two worlds, pre and post colonial India and how at the stroke of midnight the Indians began their lives with great hopes. The identity of Saleem is linked with his nation and his religion, Islam which his grandfather has denied and therefore he feels that he has no connection to it but the more he tries to deny it he finds that the more he belongs to it and he can't escape it because he is a part of it and it constructs his identity. Midnight's children have no power, no hope and no future, they are nothing on their own and they don't count for anything even though their life is connected with that of the nation suggesting that perhaps India too is powerless and has no future because it has separated form Pakistan. The interaction of the personal and national histories is the most significant feature of Midnight's Children. Saleem's major concern like Rushdie's is post Independence India the subject of the bulk of the book. The ancestors of whom Saleem tells us at length are not his biological relations and yet he continues to speak of them as his relations. The majority of Indians in India were Hindu and therefore it was difficult for Muslims and people of other religions to separate Indian culture from their religion. Rushdie uses Saleem as a vehicle to put across his views.
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