1. A master narrative tries to convince its readers of a truth that it sees as absolute. The story line moves into a narrative that will create or govern reality in the future. The master narrative tries to conceal that it is a constructed belief system. Master narratives cover up other ideas and beliefs. It wants the reader to feel that its ideas are just common sense and if they do not believe the same thing then they are wrong. One of the consequences of a master narrative is that any new and different ideas are ignored or pushed aside. The dominant beliefs can lead to other people being oppressed and/or stereotyped. For example, even in our equality driven society, women are still stereotyped as being too emotional. Our social structure characterizes emotions as a feminine quality that is irrational. In the texts, when there are moments that people are breaking out of the master narrative, they are usually portrayed as weird or insane. It's as if they are considered out of step with society.
             In the text, Midnight's Children, I think that Salman Rushdie tries to show his readers that our beliefs are constructed from the society that we live in and that people in our society are affected differently by those beliefs. Our reality at the time is what makes us think the way we do. In his story, Rushdie constantly makes mention to the truth as I saw it, or in my own version. He doesn't try to say his beliefs are correct. He tries to show the good and bad aspects of all the beliefs that are represented. Rushdie recognizes that to change our way of thinking we must recognize that our ideas are constructed. Midnight's Children starts off immediately trying to make it known that this text is not a master narrative. His truth is not truth as veritas, but truth as alethia. Truth as veritas means that the truth is correct and above all others. It is a supposedly irrefutable truth that should not be questioned. Truth as al...