The ‘pickles of history’
What is history? Where does it start? Who writes it? Are there superhuman forces behind the annals? Are they divine inspirations? What should be done in the face of the possibility of death? How can one leave a trace of their existence? Can the history of a nation be represented with a single image? Can a character, fictional or not, be represented by the history of a nation? What is the nature of the nation? What is the nature of history? What is the flavor of the story?
History is not something to be just read. In fact, it is impossible for a person to be just a history reader. That is, we ourselves are history: every second we die and are reborn, until the final moment. The only difference between human beings is whether they are capable of making history or not.
By making history I mean describing facts, but also giving them a personal identity, either by representing them from one’s own point of view, or by creating a new story for whatever reason. Writing your name in the Chronicles of Human Civilization (each with its respective name) can be done through action, but only. The act of writing them down itself is a way of making sure that your thoughts and your life are not forgotten.
The novel, published in 1981, is a magical realism epic depicting the decolonization of India with the waning influence of British rule. He was very well received in the literary world (and beyond) and was rewarded with several literary distinctions on the Continent. Since then, Midnight’s Children has been one of Rushdie’s leading reference names and an enduring best seller, alongside other famous and/or basic Rushdie works. The story involves several time-space frames, revolving around the central character and his country (India).
The story centers on the partition of India in 1947, which followed its newly granted independence, narrated by a parapsychologically developed individual with an unusually large nose, Saleem Sinai. Saleem’s birthday coincides with the moment of independence (August 15, 1947). Thirty years later, fearing his imminent death and the consequent urge to leave a legacy of his existence in this world, he is forced to tell his story – mainly – to Padma. We are transported during the First World War to the time when his grandparents met and married, and then, little by little, we begin to see Saleem closer and closer until we return to the moment of the narrative.
Due to his date of birth, Saleem is burdened by a constant amount of social pressure. He later discovers that he has telepathic abilities and can read people’s minds, a fact that he soon discovers is quite widespread among other children of his generation. Apparently everyone who was born in that particular time period has some kind of special powers. He discovers that, having been switched at birth with another baby, Shiva, he is not the only one with overdeveloped body parts. Shiva himself has oversized and super strong knees. When Saleem learned of this fact, he decided to create a bond between all these special children through the “Midnight Children’s Conference”. In any case, this is not the only narrative thread of the book: we also know a parallel development of the plot, namely the difficulties and pilgrimages of his family to survive plagues, wars and his own mental problems (amnesia, cured in the Sundarban jungle). After this, Saleem chooses a politically active path, fighting against the policies of Indira Gandhi, especially the measures against the midnight children, the children born along with the Independence of India. After the political fall of Gandhi, the prisoners are released. He meets Padma and from here we go back to the point where the novel began, that is, when Saleem turns 30 years old. Exactly one year later, on his birthday, he marries Padma and predicts her death on the same day.
At the end of his life, Saleem decides to look back at history, his own and that of his nation, he writes a chronicle dedicated to his son. The main flavor of the story he describes could be described as bittersweet: chained, but also supernatural. The comparison of Indian history with pickles is not, by chance, an inside joke or irrelevant: pickles could be described as bringing pleasure and a bad taste in the mouth. That is to say, the story of Salmaan as an integral part of the Indian heritage (if not the personification of herself), is not one-sided: she has sunlight, but at the same time she is imbued with darkness. In other words, history (your-history) is full of happy, sometimes even glorious, moments, achievements and/or relationships that bring with them a sense of pride (of being oneself, of belonging to something greater, of having a story and an audience to tell it) and the security of one’s (divine) gifts. On the other hand, along with this bright image, there is also a dark side. For India, this could be not only centuries of British subjugation, but also internal malice (social, political, religious or philosophical issues).
As he himself admits, in his future Chronicle, Salem not only intends to use words, he announces that he will also write in pickles:
What I hope to immortalize in both pickles and words: that condition of the spirit in which the consequences of acceptance could not be denied, in which an overdose of reality engendered a miasmatic longing to escape into the safety of dreams… But the jungle, like all shelters, was completely different, both less and more than he had expected. “I’m glad,” my Padma says, “I’m glad you ran away.” But I insist: I do not. He. Hey, the buddha. Who, even the snake, would remain non-Saleem; who, despite fleeing, was still separated from his past; though he held in his limpet fist a certain silver spittoon. (211)
Saleem himself feels the weight of this darkness to the point of personal crisis. He faces this dark side (death) making sure future generations don’t forget him. He leaves behind a story, his story, his family’s story, his country’s story with all its implications, whether positive or negative, and that’s why the “pickle” metaphor is so important in this context. . Like eating a pickle along with something else so that it tastes better or is easier to digest, also aware that its flavor is not exactly sweet (read good), but at the same time not bad, but rather complementary. -manufacturer (such as salt, for example) that gives meaning to the specific food we are eating. In the same way, history gives meaning to our lives by teaching us lessons, telling us about past successes, spicing up our existence and adding flavor to our identity. Therefore, Saleem’s only solution is to write history, not fight death.
Works Cited
1. Wikipedia contributors. Midnight children. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. January 13, 2010. February 5. 2010.
2. SparkNotes editors. SparkNote on the Children of Midnight. SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Internet. January 18, 2010.
3. Collective. Salman Rushdie – Midnight’s Children. Fujin University. February 5, 2010. February 1. 2001
4. Rushdie, Salman. Midnight children. London: Penguin Books. 2008.
Grades:
1. Referring to the Anglo-Saxon influenced world.
2. In other words, you have reached a point in your life where you can look back on your past (and not only) and analyze the present situation through the scope of history. However, the situation does not seem to be positive for him, at least not at this time (ie August 15, 1977) and Saleem feels his body gradually degrading. Therefore, the only end result seems to be death.
3. His companion and future wife, who listened to him patiently, but also skeptical and down to earth, the opposite of Saleem in character and attitude towards life.
4. Namely, the sterilization of the “magic” seen as threatening by the prime minister. All the midnight children are herded into a sterilization camp for the remainder of Indira Gandhi’s term.
5. For more information, see Midnight’s Children, Wikipedia article; Sparknotes.com information on Midnight’s Children; Fu Jen University project page on Midnight’s Children;