Throughout the novel, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, the time frame is scattered all over the place. It could often even be compared to a scattered time machine. The way that time works throughout the story is like no other, ranging from the past, the present, and the future. At times, parts of the novel can be hard to understand or even difficult to get a real grasp of what is going on. There are even points in the novel when Saleem says he may have mistaken a date or event due to his declining mental health. So, having that said, can we believe everything that Saleem says as a narrator? Does time control the characters or do the characters control the time?
I guess all I can say is that it is up to the reader whether or not they want to believe Saleem as a narrator. As the novel progresses, Saleem becomes more and more unreliable, even catching his own mistakes. “Rereading my work, I have discovered an error in Chronology. The assassination of Gandhi occurs, in these pages, on the wrong date.” (Page 190). Saleem admitting that he has made a mistake can lead readers to wonder if there are even more mistakes that he made that went unnoticed. Saleem could have easily told the story in the way that he felt fits best or how he expirienced it himself. Sometimes what people recall in their experience isn’t always how things actually went. Saleem also lacks a great amount of evidence to back up his claims which leaves it up to the reader whether or not they want to rely on his narration.
On the other hand, time does control everyone in the novel Midnight’s Children. The novel begins 32 years before Saleem was born. The entire novel spans for about 63 years, which means that the novel ends when Saleem is around 31 years old. The time span throughout this novel goes in all different directions. Up, down, side to side, you name it. The novel, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie is clearly is a fragmented narrative constantly switching back and forth between the past and the present, and sometimes even the future. The story is often interrupted or broken up by Saleem making abrupt remarks on the side. In addition to this odd narrative and fragmentation, India itself is fragmented as well. India is divided into two disparate countries with the East and West sides of Pakistan (which are on either side of India). This shows the connection between the story and India’s history. As time goes on as Saleem tells his story, his body begins to crack and crumble which also signifies the history of India during the postcolonial times. You can see the parralells and connections between India’s history and the family history in Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie here:
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/postcolonism/Mid_Children.htm
Interestingly enough, the middle of the novel is actually the beginning of Saleem’s life, or in other words, when he was born. As stated before, time controls everything and everyone in this novel. For example, if Saleem were to never be born at midnight on the night of India’s independence, he would have of never gained his powers. “‘A charming pose of Baby Saleem Sinai, who was born last night at the exact moment of our Nation’s independence the happy Child of that glorious Hour!'” (Page 133). The midnight’s child was a headline all over the papers. India believed that Saleem was a special and interesting person, but they had no idea what they were really in for. Most of the charachters in Midnight’s Children either live in the past or the present. Besides the old boatman named Tai. He is undeniably timeless. “Nobody could remember when Tai had been young. He had been plying this same boat, standing in the same hunched position, across the Dal and Nageen Lakes… forever. As far as anyone knew.” (Page 17). Tai was never seen as a younger or older guy. The people only knew Tai as himself, and have only remembered him as the version he is now and has always been. If Tai is timeless and was never remembered in any other way, could this be even more proof of Saleem being an unreliable narrator?
As many may already know, Saleem was switched at birth with Shiva, who is also apart of the Midnight’s Children gang. This switch happened when Saleem’s real father’s toe got shattered by a falling chair. Of course, nurses and others took care of him looking away from the two babies and their mothers for a brief moment. Due to the horrible timing of the stubbed toe and attention loss of the two babies and their mothers, the babies ended up being switched. This would have never happened if Ahmed did not stub his toe. “And when she was alone – two babies in her hands – two lives in her power – she did it for Joseph, her own private revolutionary act, thinking he will certainly love me for this, as she changed the name-tags on the two huge infants, giving the poor baby a life of privilage and condemning the rich born child to accordions and poverty…” (Page 130). Sadly, the mothers had no idea what had just happened. Saleem and Shiva were switched before they were even given back to their mothers by Saleem’s nanny, Mary Pereira.
Throughout the novel, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, the concept of time is an extremely important theme that is represented throughout the story. At times the concept of time can be confusing to the readers as it is easy to feel like Saleem is an unreliable narrator getting his time and dates wrong or mixed up. There sometimes is not enough proof to make the readers fully believe him. So, in the end, it is really up to the reader whether or not they want to fully believe Saleem and his side of things. This could also be why the novel is an extremely difficult read for some of the readers. The story follows the narrative plot for moments at a time, but for the characters time is inescapable and it controls everyone. The characters lives are so deeply connected to time to the point it is inescapable. But, if time is so flexible, how can it be so constraining at the same time?
ilobrien 