Postcolonial India and the Politics of Identity in Midnight’s Children

Abstract

The Midnight's Children' is a unique piece of post-colonial literature in the history of post-colonial literature as it follows a journey through concepts of identity, history and nationhood in post-Independent India. The novel, released in 1981, weaves through the personal history of its protagonist Saleem Sinai, and the political and cultural history of India following the end of British colonialism. The paper discusses the magical realism, polyvocal narration and symbolism that Rushdie employs in his work to illustrate the postcolonial identity and the dilemmas of nation construction. Saleem Sinai becomes an allegorical life of the Indian people, a people divided, conflicted, hybrid and changed over the course of history. The novel also brings the issues of Partition, migration, memory and cultural disorientation to the fore, thus highlighting the psychological and social impacts of colonialism. The Midnight’s Children is an innovative novel, spoken by many voices and from various perspectives, which redefines Indian history in a postcolonial novel.