Midnight’s Children: An Allegory of Indian History | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

Allegory is a kind of extended metaphor where the apparent storyline or imagery corresponds to a distinct set of idea that may not necessarily be a part of the surface narrative. Allegories are capable of concurrently bringing forth wide array of well-defined references and reports as the channel and drift of allegory changes. Salman Rushdie employs the trope of allegory in his Midnight’s Children to provide his territorially pervasive and historically polysemous tour de force with a dynamic and methodical framework. The motif of dichotomy between the real world and the one created by language is personified by the sardonic and self-absorbed protagonist, Saleem Sinai. This diremption capacitates the author to give an account of India, which unlike historiography does not claim to be authentic while intending to be true. And to remain perceptibly allegorical, despite harbouring such an intention any fictionalization of history, however, cannot strike reconciliation with the actual world. This explains why Saleem commits himself to memory rather than historiography as he cannot trust the version of others more than his own. This paper intends to look at this new quasi-history and narrative about India—which is consistently pitted against the experiences of individual protagonist—with reference to Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. It attempts to display how this personal and national allegory defies any affiliation for either of the two and in doing so maintains a state of conflict between allegory and reality.