Elona Collins from Albania

Midnight's children: India Independence Birth

Throughout the book of Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie writes a story of a Indian boy, Saleem Sinai, who was born on the stroke of Midnight at which the same time India gained its independence. For the duration of the book, Rushdie relates events in history to make problematic circumstances for the characters life's. The Night of August 15th 1947 was a major event in history and in the book because it sets the whole story up for how the main character, Saleem, lives his life.

India's Independence day, celebrated august 15th to recognize its independence from British rule and its birth as an unrestricted country on that day back in 1947. On June 3rd 1947 the last British Governor-General of India announced the partition of the British Indian realm in India and Pakistan, under the assistance of the Indian Independence act.

The Indian Independence Act was the law approved by the Parliament of the United Kingdom publicizing the Partition of India and the independence of the territories of Pakistan and India. The legislation was conducted by the government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee, while representatives from the India National Congress,(Muslim league and Sikh Community) came to an agreement on what is now called the Mountbatten Plan.

Lord Mountbatten took over as Viceroy of India in 1947. On June 3rd 1947, Mountbatten announced his plan about the solutions for the India Subcontinent. There were 4 chief features, to the plan that was the written future of India. The proposal was to divide India but hang on to maximum unity. Along with India, Punjab and Bengal would also be partitioned. Other parts to the Mountbatten plan dealt with power transfer between India and Pakistan, along with a public vote to determine weather or not people in the are wanted to join India or not. This plan shaped the new India, after gaining its independence from British rule.

Rushdie sets up the whole story of Midnight's Children by beginning with a little background about Adam Aziz and his life, and then India's Independence. Born at the stroke of midnight, Saleem is the country of India in a human form. When the new country of India is released from British rule, Saleem is born, as the new hope for India's future. Saleem is to grow up as is the newborn India. To realize the significance of Saleems birth, he must remind himself of all that has happened before his birth, all the events leading up to his existence.

Thinking of all the events throughout his family history, Saleem realizes that in fact it's not his history, its Shiva's, the baby that Saleem is switched at birth with. The stories that Saleem (the narrator) tells are actually about people that Saleem isn't related too. In the same chapter, Aadam discovers moths have chewed holes in the perforated sheet, significantly representing the poverty that Shiva should have been born into, until switched at birth with Saleem.

Also, being born on the exact second of India's Independence, one of the finest midnight's children, Saleem, is born. In the chapter "accident in the washing chest," Saleem discovers his god-given powers. Saleem compares himself to Hindu-Ganesh, the Muslim Mohammed, and Judeo-Christian Moses. This represents all the different roles of religious groups that have effected the development of India. Saleems