A Land Older Than Time: Narrative Pace in Midnight's Children

In the British sitcom "Peep Show" the main character, Mark, says to his girlfriend over the phone, "And don't worry about Midnight's Children Sophie, no one has ever actually read it." While this comment is amusing it also exposes a serious issue with the aesthetics and narrative pace of the novel. While it is pleasant and interesting to read, Rushdie is careful to place the story's action as not starting until about half way through the book. Indeed, a harsh editor could have cut incredible amounts from the book without it being complete. This begs the question of why Rushdie chose to include so much background information. The reason seems to be that he is showing the reader that India is a land where history means everything and must be understood to move into the future; a land where things have always moved slowly and area really just starting.

The protagonist and narrator begins the novel by giving detailed issues of his Grandpa's life, as if his grandpa were the main character in the novel. This in depth explanation allows the author to demonstrate the differences between traditional culture and the modern world in India, specifically as it relates to doctors returning from Europe. This same theme is later brought up when Saleem goes to school with European girls. Since the novel is primarily about issues facing India upon new independence this is used to guage the social temperature of the Indian subcontinent and show the ancient culture mixing with the modern.

This narrative structure mirrors the presumed course of India. The idea being that in India there is so much history, a land where things move slow, and all of the sudden changes will be coming at a rapid pace. This is best explained in the lead up to independence, "Because a nation which had never previously existed was about to win its freedom, catapulting us into a world which, although it had five thousand years of history...was nevertheless quite imaginary; a into a mythical land...India, the new myth--a collective fiction in with anything is possible" (129-130). In the story, while India is seen as being a land of mystery and mysticism, the fantastical elements of the book do not begin until independence. When the Midnight's Children are born they possess unheard of powers: the new India is a land where anything is possible.

Saleem's development is supposed to mirror the development of this new India even before his powers are realized. A politician writes a letter to Saleem's family at the time of his birth saying, "You are the newest bearer of that ancient face of India which is also eternally young. We shall be watching over your life with the closest attention; it will be, in a sense, the mirror of our own" (143). By saying this the politician is demonstrating the hope that a new breed of modern and self-sufficient Indians will arise in the independent country to speed up the success and progress of the world. As Saleem grows in all of the wrong places and finds life confusing and difficult in his childhood the ancient land of India does the same thing as a new nation.

Saleem's story in the novel is the story of India. While this is made explicit, it is also amazing the subtle ways which Rushdie has interwoven this into his novel. His lack of concern for accessibility can be understood as commentary on the difficulty of becoming part of a culture as ancient and complex as India. Instead of trying to make the reader understand India he tries to make the reader understand one boy and his family and in doing so understand what they were going through as a newly independent people.