20th Annual Student Research Conference
Language & Literature
War Within Ali's "A Wrong Turn" and Rushdie's Midnight's Children
Michael A. Bono
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
The modern Indian subcontinent has dealt with its share of violence during its history. My thesis will focus on how Agha Shahid Ali's poem "A Wrong Turn" and Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children deal with the far-reaching devastation and brutal inhumanity that were an integral part of the Indian-Pakistani war. Within Ali's "A Wrong Turn," the audience is walked through a massacred town and experiences the aftermath of an atrocity, while Rushdie's Midnight's Children has the audience experience the terror of warfare first-hand. The works capture an in-depth look into the powerful emotion and all-encompassing destruction that resulted from the war. A better understanding of the war's portrayal in Indian literature is found within the authors' treatment of physical warfare, its origins, and its consequences.
Keywords: Indian, War, Rushdie, Ali, A Wrong Turn, Midnight's Children, Poetry, Atrocity
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 41-2
Location: OP 2111
Time: 1:30 pm