25th Annual Student Research Conference
Cutting Up History to Suit Yourself: Saleem Sinai's Unreliable Narration in Midnight's Children
Hannah Rackers
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
In Errata: Or Unreliable Narrration in Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie calls into question the reliability of memory as a tool we use to remake the past and asserts that reality is built on our prejudices, misconceptions and ignorance as well as our perceptiveness and knowledge. The narrative of Midnights Children is an attempt by Saleem Sinai, whose past is inextricably linked to post-independence India by their simultaneous births, to find his own significance and place the events of his life in historical context despite the debatable nature of both pursuits. Saleem proves to be a biased narrator who changes history to suit himself, and Rushdie acknowledges the novels interest in the slippages and distortions of memory in his introduction to the 25th Anniversary Edition. This paper will investigate Rushdie's exploration of the creation of personal and historical narratives through the use of subjective, selective and false memories as seen in Saleems unreliable narration.
Keywords: Salman Rushdie, unreliable narrator, Midnight's Children, historical narrative
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 408-2
Location: VH 1408
Time: 2:45