The Theme of Fragmented Identity in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children

Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children though a political allegory speaks much of fragmented identity of an individual called Saleem Sinai who belongs to the Muslim family of Sinai’s. The story of the novel depicts the life of three generations of Sinai’s family focusing on the theme of migrancy, displacement, dislocation and alienation. Fragmented identity is the major theme in most of the Rushdian novels. It may be due to the fact that he himself faced identity crisis throughout his life. His first novel Grimus was published in the year 1975. The protagonist of this novel is Flapping Eagle, a young Indian who receives the gift of immortality after drinking a magic fluid and goes in search of his immortal sister. He finally finds her on a Mediterranean Island controlled by Grimus, a magician. Here, though the protagonist achieves immortality it does not help him much. Rushdie's third novel Shame(1983) is political in nature. It is an allegory representing the political situation of Pakistan. The protagonist of the novel is Omar Khayyam. The central theme of the novel is the violence that is born out of shame. Salman Rushdie's other novels The Satanic Verses, The Jaguar Smile(1987), Haroun and the Sea of Stories(1989) deal with the theme of identity crisis. The theme of fragmented identity is subtle in other Rushdian novels whereas it is the prominent in his Masterpiece the Midnight's Children. It will be the task of this paper to examine the way Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children as a novel depicts the theme of fragmented identity in it.