Sunday, March 8, 2009
Setting Post
In this book the setting jumps around quite a bit as we move from Saleem's point of view to Aziz's, and later to Mumtaz's. However the book at least always remains in India, with varying time periods of course. I think that so far with what I have seen in this book, India is a very diverse place and the different parts of India are all unique. For example in Kashmiri, it's a quiet little town with no political problems to speak of and they are also a little behind on the times seeing as they have (had) an old man still ferrying people across lake instead of an actual boat. On the other hand, the bigger cities, such as where Aziz moved to after he got married and Delhi, seem to be more crowded and chaotic. It also seems that as the characters move into bigger cities in India, the bigger cities are more politically unstable and ready for a riot at any time. I've also noticed that as we progress farther into the book more and more of India's important events leading up to their independence have to do with Saleem's family. So maybe Saleem's powers don't have as much to do with his Grandfather's nose, but with his family's involvement in India's independence? However I really do like reading a story with a setting in a different country because most of the books I have read have all taken place in either the U.S. or England. Reading a story, even if it's a fictional story, that takes place in another part of the world with another culture is sort of a refreshing change of pace and makes the book just that much more interesting.
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India is definitely a very diverse place! I hadn't thought of the fact that Saleem's involvement might be due to his family history. From the summary that I read of the book it seemed like it was going to revolve around Saleem, but it seems to be more about the effect his family will have on his life.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it does seem that Saleem's family seems to be involved a lot in India's history. Although I still think that the reason Saleem has his special power of smell is because his family seems to all have special noses. But it could be that Saleem was destined to be linked to India because of his family.
ReplyDeleteIndia does seem very diverse. Kashmir is the opposite of the big cities. It's hard to imagine any of the political uprisings occurring in Aziz's traditional little hometown. India's extreme diversity probably contributed to its political instability.
ReplyDeleteI have learned a lot about India from this book, how it is so diverse, and how it contains people who live on both ends of the spectrum. I beleive that the reason that Saleem's power is his keen sense of smell, is his great grandfather's connection to his itchy nose and sneezing.
ReplyDeleteIt is evident that Saleem's family history has an important impact on the story as a whole since he has dwelt on it so much. Why else would he bother filling us in about his historical information? It's fun to see how all the facts are tying into him, how it's twisting and churning the story. I agree with Laura about the idea of a political uprising in the small town.
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