Setting

The setting of the book is in India. However the location and time in the book is constantly changing. Aziz moves from Kashmiri to Amritsar. Kashmiri is a simple country town. It is at peace and there are no political distractions that are dividing the city. Amritsar is very different. It is a large bustling city with many people wanting to separate from the British. The time is also changing in the book. It jumps from Aziz's story to the present and then back to Aziz. The book also has a tendency to jump from one story of Aziz, back to an earlier time to tell another story about him. When the story changes to Saleem's mother, Mumtaz, the setting again changes. Mumtaz moves away from her father to live with her new husband in Delhi. There is trouble in Delhi too. There is a group called the Ravana that seems to be causing trouble in town. I think that when a character changes cities in India, it represents a change in the character. When Aziz moved away from Kashmiri he gets involved in politics and is no longer carefree because he is constantly fighting his wife. When Mumtaz moves away from her father she is changed because she has to try and help her husband and is trying to get used to the new city. She tries to leave everything about her previous husband behind her.

Setting- by Laura

I find the setting of this novel intriguing. I'm learning more about India's history by reading it. It's convenient that we've been learning about India in AP World as well so I have some background knowledge regarding the revolution against Britain. Kashmir sounds like a beautiful and tranquil area, but the rest of India seems very tumultuous. I don't think I would enjoy living in one of the bustling cities, and the violent riots would certainly be disconcerting. Aziz's move away from the simplicity of Kashmir seems symbolic. Once he is an adult with a European education, he outgrows the traditional way of life in his home region. He moves to more urban areas where there is more political conflict just as he is experiencing great personal conflict- he is torn between being European and being Indian. This precisely reflects India's status during that time period. It was torn between its British connections and its true Indian roots.

Will Kromer: Character

So far, in the novel, Saleem Sinai, the main character and narator has been almost entirely absent from the plot. Instead, he has chosen to tell the story of his grandfather, Aadam Aziz. Saleem begins by telling the story of how Aadam became non-religious. He was praying and he bumped his nose on the ground and instead of blood there were rubies and instead of tears there were diamonds. He also tells of Tai, a ferryman who shares philosophical interchanges with Aadam on his boat. Saleem also speaks of Aadam's family's dificulties. For example, his mother works by making jewlery, however Aadam is a doctor, and is highly valued in his community. When the daughter of Ghani, the landowner, falls very ill, Aadam goes to examine her. When he arrives, he realizes that Ghani is blind. When he is finally admited to examine her, he is only allowed to examine her through a seven-inch hole in a sheet. He then ends up falling in love with her and they eventually become married. Saleem theorized that this love filled the hole left by his renouncement of his religion. His friends and family begin to drop like flies, and Aadam decides to take a possition at Agra University . He proposes to Naseem, and she accepts. When in Amritsar, Aadam is involved in a non-violent protest and his nose starts to itch(Tai has told him that this is a bad omen), then he sneezes and dodges a bullet. I think that Aadam was a very introverted, mindless person. But after his recouncement of his faith, he began to think for himself. I also beleive that Aadam is a very introverted person because he keeps his love hidden for 3 years.

Week Two

Welcome to Week Two of our discussion. This discussion will last from Monday, March 2nd to Sunday, March 9th.

This week's discussion is on Setting. Please POST a 10-sentence comment on setting. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, but waiting is not recommended!

Main Character

So far, there is little to be derived about the character of Saleem Sinai, who is currently narrating the story in Midnight's Children. He has chosen to reveal stories of others, mainly his grandfather, Aadam Aziz, before he delves deeper into his own. Therefore, I think it is most fitting that I expand upon the character of his grandfather. While Aadam was younger, he seemed to be very open-minded, optimistic, and completely intrigued with life. He spent time with a boatman, Tai, whom everyone thought was completely nuts. His parents didn't like him being around Tai, but something lured Aadam to him. Later, Aadam studied in Germany and became a doctor. When he arrived home, he was different, as were the people around him. They all treated him differently. Tai didn't approve of all the doctoring techniques that Aadam had acquired, and his mother played mind games with him. She complained about her aches and pains and wanted her son to help, but always told him not to bother with her. In time, Aadam got fixated on the task of helping the daughter of a landowner through his healing techniques. During these sessions a sort of obsessive and unexplainable side emerges from Aadam. He's intrigued by this girl and keeps coming back, even though he is requested to do ridiculous tasks. As his story progresses, you see him deteriorate. A loss of passion is evident, and he comes to realizations about choices he made in life (one being blinded by a seeming love for his wife, Neesa, who his is now forever bound to). In a sense, his character is like a child who looses their innocence. 

Character Post

In the book Midnight's Children the main character is intended to be Saleem Sinai, but so far the author has not told us enough about him to make a full blog post about his character. Therefore I am instead going to write about his grandfather, Aadam Aziz, because Saleem Sinai is writing down his grandfather's story in the first part of the book that I have read and therefore I know more about him than Saleem Sinai. The author starts out by telling us how Aadam is no longer religous because once when he hit his nose on the ground while praying, he caused it to bleed and therefore vows never to bow to another man or god again. I think this refusal to bow to another initially shows us that Aadam is very stubborn, yet he also learns from what happens to him. Later we also learn about one of the adults who guides him and is a friend to him when he was younger, a ferryman named Tai. Tai is influencial on Aadams life and one of the things Tai tells him is that if his nose starts to itch then something bad is happening or is going to happen and Aadam being young, believes him. This I think also tells us that Aadam when he was younger and even as he gets older believes in omens even if he doesn't pray to a god. Later when Aadam becomes a doctor he makes a start by helping a blind landowner's daughter and he ends up falling in love with her (or the various body parts that he sees of her's), but he waits 3 years to tell her and her father. Also when he was first going to help the landowner's daughter he was very nevous and comtemplated fleeing, but he ended up staying. I think the fact that he waited so long and that he stayed also supports my belief that Aadam is very stubborn because he stubbornly stays instead of running and he also very stubbornly hides his feelings for so long. I hope to learn more about Aadam in future chapters and a lot more about Saleem Sinai.

Character

Well with little known about Saleem Sinai, besides the fact that he’s 31, deteriorating, and has an amazing sense of smell, I have decided to comment on his grandfather, Aadam Aziz. He’s a very stubborn character; not only does he never listen to his nose he almost kills himself because he’s too stubborn to eat. Although I think I found out why he didn’t trust his nose about Naseem goes back to when he hit his nose on the ground while praying. This caused him to give up religion, creating a hole, a hole only Naseem could fill. This incident also explains his belief that schooling should not be religion based. I’m confident that the praying incident is responsible for the nose itches, his stubbornness in ignoring them, and possibly even Saleem’s powers. If you think about it if the incident had never happened Aziz would probably not have married Naseem and Saleem would be nonexistent. Or perhaps there is some other reason for this. I hope to find out more in the coming chapters about my theories. Well good-bye for now.