Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children: A Bildungsroman Novel

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to bring out the bildungsroman aspect of the novel by establishing the relationship between the life of Saleem Sinai, the protagonist of the novel, and the fate of India during his lifetime. The novel is strewn with instances highlighting bildungsroman, not only restricting itself to Saleem Sinai but also proceeding to dominate the lives of Aadam Aziz, Saleem Sinai’s grandfather, and Aadam Sinai, Saleem Sinai’s son. Their lives are intertwined with the history of India – both pre-and post-independent periods. This paper also tries to bring out the effectiveness of the bildungsroman by pointing out the events in the history of India.