Question One:

Does the fragmentation of Saleem’s memory distort the reliability of his narration?

• No, it does not distort his reliability, but informs it within this genre.
  • Quote one
    • On page 119, Saleem summarizes the thirty-two years before his birth “which condemned me [Saleem] to see my own life—its meanings, its structures—in fragments also; so that by the time I understood it, it was far too late” (Rushdie).

• Clear example of Fragmentation, which is important considering Saleem is the main character.
• The first book is told in fragments, creating the backbone of the fragmentation technique Rushdie used to craft this narrative.
  • Rushdie is telling the story of a country he was not there to witness or see, through Saleem who is focusing on the first 32 years before he even came into existence – a set of information that could have only been passed down to him. (not an authentic memory)
  • The fragments of Saleem’s history create the Saleem that understand moving forward in the novel.

• Quote two:
  • But here is Padma at my elbow, bullying me back into the world of linear narrative, the universe of what-happened-next…. I know now that she is, despite all her protestations, hooked. (Rushdie 37).
    • Much like Padma, the reader is uncomfortable in the lack of a linear narrative, and Rushdie uses this moment to point it out.
      • As the reader moves forward within the novel, we begin to look past the need for a linear structure and look to Saleem to inform us of important information.
      • Thus making us rely on his narrative for the duration of the novel.

Question Two:

There is a clear symbiotic relationship between Saleem and India; where do you believe the power of that relationship lies?

• There are four ways one can look at this relationship
  • Saleem’s narrative informs the history of India
  • The history of India informs Saleem’s Narrative
  • To understand himself Saleem must anchor his identity into the history of India because it is a solid foundation.
    • In his mind he believes that he is the center of the universe.
      • Quote 4: “I was already beginning to take my place at the center of the universe; and by the time I had finished, I would give meaning to it all.” (143-144)
    • However this comes off as biased and narcissistic. In any first person narrative, one’s opinion of something else tells us more about them.
  • As a reader we find that he, as an old man, is working through his understanding of himself and has anchored it into the history of India. In fact he resonates with the history as the core of his identity,
    • Quote 3: “I ask you only to accept (as I have accepted) that I shall eventually crumble into (approximately) six hundred and thirty million particles of anonymous, and necessarily oblivious dust. This is why i have resolved to confide in paper, before I forget. (We are a narration of forgetters.) (Rushdie 36).
      • When the book was published (1981), the population of India was at like 700 million, but in 1976 like 5 years prior, the population was at 635 million. So assuming that’s around the time Rushdie wrote this iit would make sense that Saleem is not only tied to his country but a deep metaphor for the fate of that country as much as it is a metaphor for what will happen in his narrative.
    • Ultimately proving that the power of their relationship is interdependent on both, as their historys unfolded simultaneously.