Kyhana Butler:

-How does Saleem relate his genesis story in Midnight’s Children to the Genesis story in The Bible? 

Outline: Rushdie makes allusions to The Bible with no one knowing the true age of Tai. When Aadam asks Tai his age, he replies “I have watched mountains being born … I saw that Isa, that Christ, when he came to Kashmir.” In the old world of Kashmir, Tai acts as a sort of stand-in for God. Another allusion would be that Rushdie begins the story with Saleem’s grandfather, who’s name, Aadam, which is similar to Adam in The Bible. Aadam comes from Kashmir which is described as a  place “a man comes to … enjoy life or to end it.” Kashmir, in this representation, could be an allegory for Eden, where man began at God’s creation and ended at original sin. 

Bonnie Atelsek:

-How does Rushdie’s use of negative space relate to postmodernism? 

• “One Kashmir morning in the early Spring of 1915, my grandfather Aadam Aziz hit his nose against a frost hardened tussock of earth while attempting to pray … he resolved never again to kiss earth for any god or man. This decision, however, made a hole in him. A vacancy in a vital inner chamber. 
• “Naseem Aziz, whom [Aadam] had made the mistake of loving in fragments.”

-Perforated sheet (“loving in fragments”).

-Potential death of God/loss of faith.

-Fragmentation of narrative/relationships. 

-loss of meaning in life resulting in literal void. 

-potential distancing from high art of modernism (Aadam has huge religious revelation and yet he is just a normal guy).