To What Extent Does Rushdie "show Reality More Truly" In The Novel "midnight's Children"?

"The Magical Realist does not try to copy the surrounding reality or to wound it, but to seize the mystery that breathes behind things" To what extent does Rushdie "show reality more truly" in the Novel "Midnight's Children"? In Rushdie's India, one must realise that what is real and what is true are not necessarily the same. In the novel "Midnight's Children", Rushdie mischievously manipulates reality, and the very concept of subjective truth, through the use of Magic Realism, where "the writer confronts reality and tries to untangle it, to discover what is mysterious in things, in life, in human acts" . The term "Magical Realism" was first introduced by Franz Roh, a German art critic, as a way of responding to, and pictorially depicting "the enigmas of reality", however, post-colonial authors such as Ben Okri, García Márquez, and indeed Salman Rushdie adopted the style in order to ....... In this way, Rushdie harnesses the essence of Indian mysticism, culture and dialect to create a voice which is "uniquely Indian", thereby attempting to reach the deep seated truth behind the atrocities which occurred as a result of the Indian Partition and subsequent autocratic state. The migrant author argues that it is impossible to find this truth simply through examining historical evidence, thus employing the voice of Saleem Sinai - a distinctly self-conscious narrator - who conjures up a new manifestation of reality in which "[he] was inextricably entwined with [his] world" . Born at the stroke of midnight, August 15, 1947 - the day of India`s Independence and Partition - Saleem's "destiny got handcuffed into history" , and as his narrative oscillates between his personal experience and that of his country, he interrogates the relationship between the overarching and miniature narratives that construct the lives of a population - a genuine "humblest of jugglers-with-facts". Rushdie melds these public and private spheres in metaphor, as well as using the literary freedom which Magical Realism creates to explore a multiplicity of fragmented perceptions, thus questioning if it is possible to "show reality more truly" through a fractured collection of subjective perspectives, because "in a country where the truth is what it is instructed to be, reality quite literally ceases to exist, so that everything becomes possible except what we are told is the case." Through the use of a 'narcissistic narrative' , Rushdie undermines the very concept of historical truth as unequivocal fact, thus inviting the reader to view Saleem's surreal narrative with different eyes. The "textual self awareness" created by Saleem's frank, conversational direct address provides "a commentary on its own narrative and/or linguistic identity". At first, this fact simply draws attention to the plethora of historical inaccuracies and bias which are smattered across Rushdie's pages, however, one could argue that by "flaunting, baring its functional and linguistic systems...[he] transforms the process of poesies into part of a shared pleasure of reading". In fact, Rushdie admitted that he "went to some trouble to get things wrong" , as small factual errors create a far more accurate mimesis of memory, and the way it functions; creating an impression of reality which retains equal value to the person as recorded facts, valid and unquestionable to them. It is in this way that Rushdie attempts to reach "reality more truly", as if reality is nought but human perception, then Saleem's narrative (constructed of subjective impressions) is closer to "truth" than a historically accurate text: "Memory's truth, because memory has its own special kind. It selects, eliminates, alters, exaggerates, minimizes, glorifies, and vilifies also; but in the end it creates its own reality, its heterogeneous but usually coherent versions of events; and no sane human being ever trusts someone else's version more that his own" For example, when Aunt Alia is purported to have poisoned Saleem's family with her bitterness, through each meal she cooked for them, Rushdie "privileges an interpretation of this episode as experiential truth" . Although the reader recognises that this is not feasible, it is how Saleem viewed these events, and the reader is experiencing the narrative through his eyes. Perhaps more significant are those inaccuracies which Saleem himself admits to; "I have discovered an error in my chronology. The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi occurs, in these pages, on the wrong date". Nevertheless, the narrator insists on the primacy of his story, "in my India, Ghandi will continue to die at the wrong time". The possessive pronoun speaks for itself, reinforcing the concept of Saleem's narrative, and Saleem's impression being the only matter of relevance. In this way, Rushdie questions the reliability of every narrative one encounters in a playful manner, "like an incompetent puppeteer, I reveal the hands holding the strings" , whilst retaining his sinister message: every narrative is sculpted and formed by a subjective voice, and simply because that interlocutor is not present in other versions of a story, this does not mean that the narrator's interpretation has not impinged on the tale. "Family history, of course, has its proper dietary laws. One is supposed to swallow and digest only the permitted parts of it, the halal portions of the past, drained of the redness, their blood. Unfortunately, this makes the stories less juicy; so I am about to become the first and only member of my family to flout the laws of halal. Letting no blood escape from the body of the tale" Through this quote, Saleem encapsulates the central dichotomy addressed by Rushdie in the novel: Humans are born with a longing to form a coherent, "whole-sight[ed]" picture of the past, in pursuance of finding truth and meaning to previous events. However, they are also fundamentally unable to perceive situations in their wholeness, like "cracked lenses" , and are thus confined to "digest only the permitted parts" of history. Indeed, Saleem bemoans it as a curse, questioning whether it is "an Indian disease, this urge to encapsulate the whole of reality?" Nevertheless, through his incorporation of mysticism/Magical Realism, oscillating time construct, and post-modern narrator, Rushdie attempts to transcend these human limitations by placing the reader outside the story altogether. The migrant author deconstructs the reader's very understanding of truth, refusing to present it through a single consensus reality, but instead allowing the reader to piece together the fissured memories of both Saleem, and indeed the 1001 voices of the subcontinent, thus "showing reality more truly with the marvellous aid of metaphor"