Talk:Midnight's Children/Archive 1

Wrong information for William Methwold and Wee Willy Winky
This page has William Methwold listed as Saleem's biological father, but in fact it was Wee Willy Winky, hence Shiva is raised by him after Alice switches the infants. I've gone ahead and made the change. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.194.159 (talk) 16:31, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The above post got it wrong: Wee Will Winky is NOT Saleem's biological father; William Methwold is. So the post above should be reversed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.46.169.63 (talk) 01:09, 26 August 2008 (UTC)


 * William Methwold is the biological father of Saleem. Saleem is born of extramarital sexual intercourse between Wee Willy's wife and William Methwold. Also, it is Mary and not Alice, who in love with Joe D'Costa (I think thats the name of the man), switches the babies.--Eukesh (talk) 19:09, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

wrong year for its release given in the opening
1980 is the wrong year given for its release. my father bought the novel in 1978 from the alleys of Delhi for Rs. 10. even though he wasnt a known name by that time.

1980 may be the release year in UK, but definately not the release date of novel. so i m changing the date now, if anyone has better information do share.

nids 09:30, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I hate to contradict your personal memories, but according to Rushdie himself, he did not finish writing it until 1979, and it was published in 1981.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2111362,00.html

Eilif 16:39, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

It might have been released in UK in 1981. May be he released a pre-version in 78 and edited it further to re-release it in 1981. But the date of 1978 that i am giving here is not based on mere speculations. I told you here that it was bought in 1978.nids 17:14, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Since i have not found any reliable source for its pre-1980 release, i am reverting it back to 1980. nids(&#9794;) 22:50, 8 September 2006 (UTC)


 * The novel was published in April 1981 as per the new introduction by Salman Rushdie in 25th anniversary edition.--Eukesh (talk) 19:34, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Incorrect quote (from similarly incorrect source)
Major Themes said: "'Once upon a time,' Saleem muses, 'there were Radna and Krisna, and Rama and Sita, and Laila and Majnu; also (because we are not affected by the West) Romeo and Juliet..." It should be *unaffected*, which rather matters for the purposes of this quote; I've made the change. The original source at qub.ac.uk (footnote 2) is wrong; I've mailed the maintainer of that page.

Major Themes
Telling the story: I got the sense that Saleem is not orally telling the story to Padma. He's either writing or typing it, and Padma is reading it over his shoulder. Padma's interruptions into the story are as he's writing; Saleem just notes them. Saleem is actually writing his life story for his son to have (which I'm vaguely recalling is a literally style--Marilynne Robinson's Gilead is like this as well). There are also at least two points in the narrative where Padma is not present while he's writing (in the middle when she temporarily leaves Saleem out of frustration--upon her return Saleem "stops" so she can catch up on the back reading--and at the very end when Saleem is prognosticating the future).

Also, religion in general is a theme, and Hinduism should be referenced somehow. British India was split into Islamic Pakistan and Hindu India, and many elements of Hinduism are intertwined in the story (e.g. Shiva and Parvati are both Hindu gods).Hooperswim 02:33, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Rewrite so far this section is just a paragraph of jumbled information that doesn't fit in elsewhere. the technique of magical realism is not a theme. the 'narrative framework' of the text hardly fits as a major theme. could someone please provide a list of major themes in Midnight;s Children, and then we can expand sections on each of those themes? on SparkNotes, they list themes as:
 * The Single and the many
 * The unreliability of memory and narrative
 * Destruction Vs. Creation

I think this would be a good starting point, but i don't know what to do with the text that's already on the article (could it be moved to the talk page until there are headings concerning the books structure, context and style?) Percival500 (talk) 21:43, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

copyright problems
The plot section of this article was identified by another editor as a literal and exact  copyright violation from Sparknotes  and I have removed it. The beginning of the character section came from the same source and has also been removed. I have doubts about some of the other content, but have not tried to track them down, except that they do not seem to come from the same source.

As this is an extremely important book, i urge that the article be written properly. DGG (talk) 08:10, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Link to be squeezed in
How can a link to the Wikipedia article The Best of the Booker be incorporated in this article? Graham 87 05:19, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps under the 'Literary significance and criticism' heading, could the part mentioning the best of the booker not just be reworded and linked to the article you mentioned? Percival500 (talk) 21:07, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I've added a link, although some clarification is needed. there appears to be two seperate awards, one for each anniversary, yet there is only a page for The Best of the Booker (Booker of Bookers redirects to Man Booker Prize ). at the moment the section implies that the awards are one and the same. Percival500 (talk) 21:24, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Copied text
Looks like lot of text is copied verbatim from http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/midnights_children.html. Ahirwav (talk) 08:03, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Almost the entire of the second paragraph has been copied, from "The foundations of religious authority..." to "...individual people as well as entire cultures use to make sense of themselves." i've deleted the text form the page. I would have rewritten the text, but i think the Major Themes section is in need of a major overhaul, not much point in just rewriting. Percival500 (talk) 21:30, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Characters list
Can anyone offer a good reason that the Characters section be retained? The wiki is not a collection of lists, and that's exactly what's been put in here. Maury (talk) 21:48, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree that at the moment it is just a list, perhaps there should be a seciton covering major characters, and then a more space-saving list of minor characters? i think the characters in the book need to be mentioned, but at the moment they are all given equal status, which detracts from the value of mentioning them at all. Percival500 (talk) 21:11, 18 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I disagree with the removal of list. There are too many characters in the novel. These characters appear subtly and then a few chapters later the plot is affected by the character described earlier. It would be easier for readers to know more information by looking at the list. Besides, I think there should be separate article about Saleem Sinai (just like for Yossarian of Catch 22).--Eukesh (talk) 19:40, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

I found this the most useful ! If you are reading it you can lose track and this helps you out —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.151.98.253 (talk) 18:02, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Indira Gandhi - controversy
Was it because of the accounts of the imposed Emergency in the book that Indira took exception to? Salman Rushdie claims in his introduction (Vintage Classics 2005) that it was for a passage he wrote in an original copy of the book. It provides an account of a rumour that her son believed that she was responsible, through neglect, for the death of her father. Calindreams (talk) 13:50, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

External links modified
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