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Midnight's Children Flashcards

1
Q

Where does Mary Pereira end up working?

A

A pickle factory

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2
Q

When did India and Pakistan become independent from Great Britain?

A

On midnight between August 14 and 15, 1947

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3
Q

What is the Partition?

A

The separation of India in to India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim) in 1947.

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4
Q

When was Midnight’s Children published?

A

1980

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5
Q

What is the main character’s name? When was he born?

A

Saleem Sinai; at the stroke of midnight on India’s liberation day.

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6
Q

How old is Saleem the narrator?

A

31

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7
Q

What are Saleem’s most prominent physical characteristics?

A
  • Ugly
  • Big nose
  • Blue eyes
  • birthmarks in the shape of India and Pakistan
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8
Q

With whom does Saleem begin his tale?

A

His grandfather, Aadam Aziz

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9
Q

Where is Saleem’s family originally from?

A

Kashmir

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10
Q

How do Saleem’s grandparents meet?

A

Aadam is a doctor who examines each part of Naseem through a hole in a sheet. After 3 years, he finally sees her face, and they marry.

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11
Q

Who is Nadir Khan?

A

The assistant of an assassinated revolutionary sheltered by the Aziz family. He marries Mumtaz, though their marriage is never consummated.

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12
Q

Who is Alia? Why is she mad?

A

Saleem’s aunt/Mumtaz’s sister. Ahmed Sinai had been courting her before he marries Mumtaz. She holds a lifelong grudge and eventually gets revenge by feeding Amina and Ahmed, and their family, food infused with her anger and bitterness.

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13
Q

What does Mumtaz change her name to? Who gives her her new name?

A

Amina; Ahmed, her husband.

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14
Q

Where do Ahmed and Amina move after Ahmed’s first factory is burnt down?

A

Bombay

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15
Q

From who do Ahmed and Amina buy a house in Bombay?

A

Methwold

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16
Q

What is Saleem’s sister’s nickname? What is her real name?

A

The Brass Monkey; Jamilla

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17
Q

Who is responsible for switching Saleem and Shiva?

A

Mary Pereira. She loved a revolutionary, Joseph D’Acosta, and thought that by switching a rich baby and a poor one she would be making him proud.

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18
Q

Who are Shiva’s parents?

A

Biologically: Ahmed and Amina

Raised by: Wee Willy Winky, a poor entertainer. Willy believes Shiva to be the child of him and his wife Vanita, but actually is the bastard of Vanita and Methwold.

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19
Q

What event provokes the onset of Saleem’s powers?

A

He hides in a washing chest and sees his mother talking about Nadir/masturbating/naked.

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20
Q

What is Saleem’s powers?

A

He can, essentially, read minds.

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21
Q

How many Midnight’s Children are there?

A

1,001; reduced to 581 by the time Saleem comes into his powers.

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22
Q

What is Shiva’s prominent physical characteristic? What is its significance?

A

Large knees; he is destined to excel in warfare.

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23
Q

How is it discovered that Saleem is not Ahmed and Amina’s biological child?

A

His fingertip is cut off, and when he is rushed to the hospital they learn that his blood type doesn’t match theirs.

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24
Q

Why do Amina and the children move to Pakistan? Why do they come back to Bombay?

A

Ahmed has become a violent alcoholic. They move back when he develops heart failure. In caring for him, Amina and Ahmed re-fall in love.

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25
What physical analog is there to Saleem's telepathic powers?
A perpetually stuffed up, runny nose.
26
How does Saleem lose his telepathy? What happens after that?
He undergoes an operation which clears his stuffy nose. Though he loses his telepathic powers, he gains an incredible sense of smell.
27
How does Saleem lose his memory?
He is hit with a silver spittoon during an Air Raid on Pakistan.
28
What is Jamilla's career?
She becomes known as Jamilla Singer - a famous singer in Pakistan.
29
What ruins Saleem's relationship with Jamilla?
He falls in love with her.
30
Who is Indira Gandhi? What does she do to the Midnight's Children?
The Prime Minister of India. She conducts a sterilization campaign against them, effectively destroying their powers. Their powers were granted at the creation of India/Pakistan, so are connected to ideas of birth/sex/reproduction.
31
Who is Saleem's wife?
Parvati-the-witch
32
What is Naseem's nickname?
The Reverend Mother | Proliferation of nicknames, creation of identities, etc.
33
To what literary figure does Saleem compare himself at the beginning of his narrative?
Scheherazade from "One Thousand and One Nights" 1,001 is also the number of Midnight's Children originally born.
34
Who is Saleem's listener?
Padma
35
What quotation demonstrates the ethos behind Saleem's exhaustive narrative style and use of non-linear narrative?
"To understand me, you'll have to swallow the whole world."
36
Name some instances besides Saleem's birth that occurs on a historic day.
- Aadam and Naseem get married on the day WWI ends - Nadir flees and divorces Mumtaz on the day the US drops the Atomic Bomb (and the Reverend Mother breaks her long silence) - Aadam dies on the same day as the first president of India - China defeats India in a conflict, draining public moral; Saleem's congestion is drained, costing him his powers. - The birth of Saleem's son corresponds to the Emergency (Indira causes a state of Emergency to be declared in India, which gives her unprecedented power.) -
37
What religion is Saleem's family?
Muslim (hence why Pakistan is such an appealing option for them)
38
Where does the silver spittoon come from?
It is an heirloom from Aadam's mother.
39
What are some of the Reverend Mother's verbal tics?
- Calling things "whatsitsname" | - punishing people with silence
40
Who is the Hummingbird?
Mian Abdullah; a revolutionary followed by Aadam who works on behalf of Muslims.
41
What prophecy does Amina hear about her son?
That her son will never be older or younger than his country and there will be two heads, knees, and a nose.
42
What are Methwold's conditions of sale?
- They must leave everything as it is until August 15 | - They must attend a nightly cocktail hour with him in the garden
43
What physical traits do Saleem and Shiva share at birth?
- blue eyes | - large noses
44
Who is Homi Catrack?
A film industry man who lives on the Methwold estate
45
Discuss Biblical allegory in "Midnight's Children".
- Mary Pereira/Joseph D'Acosta = Virgin Mary and Joseph - Aadam in Kashmir = Adam in Eden - Saleem as Christlike infant
46
What is chiasmus? How can the idea be applied to this novel?
A literary device in which concepts are repeated, but altered or in the reverse order (like the letter X) to illuminate an idea. Shiva and Saleem/India and Pakistan
47
Who is Dr. Schaapsteker?
A man renting a house in the Sinai home who is obsessed with snake venom (herpetologist).
48
How does Amina raise money during the Great Freeze?
She has a remarkable string of luck betting at the racetrack.
49
Who are Saleem's filmmaker uncle and his wife?
Hanif and Pia
50
Why does Jamilla have the nickname "the Brass Monkey"?
Her red-gold hair at birth. When her hair fades, it corresponds with a personality change, and her nickname stops being used.
51
Besides Shiva, which of the Midnight's Children becomes most significant in Saleem's life?
Parvati-the-Witch
52
What is the MCC?
The Midnight's Children's Conference
53
What is Shiva's power?
The gifts of war
54
With whom is Pia having an affiar?
Homi Catrack
55
Why does Hanif's film career stall?
He only wants to produce realistic films, depicting what India is really like - they don't sell.
56
What does Saleem do when he finds out about Homi Catrack's new girlfriend?
She is the wife of Commander Sabarmati. To get revenge for Homi hurting his aunt's feelings, as well as sending a warning to his mother about infidelity, Saleem sends a note to Commander Sabarmati telling him about the affair. Sabarmati kills his wife and Homi. Inadvertently, this causes Hanif's death - he commits suicide after loses the pension Homi gave him.
57
Who is Lord Khusro?
The holy identity created for one of Saleem's childhood friends, Cyrus the Great. After his father's death, Cyrus's mother shaped him into a guru of renown.
58
Discuss the Narlikar family.
Ahmed has a business deal with Dr. Narlikar. After Dr. Narlikar's death, Ahmed gets cut out of the profits by the Narlikar family. Eventually, the Narlikars buy out everyone at Methwold so they can tear everything down and build their own big house.
59
Do Saleem's powers work in Pakistan?
No.
60
What happens to Saleem when he tells his parents he hears the voices of angels?
His father hits him on the side of his head, and Saleem goes deaf in that ear.
61
What is the name of the prostitute Saleem visits in Pakistan? What is her special ability?
Tai Bibi. She is the oldest prostitute in the world (512), and can mimic any person's smell.
62
What special conditions must be met for Jamila to perform as a singer?
Since she is a good Muslim girl, she must perform behind a curtain with a hole cut it in to protect her modesty, and go around all covered up.
63
How does Saleem express his love for Jamila?
He brings her fresh, leavened bread from a secret Catholic nunnery.
64
How is Saleem "purified"?
His memory is erased
65
What does Saleem do after losing his memory?
He joins the army, taking the place of a dog in a canine sniffing unit (because his sense of smell is so good).
66
How does Saleem regain his memory?
He is bitten by a snake in the jungle of the Sundarbans. He remembers everything except his name.
67
How doe Saleem and his troupe come to be in the Sundarbans?
Saleem is tired of taking orders, and so he leads his three comrades into the jungle before revealing there is no enemy there for them to chase.
68
What happens to Eyeslice, Hairoil, and Sonny?
After not seeing them for many years, Saleem encounters them one last time after they've been wounded in war. Eyeslice and Hairoil are already dead, but Sonny speaks to him briefly before dying.
69
What is an additional effect of Saleem losing his memory?
He cannot feel pain
70
During what conflict does Saleem serve in the army?
The 1971 conflict over Bangladeshi independence
71
Who reminds Saleem of his name?
Parvati the witch
72
Who is Parvati's friend/relation and a snake charmer?
Picture Singh
73
How does Parvati get Saleem out of Dacca?
By hiding him in her basket of invisibility
74
What happens to Jamila?
Although she is spared by the bombs of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, her ultimate fate is unknown. She begins criticizes the government once she learns Saleem is MIA, and is never heard from again. Saleem likes to imagine her taking refuge in the monastery with the good bread.
75
How does Shaheed die?
His name means "martyr" and he has a vision of his death in which a pomegranate is flying towards him. This vision is realized as a grenade, which kills him - the last of Saleem's wartime companions to die. His dying screams are projected over the city of Dacca via loudspeaker. Unlike a martyr, his death serves no purpose.
76
What does Saleem see when he tries to have sex with Parvati?
A vision of his sister's rotting face
77
Who is "The Widow"?
Indira Gandhi, the prime minister
78
What is the most notable physical characteristic of Saleem's son?
Big, floppy ears (he also doesn't speak)
79
What happens to Saleem's spittoon?
It is destroyed when the ghetto is "beautified" (ransacked). Parvati is also killed.
80
What happens when the Midnight's Children are sterilized?
They lose their magical powers
81
How are the Midnight's Children captured by the government?
Saleem gives them information on where each of them can be found (under duress)
82
What name does Parvati take upon marrying Saleem?
Layleh (and converts to Islam)
83
What is Aadam Sinai's first word?
"Abracadabra"
84
Where is Mary Pereira's pickle factory?
On the site of the old Methwold estate.

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