Midnights chlidren :Women

The role of women
Midnight's Children plot is based in India and the nature accentuate this into the manner in which he depicts the role of the female within society. Whilst we are exposed o a variety of roles within the novel the most prominent one is the role of the motherly figure the, one whose duty it is to stay at home and look after the kids and bear more children. This is exemplified throughout the novel and such an example is shown on page 73."Why had she married him?-For solace ,for children .But at first he insomnia coating her brain got in the way of her first aim ;and children don’t always come at once. We are exposed to thoughts of Amina's fantasies about independence and the so-called unspeakable name that resides on her lips. Further down the passage we see what women are willing to do in order to please their spouse as Amina bears with the pain of not loving the man she is with yet bearing it and learning to love. She continually reiterates what an ungrateful women she is and that she is in her own word: "an ungrateful goof". A husband is deserving of a list of things and yet she has her own desires which she chooses to ignore and learn to love Ahmed Sinai. Women in this passage anyway are depicted as a servant to their husbands much like previous novels their identity and their sense of belonging seems to yearn with their ties to their husbands. Breaking him down into different shows just how extreme a measure a women is willing to take in order to please her husband and their respective family. This I believe may be taken in as either a form of weakness as, a result of the unwillingness to break off from ones husband or strength as a result of the willingness to bear the pain. As was aforementioned there are depictions on both sides of the spectrum and the scene where the Reverend mother starves her husband and refuses to feed him as until he brings bring maulvi sahib back and kisses his feet. Reverend Mother doesn’t fulfill the gender stereotype because earlier in the novel she does not do the so called feminine things it is more towards the latter or in situations where she has something to gain or a distinctive advantage that we see her act in a womanly sense. Even at the dinner table she has a sense of ruling and sends out threats to other as is the case on page 41."This whatitsname is a very heavy pot, and if just once I catch you in here, whatitsname, I'll push your head into it. This is a very masculine and dominant statement and there is a sense of fear for the Reverend Mother that resonates in the book almost as if when she speaks, despite her poor diction and her being in a universe adrift people gave her undivided attention. Thus we may conclude there is no conclusive role for women in the novel it varies from character to character.