The significance of the death of Gandhi

Midnight’s Children is a book the depicts India’s struggle towards independence. Mahatma Gandhi is inseparable from this subject as he was at the forefront of many issues and a true servant to the nation. It is therefore logical that the father of Indian civil rights is mentioned in the novel and so he is .Rushdie includes Gandhi’s death because it is one the most significant events in Indian history. Gandhi was at the forefront of the fight for independence from the British and after a long struggle he succeeded in obtaining this goal. Although it was not the united India that he had in mind rather it was a division into to the of countries of India and Pakistan based on religion. Rushdie seems to almost sensationalize the event of Gandhi’s death, while it is for effect, it is also a showing of the incredible stature that Gandhi had ,after all. Gandhi is India and the author looks to echo this with his thorough and well written dramatization as is exemplified on page 162 . "The Serpent can take most unexpected forms." This already creates a sense of anticipation something that will shock and surprise and indeed following on the announcement of Gandhi’s death is nop less dramatic than it deserves a man that was the voice of the nation that was the embodiment and personification of his native land ,the father or as he is affectionately referred to in the mother tongue of India that is Hindi. Murdered by his own after all his exploits and gaining rights for women and India as a whole here he was shot and killed in the public eye. The dramatization is very much necessary considering the status that Gandhi had earned over the span of his life, essentially the Indian people were told that their nation was being killed “Our Bapu is gone.” The father of the nation murdered and in anticipation the sentiments of many an Indian is echoed by the narrator as he states that there would be hell to pay if a Muslim was found to be responsible.” The audience had begun to scream before he finished ;the poison of his words entered their veins-there were grown men rolling in aisles clutching their bellies ,not laughing but crying ,Hai Ram ..The imagery we are subjected to hear describes utter chaos, and for all the suggestions of dramatization we are subjected to hear, much in the style of a Bollywood film the author is painting an incredibly clear picture of the craziness that must of followed Gandhi’s death. Rushdie depicts history well chaos ensued when Gandhi was murdered, the messenger ,the serpent injecting his poison into the new-born India ,informing him of the death of his father leaving him paralyzed and utterly shocked. Rushdie/Saleem do this through s series of historical references and metaphorical allusions and this somewhat dramatized as it may seem it is a well told account of the nation the is India.

SOURCES

November 13 2009.www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html


November 13 2009.www.mkgandhi.org/main.htm