Cultural Dilemmas And Multicultural Construction In Midnight’s Children

Salman Rushdie(1947-),an Indian-British-American writer,is one of the most renowned post-colonial writers in the contemporary Western world.He is famous for his profound understanding of the lives and emotions of people in his motherland,India.At the same time,his multicultural background allows him to maintain a certain distance from the Indian society portrayed in his works.His masterpiece,Midnight’s Children,has won the Booker Prize three times and brought him international acclaim.The novel spans62 years,condensing India’s grand national and historical narrative into the personal fate of the protagonist,Saleem,and narrating the cultural dilemma suffered by Saleem’s family due to their hybrid identities.It depicts the contradictions of India’s native culture facing the cramped space of British colonial culture,including resistance,assimilation,and submission.This thesis is divided into five chapters.The first chapter introduces Salman Rushdie and his representative work,Midnight’s Children,reviews the research achievements of domestic and foreign scholars on the novel,and introduces Edward W.Said’s “Orientalism” theory,the theoretical framework used in this thesis.Previous studies of the novel have mainly focused on postcolonialism,historical writing,magical realism,and the unique narrative techniques of the novel,while neglecting the exploration of the cultural dilemmas suffered by the Indian people and the feasibility of constructing a multicultural society in India.Rushdie was heavily influenced by Said and regarded him as “the most influential theorist in the 21 st century.” In Rushdie’s writings,the comprehension of Said’s “Orientalism” plays a crucial role in exposing the West’s construction of “the Oriental” to reinforce its colonial dominance.Through his literary works,Rushdie voices his resistance against cultural assimilation and colonization imposed by “the Occident” on “the Oriental.” By employing Said’s theory of“Orientalism”,this thesis analyzes Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children,with a particular focus on the impact of Western culture on Indian local culture.It sheds light on the cultural dilemmas experienced by the Indian people and critically evaluates the feasibility of Rushdie’s proposition to dismantle the cultural barriers of the West and foster a multicultural society.Chapter Two focuses on the life of the Saleem family under the backdrop of cultural hybridity,presenting the cultural dilemma experienced by the Indian people through their experience.In Midnight’s Children,Rushdie reveals the impact of British culture in the post-colonial era on Indian local culture,as well as the loss and sense of belonging of Indian people caught in the cultural gap between the East and the West.The cultural dilemma is concentrated in the form of an identity crisis,religious dilemma,and language dilemma.Chapter Three discusses the cultural dilemmas faced by the characters in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and explores the underlying causes of these dilemmas.On the one hand,the conflict between India’s traditional culture and the dominant British colonial culture in political and social life is intensifying.The identity of the native culture and the inability to resist the colonial culture deepen the spiritual confusion of the Saleem’s family.On the other hand,the current situation of multi-ethnic society has contributed to the cultural dilemma suffered by the Indian people.In addition,India’s complex multi-religious and multilingual society tends to breed extreme nationalism in India.These three reasons lead to the cultural dilemma of the Indian people.Chapter Four depicts Rushdie’s vision of constructing a multicultural society.In Midnight’s Children,Rushdie outlines an Indian cultural society based on equality,diversity and multi-ethnicity.The “Midnight’s Children Conference” is a metaphor for the future cultural development of India.The midnight’s children come from different cultures.The conference advocates that all individuals participate in cultural construction.However,the alliance cannot avoid the fate of disintegration.Based on the above analysis,the novel presents Rushdie’s complex emotions towards India.He strives to overcome the binary opposition between the East and the West,while also recognizes the realistic dilemma in constructing a multicultural society in India.The conclusion of Chapter Five provides a summary and reflection on the analysis presented in the preceding sections.The thesis examines the cultural dilemmas faced by the Indian people in Midnight’s Children and explores the feasibility of constructing a multicultural society in India.In the current era of globalization,there is a growing prevalence of conflicts arising from cultural differences,both within and between nations.These conflicts have even escalated to the extent of regional wars.In light of this,the author of this thesis seeks to advocate for the construction of a multicultural society as a means to foster integration,mutual learning,and shared prosperity among diverse cultures.