| British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie's representative novel,Midnight's Children,won the Booker Prize at its publication in 1981 and was awarded the Booker of Bookers' Prize in 1993.Midnight's Children is an epic of a middle-class Indian family.Although told by male narrator,females play an important role in it,for example,Naseem and Amina are the pillars of their family;Jamila is the national heroine;Indira Gandhi is a rigorous and resolute politician.This thesis aims at interpreting the females in Midnight's Children from the perspective of Spivak's post-colonial feminist theory and discussing the situation these females are facing and the way they defend themselves.According to Spivak's post-colonial feminist theory,the Third World women are stuck between patriarchal system and colonialism,facing double marginalization.What is worse,the First World women have a sense of superiority and put the Third World women in a weaker position.Under such circumstances,the Third World women are deprived of discourse power and reduced to the silent “subaltern”.In the post-colonial era,the suzerain countries continue to control the colonies through cultural colonization.Amina ignores the unreasonable demand made by the English former house-owner.Naseem resist the Westernized idea of her Germany returned husband.Hers is also a resist to patriarchy.In addition to Naseem,many more women begin to make their voices heard in different ways.At home,Amina takes control of economic power through hard work.In society,Jamila is a “national hero” admired by thousands of people because of her beautiful voice.When confronting the First World women,they show great upbringing of the Indian upper class and intrepid spirit.Therefore,Midnight's Children is a work that enables Third World women to speak out for themselves.It reflects Rushdie's broader concern over the emancipation of Third World women as well as his hope that Indian women realize their self-value and achieve gender equality. |
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