The Old Blood
Aadam Aziz falls while praying towards Mecca and injuries
his nose. Three drops of blood, like rubies, fall onto his prayer mat. He
rejects the Islamic faith. He rejects the Old Blood.
The Itching Blood
Aadam Aziz’s nose itches. H has sex with Naseem and three
drops of her virginal blood falls onto the Perforated Sheet. He ignores the
itch and creates the blood.
The National Blood
Aadam Aziz acts as a doctor for the injured Indian people.
He tries to save as many lives as possible. He is covered in blood. Covered in
the Blood of India.
Blood acts as a mechanism for change in Midnight’s
Children. It turns Aadam from his religion and the Old, causing him to turn
to the new and the west. It appears when his life connects with another’s, and
signifies a conformation of union and a shift. Finally, it materializes to
drench Aadam in a time of great strife and change, to cover him in all that is
India.
The Blood, the type that flows through Aadam and Saleem, the
progenitor and avatar of India, is incredibly unique. It dictates a shift
westward and a denunciation of the old ways. It ushers in a different idea of
life and how one should go through it in India. And it invites an intrusion of
the west it shifted towards, which causes India to loose its Blood. The Blood
is India’s blood. It marks historically significant times in India, times of
change, of union, and of destruction.
Do not underestimate the powerful presence of The Blood.
1 comment:
Ross, I think this analysis is great. I think it definitely goes well with Joey's blog post about the blood being used to portray a conflict between the east and west. Because blood is so prominent in Midnight's Children, I kept thinking back on the motif of blood in Macbeth because it is so present in the play. In Macbeth, blood constantly reappears as a motif of extreme guilt. This guilt is what terrorizes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout the entire play. I think that this association between guilt and blood can be related in Midnight's Children. I think that there is a certain degree of guilt that Aadam feels possibly for shifting more towards the West and rejecting Old India, including religion and other aspects. I think that there is a sent of guilt in that Aadam has rejected his past and come to adopt to Western ways.
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