Midnight's Children Analysis

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When I was reading the novel Midnight’s Children, I decided to watch the film as well. It struck me that the novel and the film differed on various points, especially the ending. I then studied several interviews of Salman Rushdie and learned more about his view on turning the book into a film. In the first paragraph I will tell something about the ending of the book and in the second paragraph I will tell more about the ending of the film. My conclusion after reading the book and watching the film is that although Rushdie ended the book on a pessimistic note, he gave the film a hopeful ending by turning the ending into a beginning. The book ends in a sombre way. It is really in the last few pages that Saleem changes the mood of the story from…show more content…
Mehta and Rushdie both agreed on giving the film an ending filled with hope. In an interview with Huffington Post, Rushdie states that the book was haunted by the darkness of the time of the Emergency and that he didn’t want to end the film that way. He wanted the ending to be a kind of beginning, one that suggests the start of another day (Italie). That is why Rushdie let the film end on Independence Day with a hopeful quote, instead of showing Saleem’s body falling apart. At the end of the film Saleem celebrates his birthday. His son says his first words, ‘abracadabra’, and then Saleem realizes that another generation of magical midnight’s children will grow up. But, as he hopes, more careful and tougher. We see Saleem and his son watching and playing with the fireworks. Then the voiceover of Rushdie comes in and says: “The child and the country were born at midnight. Once upon a time, great things were expected of us both. The truth has been less glorious than the dream. But we have survived and made our way. And our lives have been, in spite of everything, acts of love” (Mehta, Midnight’s Children). Mehta states that this quote is exactly what Midnight’s Children is about. You have to go through whatever you have to, but in the end there is hope. It is a hopeful
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