Midnights Children of Colonial Empires Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Midnights Children of Colonial Empires - Essay ExampleThe British had lost America in the Revolution and they clung to India with both .their might and cunning. Many of the men in power believed that imperialism was a natural part of human struggle for survival in which the fittest emerged rulers. In other words, they believed that the white Europeans, being endowed with superior qualities had all the right to rule others. The European powers had a sense of moral superiority as the Industrial Revolution had brought them previously unheard of prosperity. They also needed a market for the goods they produced. Prosperity had whetted their appetites and they had developed taste for exotic goods .There was a fierce competition between European nations to go ahead of others and conquer farther territories. The thirst for empire building was such that many times they resorted to barbaric means .King Leopold of Belgium unleashed a reign of terror in Congo which he deemed to be his clannis h property. The people in charge, like the clerk Clive of the East India Company, amassed huge fortunes by exploiting the local population. The Europeans brought Christianity to the conquered lands, and tried to root out the old traditions.The British empire was the largest of the European empires, and the jewel in the crown was India .In spite of the might of the greatest empire in history, India gained her independence in 1947, after almost two centuries of British rule, without the use of bosom or violence, but became the heir to the colonial legacy of division left by the British.. Midnights Children is a seminal work by Salman Rushdie, written in the agency of Indian oral story telling, which explores the experiences of various characters in colonial and post - colonial India .It is the story of Saleem Sinai who was born on the midnight of 14th August 1947 exactly at the time when India became independent. The story spans some three generations, beginning with Dr. Aadam Aziz who came to Agra from the Kashmir valley with his family. Of his three daughters , one marries Sinai and another , Zulfikar and emigrates to Pakistan. Beginning with the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre, the story goes on to the frenetic days in the beginning the Transfer of Power in India and the days that followed. In a style reminiscent of the Arabian Nights the book recounts the story of some of the children born on that smutty midnight. It touches upon the formation of Bangla Desh. The reader gets a glimmering of the legacy of colonialism.To continue in power, the colonial rulers used every means, even killing without provocation., as in the ill-famed Jallianwala Bag Massacre. . On the 13th April 1919, a British officer named General Dyer entered an enclosed compound in Amritsar where thousands of Indians had gathered for a peaceful protest against the British ,and opened fire on the unarmed men, killing and maiming hundreds of people. .Rushdie begins his book with this incident. T hey have fire a total of one thousand six hundred and fifty dollar bill rounds into the unarmed crowd. Of these , one thousand five hundred and sixteen have found their mark.(Rushdie 41) Rushdie describes the sound of the gunfire evocatively-There is a noise like odontiasis chattering in winter. (Rushdie 41) After the massacre, there was approval for Dyers action in the House of Lords. This incident rang the death knell for the empire