This assignment requires you to write an in-depth analysis of ONE of themes and/or motifs comparing and contrasting the representations of these particular themes/motifs in your chosen Rushdie novel/nonfiction.
You are required to refer to at least 3 scholarly articles in your analysis.
Themes:
1. ) theme of metamorphosis and rebirth and the theme of immigrants
2.) Post-colonialism/cultural identity (for example, snakes are symbolic of the transformation of Old India into New India after independence)
The Works: MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN (motif of snakes)
Beginning with the snake venom that saves Saleem’s young life, snakes play an ambiguous and complicated role in the novel. Saleem often refers to his favorite childhood board game, Snakes and Ladders. In the game’s simple formula of good and evil, Saleem learns an important lesson: for every up, there is a down, and for every down, there is an up. Missing from the board game, however, is the ambiguity between good and evil that he later detects as a natural part of life. Generally considered to represent evil, snakes are, in fact, much more complicated than that simple generalization might imply. While venom has the power to kill, it also has the ability to bring life, and it does so not once but twice in the novel. Snake venom represents the power of Shiva, who is both destroyer and procreator in the Hindu pantheon. In Midnight’s Children, snakes are also associated with Picture Singh, Saleem’s closest friend, whose career is both dependent upon and destroyed by snakes
THE SATANIC VERSES (motif of butterflies/goat-man)
Since butterflies undergo metamorphosis in their natural life cycles—changing in a chrysalis from a caterpillar to a butterfly—they are a powerful symbol of metamorphosis and rebirth. These butterflies have the additional quality of changing colors, chameleonlike, depending on their surroundings. This quality supports the connection between the theme of metamorphosis and rebirth and the theme of immigrants, who must change to fit into a new environment.
In your paper, discuss this particular theme in relation to two or more of Rushdie novels and/or nonfiction writings. Support your argument with specific examples of, quotations from, and description of particular moments/scenes in the texts.
Remember, you are comparing/contrasting two or more novels/non-fiction works, so make clear whether the texts you selected make the same statement on this theme and/or motif (and, if so, how each makes it), or whether they differ (and, if so, in what ways).
8-10 pages (2000-2500 words)
3 scholarly articles required as sources!