Magic realism as post-colonialist device in Midnight's Children
Magic realism in relation to the post-colonial and Midnight's Children
'The formal technique of "magic realism,"' Linda Hutcheon writes, '(with its characteristic mixing of the fantastic and the realist) has been singled out by many critics as one of the points of conjunction of post-modernism and post-colonialism' (131). Her tracing the origins of magic realism as a literary style to Latin America and Third World countries is accompanied by a definition of a post-modern text as signifying a change from 'modernism's ahistorical burden of the past': it is a text that 'self-consciously reconstruct[s] its relationship to what came before' (131). The post-modern is linked by magic realism to 'post-colonial literatures [which] are also negotiating....the same tyrannical weight of colonial history in conjunction with the past' (131).
Before discussing magic realism in Midnight's Children, a brief definition of the term "post-colonialism"as I intend to use it in this essay will aid the clarification of the links made between Hutcheon's theory and the following analysis of Rushdie's text. Ania Loomba argues that post-colonialism is a loose term. She notes that
the prefix "post"....implies an "aftermath" in two senses - temporal, as in coming after, and ideological, as in supplanting. It is the second implication which critics of the term have found contestable: if the inequities of colonial rule have not been erased, it is perhaps premature to proclaim the demise of colonialism. A country may be both postcolonial (in the sense of being formally independent) and neo-colonial (in the sense of remaining economically and/or culturally dependant) at the same time. (7)
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...Helen Tiffin, eds. The Post-colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1995.
Durix, Jean-Pierre. "Salman Rushdie: Interview." Kunapipi4.2 (1982): 17 - 26.
Hutcheon, Linda. "Circling the Downspout of Empire." Ashcroft, Bill et al., 130 - 5.
Loomba, Ania.Colonialism/Postcolonialism. London: Routledge, 1998.
Mishra, Vijay. "The Texts of Mother India." After Europe.Ed. Stephen Slemon and Helen Tiffin. Sydney: Dangaroo Press, 1989. 119-37.
Monaco, James, ed. The Virgin International Encyclopedia of Film. London: Virgin, 1992.
Pattayanak, Chandrabhanu. "Interview with Salman Rushdie." Literary Criterion 18.3 (1983): 19 - 22.
Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's Children. London: Vintage, 1995.
Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage, 1994.
Slemon, Stephen. "Magic Realism as Post-Colonial Discourse". Canadian Literature 116 (1988): 9 - 24.
Colonialism as defined by OED (2013 p.217) refers to “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.” Therefore, post-colonialism is sometimes assumed to refer to “after colonialism” or “after-independence” (Ashcroft et al. 12) describing the wide range of social, cultural and political events arising specifically from the decline and fall of European colonialism that took place after World War II (McEwan 2009, p.18)
The group the black hands is often and quite accurately called responsible for the assassination of archduke ferdinand, though the group had been influenced by Nationalism. The members of this said terrorist group, had been influenced by nationalism through policy that had been inflicted on them by the Austrian-Hungarian empire. The assassination was why Austrian-Hungarian had to go to war against Serbia because it’s an act of breaking their treaty of 1990 with the Austrian-Hungarian empire, but first Austria-Hungary had given them an ultimatum. Which was basically a statement of demands made to Serbia, that if they didn’t abae then Austria-Hungary would attack them. Then all the allied countries with either side joined in as to prove how willing they were to die for their countries, this was true for them a few weeks or so after the beginning of the war when it actually had become more than just allies to either Serbia or Austria-Hungary. Altogether the Nationalism was the cause for the Black hands to essentially commit their crime, and later on to keep the war ongoing....
Faris, Wendy B. "Scherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995.
As a young lady, Elizabeth Blackwell was similar to other women her age. She had an emotional and passionate nature and had many romantic pursuits. However, in 1838, she moved with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio to escape the charged atmosphere of New York City, New York because of her father's very vocal abolitionist standing. Later that same year, Samuel Blackwell died, leaving the three older Blackwell girls to take care of the family, which was traditionally a male role. When she was seventeen years old, Elizabeth began a boarding school for ladies with her two older sisters despite society's opinion of what young ladies should and should not do. Once her brothers were old enough to support the family, Elizabeth refused to give up her teaching career. She went to Kentucky, a South state where she was forced to deal with many prejudices. Upon her arrival, she discovered that the slow-moving Kentuckians were not yet ready for her. In a letter to her sister, she wrote:
Roh, Franz. "Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 15-30.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was a women’s right leader and her family was prominent in emerging the women’s right movement. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to become a doctor, which made her an outlier. An outlier is someone who is usually successful or different from others in a group. For example, she stands out during the women’s reform. She had a very hard time getting into a college because she was a woman but she never gave up, thats what also made her an outlier. Blackwell had a very interesting culture, amazing opportunities and also a lot of practice who made her who she was.
“If society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodeled.” -Elizabeth Blackwell.
Faris, Wendy B. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 21
Once upon a time, three weird sisters appeared in the thunder and lightning. They were dressed in all black dresses and a large hat with a pointy top, resembling a witch. They looked up into the sky and had a quick discussion about the next time they will meet and where they will meet Macbeth. Scottish King Duncan appears at the military camp, when he hears the news about his generals, Macbeth and Banquo and how they have defeated these two invading armies. One was from Ireland, which was led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one was from Norway. Macbeth and Banquo unexpectedly saw the weird sisters as they cross a moor. They looked at them and started to laugh. They wondered who were these three hideous creatures dressed like witches; and so they called them. The witches looked at Macbeth and started to hold hands rocking side to side, looking up into the sky as if they see a ghost the one in the middle gets on her knees and says “all hail Macbeth” then they all kneel down and do the same. The one in the middle tells Macbeth that he will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. They also predicted that Banquo’s descendants will be Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself. Then witches vanished into thin air. Macbeth and Banquo questioned the witches’ predictions. Two of King Duncan’s men came to thank them on their victory in battle. The generals tell Macbeth that he has been named the new thane of Cawdor and how the previous thane of Cawdor has betrayed Scotland by fighting for the Norwegians and Duncan had sent someone to kill him. Macbeth had become interested in the witches’ prediction. He started to think that maybe what the witches told him is true and that he will be crowne...
Roh, Franz. "Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 15-30.
Data mining is also called knowledge discovery in database. In computer science, the process of discovering knowledge and relationship in large amount of data. This field combines from statistics and artificial intelligence with database management known as data set.
As soon as someone lights a cigarette and puts it up to their mouth they are just asking for health problems to occur. Smoking cigarettes can cause many problems that affect not only the smoker, but anyone else that is around the smoker. Nonsmokers chose to not smoke because they do not like the health risks or negative effects caused by cigarettes. People that chose to turn cigarettes down should not have to still interfere with the negative effects of tobacco because smokers are too rude to just save the smoking until they are in their own home. People should be able to walk into any public place and not have to breathe in this toxic. Cigarette smoking should be banned from public places because the cigarettes affect anyone who is around
Data Mining (DM), or Knowledge Discovery is extraction of implicit, hidden trends, previously unknown, and useful information from data. DM research adopted many techniques from research areas like artificial intelligence, statistics and machine learning.
Postcolonialism is the continual shedding of the old skin of Western thought and discourse, and the emergence of new self-awareness, critique, and celebration. With this self-awareness comes self-expression. But how should the inhabitants of a colonial territory, or formerly colonized country or province see themselves, once they have achieved their independence?... ... middle of paper ...
Data Mining looks for patterns within data in databases. It aid extraction of useful information from various databases(Data Warehouses). Data mining works with large amounts of data. Because of the large amounts, the knowledge hidden in the data is not visible at first sight and it must be discovered. It implies that at the beginning of the process the knowledge is not known. The identified patterns and relationships can be new and surprising.