Wives, Widows, and Witches

Abstract

In nationalist discourse Indian women were invested with the role of representing the essence of Indian culture and the core of the authentically Indian nation. In this chapter, I will explore how the female characters in Midnight’s Children reflect this elevated status and how far they conform to the nationalist ideal of the Indian woman. I will compare Rushdie’s strategies of depicting women and their compliance with or resistance to patriarchal structures to the approaches of Indian feminist historiography. Feminist historiography holds a critical distance in relation to both imperialist and nationalist historiography and this is also Rushdie’s approach. As the previous chapter demonstrates, Midnight’s Children is conceived within the parameters of the nationalist version of Indian history but also criticises its shortcomings, specifically the exclusion of subaltern groups. Here I will examine the novel’s representation of how the nation accommodates its women. Feminist historiography delineates how the nationalist construct of the Indian woman took shape and how it has influenced real women. I will use its findings to interpret the novel’s portrayal of female character, which often appears contradictory and ambiguous.