Saleem Sinai is the narrator of Midnight’s Children. He is born along another child but their identities are switched at birth. He grows up in a prosperous family in Bombay. His counterpart and future rival called Shiva grows up in poverty. Saleem possesses telepathic powers and a strong acute sense of smell that allows him to locate other midnight children and start a midnight children’s conference. As he reaches his 31st birthday, he believes he is on the verge of death. He continues to say he has literal cracks on his body and that it will break into six hundred particles. He says “Who what am I? My answer: I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I’ve gone which would not have happened if I had not come. Nor am I particularly exceptional in this matter; each ‘I’, every one of the now-six-hundred-million-plus of us, contains a similar multitude. I repeat for the last time: to understand me, you’ll have to swallow the world”(Rushdie, 2010). He narrates his story to his caretaker, Padma. Due to his exceptional birth and extraordinary powers, the prime minister of India seeks to destroy him and the rest of the midnight’s children (Rushdie, 2010).
Mother Courage is a play written in 1939 by German poet Bertolt Brecht. It tells the story of Mother Courage and her three children Eilif, Swiss Cheese and Kattrin as they struggle to survive the thirty years war that erupted in Europe in the 17th century. Mother Courage attempts to make profit from the war by selling goods to soldiers in her canteen. She says, “Courage is the name they gave me because I was scared of going broke” (Brecht, 2009). The same war that she seeks to profit from takes away everything her everything she has in life. As the war ends, Mother Courage is left sad and alone trying to make meaning out of her life. She decides to move forward. She follows an army regiment, pulling her wagon behind her while selling her goods. This play is considered one of the best anti-war plays, which was used to protest the rise of radical Germany in the Second World War (Brecht, 2009).
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Both Saleem and Mother Courage display similar traits as seen in both texts. Saleem cannot be described as the most modest person. He has a lot of pride since he is the centre of everything that happens in India. All his comparisons to great people and events are merited. He describes himself as follows in the text: “I, Saleem Sinai, possessor of the most delicately-gifted olfactory organ in history.” He even compares himself to Jesus and Mohammed (Rushdie, 2010). Mother Courage hopes the war continues long enough so that she can accumulate more money. She does this knowing very well that her children’s lives are at stake due to the danger the war poses. Even after all her children die at the end of the play, she continues with business as usual in her wagon. Mother Courage seems to be self-centred as she considers herself more important than everyone else. This trait is evident in both characters. They both have this notion that they are more important than everyone around them is (Brecht, 2009).
However, these characters are different to some extent. Saleem recognises that he can use his gifts and powers to help others. He finds and brings together the midnight children who are children born during the first hour in which India gained independence. The 1001 children all have magical powers, which vary by how close to midnight they were born. He has concern over the wellbeing of others (Rushdie, 2010). In her case, Mother Courage chooses to watch as her children die in the war since her only interest is earning more fortune through the war. Eilif and Kattrin are executed when she is found to be over-pricing her goods. She is too stingy to pay the full ransom for Swiss Cheese’s life. She ignores the fact that her own children are in danger. She values money more than the lives of her children. Mother Courage is too self-considerate because lives, principles and human emotions are not important to her (Brecht, 2009).
In overall, the two characters play big roles in both texts since they are the centre of everything that happens between them. They offer valuable lessons through experiences they go through in their individual lives.
References
Brecht, B. (2009). Mother Courage and Her Children. London: A&C Black.
Rushdie, S. (2010). Midnight's Children: A Novel. Toronto: Knopf Canada.
