Midnight's Children

Saleem wonders whether a person can be “jealous of written words” (107). After bickering with Padma about the definition of love, Saleem turns back to the story. When he was a baby, a painting of the Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh hung over his crib. A fisherman in the painting points at something unseen, and Saleem has always wondered what caught the fisherman’s attention. He admits that he was “not a beautiful baby” (109). When his parents returned from the hospital, his family assumed that his “monstrous” (109) nose and unblinking blue eyes came from his grandfather Aadam Aziz. The people living on the Methwold estate treat Saleem with doting affection, including Mary Pereira, who quit her job as a midwife to become Saleem’s nanny. Saleem is a quiet baby, and he rarely blinks, even during his circumcision. Due to the nature of his birth, Saleem is something of a celebrity even though no one knows he was switched in the crib with the son of a beggar. Mary sings to him, telling him that he can be whatever he wants to be.

The now-widowed Wee Willie Winkie visits the estate regularly and Saleem is eventually introduced to Willie’s surly, violent son