Midnight’s Children: Book 2: Accident in a Washing-chest Summary & Analysis

Before Saleem continues his story, he notes that Padma has been gone for two whole days, following her unreasonable and angry outburst at his implications that she loves him. “Love you,” she cries, “what use are you […] as a lover?” Without Padma, Saleem is lost and lonely, but he will not be kept from his storytelling.

Saleem’s story jumps to 1956, the year in which the Brass Monkey develops the habit of catching shoes on fire—while others are wearing them. The Brass Monkey, starved for attention in the shadow of a brother who has Prime Ministers sending him letters, has become a problem child. Her manners are poor and she tramples over flower beds, but she is beautiful and builds a fierce alliance with her brother.

Amina, who refuses to hit her unruly child, sentences her to days of silence—a form of punishment which the defiant Monkey ignores. The Brass Monkey, however, has a softer side and spends countless hours talking to birds and cats (dogs, too, until she is bitten by a rabid stray), and becomes the unwilling object of Sonny Ibrahim’s affection.

Despite his own unattractiveness, however, Saleem is the family favorite. He is adored by his father and neighbors, and even Reverend Mother, who tells him, “Just pull up your socks, whatsitsname, and you’ll be better than anyone in the whole wide world!” Saleem doesn’t share his family’s high opinions of himself and, fearing that he will never live up to their great expectations, he takes to hiding in his mother’s bathroom washing-chest, lost under a pile of dirty clothes and towels.

At “nearlynine” years of age, Saleem begins to attend a local boys’ school along with the other boys of Methwold’s Estate, including Sonny Ibrahim, Cyrus Dubash, and Eyeslice and Hairoil Sabarmati. Saleem’s friends lovingly refer to him as “Snotnose,” on account of the copious amounts of snot that drips from his humongous and forever-congested nose.

Amina begins to grow prematurely old, Saleem notes, “like all the women in our family,” and the Brass Monkey’s poor behavior and Ahmed’s obsession with Narlikar’s tetrapods wears her down. She develops terrible corns on her feet, and “every step is like walking on razor blades.” In her guilt, made worse by Reverend Mother’s cooking, Amina believes her corns to be punishment for her sinful gambling. She begins to take on the worries and sins of the other residents of Methwold’s Estate, and they are strangely compelled to share their problems with her. Even Mary is tempted (but resists) to tell Amina her sins.

During that same summer, the Sinais’ telephone rings most days in the afternoon. Amina, with aching feet, limps to the phone, and each time, after a silence that is just a bit too long, she responds, “Sorry. Wrong number.” Saleem and Monkey are suspicious (of what they aren’t sure) and determined to solve the mystery of the afternoon phone calls.

One day, when Amina is out visiting Nussie, the phone rings and Monkey races to answer. On the other end, inquiring about a rental truck, is the “soft and fleshy” “voice of a poet.” The calls continue, and Saleem and Monkey repeatedly dispatch imaginary trucks to different locations. “Doesn’t the guy ever wonder why the trucks don’t arrive?” Saleem questions. The Monkey responds, “Man, do you suppose…maybe they do!”

Later, looking to escape his family, Saleem slips into his mother’s washing-chest. As he relaxes in the dirty laundry, the phone begins to ring. After the usual “sorry, wrong number,” Amina enters the bathroom. Frozen in the washing-chest and fearing discovery, a rogue pajama-cord begins to tickle Saleem’s nose.

Amina begins to cry and, repeating the name “Nadir” over and over again, starts to sensually caress her body as a mortified Saleem looks on. Suddenly struck with the urge to use the commode, Amina removes her clothes, and as they fall to the ground, she bends over to retrieve them, exposing her large, dark bottom to Saleem hiding in the washing-chest. Just then, an unavoidable “sniff” sends the pajama cord up into Saleem’s substantial nose. Immediately, pain consumes Saleem’s head and a deafening sneeze gives away his treasured hiding spot.

Amina punishes Saleem with a day of silence and, alone in his room, he is bombarded with a head full of incomprehensible voices. The voices soon become clearer, and Saleem discovers that he can control them. He can turn them up or down like a radio, and even isolate certain voices. He begins to believe that they are a holy sign, and he, a messenger of god. He even tells his family (after his punishment is over, of course) that “Archangels have started talking to me.” His parents think him insane (“Oh Saleem, has your brain gone raw?”) and Mary accuses him of blasphemy. Ahmed reaches out and strikes Saleem in the side of his head, deafening his left ear for life.

Later that night, alone with her thoughts, Amina thinks of Ramram Seth and his prophesy. “Washing will hide him…voices will guide him.” In the following days, she asks Saleem about the voices. He lies, claiming, “A stupid joke, like you said.”