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Ahmed Sinai
Saleem Sinai’s sister and the daughter of Ahmed and Amina. The Brass Monkey is a feisty child who frequently sets fire to others people’s shoes (while they’re wearing them), and she forms a fierce alliance with her brother. The Brass Monkey is Saleem’s opposite; she is beautiful whereas Saleem is ugly, and their parents initially favor their famous son and his historical birth over their headstrong daughter. While living in Pakistan, the Brass Monkey begins a singing career and becomes Jamila Singer. As Jamila, the Brass Monkey is the “Angel of Pakistan,” and even her own brother falls in love with her. After Saleem is brained by a spittoon during an air-raid and suffers amnesia, Jamila delivers him to the Pakistani Army where he fights alongside other Pakistanis until he suddenly discovers his true identity and escapes the army, finding his way back to India. Despite being born a Muslim, the Brass Monkey is attracted to Mary Pereira’s Catholic faith, and she joins a nunnery in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War.
The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer Quotes in Midnight’s Children
The Midnight’s Children quotes below are all either spoken by The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer or refer to The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 2: Love in Bombay
Quotes
Women have always been the ones to change my life: Mary Pereira, Evie Burns, Jamila Singer, Parvati-the-witch must answer for who I am; and the Widow, who I’m keeping for the end; and after the end, Padma, my goddess of dung. Women have fixed me all right, but perhaps they were never central—perhaps the place which they should have filled, the hole in the center of me which was my inheritance from grandfather Aadam Aziz, was occupied for too long by my voices. Or perhaps—one must consider all possibilities—they always made me a little afraid.
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Book 3: The Buddha
Quotes
So, apologizing for the melodrama, I must doggedly insist that I, he, had begun again; that after years of yearning for importance, he (or I) had been cleansed of the whole business; that after my vengeful abandonment by Jamila Singer, who wormed me into the Army to get me out of her sight, I (or he) accepted the fate which was my repayment for love, and sat uncomplaining under a chinar tree; that, emptied of history, the buddha learned the arts of submission, and did only what was required of him. To sum up: I became a citizen of Pakistan.
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The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer Quotes in Midnight’s Children
The Midnight’s Children quotes below are all either spoken by The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer or refer to The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 2: Love in Bombay
Quotes
Women have always been the ones to change my life: Mary Pereira, Evie Burns, Jamila Singer, Parvati-the-witch must answer for who I am; and the Widow, who I’m keeping for the end; and after the end, Padma, my goddess of dung. Women have fixed me all right, but perhaps they were never central—perhaps the place which they should have filled, the hole in the center of me which was my inheritance from grandfather Aadam Aziz, was occupied for too long by my voices. Or perhaps—one must consider all possibilities—they always made me a little afraid.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: The Buddha
Quotes
So, apologizing for the melodrama, I must doggedly insist that I, he, had begun again; that after years of yearning for importance, he (or I) had been cleansed of the whole business; that after my vengeful abandonment by Jamila Singer, who wormed me into the Army to get me out of her sight, I (or he) accepted the fate which was my repayment for love, and sat uncomplaining under a chinar tree; that, emptied of history, the buddha learned the arts of submission, and did only what was required of him. To sum up: I became a citizen of Pakistan.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
