Midnight’s Children

Midnight’s Children

by

Salman Rushdie

The Widow / Indira Gandhi Character Analysis

The former Prime Minister of India and an actual historical figure. Gandhi is a corrupt leader, and she declares a state of emergency throughout the entire state of India simply to locate and destroy the Midnight Children’s Conference. Following the climax of Midnight’s Children, The Widow forcibly sterilizes Saleem and the other children of midnight.

The Widow / Indira Gandhi Quotes in Midnight’s Children

The Midnight’s Children quotes below are all either spoken by The Widow / Indira Gandhi or refer to The Widow / Indira Gandhi. 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:
Truth and Storytelling Theme Icon
).
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.

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Aadam Aziz, The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer, Mary Pereira, Parvati-the-witch / Laylah, Evie Burns, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 119-20
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: A Wedding Quotes

“Women have made me; and also unmade. Form Reverend Mother to the Widow, and even beyond, I have been at the mercy of the so-called (erroneously, in my opinion!) gentler sex. It is, perhaps, a matter of connection: is not Mother India, Bharat-Mata, commonly thought of as female? And, as you know, there’s no escape from her.”

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Naseem Ghani / Reverend Mother, Padma, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 465
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: Midnight Quotes

[T]he Emergency had a black part as well as a white, and here is the secret which has lain concealed for too long beneath the mask of those stifled days: the truest, deepest motive behind the declaration of a State of Emergency was the smashing, the pulverizing, the irreversible discombobulation of the children of midnight. (Whose Conference had, of course, been disbanded years before; but the mere possibility of our reunification was enough to trigger off the red alert.)

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Aadam Sinai, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 492
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Widow / Indira Gandhi Quotes in Midnight’s Children

The Midnight’s Children quotes below are all either spoken by The Widow / Indira Gandhi or refer to The Widow / Indira Gandhi. 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:
Truth and Storytelling Theme Icon
).
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.

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Aadam Aziz, The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer, Mary Pereira, Parvati-the-witch / Laylah, Evie Burns, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 119-20
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: A Wedding Quotes

“Women have made me; and also unmade. Form Reverend Mother to the Widow, and even beyond, I have been at the mercy of the so-called (erroneously, in my opinion!) gentler sex. It is, perhaps, a matter of connection: is not Mother India, Bharat-Mata, commonly thought of as female? And, as you know, there’s no escape from her.”

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Naseem Ghani / Reverend Mother, Padma, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 465
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: Midnight Quotes

[T]he Emergency had a black part as well as a white, and here is the secret which has lain concealed for too long beneath the mask of those stifled days: the truest, deepest motive behind the declaration of a State of Emergency was the smashing, the pulverizing, the irreversible discombobulation of the children of midnight. (Whose Conference had, of course, been disbanded years before; but the mere possibility of our reunification was enough to trigger off the red alert.)

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Aadam Sinai, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 492
Explanation and Analysis: