除了對當代印度歷史中后殖民問題及民族問題進行反思,《午夜之子》還表現了一種特殊而又具有普遍意義的生存狀態。主人公薩里姆從出生開始即被賦予了與獨立后的印度相同的使命;在成長過程中因其特異能力而與種種歷史事件產生直接關聯,其生活中也處處可見歷史的隱喻;此外,他還始終通過銀痰盂這一象征物件與歷史保持著緊密的聯系。作品從存在意義、存在狀態與自我意識的象征三個方面表現了自我與歷史的同一。

In addition to its retrospection on national and postcolonial issues in contemporary India, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children also represents a general existential situation. Ever since his birth, the protagonist Saleem Sinai has been pursued by the same vocation as driving the post-independence India. As he grows up, his personal experiences directly intertwine with historical events and his private life is full of historical metaphors. Besides, he is always connected with history through the symbolic object of the silver spittoon. Probing into the condition and significance of existence through its character’s symbolic self-consciousness, Midnight’s Children manages to suggest the identification between self and history.