How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
'You do it on purpose,' she says, 'to make me look stupid. I am not stupid. I have read several books.' (1.2.56)
This should probably put it into perspective for you how strange it is for the characters in the novel to see Saleem writing every day. Naseem says this to Aadam Aziz, and it makes you realize that you have probably read more books than she has ever seen.
Quote #5
And my chutneys and kasaundies are, after all, connected to my nocturnal scribblings-by day amongst the pickle-vats, by night within these sheets, I spend my time at the great work of preserving. Memory, as well as fruit, is being saved from the corruption of the clocks. (1.3.3)
We guess that kids these days probably don't pickle anything, but you should know that pickling is thought to have been invented in India over 4000 years ago. It is one of the oldest ways of preserving food, you know, before refrigerators were invented.
Quote #6
But here is Padma at my elbow, bullying me back into the world of linear narrative, the universe of what-happened-next: 'At this rate,' Padma complains, 'you'll be two hundred years old before you manage to tell about your birth.' (1.3.4)
This novel is so meta. Do you know what a linear narrative is? It's when a timeline moves from point A to point B to point C. That's normal. Midnight's Children is totally not linear. It goes from point X to point H and maybe over to number five for fun.