"Midnight's Children" Post 6a

In this chapter an American character is introduced and I thought that it was interesting how she was described, both stereotypically and not. Evie Burns, or Evelyn Lilith Burns, lives "with her widower father in an apartment in one of the two squat, ugly concrete blocks which had grown up, almost without our noticing them, on the lower reaches of our hillock, and which were oddly segregated: Americans and other foreigners lived (like Evie) in Noor Ville" (207). The foreigners are sequestered in area, the rich success Indians are in a similar building but not intermingled. Evie, of course, is the quintessential American with her braces: "her teeth lived in a metal cage... (I permit myself this one generalization: Americans have mastered the universe, but have no dominion over their mouths; whereas India is impotent, but her children tend to have excellent teeth.)" (208). Another generalization, related to expansionism and Manifest Destiny of the United STates: "It has been observed that all Americans need a frontier: pain was hers, and she was determined to push it out" (208). Her way of talking is poked fun at: "'Hey, you widda leaky nose! Stop watching the schoopid ball, ya crumb! I'll showya something worth watching!'" (208). Evie's differences as an American go beyond where she lives, how she looks, and how she speaks: she comes in as a whirlwind and takes control of the boys lives. She is not a wife-to-be, has no romantic aspirations, is instead ready to occupy the position of "chief" (208). From a culture where women were traditionally expected to throw themselves on their husband's funeral pyre (called sati), this is quite a departure and shows the difference in her role as an American girl. However, its interesting to note that the boys don't mind her taking charge: Saleem falls in love with her and all of the others listen to what she commands, even from the first day. They don't resent that she is lording over them but is only a girl; they simply follow her. Either her personality simply makes it so or these boys are being raised in a more modern time.