SALMAN RUSHDIE-THE CONTEMPORARY MIGRANT

The present paper approaches the condition of the migrant in three novels by the British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. The author examines the sufferings and difficulties caused by displacement throughout his main characters that undergo radical changes regarding their identities and sense of space and belonging. The migrant moves from one place to another and because of these geographical movements, his identity becomes hybrid and fluid. As he is spatially dislocated, he also loses his cultural environment, experiencing thus a permanent state of in-betweennes , of belonging neither to his native country, nor to the one he lives in at present. Salman Rushdie’s life and experiences as an Indian-British citizen certainly influenced his works. This present paper will enlarge upon the main characters of three novels: Shame, Midnight’s Children and The Enchantress of Florence – novels that offer different perspectives about the migrant. Through Omar Khayam, Saleem Sinai and Mogor dell’Amore, Rushdie presented some aspects of the migrant who seeks for an identity in a place where he does not belong .He insists on the fact that roots are not always something we are born with, but they rather represent the choices we make throughout our life. Although the characters belong to many homelands and to no one completely, this is not something that weakens their sense of identity, it rather gives the latter a way towards replenishment.