“Magical Realism and Migration: Literary Techniques in Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House”

The purpose of this study is to explore Salman Rushdie’s novel The Golden House through the lens of magical realism, uncovering how it portrays the complex experiences of migration and identity. By applying a close reading methodology alongside key literary theories on magical realism and migrant narratives, this research analyzes how Rushdie’s use of magical realist elements—such as disrupted timelines, symbolic imagery, and hybridized characters—reflects the fragmented cultural identities and psychological transformations migrants undergo. This study highlights that migration is not simply a physical movement but a profound reshaping of the self within new cultural contexts. Additionally, it introduces influential theorists like Alejo Carpentier and Homi Bhabha to frame magical realism’s evolving, multifaceted nature in relation to postcolonial migrant literature. Through this approach, the research demonstrates how Rushdie challenges traditional migrant stories while expanding the theoretical scope of magical realism in contemporary discourse. Ultimately, this study reveals the power of magical realism as a literary tool to reimagine migration narratives, offering fresh insights into identity, belonging, and cultural negotiation in today’s globalized world. It contributes to literary scholarship by showing how The Golden House broadens magical realism’s capacity to capture the complexities of diasporic experience in the twenty-first century.