The motif of political strife
Since the primary story of this novel is the coming of age of Moor, the novel also includes commentary about history (fall of the Moors, the Bombay bombings, and various important events in Indian history). This shows that as Moor grows, so does his judgment and experience. Not to mention, he ages at twice the normal human speed, so he is concerned with life and death in a more pressing way than other kids his age. This helps to situate the young hero in a position to really understand his culture.
The motif of female attachment
Since Moor falls in love with an artist, and his mother is an artist, the reader must ask, "Does Moor have an Oedipal attachment?" and the answer seems to be at least partially, yes. Moor looks for maternal comforts in different ways in each of his relationships, even his relationships to his three sisters. Notable, Moor includes a story about his tutor, combining a maternal relationship with the idea of learning (after all, Moor's mother taught him what he knows about art and history). Eventually, Moor's burgeoning sexuality leads him into his fling with Uma, the sculptor. If his mother helped to set the stage for Moor's life by painting his personal and political history, then Uma helped sculpt Moor's character by offering him intimacy.
The symbolic fall of the Moors
Moraes likes his nickname, "Moor," even though the Moors are included in this story as a picture of downfall. This isn't accidental. Moor's superpower is not strength or ability, but rather, he is a hero because he is hyper aware of the flow of time, and of his own inability and doom. He doesn't have superpowers, he has disabilities (he ages twice as quickly and he has a bad hand). Therefore, Moor's inclusion of the story of the historical battle, "the Moors' last breath" is a symbolic representation of Moor's awareness of his own doom (he is dying at twice the normal speed).
The use of art within the novel
Art comes into question within this work of art. Just like Rushdie the author helps shape his characters with language, so also the characters of the novel help shape each other through their art. Moor's mother is a painter who serves as a national artist, painting important historical moments. Then Moor's girlfriend Uma turns out to be a sculptor. These two women shape Moor's experience of the world through their art and through their intimacy, so art in this case is being used as a kind of currency, and it's one that Moor desires quite seriously. One might say that the currency is actually meaning itself: by loving Moor, his mother and his lover each contribute something to his existence; the love means something to Moor.
The symbolic health conditions
The most overt set of symbols in the novel are the various afflictions that make Moor unique. Firstly, he has a bad hand, symbolizing his inability and also his awareness of his inability. For example, if he didn't have the physical reminder of weakness, perhaps he would overestimate his potential, so the hand represents powerlessness, but also humility. Moor is not a character shaped by his desire to control anything.
Then there is the major issue of Moor's rapid aging. The problem with aging more rapidly is that the body deteriorates twice as quickly, leading to an early death, sometimes as early as thirty or forty. This makes Moor into a religious martyr, because his destiny is to witness life with a constant awareness of his impending death, which is what martyrdom technically means (to bear witness). This novel is similar to Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," in which reverse aging means something similar to Moor's double aging.
