The God of Small Things
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Arundhati RoyÆs first novel The God of Small Things details the ups and downs, mostly downs, of a Hindu family in the village of Ayemenem. Throughout the novel there are a variety of disasters that plague the family including the drowning of a nine-year-old girl, Sophie Mol, the cousin of the two twins from whose perspective the story largely unfolds. Rahel and her fraternal twin Estha are the children of Ammu and Baba, a couple who divorced because of BabaÆs beatings of his wife. The Syrian Christian family also includes a behemoth old woman name Baby Kochamma. Chacko is the uncle of the twins, a butt-pinching Oxford educated man who has returned home to run his motherÆs chutney business. His ex-wife is an English woman named Margaret Kochamma and it is their daughter Sophie Mol who drowns on an outing with the twins. Despite the doomed destiny of the characters, RoyÆs main theme is that meaning and fulfillment in life stem from taking appreciation and pleasure in the small things. The main theme of the novel is spelled out fairly early in the book through the character of the adult Estha. He is tending to an old dog when he notices the shadow of a bird in flight as it moves across the dogÆs body. He sees this small thing as a miracle, because he knows the tragedies that exist in life, ôTo Esthaùsteeped in the smell of old roses, blooded on memories of a broken manùthe fact that something had been allowed to exist, was
. . .
k, the signed photograph, the scorched furnitureùmust be resurrected from the ruins and examined. Preserved. Accounted for,ö (Roy 1998).
The ongoing struggles of the family are heightened by social tensions from the impact of the caste system on those of lower castes or the untouchables. Many influences compete in Hindu society, from the Syrian priests and kathakali dancers at the temple to the Communists and activism of the untouchables. Western influence is also making inroads, witnessed by the popularity of The Sound of Music. As Rahel thinks of returning to this land of competing influences and bad memories, she remembers the small things that gave her and her brother pleasure in the midst of such an existence, ôShe remembersàwhat the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man did to Estha in Abhilash Talkies. She remembers the taste of tomato sandwichesùEsthaÆs sandwiches, that Estha ateùon the Madras Mail to Madras. And these are only the small things,ö (Roy 1998).
Life in this culture has never been easy and it seems as if the doomed destinies of the characters are part and parcel of life in the Caste system and amidst the poverty of India. Unhappy Malayalees return to the town from working the Gulf, where they were treated poorly.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1246
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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