The God of Small Things - Essay Example

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS The God of Small Things is a story which revolves around the life of many characters which as the story depicts, very important yet ironically, seems insignificant because these lives did not create a change in the social system in which they are in. The story starts with one of the characters named Rahel who returns to a village named Ayemanem on the coast of the river Meenachil after hearing that her twin brother, Estha, has come home. She goes to her ancestral house one rainy day. She is now in her early thirties and is divorced from her American husband. The author then brings the reader to a reminiscing of past memories brought about by the once-familiar environment, memories such as the magical world of her childhood in the ancestral house. There’s the memory of the funeral of Sophie Mol when they were seven years old. Rahel believes that Sophie was buried alive but this belief was not believed by the rest of the family. The story then tells of the family who goes to see the Sound of Music in the theater. Estha who could not stop singing while in the theater was sent out and there outside was molested by the Orange drink Lemonade man. The narrative then turns to Ammus death at the age of thirty-one when she was banished from the ancestral house. She died while she was on a job interview. When her body was pushed into the cremation oven, Estha was watching. A crowd gathers to sing and to eat cake when Sophie was welcomed into the house. Rahel retreats to play with the young man Velutha. Ammu who watches Rahel and Velutha playing together, for the first time, was attracted to the young man. Rahel joins Estha, who is alone in the pickle factory. Both plan to visit the History House. They push an old, decrepit boat into the river, rowing it to Veluthas side of the river. There, Velutha promises to fix the boat for them. Velutha is trying to suppress his growing love for Ammu in spite of his constant association with her children. We finally hear the story of the death of Sophie Mol and the events surrounding it. Vellia Pappan, Velutha’s father offers to kill Velutha for having an affair with Ammu. Ammu’s aunt locks Ammu in her room so that the police would think that Ammu was raped. Velutha was then fired and banished from the house. He asks help from Comrade Pillai but to no avail. The next morning, Velutha was arrested by the police who beat him nearly to death. Unfortunately the twins were also there so the police took advantage of the situation accusing Velutha of kidnapping the twins. Estha is forced to tell lies thus saving Baby Kochamma from being arrested for filing a false report against Velutha. After that, Baby Kochamma forces Chacko into evicting Ammu from the house and forcing Estha to go live with Babu. As Estha leaves on the train, Rahel cries as though a part of her is being torn apart. Such were the memories that were brought back when Rahel came to the ancestral house. Memories of her twin brother, Estha whom she had an incestuous affair with, her mother Ammu who divorced her father, Chaku, her mother’s brother who runs their family Pickles business, the Paradise Pickles and Preserves, her grandmother, her aunt, the servant, Velutha, a young man who works in their pickles business and to whom her mother had an adulterous affair, Velutha’s father named Vellia Pappan and also his paralyzed, bed-ridden brother named Kuttappan who always sings aloud in his room. Rahel and Estha’s mother Ammu, a lusty, beautiful woman falls for the charms of Velutha. The riverbank of Meenachil, on moonlit nights becomes the love nest of these two lovers breaking the rules of the society where they belong. Then there’s Sophie Mol, Chaku’s daughter who came down from England with Chaku’s ex-wife Margaret for a visit. Chaku who was a student at Oxford met Margaret who was a waitress at a small restaurant in London. They fell in love with each other and got married. However, after the birth of Sophie Mol they divorced. These are the many characters in the story yet there are only a few who played a significant role in the story. This is a story which has moments of fun, moments of sorrow, and moments of trauma, moments of fear, moments of secrecy, moments of lust, and moments of deceit. The author named Suzanna Arundhati Roy gave us a glimpse of India’s social order. She made use of the phrase “hole in the universe”. For her this phrase simply means a History-Hole. A History-shaped Hole in the Universe through which, at twilight, dense clouds of silent bats billowed like factory smoke and drifted into the night (291).The hole implies the absence of something or a type of an empty space that merely devours its surroundings. This is the negative aspect of history not as relating to records or textbooks but rather to everything that happens in its own time and in its own place. It also means a compilation of each event which happened in the lives of every individual. This “hole” is not influenced by anything that it may devour. History thereby is unaltered and unmoved. History as being indifferent to anything within its reach is depicted in the following events in the story: Ammu, Rehal’s mother had an affair with Velutha who works for their company. Velutha who belongs to the Untouchables also fell in love with Ammu, hence, breaking the rules of the society as to who should love whom. When the adulterous relationship of Ammu with Veluthe became known to all, Velutha went into hiding, in the History House, an old, haunted bungalow on the other side of the river. Policemen, who were in the lookout for Velutha went to the History House and found the two kids Rahel and Estha also in the place taking shelter after escaping from the tragic drowning of their cousin Sophie Mol. The Police then captured Velutha and “recovered” the children. The two were then forced to tell lies that they were kidnapped by Velutha thus finding an opportunity to cover up their brutal killing of Velutha. Velutha represents the entire class of the Untouchables who because of their class in the society are limited of the chances in life. They cannot overthrow the power of their suppressors simply because they were born into this class and the structure is so intrinsic in the society where they are in. They are fated to remain a suffering group. They are not even allowed to leave a footprint of any of their sufferings. He died an insignificant martyr denied of justice. Roy bravely pictured a pitiful society enslaved with an organization so indifferent and powerful. She brings the reader to an awareness of the human nature’s weakness and the realities of injustices in life. In so doing, she motivates her readers to empathize with the characters of the story. The love affair between Ammu and Velutha is something noteworthy. Such was a forbidden love affair. Then there’s the story of Chaku and his wife, who later divorced because of a sense of disconnection. In addition, there’s the incestuous affair between the twins, Rahel and Estha. The story depicts the frailty of human nature- how weak one is in handling emotions. It shows how one can be enslaved by lust to meet to satisfy one’s craving for acceptance, belongingness, and gratification. Sometimes, one can be so blind to realize the consequences of his actions when what one does goes beyond reason. Such is the imperfection of the human nature. The God of Small Things is a story of two kids, Rahel and Estha, who find themselves entangled in adult dishonesty and punished for the sins of an environment out of their power to control. Here are two young minds who strive to find a safe environment, the unconditional love of a parent and the expectation of a promising and viable future. However, they discovered that their struggle to make themselves safe ends one day where future slips away and recovery is unimaginable. The story digs deeply into the human nature. It depicts the cruelty that any of us is capable of committing. It also tells of a passionate, hurting love. The twins portray the ability to make dreams and share it with another along with the joy and the pains these dreams may bring. The dream of one day being freed from sufferings, restrictions, and discrimination is a dream which drifts into emptiness in the story. It’s a story where love is lost, innocent lives are taken, families are shaken and shattered, and precious childhood is ruined. Roy was trying to show to the readers the kind of world we live in. In this world we find a repressive society where oftentimes the truth is concealed for the sake of traditions of men. The setting to this story is the country of India. It is an environment of dysfunction: a government awkwardly striving to ascertain itself, a nation severed from its past and not able to plainly identify its present, having a people who betray each other. The God of Small Things is a story of illicit affections, of children abused, and of families injured. It is a story where lives continue to exist but living simply ceases. The novel is loaded with Indian family relationships, social traditions and norms, politics, and the most universal of human emotions and conduct. The novel shows a pattern of how in small events and in insignificant lives the world intrudes. When people are not protected, this intrusion goes into the tiniest, deepest center of their being and alters their life. The author maintains the idea of destiny as applied to history throughout the text. One of these unavoidable features is the oppression of class structure so common in the society of India. One of the characters named Chaku demonstrates his frustration of their cause. They are restricted by the class organization. Their dreams have limits and their lives are very unimportant to cause a change in the system. Thus, Ammu’s adulterous relationship with Velutha was undesirable in this society. If one was born into a certain class, it represented one’s worth and despite the personal merits of the individual he could not be granted an admission to a higher class. Ammu and Velutha’s decision to indulge into a relationship of such a forbidden nature was a manifestation of rebellion. However, it soon becomes clear that this will be subject to intense punishment for there is an expected outcome to follow upon the offenders. Ammu and Velutha’s decision to engage in an unacceptable relationship did not affect their society in a significant way, rather, it destroyed their own lives and tragically affected the lives of the two children, Rahel and Estha. Accordingly, the lessons for any future offenders focused on the idea that one could not go against the power of a socially traditional current. Although Velutha struggled against the current of social norms he was still powerless to escape the unavoidable consequences of these actions in a frigidly unyielding society. In the story, Roy does not put the blame of Velutha’s death on Comrade Pillai’s seeming lack of sympathy. This puts emphasis on the fact that history is something already recognized by the movement of a society. The people who are born into this organization are already appointed for specific fates. Just like when you put your hand into the glove, you fulfill the course given to one by the society. It was not Comrade Pillai’s fault that Velutha died. It is the society’s structure that is at fault. Thus is the significance of the name History House in the novel. The God of Small Things is a story that contains many smaller ones that act as small pieces of jewelry of scrutiny and insight. The viewpoint of childhood --of imagination and ingenuity, of incomplete understanding, dread, and reliance, assertion of independence, vulnerability, friendship, competitive jealousy, and wonderment--is skillfully rendered. WORK CITED Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. London :Harper Perennial, 1998. Read More

The next morning, Velutha was arrested by the police who beat him nearly to death. Unfortunately the twins were also there so the police took advantage of the situation accusing Velutha of kidnapping the twins. Estha is forced to tell lies thus saving Baby Kochamma from being arrested for filing a false report against Velutha. After that, Baby Kochamma forces Chacko into evicting Ammu from the house and forcing Estha to go live with Babu. As Estha leaves on the train, Rahel cries as though a part of her is being torn apart.

Such were the memories that were brought back when Rahel came to the ancestral house. Memories of her twin brother, Estha whom she had an incestuous affair with, her mother Ammu who divorced her father, Chaku, her mother’s brother who runs their family Pickles business, the Paradise Pickles and Preserves, her grandmother, her aunt, the servant, Velutha, a young man who works in their pickles business and to whom her mother had an adulterous affair, Velutha’s father named Vellia Pappan and also his paralyzed, bed-ridden brother named Kuttappan who always sings aloud in his room.

Rahel and Estha’s mother Ammu, a lusty, beautiful woman falls for the charms of Velutha. The riverbank of Meenachil, on moonlit nights becomes the love nest of these two lovers breaking the rules of the society where they belong. Then there’s Sophie Mol, Chaku’s daughter who came down from England with Chaku’s ex-wife Margaret for a visit. Chaku who was a student at Oxford met Margaret who was a waitress at a small restaurant in London. They fell in love with each other and got married.

However, after the birth of Sophie Mol they divorced. These are the many characters in the story yet there are only a few who played a significant role in the story. This is a story which has moments of fun, moments of sorrow, and moments of trauma, moments of fear, moments of secrecy, moments of lust, and moments of deceit. The author named Suzanna Arundhati Roy gave us a glimpse of India’s social order. She made use of the phrase “hole in the universe”. For her this phrase simply means a History-Hole.

A History-shaped Hole in the Universe through which, at twilight, dense clouds of silent bats billowed like factory smoke and drifted into the night (291).The hole implies the absence of something or a type of an empty space that merely devours its surroundings. This is the negative aspect of history not as relating to records or textbooks but rather to everything that happens in its own time and in its own place. It also means a compilation of each event which happened in the lives of every individual.

This “hole” is not influenced by anything that it may devour. History thereby is unaltered and unmoved. History as being indifferent to anything within its reach is depicted in the following events in the story: Ammu, Rehal’s mother had an affair with Velutha who works for their company. Velutha who belongs to the Untouchables also fell in love with Ammu, hence, breaking the rules of the society as to who should love whom. When the adulterous relationship of Ammu with Veluthe became known to all, Velutha went into hiding, in the History House, an old, haunted bungalow on the other side of the river.

Policemen, who were in the lookout for Velutha went to the History House and found the two kids Rahel and Estha also in the place taking shelter after escaping from the tragic drowning of their cousin Sophie Mol. The Police then captured Velutha and “recovered” the children. The two were then forced to tell lies that they were kidnapped by Velutha thus finding an opportunity to cover up their brutal killing of Velutha. Velutha represents the entire class of the Untouchables who because of their class in the society are limited of the chances in life.

They cannot overthrow the power of their suppressors simply because they were born into this class and the structure is so intrinsic in the society where they are in.

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