The God of Small Things

[flgirl073]

Hey guys! We are starting a new book, so it is time for a new thread!
This thread can be used to discuss the language aspects and time sequence of The God of Small Things, along with the references to the title, color, and water. Any other things you find interesting are also welcomed.

From Ch. 2 I am already seeing the use of colors with the pairing of red and yellow. I believe these colors have a very important role in the book, and convey significant emotions. Also, more specific descriptions of characters are revealed in this chapter such as those of Pappachi and Mammachi. We find out there are also language barriers between these characters, but for different reasons than those of the twins. This chapter also has a few references to Heart of Darkness. Again dreams are reffered too in many aspects, just like our previous book. In The God of Small Things, a twist is put on this idea of dreams which relates back to the title of the book. On pg. 52 these dreams are described by saying they are never big or important enough. As we have discussed in class many small things come together to form one big thing. Everything is important and must be examined in order to get a full perspective.

These are a few of my thoughts, and now I hope that you guys will add on to this discussion.

[blazeofglory]

Hey guys! We are starting a new book, so it is time for a new thread!
This thread can be used to discuss the language aspects and time sequence of The God of Small Things, along with the references to the title, color, and water. Any other things you find interesting are also welcomed.

From Ch. 2 I am already seeing the use of colors with the pairing of red and yellow. I believe these colors have a very important role in the book, and convey significant emotions. Also, more specific descriptions of characters are revealed in this chapter such as those of Pappachi and Mammachi. We find out there are also language barriers between these characters, but for different reasons than those of the twins. This chapter also has a few references to Heart of Darkness. Again dreams are reffered too in many aspects, just like our previous book. In The God of Small Things, a twist is put on this idea of dreams which relates back to the title of the book. On pg. 52 these dreams are described by saying they are never big or important enough. As we have discussed in class many small things come together to form one big thing. Everything is important and must be examined in order to get a full perspective.

These are a few of my thoughts, and now I hope that you guys will add on to this discussion.

I suppose this book is written by Arundhati Roy. When you recommend a book for discussion give a little bit account of the writer also. People in the forum may not be familiar with the novelist and if you give something about the book it wold be better.

I like this book. But I suppose she has not written anybook of note thenceforth. What she wrote following this book is not commendably of great worth.

I agree one book immortalized her. However people expect more from her. But she disappointed all.

[IBREAL]

Hey guys! We are starting a new book, so it is time for a new thread!
This thread can be used to discuss the language aspects and time sequence of The God of Small Things, along with the references to the title, color, and water. Any other things you find interesting are also welcomed.

From Ch. 2 I am already seeing the use of colors with the pairing of red and yellow. I believe these colors have a very important role in the book, and convey significant emotions. Also, more specific descriptions of characters are revealed in this chapter such as those of Pappachi and Mammachi. We find out there are also language barriers between these characters, but for different reasons than those of the twins. This chapter also has a few references to Heart of Darkness. Again dreams are reffered too in many aspects, just like our previous book. In The God of Small Things, a twist is put on this idea of dreams which relates back to the title of the book. On pg. 52 these dreams are described by saying they are never big or important enough. As we have discussed in class many small things come together to form one big thing. Everything is important and must be examined in order to get a full perspective.

These are a few of my thoughts, and now I hope that you guys will add on to this discussion.
I think that its important to note all the similairities that we are seeing in the characters of this book. One being the beatings. Mamamachi, Ammu, Sophie Mol, Esta, and Rahel. This is one thing that I have noticed. This family seems to have a problem picking spouses who are not prone to domestic violence; its very sad. Another things I noticed from what we talked about in class today was love. I think that the characters are all struggling because they are lacking love. I think they would all be better people if they loved got more love and showed each other more love. I thing love is the most imporatnt thing in the world. I also think that not being loved can be the most helpless feeling in the world.

I think the dreams vs God of Small things is shown by Rahel. Rahel shows how she wants to be in control of time by her little watch. This is very interesting because she wants to control something so small as a watch. I think that Rahel is also trying to control something as smalll as her watch because she is so small and she probably wouldn't be able to control something that is very big.

[Pipidar1991]

1. In chapter four I noticed there was a lot of color symbolism:
RED: In this chapter red was used to foreshadow the bad things that were going to happen. First Roy used the color red to illustrate the bathroom door.
“Through the red Formica door that closed slowly that closed slowly on its own, Rahel followed Ammu […] watching the mirrors till the red door took his sister away” (90)
While reading chapter four and all the events that took place, I noticed all the uses of red and then remembered when Estha was describing the door. I went back and noticed that this passage about the door shows the anguish Estha feels because he feels like he is losing Rahel. It shows the beginning of the differences that separate them. He first seems to experience that he is different from her because he is a boy and her from him because she is a girl. So because of this he experiences a brief separation from her. The passage foreshadows the use of this color to show other events that eventually leads to true emotional separation that Estha and Rahel go through later on in their lives.

One event that emotionally scars Estha and creates an eventual separation from Rahel and the world is the incident with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man. When I read this part I saw again that red was used. It is used to describe the steps and the carpet that leads to the theatre as well as the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man.
“They had to rush up the red steps with the old red carpet. Red staircase with red spit stains in the red corner” (93)
Like I mentioned red is used a lot. So after I had read what had happened in the movie theatre, I noticed that red kind of describes the evil that is to come. I found this interesting because hell is described as red (burning flames) and this incident for Estha was kind of a living hell after he realized the severity of what had happened.

Another use of this red staircase along with the other red items was used once again when the characters left the theatre. This time, however, Rahel was affected by it.
“So the red steps once again […] ‘So why don’t you marry him then?’ Rahel said petulantly. Time stopped on the red staircase.” (106)
After Rahel says this on the red staircase, she realizes that she has hurt Ammu, and Ammu tells her “when you hurt people, they love begin to love you less” (107). This really affects Rahel, and she deeply regrets her action. It seemed to me (I may be going off on a limb) that they were almost off the red steps and something else bad just had to squeeze its way in, like the characters had almost escaped it but, no, something else had to happen.

Another use of color symbolism that I noticed was with yellow. This color also shows the mood of pretty much the whole chapter. First it is used to describe the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man.
“His yellow teeth were magnets. They saw, they smiled, they sang, they smelled, they moved. They mesmerized” (98)
“Estha went. Drawn by the yellow teeth” (98)
This shows that the yellow teeth weren’t leading him into to anything good. I didn’t quite understand why he was drawn by the yellow teeth all I know is that it kind of gives you an icky feeling kind of how yellow is used again in the taxi.

“A swathe of dirty yellow sponge spilled out and shivered on the back seat like an immense jaundiced liver” (107)
This gave me a nasty feeling again which does describe the whole chapter and the big events that happened. The chapter pretty much just shows that the events that happened during this trip ends up scarring the twins for life.

2. “Finish the drink.
Watch the picture.
Think of all the poor people.
Lucky rich boy with porketmunny. No worries.” (102)
Again I feel like I may be going out on a limb, but this passage kind of described to me maybe that Estha feels blocked in by the demands and horrors that he has gone through and that he feels helpless. This discomfort and feeling of helplessness he feels from the world eventually leads to his withdrawal from it and his retreat into his own one (never talking and breaking away from his family; shown during his “greeting” with Rahel after her return from America).

3. Water is definitely used a lot in these two chapters. It is described as pure which water is usually described as. It is described as something to wash all your troubles away.
“Water always helps” (103)
Estha, in chapter four, seems to develop a connection to it.
“He longed for the river. Because water always helps” (108)
Water seems to comfort him and his connection to it is shown in many different parts through chapters 1-4. I find it interesting that throughout chapter four, Rahel is described as “A fountain in a Love-in-Tokyo” (105). Maybe it shows how Estha did find comfort in her (he goes to her room in the hotel after everything has happened) and maybe it is supposed to show how in the end he will get over his fear and withdrawal from the world and find comfort in his sister once again.

[flgirl073]

In Ch. 8 and 9 we continue to see the extreme amount of attention Sophie Mol receives. When she reaches the Ayemenem house, there is a whole celebration for her. The factory even shuts down in order for the workers to welcome her. A whole factory will close just to greet a little girl from England! I am shocked by these events! Sophie Mol has not done anything that would cause her to be given attention, but she is automatically compared to “a little angel” (170). The poor twins are cast off to the side as part of a play with very small roles. Estha even disappears when they reach the house and no one notices except Velutha (showing his true love for the twins)! Rahel finally receives attention from Velutha. He hugs her and throws her into the air as if she is his own child. The children visit him at his home, and he whittles them little wooden spoons. Rahel realizes what a kind act this was years later. Would anyone like to explain this concept? Also in this section Ammu’s love for Velutha is revealed. “She had gifts to give him, too” (168). They know that they love each other, but their relationship will be difficult considering the love laws. Finally in Ch. 8 and 9 new colors are used many times. Along with the usual yellow and red, blue and green are also utilized. “The bue-aproned army gathered in the greenheat” (164). Any thoughts on what these colors represent?

[Eilonwy18]

I completely agree with you, it is absurd that the family treats this little girl like she is superior merely because she is from England. It baffled me when Kochu Maria said, "When she grows up, she'll be our Kochamma, and she'll raise our salaries, and give us nylon saris for Onam" (175). She is actually excited about this LITTLE GIRL being in charge of her! It is absolutely ridiculous, and only emphasizes Kochu Maria's aforementioned "gullibility" (162). I cheered for Rahel when Sophie showed her true colors. It serves them all right for putting her up on a pedestal (just like Marlow did for Kurtz).
There are a few interesting types of forbidden love that can be seen in chapters 8 and 9. Ammu and Velutha have already been mentioned. I wonder why they both have the sudden realization that they love each other in this chapter. Velutha sees "things that he hadn't seen before. Things that had been out of bounds so far" in Ammu(168). But sparks the sudden change in Ammu? Is it because she sees that he has physically changed and now has a "man's body", because she sees him at the Communist march, or because she sees how well he interacts with Rahel in "their world of hooked fingers and sudden smiles" (167)? Perhaps it is a combination of all these things. She sees that he would the good father that the twins seem to crave desperately and that he also has some of the spunk that Ammu demonstrates later on in this chapter. Oh yeah, and it also helps that he is apparently a total hottie. ;)
Another unique kind of love that can be seen is Mammachi's love for Chacko: "he became the repository of all her womanly feelings. Her Man. Her only Love" (160). This really grossed me out. It's like a reversed Oedipus complex, and it's definitely against the love laws.
In response to your question, flgirl, I think that Velutha's response to the children's dress up game meant a lot to Rahel because he was viewing their world from their perspective instead of from an adult's. Other adults in their lives, like Ammu and Chacko, interact with them according to their own perspectives. Ammu probably did not mean to affect Rahel so drastically by telling her that saying hurtful things makes people loved less. She was only trying to teach her a lesson, not scar her for life. Chacko is completely off in the way that he tries to teach the twins. He is more focused on making himself seem intelligent than he is on helping them to understand. They take his metaphor of the History House literally, and they completely miss the relevance of his literary quotes. Velutha is the only adult in their lives who bothers to treat them on a basis of equality instead of superiority or condescendence, and he appears to be getting positive results. Maybe more adults should try this method.

[AGS512]

We see on page 238 Margaret Kochamma's haunting decision to go to India with Sophie Mol. "Margaret Kochamma never forgave herself for taking Sophie Mol to Ayemenem" (Roy 238). We also see how she deals with her grief. She takes it out on the twins because they were the last ones to see Sophie Mol alive, and had she not been with them she would have lived. She takes great violence out on Estha especially previously in the he book, now we know why. But she does apologize in a letter that Rahel receives.

I noticed all the water references that led up to the moment when we learn how exactly Sophie Mol has died of drowning. "Baby Kochamma and Mammachi thought that they might have gone for a swim, which was worrying because it had rained heavily the previous day and a good part of the night. They knew that the river could be dangerous" (Roy 239). This passage shows how even though Baby Kochamma and Mammachi are worried about the kids they are not necessarily a priority. They are too caught up in punishing Ammu for her the terrible "thing" she did with Velutha to actually put two and two together that the kids might be in the river and might have been gone all night.

"Then the Terror took hold of him and shook the words out of him" (Roy 242). This passage is where Velutha's dad goes to tell Mammachi before someone else does about their children's unlawful midnight rendezvous. Then Baby Kochamma has to go and blot the whole story out of proportion to save the family’s good name.

The time sequence in these chapters fit. I was neat how Roy gave just enough information to leave us hanging from one chapter to the next until she goes back to give the rest of the story. We find out that the twins are running away because they are not wanted anymore by Ammu. This goes back to what we were discussing about how a mother's words, to a child especially, go straight to their hearts. We saw how Ammu's words damaged Rahel, and how she now believes her mother loves her a little less. Now we see that she takes her situation out on them, and they feel so unwanted that they run away and take their cousin with them. When the boat tips how are the twins to know that Sophie Mol couldn't swim? They are not old enough to realize the effect that the death will have on the family, and they honestly think that they will have to go to jail. The poor kids, their family has pushed them away. Then they go up to the History House to "make camp" not knowing that Velutha is under their nose. This is the build up we have been waiting for. We know something big and life changing is going to happen in the History House.

Question is this "The Terror" finally?

[Pumpkin]

The entirety of these 5 chapters seems very sad. It's not just that everything is falling apart, although it is. It's things like how things have changed since Rahel was last there, like her description of the elephant. "Rahel approached quietly. She saw that his skin was looser than she remembered. He wasn't Kochu Thomban anymore. His tusks had frown. He was Vellya Thomban now. The Big Tusker" (Roy 217). Rahel's description of the Kathakali Man is also very depressing. "The Kathakali Man is the most beautiful of men. Because his body is his soul....But these days he has become unviable. Unfeasible. Dondemned goods. His children deride him. They long to be everything that he is not" (Roy 219). I also felt it was significant that "Rahel (no Plans, no Locusts Stand I)" (Roy 220) has yet another similarity to her mother. I also felt that the way Sophie Mol views Chacko's airplanes was significant. "A glass-paned cupboard was crammed with damaged calsa airplanes. Broken butterflies with imploring eyes. A wicked king's wooden wives languishing under an evil wooden spell. Trapped. Only one, her mother, Margaret, had escaped to England" (Roy 227). The fact that Rahel married with a sense of "Sitting Down" (Roy 19) and "when Chacko wrote inviting [Margaret] to Ayemenem, something inside her sighed and sat down" (Roy 237). Could it be that this is symbolic for her remarrying Chacko? (not that she ever actually does of course, but symbolism can be pretty weird sometimes.)

When you find out why the twins really ran away, the whole thing just seems so tragic. They just want to know what's going on, and instead, their mother yells at them. "'Because of you!' Ammu had screamed. 'If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here! None of this would have happened! I wouldn't be here! I would have been free! I should have dumped you in an orphanage the day you were born! You're the millstones round my neck!...Just go away!' Ammu had said. 'Why can't you just go away and leave me alone?!'" (Roy 240). Who wouldn't run away if their mother said something like that? Of course they did, and of course Sophie wanted to come along; she was lonely. There was no way for any of them to know that their boat was going to get tipped over by a log, or that there was a real risk of them drowning, and even if there was, they're seven and nine! They feel horrible about what's happened after the fact, but they aren't mature enough to consider the effects of their actions, other than the desired effect. That things might go wrong, horribly wrong, never really enters their minds. The real villain in all of this is Baby Kochamma. She made one woman's personal choices into the destruction of an entire family. Baby Kochamma destroyed everything, not Ammu. She lied to the police!

Velutha seems like he is often referred to in ways that relate him to the God of Small Things. "Strangely, the person that Margaret Kochamma never thought about was Velutha...Perhaps this was because she never really knew him, nor ever heard what happened to him. The God of Loss. The God of Small Things. He left no footprints in sand, no ripples in water, no image in mirrors" (Roy 250). Velutha is again tied to this idea and the God of Small Things when it's said that "[h]e stepped onto the path that led through the swamp to the History House. He left no ripples in the water. No footprints on the shore....He was walking swiftly now, towards the Heart of Darkness. As lonely as a wolf. The God of Loss. The God of Small Things" (Roy 274).

[Aiculík]

I suppose this book is written by Arundhati Roy. When you recommend a book for discussion give a little bit account of the writer also. People in the forum may not be familiar with the novelist and if you give something about the book it wold be better.

I like this book. But I suppose she has not written anybook of note thenceforth. What she wrote following this book is not commendably of great worth.

I agree one book immortalized her. However people expect more from her. But she disappointed all.

Um...er... what? What else did she write? I thought this was still her only novel? Or had she finishd and published her second novel already??? :eek2:

I know she published some scripts and political essays, but I'm not really interested in drama and even less in politics, so I didn't read those, so she certainly didn't disappoint me by that. :) But did I miss another prose she wrote?

[Neo93]

Anyway, its another one of Neo93's random realization times.

So we're on the verge of discovering what the terror is, and resloving the conflict. The first time I read chapters 14-16, I missed a lot of things, because I was anticipating reading about the terror. But when I went back and read the section again, I had Two Thoughts.

Thought One was about tthe connection between Estha and Rahel. Throughout the book, they have some sort of strong bond (ie, Rahel sees a boat through Estha's eyes). Roy goes into great detail about this connection at the begining of the book, and ventures to hint that something shatters most of this intense connection. But then the connection seems to fade into the background for a while. In chapters 14-16, it reappears with a vengence. I think that Roy is emphasizing this connection here because the Terror is coming, and this is what presumably shatters thier connection. By emphasizing the connection right befdore it is broken, Roy highlights just how terrible the terror is.

Thought Two was about color symbolism. Rahel puts the finger protecters on, and they turn her fingers: Yellow, Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow. These colors aren't random. We've been talking about reading from multiple perspectives, and this ties in nicely. This shows that Rahel has both good (yellow) and anger (red) in her. She has many layers to her personality, and looking at her and all of the story from one perspective makes you miss a lot of important stuff.

Anyway, random realizations complete. Enjoy your day!

[Eilonwy18]

I wonder if their connection is actually broken because of the Terror. I know they are physically separated, but does the Terror separate them on a deeper level too? I think the connection is still there, but it manifests itself as Estha's quietness and Rahel's emptiness. They are like parts of a whole so they are not complete unless they are together. Rahel is not comfortable with writing to Estha because "There are things you can't do--like writing letters to a part of yourself. To your feet or hair. Or heart" (156). Also, Rahel experiences eating the tomato sandwiches with Estha on the bus, which happens after the Terror.
BUT! If this postulation is correct, and the connection is never broken, then why do Estha Alone and Rahel Alone exist? And why does Rahel say that "Their lives have a size and a shape now. Estha has his and Rahel hers. Edges, Borders, Boundaries, Brinks and Limits have appeared like a team of trolls on their separate horizons" (5)? Is the connection broken and reformed or is it constant? Is it broken because of distance or because of the Terror?

[BABi 0G]

It is obvious that there is not a clear answer to that question: are they or aren't they connected? ["Estha and Rahel were separated by the breadth of kuthambalam, but joined by a story"] The book makes if difficult to have just a simple answer to the question because there are many interpretations and numerous instances which support each interpretation. They share many things that bond them together, for example, the love for Ammu, Velutha, and each other. Yet, there are many aspects showing their physical and mental separation beginning with the bathrooms: "His for Estha Alone.. (& Hers for Rahel)" in chapter 4. Although they are physically separated, this isn't the only separation they experience. I believe Estha tries to purposefully separate himself from Rahel in order to protect her by grieving alone. "And what has Estha done? He had looked into that beloved face and said: YES" (pg 32) "it was his fault... because he was the one that had said it" (pg 308). Estha blamed himself and in turn, used Quietness as his means of separation "he left his voice behind"(pg 309) because words put not only him, but everyone else into that siutation.
Yes the question is still unanswered but the subject is very dynamic and there isn't only one right answer.

[BABi 0G]

I think that its important to note all the similairities that we are seeing in the characters of this book. One being the beatings. Mamamachi, Ammu, Sophie Mol, Esta, and Rahel. This is one thing that I have noticed. This family seems to have a problem picking spouses who are not prone to domestic violence; its very sad. Another things I noticed from what we talked about in class today was love. I think that the characters are all struggling because they are lacking love. I think they would all be better people if they loved got more love and showed each other more love. I thing love is the most imporatnt thing in the world. I also think that not being loved can be the most helpless feeling in the world.

I think the dreams vs God of Small things is shown by Rahel. Rahel shows how she wants to be in control of time by her little watch. This is very interesting because she wants to control something so small as a watch. I think that Rahel is also trying to control something as smalll as her watch because she is so small and she probably wouldn't be able to control something that is very big.

I think we now see the whole connection and importance of the watch, not just the obvious time shuffle seen in the sequence of the book, but the siginifance of why it ends up being this way.
"The watch they all forgot. It stayed behing in the History House." (pg 295)
Rahel wants to control time so much, not so much being small and wanting to control something, but trying to overcome the fact that she is so powerless after "the Terror" that time doesn't matter for any of them anymore. "Death came for Velutha.. what came for them? Not Death, Just the end of living" (p 304). It shows that Rahel is so powerless (to time) that she can't even control the sequence which her story is being told in [time constantly changing].

[Neo93]

(taking a test all day tommorow)

Anyway, is it just me or is Arundhati Roy just plain amazing? I'm goin to go out on a limb here and say that God of Small Things is easily the best book I've ever read in an English class, and possibly one of my favorite overall reads.

First of all, I agree with Eilonwy18 about Estha and Rahel's connection. I really think that the Cochin Harbor terminus scene is the turning point in this connection. Thier seperation profoundly affects thier connection, but it doesn't destroy it. In a way, they are two different entities and one at the same time. This is why Estha Alone and Rahel Alone exist. Roy is trying to show that sometimes, no matter how strong a connection we share with people, there are some things we simply can't share with anyone else. Although everyone's story affects everyone else, no one has the exact same perspective as anyone else. Because of this, there were things that Estha experienced and couldn't share with Rahel, and vice versa. Despite this, thier connection remains intact when they are 31. They just realize that they are 2different people and one person at the same time.

The train station scene just about killed me when I read it, because Ammu, Estha, and Rahel are all so innocent. All they are trying to do is break the terrible cycle the family is caught in, an what do they get? sorrow. Also, this scene pretty much caps Estha's learning of how dangerous words can be. His internal analysis of how his comments to Ammu about how she would never come for him was his final realization that speaking has too many dangerous consequences--"It was his fault that the faraway man in Ammu's chest stopped shouting...Because he was the one who said it." (Roy 308).

"He left his voice behind" (Roy 309).

One last comment on the final chapter. I really liked how it seemed to tie up loose ends for the entire family, while focusing exclusively on Velutha and Ammu. This just goes to show how thier story affected the story of the entire cast of characters. Everyone from Baby Kochamma to Comrade Pillai to Thomas Mathews was affected. There is no way to seperate any of thier stories. all of the seemingly loosely connected characters become so linked by thier converging stories that they can't deny how Ammu and Velutha affected them.

"Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one."
--John Berger

[L'EngleLover]

Analysis of Chapter 12-16

I was absent on Monday and felt it kind of, no, really!, important that I make up for the discussion that I missed in class.

Chapter 12
The first thing that I observed was, of course, on the first page—the title. Kochu Thomban must be an important or symbolic character because it has a chapter named after him/her, much like Chapter 2 (Pappachi’s Moth). However, I was unable to decipher the deeper meaning of this chapter because it was so confusing. “Heart of Darkness” was brought up several times in reference to the History House (218). The representation of “the secret of the Great Stories” was very important (218). As signified in The God of Small Things, Romeo and Juliet, and the Series of Unfortunate Events (), the secret of Great Stories “is that they have no secrets” (218). In all three cases, you know what is going to happen, but continue to read the story anyways.
I was reminded of The Poisonwood Bible when I read the following passage: “In the Heart of Darkness they mock him with their lolling nakedness and their imported attention spans” (220). While Nathan attempted to Christianize the natives of the Congo, all that he could observe on the first day was their nakedness and their inability to focus on his words of deliverance.
The degradation of the culture parallels the degradation of the river. All of the native dancers of Ayemenem dance for the tourists in order to get money and corrupt the native stories of the gods. In chapter 5, the shrinking of the river in which “children hung their bottoms over the edge a defecated” into left an unavoidable stench (119). It was reduced to “no more than a swollen drain” from the magnificent waters the river used to be (118). It was redirected from its natural flow to be profited from, just as the ancient stories were twisted into moneymakers. We also see the origins of the Love Laws, a central theme concerning the God of Small Things. They were derived from ancient beliefs explained through a story. This is ironic, however, because the Love Laws continue to be followed long after the stories they came from have become degraded. How can one follow a creation without respect for the creator?

Chapter 13
The beginnings of Chapter 13 follow the same story of The Pessimist and the Optimist that was found in Riding the Bus With My Sister. What a coincidence. This must be one important story if it is represented by two completely different cultures :P
The theme of Small Things being important is also evident. Things change in a day when “Chacko walk[s] into the café one morning” (229). Margaret Kochamma’s whole like is changed by doing a small event such as meeting and laughing with Chacko. Their marriage, the birth of Sophie Mol, the visit to India, and Sophie Mol’s death are all resulting Big Things from the Small event of meeting Chacko. Question: Why did Margaret Kochamma never believe that she would ever consent to be Chacko’s wife until the day she married him (232)?
The fact that Margaret “persuaded herself that a trip to India would be just the thing for Sophie Mol” is very ironic because it resulted in Sophie Mol’s death (238). This obviously was not the Big Result she expected from such a Small Thing as a visit to a past lover.
The power of water is evident as well because “it was the rain that drove Vellya Paapen to the kitchen door” to expose his son (241). The passage gives the impression that water has the complete power to make things happen, ultimately leading to deaths—both of Velutha and Sophie Mol who drowned.

Chapter 14
Adah’s quote stating: “Misunderstanding is my cornerstone. It’s everyone’s, come to think of it. Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization” (Kingsolver 532) very closely correlates with a passage in The God of Small Things. It is interesting how the theme of misunderstanding is applicable to several literary works (HOD, GOST, etc.). “Comrade Pillai, grateful for the misunderstanding, perpetuated [Chacko’s assumption]” (258). Misunderstandings of the purpose and meanings of Comrade Pillai’s actions prove to set the faulty foundation on which Chacko relays his trust.
It was interesting that Comrade Pillai named his son Lenin, the coincidental name of the great Marxist. He also recites the central monologue of Brutus, asking for the support of the nation after his murdering, and then replacement, of Ceasar (260). This speech is very Marxist in ideals: overthrowing the ruler (upper class) to make a better life of equality for the nation (working class). Estha and Rahel also use a phrase from this Shakespearian play: Et tu Brutus? It is symbolic that Estha and Rahel, relations of the upper class, use this phrase, foreshadowing the betrayal, both political and personal, to come.
The river controls Velutha in the same way that Baby Kochamma controls her family members, “as though they were on a leash” (272).

Chapter 15
Velutha is the God of Small Things, The God of Loss (274). He leaves no ripples in the water and no footprints on the shore because he is one with his environment, not because he is untouchable. The fact that he was untouchable gave him the ability to grow and be molded by the nature around him.

Chapter 16
Sophie Mol’s is “one small life” in the big scheme of things (277). Although her death is a Big Thing to the family, it is a Small Thing to the river.

[flgirl073]

As Neo93 commented, the final chapters reveal how one event can affect so many peoples’ lives. The title is strongly represented in this thought. One small thing continues to grow until it becomes a big thing. One must not turn away from these events with the belief that they do not matter. That is a very important aspect I have learned from GoST. Everything matters!

I agree with Neo93 on the train station scene. After these life-altering events have taken place Estha and Rahel are forced to be separated. This is the time they need each other the most! They could have comforted one another and helped each other get through these hard times. Rahel might have even been able to keep Estha’s voice alive. Also this chapter is foreshadowing what will happen in the future. Estha has already determined that Ammu will never come get him. At the time, he did not mean never to signify not ever, but he will soon discover this is the truth. This is yet another thing that Estha can blame himself for. If he had stayed optimistic about the situation maybe things would be different, or maybe he jinxed them with saying this. Estha needs to realize none of this is his fault! He is innocent! Baby Kochamma is the one to blame for everything!!

I also thought it was very interesting that when Ammu turns on her music, which in a way is her escape, she hears a song about dreams. This is perfect timing! She has begun to give up all hope for her life and dreams. This song inspired her to act on her feelings. She knew that she could not be truly happy if she was not with Velutha. She makes the decision to travel to a better, happier dreamlike area, where love laws do not matter.

[elp101]

I was also absent on Monday. So here are just a few of my thoughts from chap. 12-16.

Chapter 12
I was a little confused by the story at the beginning of this chapter. I could tell it was very symbolic, but of what, I wasn't quite sure.
Like L'EngleLover, I thought the description of these legends was very symbolic of and similar to the way Roy tells this story. Although "you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't...you want to know again" (218); you keep reading.
I also thought there were some interesting similarities between Karna and Ammu. On p. 220 it talks about how he performs for nothing. He is not a "rich pretender" or "an actor playing a part." And if he was, his stories may lose their effect, possibly because if he didn't perform them in a certain manner he may lose his job or part of his compensation. He can instead act freely, perform the way he sees best. these stories are his life. He acts from his soul, not from a script. Like Ammu he is "dangerous" because he has nothing to lose (44, 220).
Another similarity I saw between these legends and Estha and Rahel's story was the role of the mother. On p. 221, the quote in italics shows the disappointment the child feels in his mother. Like this child, Estha becomes discouraged because Ammu "never" comes to get him while Rahel becomes disappointed in the women Ammu becomes.

Chapter 13
At the beginning of this chapter when Margaret Kochamma's story is told, i saw several similarites to Ammu's life/love story. Just like Ammu, Margaret sacraficed acceptance in her family for love. Her mother won't look at her and her father didn't even attend her wedding. Also like Ammu, after she leaves home, "she continued to lead the same small, tight life that she imagined she had escaped" (229). then on p235, you see how disappointing marriage was for margaret. although ammu doesn't continue to live her old life, she still did not experience freedom in her new life with her husband. In fact, it seemed like life only got worse for Ammu. For both women, not only did marriage not provide the passion and freedom they desired, but it was worse than their previous situation. Therefore, both marriages end in a divorce.
Another interesting aspect of this chapter was the discussion of smells. "With that olfactory observation, that specific little detail, the Terror unspooled" (244). I though this quote was very important because it stresses the importance of smells in this novel. The Terror, which is such an important event in this novels, begins with a smell. Smells are linked with nearly every story that is told or memory that is had. Just as colors are vital to this novel, smells too play a key role.
As i discussed earlier, although we know the outcome of this story, we still keep reading. For me, this is because although i know the effect, i cant predict the cause. This idea is linked interestingly to the river. It is wrong for a "fisherman to believe that he knows his river well. No one knows the Meenachal. No one knows what it may snatch or suddenly yield. Or when. that is what makes fishermen pray" (245). No matter how sure you are of how life is going to end, you can not predict how you are going to get there.

Chapter 14
Something that really stuck out to me from the events at Comrade Pillai's house was the "funnel of mosquitoes, like an inverted dunce cap [that] whined over" the adults' heads (255). When the flying "dunce cap" forms over Lenin, the child's head, however, he claps the insects in his hands, destroying the mark of stupidity (265). The child is the only character with sense in the room...interesting :)
Another event i found interesting in this chapter was Velutha's visit to Comrade Pillai in his hour of need. As he is begging for assistance, Comrade Pillai is "small and far away, behind a wall of glass" (271). His reponses to Velutha's cry for help are short and apathetic: "It is not the Party's interests to take up such matters. Individual's interestis subordinate to the organization's interest..." (271). When he tells her what the trouble was all about, Comrade Pillai's wife responds, "Is that all? He's lucky..." (272). This apathetic attitude is very representative of the "God of Small Things" mentioned on p.20. There are always Bigger issues. Others are not going to stop for one's minor, personal dilemmas. Just like Comrade Pillai had Bigger things to worry about.

Chapter 15
The fact that Veluthat leaves "no footprints on the shore" or "ripples in the water" (274), further emphasizes that he is an untouchable. At the end, we again see him associated with The God of Loss and The God of Small Things.

Chapter 16
In this chapter I thought it was neat how the children find comfort in the darkness when darkness is usual an ominous symbol. It goes along with the dark tone of their life and the novel. You find comfort in what you are familiar with, especially when you are a child. The children are familiar with the darkness, not only literally, but figuratively as well (the "dark" events in their lives).

[mhamley]

Ok IBREAL, now that you've finished reading the novel, has your opinion changed? Or is it only strengthened by the events of the last two chapters?

[AGS512]

I think that in this day in age that no one would really have a problem with this being in a novel, except for maybe my grandmother. I think that the detail might be a little much, but overall necessary to the novel. We know pretty much from the get go that Ammu and Velutha have had "relations", but we do not KNOW exactly how it came about until these last chapters. I think it is really important that these are the last chapters. This gives us a better ending after going through the depressions of the entire family. It gives a chance to see that even though all this bad stuff did happen that Ammu at least had some happiness and love in her life. The fact that it was "a Small Price to Pay" on the other hand is not so true. The price that Ammu and Velutha paid for having this relationship was tremendous. Velutha paid with his death and his betrayal, while Ammu had a short life and saw through her kids at what a tramatic life they have and will have. I think that the twins are the ones who really pay for their mother's sins. Their family treats them terribly and all other realationships seem to either fall apart and or not exist entirley.

[IBREAL]

Ok IBREAL, now that you've finished reading the novel, has your opinion changed? Or is it only strengthened by the events of the last two chapters?

If you are referring to me thinking that Ammu's parenting skills are becoming worse I think that the end of the book strengthens it. I think that sense Ammu is being so careless and frequently being with Velutha she is putting the whole family at risk. I also think that that is hypocritical because she use to get on to the twins for hanging around him. She also knows that she is not supposed to be associated with an untouchable. With Ammu being an adult she is being irresponsible in following her passions.

After reading the last chapters of the book my opinion did change. In the beginning I thought that this was a good book. I would have agreed with you on taking this book to a desert island. I thought it had all the qualities of a good but until I read the end of the book. The closer I got to the end of the book the more I felt that the book got worse even though I thought that it couldn't get worse. I also thought that all the description in the last chapters was a little unnecessary. I was also highly disgusted which didn't help. I thought the ending was a bad way to end the book because the ending chapter seemed almost as if it was put there randomly because Roy thought Oh I didn't put any sex in the story so I guess I will add it all in the end to make up for it.

[hp 4ever!]

So, in class we've discussed how the river is a key symbol in the BIG scheme of things. This is true because the river is representative of Estha and Rahel's life: "SO this first third of the river they knew well. The next two-thirds less so. The second third was where the Really Deep began....The third third was shallow again. The water brown and murky" (Roy 194). Looking into the different parts of the river can provide one with a reflection of the twins' life. For the first 7 years of their lives (before the "Terror"), the twins knew their home, family, and more specifically each other quite well. However, over the next few years of their lives, the twins are separated and thus have a really deep barrier between each other. However, the twins are reunited again in the last third of their lives (we are only introduced to twenty-something years of their lives) yet, their relationship is murkier and more mysterious than the first third of their lives. This is demonstrated by the fact that they connect in many different ways such as the showering incident. However, the river changes over the time the twins are separated and "the water [becomes] thick and toxic" (119). This could be symbolic of the different perspective of the twins' (not just Rahel's angry colored outlook) outlook on the world. The world to them after the terror had become corrupted and mysterious (for things can change in a day) because they realized even those closest to you could trick you as did Baby Kochamma at the police station. Also, I found it interesting that "Years later, when Rahel returned to the river.....it was no more than a swollen drain" even though "it was June, and raining" (118). The swollen figure of the river can be a figurative demonstration of Rahel having "a hollow where Estha's words had been" (20).

[MGegishov]

To my knowledge Arundhati Roy wrote God of Small Things (a book I have not read myself) and then launched her career as a political activist and activist writer. The one book I have read by her is An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, which is absolutely brilliant. So to say she has disappointed is to overlook her significant contributions to activist literature. And if she writes her fiction with as much poetry, passion, clarity, lyricism, concern, brilliance, and skill as her nonfiction, she has no reason to be concerned about her career.

[blazeofglory]

The god of small things is really a very touching book and the writer has very flashily used language. The English language she used is enigmatically beautiful.

[AliasX]

Could anyone explain to me the symbolism of the kathakali performance that Rahel watches? What is that play about and in what relation does it stand to the rest of the novel? I'm not familiar with Indian tradition and culture, so this chapter had me a bit mystified.
Also, why does Comrade Pillai want to get rid of Velutha? Why is Velutha the reason he can't organise the workers of Paradise Pickles & Preserves in a union and encourage them to rebel against Chacko's management?

[mzmarymack]

Hm. I don't fully understand it, but the kathakali dancers are a revered part of Indian culture. They do dance, but it's not just entertainment purposes. It's much deeper than that. Roy explains that they tell a story through their performance, and the stories are their precious children. That is all they know, and it is a sacred part of their life. Roy envelopes you in the beauty of the culture and history of kathak, which is an actual style of dance. After you're entranced, she tells you the reality. These people have been forced to sell out. White influence corrupts the beauty and culture until it is a mockery.

I think Pillai tells Chacko to fire Velutha because other workers in the PPP factory resent him and have strong prejudices toward him (b/c he's an Untouchable). The other workers are less obedient to Pillai, and if Velutha leaves, Pillai can successfully create a revolt? The workers don't like that Velutha is in the communist party with them, and if he is forced to leave, they don't have to deal with ugly social problems. They can say that they are tolerant and equal to all without having to be just. Does that make any sense?

[2bremembered]

God of Small Things was very beautiful. It captured the element of passion, change, and love.

[mzmarymack]

If you are referring to me thinking that Ammu's parenting skills are becoming worse I think that the end of the book strengthens it. I think that sense Ammu is being so careless and frequently being with Velutha she is putting the whole family at risk. I also think that that is hypocritical because she use to get on to the twins for hanging around him. She also knows that she is not supposed to be associated with an untouchable. With Ammu being an adult she is being irresponsible in following her passions.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, but just to play the devil's advocate on Ammu's parenting skills...
I don't know how we can expect Ammu to be a good parent. Don't we learn through experiences? What kinds of things does Ammu learn? Her father beats Mammachi and herself, not to mention the boot incident. He acts as an honorable member of society, but he reveals his cruel nature in his house.
[[Partial tangent: I've grown up in an Indian household, and I see Indian society through the media. One thing that is very strong that is different from American society is the mentality. And I hope no one takes offense to what I am about to say. It might sound bad, but I'm presenting it as a fact, not a judgment. Indians tend to have a strong nature to keep family problems within the family. Yes, this is present in American culture as well, but it is much... STRONGER in Indian culture. You don't take your problems out of the house. If you have a problem with your mother/father/sibling, it's taboo to even talk about it with a close cousin. Therefore, it might be surprising to some how Papachi can be a model citizen and a horrible father and husband. It might seem out of place that the kathakali dancers are enveloped in their religious dances, but they still go home to beat their wives. Unfortunately, repressing bad things is part of the culture. It's subtle, but it's there. End.]]
So Ammu has this part in her personality. She doesn't grow up in an ideal environment. Her past creates her personality. Roy says she's an "unmixable mix. the tenderness of a mother and the volatility of a suicide bomber" something along those lines.. She reacts to her past in two ways. And we know these ways by her actions
1) She rebels. She goes off to marry a tea farmer (I think?). Love marriage. It's shunned upon. Her family does not even acknowledge the marriage when she tells them.
2) She vows to be better. To rise above what fate has dealt her. We see this through the promise she makes to Estha&Rahel. She tells them that she is their mother and father and that she loves them twice as much.

So she's not abusive. she tries her best. it's not like she has a a model to follow. she's making things up as she goes.
About Velutha. yeah, she does put her family at risk. however, it's love. it's her redeeming quality. if you accuse her for falling in love and having the courage to act upon it, then you're saying that history, culture, tradition is right. things shouldn't change. it's too hard. just give up.
~~One thing I noticed... Love between white and brown (tehe) people was unacceptable perhaps 50 or 60 years prior to the setting in this book (don't quote me on the date exactly. I do know that it was most def frowned upon in the 1800s). It was exactly liek the Touchable/Untouchable situation. The Touchables were the whites, and the UT were the Indians. (surprised? prolly not.) that kinda flew out the window. Social class differences don't mean anything. They are just obstacles to determine who is strong enough&lucky enough to overcome them. Touchables vs UT: there's a really strong religious force that acts as a barrier. What i found funny (in a humorless way) was that the Kochammas are Syrian Christians. They aren't even Hindu. They don't believe in the religion behind the caste system. It's easier to justify what they do if it's based on religion... you don't wanna go to Hell, do you? But the Kochammas didn't even have religion to back them up!

So I don't blame Ammu. I feel pity and remorse. She had a horrible childhood. And I don't even think we realize the whole of it. On some level, we are desensitized to the concept of abuse. We see it on TV and hear about it. It's a lot more common. Yes, we are shocked when we hear of an abuse case, but we don't fully realize what it entails. Being physically beaten the crap out of you on a daily basis. Emotional scarring for the rest of your life. Believing something that an abusive parent told you when you were young.
I just think we tend to gloss over the more gruesome details.

Back to Ammu.. IBREAL said that she is irresponsible. Having to deal with an abusive father. an abusive husband. that's hard. that's humiliating. and she's expecting a child, but she gives birth to twins instead. that should be a joyous occasion, but who does she have to celebrate with? Husband? no he's a compulsive liar and alcoholic. Any other family? No they all look down upon her for running away. Friends? Doubt it. Maybe she should go to her husband's boss. he seems to be the most interested in her. (sarcasm, in case that was not evident..) Do you see what I'm talking about? Yet she does not abandon her twins. She takes them with her.

Yes, she calls them (E&R) millstones around her neck. guess what. if you were to take the worst thing a person has said and attach that phrase to the person, only taking into account that one phrase, there would not be a lot of "good", "responsible" people.
Look at the other actions. She dies trying to earn enough money to support her kids and herself. She buys Rahel a present and Estha one as well, even though she cannot give it to him. Her only light, Velutha, is gone, but she's living because of her responsibilities: Estha and Rahel. Without them, I truly believe she would pull a Juliet and commit suicide because her Romeo is beaten to death.

[OlutomilolaAsa7]

In addition to the color symbolism sprinkled on nearly every page of Arundhati Roy's novel, cleanliness is a very profound theme in The God of Small Things that Roy uses to further develop characters and symbols of the novel as well as provide detailed descriptions of setting. Most apparent in Chapters 3 and 4, cleanliness, in terms of character significance, is mostly related to Estha. Chapter 3 begins with a detailed description of the "present-day" Ayemenem house. The utter filth and ruin that is causing the overall decay of the home is arguably symbolic of the decay of the family itself. Roy uses alot of symbolism with her description of different homes in the novel - the home of Kari Saipu, for instance, is recognized by Estha and Rahel as the physical manifestation of the "History House" that Chacko speaks of in Chapter 2 and is compared to the Heart of Darkness of Ayemenem (clearly a throwback to Joseph Conrad's novella and a huge foreshadow of darkness to come in the plot). With its white walls "turned an uneven gray" and "giant cockroaches that scurried around like varnished gofers on a film set"(84), the Ayemenem house is the physical manifestation of the decay of love and relationships in the family inhabiting the house (sort of a throwback to Edgar Allen Poe's "House of Usher", in which the house ultimately dies with the family). The exception to this is Estha, "the obsessive cleanliness" of his room being the only sign of a found purpose in Estha. Estha kind of strikes me as a Boo Radley for the "present-day" Ayemenem house; his inpenetrable silence and routine way of life (so much so that Baby Kochamma gloats in her ability to predict his every move) make him not only an outcast in his community but also in his own family. Estha has been neglected in this way all his life, along with Rahel; both of them are passed along and avoided because noone knows exactly what to do with them. It is their twin connection that gets them through EVERYTHING, especially all of the emotional neglect they experience at age 7. Rahel reaches out to Estha in his clean space in the crumbling Ayemenem home, but instead of recieving her he shrinks inwards like a porcupine in reverse and proceeds to wash his clothes. This occurence at the end of Chapter 3 sets the perfect stage for the detailed description of the trauma Estha experiences at Abhilash Talkies. His obsession with cleanliness keeps him from being able to fully connect, but more than that it is the symbol of the moral decay of the family that has overtaken the house and severed the twins' relationship. I believe Estha depends on his ability to keep things clean. It is more than "just the whisper of an unwillingness to subsist on scraps offered by others", it is Estha clings to as his one redeeming quality. Much like Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, all of the characters in the book are questing for redemption, and Estha's atonement for what has been done to him, he believes, is his ability to keep clean everything placed in his care and his going silent, which contrasts with his personality at age 7 dramatically - as he was not as shy and lost his innocence, Estha now possibly believes that being silent will help him hold on to what little innocence he has left. In these two aspects of his existence, Estha also finds a way to take control over his life, which is no doubt valuable to him after the events of Chapter 4. In Chapter 4, Roy often uses color symbolism and the cleanliness theme in tandum to illustrate both the big and small pictures of the novel, especially in character development. Estha is obsessed with his appearance on his quest to manhood at age 7, as in the HIS bathroom scene he carefully cleans himself and primps his Elvis puff. He is the epitome of innocence, being sent out of the theatre for singing along with the movie. His song, however, awakens the Orange drink Lemon drink man, who is betrayed as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Though he is wearing white clothes and lots of gold and jewels, there is a constant filthiness about him. The duality of the man's appearance clearly illustrates the predator - prey relationship that Roy establishes between the man and Estha. After the traumatizing sexual act that Estha is forced to do, the "jeweled bear", with his yellow "piano key teeth", wipes Estha's hand "with his dirtcolored rag"(99). The rag is mentioned just-so over four times in the chapter, its dirtcolored appearance never forgotten. The way the Estha reacts to his "Other Hand" after the event symbolizes the mark/ wound placed within him. The nasty drink man wiped his hand to clean off the semen, but ironically he left a stain of sin and shame so deep within Estha that he cannot even use the hand for the rest of the night. The most profound use of the cleanliness themes comes in Estha's own debates in his mind over whether or not he can be loved by Baron von Trapp after touching the man's "so-so". In a very Anglophilic way, both Rahel and Estha look to Baron von Trapp as a potential answer to the love from a father figure that they have never had, and resolve to try and be good enough to win his love and their mother's, Ammu, by being as much like the clean and white von Trapp children as possible. Estha's conclusion then that Barron von Trapp "cannot love them. I cannot be their Baba. Oh no"(102) is a very big thing that happens as a result of many small things. Estha feels vommity after the sexual encounter with the man, but is not able to purge himself until he is alone in the clean blue-lit bathroom of the Hotel Sea Queen. His expulsion of "the acrid aftertaste of a Little Man's first encounter with Fear"(113) however, doesn't cure him of the uncleanliness he still feels well into adulthood, and makes him obsessively clean his surroundings, and the fear of being "love less" for it that silences him. Estha is frozen by his uncleanliness, made into a Little Man that cannot ever scrub away enough for his sins and has never known the kind of love that frees him from scrubbing at all.

[blazeofglory]

Um...er... what? What else did she write? I thought this was still her only novel? Or had she finishd and published her second novel already??? :eek2:

I know she published some scripts and political essays, but I'm not really interested in drama and even less in politics, so I didn't read those, so she certainly didn't disappoint me by that. :) But did I miss another prose she wrote?

Arundhati Roy was a writer of great repute and with her first and I suppose her last novel she earned everything beyond her imagination in point of fact. She has been an epitome of hope for Asian writers writing in English and opened a door for the rest of new comers in the domain of English works in India in particular. This suddenly instigated new hope amongst the new generation who has studied in English medium schools that writing in English is not something unworkable in India not withstanding the fact that to write in the spirit and rhythm of vernaculars is still a far cry. Yet getting to start writing in English is what many thought up. Whereas she imbibed new interests in the youths of India by doing some exemplary works – by writing a book that earned her international acclaim and great repute that hooked the west to award her one of the most prestigious international awards, but by limiting herself to that novel she thwarted the hopes she had generated once among the budding Indian writers. Not that she was incapable of writing another novel and also not that she had no stories to write and also not that novels must be plotted or written in a conformist way.

She could indeed have written wonderful novels rather than shining short-termly writing a series of articles on political issues. An artist can come up with greater works of art if they distance them from politics. That said it does not mean that writers should completely detach themselves from politics and as long as man is in society he must take a little interest in politics also but not to the extent of Roy has been doing.

[hurdler]

Vellya Paapens decision to give up his son shows just how deeply ingrained the caste system is in everyone's minds. Who would be willing to kill such a talented son? I wonder if he would have reached this decision if he were not drunk. Also, the fact that he comes when it is raining symbolizes the fact that he wants to cleanse himself of impurity.

Chacko's relationship with Margaret Kochama shows how spoiled he is. He likes her because she is self-sufficient and does not dote on him like his parents did. The division of parental attention between boys and girls is actually quite shocking. Chacko could not have been a Rhodes Scholar and gone to Oxford without intense parental support, whereas Ammu was received not even the slightest bit of encouragement in her childhood from her parents. No one is expected to treat their daughters or wives fairly. Even the Kathakali men go home to beat their wives. I am somewhat glad that modern culture is creeping into India so that it can replace the social system of castes and male dominance. However, whether this balances the negative effects of modern technology and values such as TV's and pollution is very hard to judge.

Chacko's visit to Comrade Pillai's was interesting. They both had hidden reasons for everything they did. Comrade Pillai wanted to seem busy and important and asked for two other people who had been waiting to speak with him to come. Chacko's excuse for coming is to make sure Comrade Pillai can make the advertisement signs for the pickles factory, but the real reason is to ask about the march and Velutha. One thing about the visit that seemed contradictory was that it first mentioned that Pillai didn't even acknowledge his wife when he entered, but then he said that his wife was the boss at home. This viist shows the relationship between man and woman in India in a long term relationship. Kalyani is like a slave waiting on Pillai, always ready to serve him and his guests food.

Also, on another topic, I think Ammu has not considered her parenting skills enough. If she does not feel like she had someone who truly loved her when she was little, why does she not provide the twins with the open love she lacked? If she wants to toughen them up in their family and the world, I think it would be much easier for a seven-year old to face the world with someone who loves your dearly supporting you all the way.

[blazeofglory]

I am again going to read the God of small things, probably the coming week and the desire of reading this book arose out of the curiosity that rose particularly abut the use of language; and she was quotably said to have used the English language musically and poetically, a language foreign to her but she made use of it wondrously and I have learned lots of things about style and I consider her my Gurus when it comes to the use and application of language and she had a perfect choice of words and hardly any other writers could match her neat and majestic style

[Mocha Bean]

I thought it was very interesting that the boat that Rahel, Estha, and Ammu use once belonged to Pappachi. First of all this shows the influence he still has on the entire family; a lot of things they use, such as the blue plymouth, used to belong to him. In their own way they change the things to make them more their own. For example, Chacko puts the sign for the pickle factory on the car, which would have outraged Pappachi if he were alive. Ammu uses the boat to disgrace her family. In their own way the characters seem to be rebelling to Pappachi after he's dead. Other characters simply replace him with someone else, like Mammachi did with Chacko.

Another thing is that the boat was crashed on the riverbank where the twins find it when Pappachi was a child. This is symbolic to how the twins also lose their childhood with the boat in that spot. The boat is ultimately what caused Sophie Mol's death, which in turn ended the twins' childhoods.

When I read the passage about the twins cleaning the boat I thought that the image of the spiders floating on the river into the sea was interesting. The mother dies, but her children live on into another far away land. It relates to how the boat takes Sophie Mol's life like it did the spider, but it also shows how Estha and Rahel should have moved on after Ammu's death.

One more thing about the boat is that Sophie Mol and the twins instinctively trusted the safety of the boat against the river, when really it could not save or protect them. This is like how they trusted their mother to protect them from the force of their family; but like the boat Ammu was not able to fend off the current.

After finishing the novel, I thought about the timeline of everything that occurred, and realized that if Joe had not gotten in a car crash and died that none of the story would have happened. The accident was probably a result of something small as well, maybe someone ran a red light and crashed into him, or maybe it was too dark that night, whatever small thing it was, caused the big thing of the car crash. The car crash then caused the rest of the novel, again representing a small thing turning into a big thing.

Another thing was that I went back and reread the first chapter, and I cannot believe how much it revealed, and how much I overlooked. Many events and people are foreshadowed, but since I did not know the characters yet, the only thing that stuck in my mind was Sophie Mol's death. Looking back now though, the first chapter set up a lot of clues for the rest of the novel, but yet it did not spoil the story whatsoever.

[nickname0811]

Since the characters in the God of Small Things failed at their marriages, I thought that the failure of marriage foreshadowed their miserable story ending.

For example, Chacko who got divorced from Margaret failed to gain his independency. His failure of marriage proved that Chacko is not able to get away from Mammachi. Also, Ammu who married to the guy who had turned as alcoholic and vioent decide to leave him and went back to the Ayemenem. Ammu seemed to have her own life after she left her husband, unlike Chacko. However, she was forced by the society in some way. Ammu seemed to find her real love, Velutha who was abandoned by the society. Since the society decided to kill him, Ammu got ill and died later. She had no hope and no dream after Velutha died.

Therefore, I thought that Roy intened to set up the failure of marriages in the begining of the book so that he can foreshadow the storyline

[rachmaninoff]

"To keep her from brooding, her father gave Baby Kochamma charge of the front garden of the Ayemenem House, where she raised a fierce, bitter garden that people came all the way from Kottayam to see" (26).
The garden symbolizes Baby Kochamma's love for Mulligan and her bitterness in the fact that her life is ruined. She also lets her bitterness out on the twins by showing her lack of faith in them. This overall bitterness about life is also personified in the damp and heavy air, and it fills the house so much that "swollen cupboards creaked. Locked windows burst open" (11). Everyone is disatisfied by something in their lives.

[taztara158]

When we were talking about the passage on page 30 about how the family no longer lives by the river, I feel we missed a point further down the page. We did discuss how because the river is not there the family has lost all hope and purity. They have no outlet. Although later on the page Roy says, "Though you couldn't see the river from the house anymore, like a seashell always has a sea-sense, the Ayemenem House still had a river-sense" (30). To me this sentence shows they have not lost all hope. While the water is not physically there, it is in their minds. The family still has dreams, the women especially. The women in the story all have a certain goal they want to acheive but are uncapable of doing so because of their gender. By having a river-sense, the woman still have that urge to carry out their dreams even though in reality it is unlikely.

We also may talk about this tomorrow, but there are a few points about this next idea I want to point out if I do not get the chance tomorrow. On pages 52-3 Chacko tells the twins about the Earth Woman. He tells them, "the whole contemporary history, the World Wars, the War of Dreams, the Man on the Moon, science, literature, philosophy, the pursuit of knowledge- was no more than a blink of the Earth Woman's eye" (53). This passage is very important to the twins' take on life. They are being told directly that they don't matter. They are just a small part of a great picture that will have little lasting effect. This relates back to the small god vs. big god. Big god does not care about the twins because he represents the bigger picture like Earth Woman does. Instead they care about small god, who cares about them. Small god represents the smaller things and just enjoys life, which is the message the twins should be getting.

[fruit loops!]

One thing I noticed while reading chapter two were Rahel’s accessories. On the trip to the airport to pick up her cousin and uncle’s ex-wife, Rahel has on a plastic wrist watch with the time painted on it and a pair of yellow rimmed red sunglasses (37). Each of these accessories has a meaning behind them.
The wrist watch represents how time for the twins is at stanby and how time will have no affect on them as in the way that even as time passes, they will always be stuck in the same time period. We have not gotten that far into the book yet, but we already know that even as adults Rahel and Estha act childish, meaning that time has changed and moved on, but they have yet to do so, and to me the plastic wrist watch foreshadows this.
The sunglasses to me represent Ammu's family. Ammu does not allow Rahel to wear the sunglasses for long periods of time because they damage her eye. This is ironic because sunglasses are supposed to protect one's eyes from the sun, not cause them damage. Ammu's family is like that. Families are supposed to be supportive and loving no matter what the situation is, yet Ammu's family treat her and her kids as though they were pariahs. In chapter one when the family is attending Sophie Mol's funeral, Chacko had to "allow" them to attend and while at the church, they were not allowed to stand along side the rest of the family.

[asdf99]

In chapter 2 of The God of Small Things, I found it interesting how the focus of many parts of the chapter was on very small things rather than big events. The attention of the reading is turned to when pappachi breaks his wife’s violin. He is so concerned that she will fall out of her place as a woman that he shatters her dreams: “mammachi took her first lessons in violin.. The lesson were abruptly discontinuen when Mammachi’s teacher made the mistake of telling Pappachi that his wife was exceptionally talented and in his opinion, potentially concert class.” (49). There is also some meaning behind when Ammu snaps at Rahel for wearing her beloved sunglasses. It is mentioned that when Rahel put on her sunglasses “The world became angry colored” (81). It seems that the sunglasses dilute the harshness all around them and puts Rahel into an ideal world where the cast system and other social ills do not exist.
The novel brings attention to these things because all that the society they live in is concerned with is social standing, and politics. Roy point out that it is wrong to live according to only these ideas. He gives the example of Velutha, who seems to not care about social standing, and lives a happier life than those around him. Even though he is an untouchable, he goes into a profession that is supposedly only supposed to be filled by touchables.

[gujuprinz]

The passage in the novel about Pappachi's moth on pg 48-49 shows that when Pappachi discovered the new kind of species in his chai, he felt as if it was one of the greatest discovery because it was so new to him. Because of his excitement about his new findings, he took this the biologist, who told him that this kind of species were not new and had already been discovered. Because of this, Pappachi was all sad now because he figured out it was not his discovery. Later on, the biologists declared it as a new species, and it was named after the Acting Director of the Department of Entomology, whom Pappachi disliked. This relates to the theme of corruption because of the type of people in the area of India where Kerala was located, people get jealous of the findings of others, and they usually make the other person feel like nothing is new. Then later on, the same person person would report the findings and get the credit.

This occurring made Pappachi really mad because this new discovery might have been the best thing he might have accomplished in his whole life. His life was shattered and he started to beat his wife, and he later died. Also, this shows the personality of Pappachi because of how he coped with his loss. All of this occurrence led to the death of Pappachi.

[weezyhaahhh]

One aspect that we pointed out in our class discussion yesterday was the Roy's technique of using allusions to several texts that our class has read in the last few years.

One text that was referenced was The Great Gatsby. When the group is leaving to go see The Sound of Music, Chacko quotes a passage from the novel. "'Gatsby turned out all right at the end. It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.'" (38). This passage relates Chacko to Gatsby with the similarity of their desires. Gatsby, a resident of the West Egg, owns a large house and holds party in order to try and win back his former love, Daisy. Chacko, on the other hand, pursues something else. When Chacko returns from Oxford, the West Egg/Western influence, he tries to control everything.

This is also related to the last book we read, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Like Kurtz who claims "my Intended, my ivory, etc.", Chacko also claims "my Factory, my pineapples, my pickles" (56). Both characters attempt to use their Western influence to control their heart of darkness.

Allusions can also be made to The Poisonwood Bible. The twins, Rahel and Estha, can be related to several of the Price sisters. Obviously, the twins can be related to Leah and Adah, who are also twins. Moreover, a larger connection can be made to Adah. In Chapter 2, Rahel and Estha are said to be "precocious with their reading". Like Adah, the two excel in reading despite being quiet (especially Estha). Also, the two read things backwards. This can foreshadow that the twins, like Adah, have a different perspective of things with their disability of being twins. They are "Marked for Greatness"!

[fruit loops!]

He knew that if Ammu found out about what he had done with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, she’d love him less as well. Very much less. He felt the shaming churning heaving turning sickness in his stomach. He longed for the river. Because water always helps” (108).

Estha at the young age of 7 has just gone through a very traumatic experience that he doesn‘t even fully understand, and instead of being able to go to his mother and tell her, the fear of loosing his mother’s love like his sister has stops him from doing so. In this chapter the slipping away of love is a very prominent feature. Before Estha makes this comment, Ammu has told Rahel that a comment she had made lessened Ammu’s love for her. The knowledge of something like this happening to him has Estha scared to express his fears to his mother. Ammu’s comment to Rahel is completely uncalled for. The twins both only have the love of one parent which intensifies the impact of her comment.

Everyone in this family has an issue with losing love, Chacko is bitter of his ex-wife’s unfaithfulness and the lose of his daughter’s love, Baby Kochamma is bitter over the love she lost, and the twins are afraid of losing their mothers love.

In the quote mentioned above, Estha mentions the river which used to be located by their house, and how “water always helps”. The fact that Estha mentions the river makes it obvious that even as a child he sees the river as an escape, a way to leave everything behind and cleanse ones self. Water also plays a part in chapter 3 which takes place on a rainy day while the song “somewhere over the rainbow” plays in the background.

[mhamley]

One aspect that we pointed out in our class discussion yesterday was the Roy's technique of using allusions to several texts that our class has read in the last few years.

One text that was referenced was The Great Gatsby. When the group is leaving to go see The Sound of Music, Chacko quotes a passage from the novel. "'Gatsby turned out all right at the end. It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.'" (38). This passage relates Chacko to Gatsby with the similarity of their desires. Gatsby, a resident of the West Egg, owns a large house and holds party in order to try and win back his former love, Daisy. Chacko, on the other hand, pursues something else. When Chacko returns from Oxford, the West Egg/Western influence, he tries to control everything.

This is also related to the last book we read, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Like Kurtz who claims "my Intended, my ivory, etc.", Chacko also claims "my Factory, my pineapples, my pickles" (56). Both characters attempt to use their Western influence to control their heart of darkness.

Allusions can also be made to The Poisonwood Bible. The twins, Rahel and Estha, can be related to several of the Price sisters. Obviously, the twins can be related to Leah and Adah, who are also twins. Moreover, a larger connection can be made to Adah. In Chapter 2, Rahel and Estha are said to be "precocious with their reading". Like Adah, the two excel in reading despite being quiet (especially Estha). Also, the two read things backwards. This can foreshadow that the twins, like Adah, have a different perspective of things with their disability of being twins. They are "Marked for Greatness"!
weezyhaahhh, keep in mind the definition of an allusion -- it needs to be a direct reference to a specific text, historical event, etc. so the Gatsby comment is absolutely an allusion. Your connection to The Poisonwood Bible is a nice prior text, personal connection, but there is no indication in the novel the god of Small Things[I] that Roy is explicitly referring to [I]The Poisonwood Bible. You clarify the Heart of Darkness reference in such a way so as not to indicate a direct allusion; do the same in the future with other prior text connections.

[heath24]

Chapter 2 begins by stating, "however, for practical purposes, in a hopelessly practical world.." I believe this relates to how the children are treated by the adults around them. The kids keep hoping that their luck will change and they can become happy, however every adult brings the harsh reality to them. For example,whenever Ammu reprimands Rahel, it takes away of some of the child's hope. On pg.69 she states "You're a stupid silly little girl!" in reference to Rahel pointing out Velutha, and also on pg 107, "When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That's what careless words do. They make people love you a little less." These words cause reality and worry to be put on Rahel and even Estha.
Also, in class a couple days ago we were discussing the importance of music in the novel. One passage that relates to this on pg 94 states," A magical Sound of Music smell that Rahel remembered and treasured. Smells, like music, hold memories. This passage reminded me of The Poisonwood Bibe, when Orleanna is sometimes struck by smells of Africa. I wonder if this passage foreshadows any feelings of Rahel when she is older.

[heath24]

To add on to gujupriz' comments on Pappachi's moth, it seems as though this moth and coldness has spread through the family. This moth is referenced several times in the next few chapters. Rahel says, "A cold moth with unusually dense dorsal tufts landed lightly on Rahel's heart. Where its icy legs touched her, she got goosebumps (107)." This moth seems to metaphorically represent what makes a characters heart turn cold, hard, and bitter, until this feeling actually consumes, as it does with Pappachi.

[rachmaninoff]

One thing I noticed in Chapter 4 is that when the group separates to enter the restrooms, the author refers to Estha as "Estha Alone" (90,92, 93, and 113). I think this represents Estha's first real separation from Rahel and his new independence. However, after Estha's major accomplishment of using the urinal, one of the worst things that can happen to a child occurs: abuse by the Orangedrink Lemondrink man. This goes along with Ammu's lesson for the twins: "excitement always leads to tears" (94). Even though Estha does not completely understand what has just happened, he feels guilty and begins to question if anyone, including Baron von Trapp from Sound of Music, could ever love him the same again, which contributes to the overall theme of guilt throughout the story. Estha's abuse is also most likely the reason that he becomes obsessed with cleanliness. Rahel also experiences the same feelings after she asks Ammu why she didn't marry the Orangedrink Lemondrink man, and Ammu says that she loves Rahel a little less now.

[cl@rinetguy42]

I found significance in the title of chapter 5. In the brochures for the hotel, the hotel is described as a part of "God's Own Country. (120)" This is ironic because the characteristics of the tourists reflect the complete opposite. The hotel is regarded as bringing in the "Heart of Darkness. (119)" An example of the activites that the tourists take part in is "while fathers played sublimated sexual games with their nubile teenage daughters, Poontha suckled young Krishna at her poisoned breast. (121)" These activites are sinful and emphasize the irony that is displayed through chapter 5's title.

[hello:)]

Well, first of all in chapter 5, the river is a big symbol. It is so filthy that even insects are cautious. “Bronze-winged lily-trotters walked across it. Splay-footed, cautious.” (118) The River was more than just a river because “it had the power to evoke fear. To change lives.” (119) People bathed in river, washed their clothes and utensils there. That shows how people are so dependent on the nature especially water. Another thing that the river shows is Estha’s loss of innocence in chapter 4. The river is now really ugly and green because of the people around it and Estha also lost his innocence to the people around him. The big example that stands out is that man who sold cold drinks.

Chacko continues to boast around when Sophie and Margaret Kochamma arrive. He doesn’t realize that it’s really awkward for his ex-wife and ex-daughter. He carried around roses fatly and fondly. Since Sophie Mol’s arrival Rahel notices that her mother is not paying any attention to her, so Rahel thinks that she loves Sophie more. “Rahel watched hawk-eyed to try and gauge how much Ammy loved Sophie, but couldn’t.” (137) She is immediately intimidated by it, so she hinds behind the curtain.

Another thing I wanted to talk about was Ammu’s treatment of her kids when Baby Kochamma makes snide remarks. Around page 138-39, Ammu gets mad at her kids because they are not willing to say hello. But then Baby Kochamma snaps at them and then Ammu explains to them calmly that they should behave properly. She does that because she realizes that others (Baby Kochamma) are giving them enough trouble as it is. For example, “ More than Double, so remember what I told you. People’s feelings are precious. And when you disobey me in Public, everybody gets the wrong impression.”(142)

[Geekzilla93]

The thing I am finding greatly significant about this book so far is the usage of all the small things to signify greater things, such as mood or inner conflict is signified by Estha’s poof or Rahel’s moth. I really like how well the title fits in with the book. Because the book mentions two gods, the Big God who worried about the ‘great’ things in life while the Small God was concerned only about the small things in life. The Small God is regarded as being indifferent, as if nothing mattered much.
But as the book progresses, it is obvious to see that it is all the small things that happen in their lives that totally change them. It was all the small things that added up.
“Things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes” (32) Something as trivial as a few hours can change a whole lifetime, I really like the concept of how nothing is permanent in this novel because that makes this novel feel real.

Another thing I want to mention is the concept of them living backwards, and the logic behind it. In the beginning, Chacko and Ammu teach them lessons that seem way beyond their maturity levels. And not only that, Estha and Rahel genuinely took those lessons to heart and applied them. Since they were always burdened with such lessons during their childhood, it was as if their childhood was stolen right from them. So because they were denied the right to just simply…be, they seemed to be very childish when they became adults.

[Geekzilla93]

The passage in the novel about Pappachi's moth on pg 48-49 shows that when Pappachi discovered the new kind of species in his chai, he felt as if it was one of the greatest discovery because it was so new to him. Because of his excitement about his new findings, he took this the biologist, who told him that this kind of species were not new and had already been discovered. Because of this, Pappachi was all sad now because he figured out it was not his discovery. Later on, the biologists declared it as a new species, and it was named after the Acting Director of the Department of Entomology, whom Pappachi disliked. This relates to the theme of corruption because of the type of people in the area of India where Kerala was located, people get jealous of the findings of others, and they usually make the other person feel like nothing is new. Then later on, the same person person would report the findings and get the credit.

This occurring made Pappachi really mad because this new discovery might have been the best thing he might have accomplished in his whole life. His life was shattered and he started to beat his wife, and he later died. Also, this shows the personality of Pappachi because of how he coped with his loss. All of this occurrence led to the death of Pappachi.

I think another great importance about the moth is that it represents pain and sorrow, and how it is emphasized that it will haunt his children and his children's children. It shows through Ammu when she snaps at Rahel (69) and it settles upon Rahel's heart when her mother claimed to love her less, showing how the moth will always haunt.

[rachmaninoff]

"Years later, when Rahel returned to the river, it greeted her with a ghastly skull's smile, with holes where teeth had been, and a limp hand raised from a hospital bed. Both things had happened. It had shrunk. And she had grown" (118).


There is a connection between Rahel and the river. Like Rahel who is stripped of her life by her harsh family and lack of a childhood, the river is also stripped of its life by man, "More rice, for the price of a river" (118).


"They knew, those clever Hotel People, that smelliness, like other peoples' poverty, was merely a matter of getting used to. A question of discipline. Of Rigor and Air-conditioning. Nothing more" (120).


This passage reflects Social Darwinism, which applied "survival of the fittest" to society: only certain groups of people (mainly Whites) were considered to be "fit" and destined to succeed. Those who stayed at "God's Own Country" were socially fit, while those outside the hotel walls in the slums were socially inferior.


"Something lay buried in the ground. Under grass. Under twenty-three years of June rain. A small forgotten thing. Nothing that the world would miss. A child's plastic wristwatch with the time painted on it. Ten to two, it said" (121).


This passage symbolies Rahel's childhood that she never had. This also relates back to the Poisonwood Bible when one of the Price daughters says that the Africans have no childhood because they immediately have to either help the family and/or get married and start a new family. Due to the trauma and guilt that Rahel faces in her life, she is robbed of her childhood as well.

"Ambassador Rahel wouldn't come out of the curtain because she couldn't She couldn't because she couldn't. Because Everything was wrong. And soon there would be a LayTer for both her and Estha. Full of furred moths and icy butterflies. And deep-sounding bells. And moss. And a Nowl. The dirty airport curtain was a great comfort and a darkness and a shield" (140).


Like Adah from the Poisonwood Bible, Rahel completely withdraws herself from life to shield herself from the harsh reality. This is also shown when Rahel gets a distant look in her eyes when her ex-husband and she are being intimate.

[asdf99]

I think that its important to note all the similairities that we are seeing in the characters of this book. One being the beatings. Mamamachi, Ammu, Sophie Mol, Esta, and Rahel. This is one thing that I have noticed. This family seems to have a problem picking spouses who are not prone to domestic violence; its very sad. Another things I noticed from what we talked about in class today was love. I think that the characters are all struggling because they are lacking love. I think they would all be better people if they loved got more love and showed each other more love. I thing love is the most imporatnt thing in the world. I also think that not being loved can be the most helpless feeling in the world.

I think the dreams vs God of Small things is shown by Rahel. Rahel shows how she wants to be in control of time by her little watch. This is very interesting because she wants to control something so small as a watch. I think that Rahel is also trying to control something as smalll as her watch because she is so small and she probably wouldn't be able to control something that is very big.

Rahel sees everything in her life slowly going out of her control. She is desperate for even a little bit of affection and love from any person around her. Especially Ammu. It seems like her only care in life is to have her mother Ammu, love her. She always attempts to please her and get the feeling that she is loved. When this does not happen, Rahel becomes very upset, and takes Ammu's discontent in a much worse way than it is meant to be. A big part of Rahel's character is her realization that she is a very small thing in the big world around her: "Rahel looked around her and saw that she was in a Play. But she had only a small part" (164). She longs to control things in her life, in the world where she is only a small thing. Her watch is an example of this. She achieves her want to control some aspect of her life by drawing on her watch. She feels accomplished when she is able to master control over something, even as little as time (supposedly).

[rachmaninoff]

"In her younger years, with prescience and good management, Mammachi had collected all her falling hair in a small embroidered purse that she kept on her dressing table. When there was enough of it, she made it into a netted bun which she kept hidden in a locker with her jewelry" (158).


Mammachi's bun symbolizes an important theme throughout the book: denying the passage of time. Not only does Mammachi want to still feel young, but she is also hiding her scars from her abusive marriage. Another example of this theme is during Rahel's last conversation with Ammu when Ammu keeps talking and doesn't give Rahel a chance to speak because she's afraid of the grown-up things Rahel might say. Ammu thinks that if she remembers the twins as seven -year- olds, they will stay seven-year-olds until she gets her life back together. In addition, this on-going theme shows how nobody in the family is please with their life. Everyone is either trying to hide something and relive their past.


"Behind her slanted sunglasses her useless eyes were closed, but she could see the music as it left her violin and lifted into the afternoon like smoke. Inside her head, it was like a room with dark drapes drawn across a bright day" (159).


For Mammachi, playing her violin and wearing her sunglasses are ways for her to escape reality. "Mammachi put her dark glasses on again. And drew the drapes across the hot day" (174). Rahel also uses her sunglasses to escape from the "angry-colored" reality.


"Rahel looked around her and saw that she was in a Play. But she had only a small part. She was just the landscape. A flower perhaps. Or a tree. A face in the crowd. A Townspeople" (164).


Rahel notices that ever since Sophie Mol came, their life is a like a play with Sophie Mol as the star, "The Play went with her. Walked when she walked, stopped when she stopped. Fond smiles followed her" (177). Everything is rehearsed, so nobody's actions are genuine because everyone's trying to impress Sophie. This passage also relates back to the Earth Woman idea when Chacko tells the twins that individual people and their pursuit of happiness are all a mere blink of the Earth Woman's eyes.

[hello:)]

In chapter 7 ( Wisdom Exercise Notebooks), Rahel notices that Ammu won’t stop talking. It seems like it was her way of venting herself, without letting Rahel know that she was sick. Ammu was scared of something, maybe herself. “[Ammu] asked Rahel questions, but never let her answer them. If Rahel tried to say something, Ammu would interrupt with a new thought or query. She was terrified of what adult thing her daughter might say and thaw Frozen Time. Fear made her garrulous.” (153) Also in Chapter 7, Rahel tries to write to Estha. She wants to tell him that Ammu died, but hopes that he will sense it himself. I think that Estha feels bad that Rahel didn’t tell him. That could be the only thing that might ever come between the twins.

I think it’s significant how Roy specifically showed how Ammu died and then the next chapter was about how she came alive when she was attracted to Velutha. This whole book reflects the fact that life is unpredictable. The end of Chapter 7 and Chapter 9 is, “Things can change in a day.” Nothing builds up to anything, and that also reflects Estha’s two thoughts in ch. 10. In this novel, there are many things that are unpredictable. Anything can happen in a blink of an eye and only bad things happen to this family.

[hello:)]

[QUOTE=Geekzilla93;971202]The thing I am finding greatly significant about this book so far is the usage of all the small things to signify greater things, such as mood or inner conflict is signified by Estha’s poof or Rahel’s moth. I really like how well the title fits in with the book. Because the book mentions two gods, the Big God who worried about the ‘great’ things in life while the Small God was concerned only about the small things in life. The Small God is regarded as being indifferent, as if nothing mattered much.

The thing is that Roy has capitalized many random things in the book to give it a poetic feel. But at the same time, I think she has a pattern developed. She will only capitalized several things. For example, she always has "Two Thoughts, Time Being and Wisdome Notebooks." I think she does that to show how the Small Things signify Big Things (what Geekzilla93 said). The small things are always capitalized to emphasize that they are what lead the big things. The small things make up the big things, in the end everything depends on the small things.

[rachmaninoff]

In Chapter 12, I saw some similarities between Karna and Ammu. Like Karna, Ammu is "dangerous. (Her) despair complete. This story is the safety net above which (she) swoops and dives like a brilliant clown in a corrup circus. It's all (she) has to keep (her) from crashing through the world like a falling stone" (220). Ammu ruined her life by marrying an abusive husband out of "love" and then decided to divorce him. The twins are the constant reminder of her past, like Pearl in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne's living Scarlet A on her chest. Ammu is desperate and has nothing to live for besides her kids, which leads her to take the risk of making Velutha her lover. "Ironically, (Karna's) struggle is the reverse of actor's struggle - he strives not to enter a part but to escape it" (220). Ammu just wants to escape her life and past, so she can be free and not have to worry about the consequences.

Also in Chapter 12, I think that the scene in the play on pages 223-224 where Bhima beat Dushasana could maybe foreshadow the future seperation of Estha and Rahel, since each twin symbolically represents half a person and only when they're together are they a whole person. "It was no performance. Esthappen and Rahel recognized it. They had seen its work before. Another morning. Another stage. Another kind of frenzy (with millipedes on the soles of its shoes)" (224). Maybe Estha and Rahel know that they will eventually be separated or something bad is about to happen to them that is beyond their control. "They sat there, Quietness and Emptiness...Trapped in the bog of a story that was and wasn't theirs. That had set out with the semblance of structure and order, then bolted like a frightened horse into anarchy" (224).

"A glass-paned cupboard was crammed with damaged balsa airplanes. Broken butterflies with imploring eyes. A wicked king's wooden wives languishing under an evil wooden spell. Trapped. Only one, her mother, Maragaret, had escaped to England" (227). This quote shows how out of everyone in the family, Margaret Kochamma is the only person who can actually leave. Everyone else is a broken airplane with unfulfilled dreams, guilt, and/or no way to escape their unsatisfactory lives.

In Chapter 13, there are also similarities between Ammu and Margaret Kochamma. Roy introduces how Margaret and Chacko met and their resulting marriage. Both Ammu and Margaret marry men they "love" while going against their parents wishes, and both marriages end in failure. Part of this problem is that both women "drifted" into marriage. "(Margaret) was perhaps to young to realize that what she assumed was her love for Chacko was actually a tentative, timorous, acceptance of herself" (233). Ammu and Margaret left their husbands for the benefit and safety of their children. These failed marriages reflect the overall bitterness and feelings of hatred in the women in this book. :rage:

[gujuprinz]

This post has been removed by the user

[gujuprinz]

In Chapter 13, there are also similarities between Ammu and Margaret Kochamma. Roy introduces how Margaret and Chacko met and their resulting marriage. Both Ammu and Margaret marry men they "love" while going against their parents wishes, and both marriages end in failure. Part of this problem is that both women "drifted" into marriage. "(Margaret) was perhaps to young to realize that what she assumed was her love for Chacko was actually a tentative, timorous, acceptance of herself" (233). Ammu and Margaret left their husbands for the benefit and safety of their children. These failed marriages reflect the overall bitterness and feelings of hatred in the women in this book. :rage:



I agree with "rachmaninoff" about how these failed marriages reflected the overall bitterness and feelings of hatred in the women in this book. This is because usually when woman get divorced in India or their husband dies, the women usually tend to get angry or they do not overcome the deaths because their husbands worked and supported the family when the women took care of the family. When the husband dies or leaves them, the women get poor, and they are looked down upon. This makes the women mad because they start to think that my husband left me in this state, and he must be getting heaven peace while i suffer and i am looked down upon. The same situation is seen in the novel because Ammu and Margaret leave their husbands, and they have to support their children with all they have, even if they are looked down upon.

[gujuprinz]

In chapters 12-15, an important passage i would like to point out is on page 218 where it says, "June is a low season for kathakali. But there are some temples that a troupe will not pass by without performing in." This shows that for the dancers to survive normal life, they would have to dance and make money. The significant thing is the time period in which they would do these dances. June is right before the monsoon season, meaning that it is the month they would have to make all the money they can to survive throughout the monsoon season because money would be needed to buy food. In the monsoon season, very little is available because the rains are very heavy, and all the farmers are waiting for the rain to grow their crops.

[gujuprinz]

Another passage that I thought that was important was on page 238 where it says, "Margaret Kochamma never forgave herself for taking Sophie Mol to Ayemenem. For leaving her there alone over the weekend while she and Chacko went to Cochin to confirm their return tickets." This passage is significant because it shows how Margaret Kochamma felt guilty and thought that Sophie Mol's death was her fault, when the real fault was of Veluttha because he was the murderer who had drowned Sophie Mol. This is significant because it shows how Margaret Kochamma thought that if she had not taken Sophie Mol to Estha and Rahel, Sophie Mol would have been alive. I disagree with Margaret Kochamma because even if she had not bought Sophie Mol with her, Veluttha would have hurt someone else in their family because he had been after their family, and he would have harmed anyone of them because all he seeked was revenge. The guilt could have also been normal human instinct because when a mother's child dies, they tend to blame themselves because they think that the death could have been their fault. They think that they could have stopped all this from happening, when its only destiny. So I also kind of see where Margaret Kochamma is going because she is a normal mother, and she goes through this normal human instinct.

[frenchchick825]

Another passage that I thought that was important was on page 238 where it says, "Margaret Kochamma never forgave herself for taking Sophie Mol to Ayemenem. For leaving her there alone over the weekend while she and Chacko went to Cochin to confirm their return tickets." This passage is significant because it shows how Margaret Kochamma felt guilty and thought that Sophie Mol's death was her fault, when the real fault was of Veluttha because he was the murderer who had drowned Sophie Mol. This is significant because it shows how Margaret Kochamma thought that if she had not taken Sophie Mol to Estha and Rahel, Sophie Mol would have been alive. I disagree with Margaret Kochamma because even if she had not bought Sophie Mol with her, Veluttha would have hurt someone else in their family because he had been after their family, and he would have harmed anyone of them because all he seeked was revenge.

Velutha did not kill Sophie Mol. Baby Kochamma and Mammachi painted him out to be the murderer of Sophie Mol, but in reality, most of the blame falls on Estha, "who had broken the rules and rowed Sophie Mol and Rahel across the river in the afternoons in a little boat, [...] and finally, on that dreadful night, Estha who decided that though it was dark and raining, the Time Had Come for them to run away" (250).
And how was Velutha seeking revenge? He loved Ammu and the twins indefinitely, and when everything bad happened, "there were several perpetrators, [...] but only one victim. And he had blood red nails and a brown leaf on his back that made the monsoons come on time" (182). If anything, Velutha was the one that was mostly wronged.

[Gladys]

Baby Kochamma and Mammachi painted him out to be the murderer of Sophie Mol, but in reality, most of the blame falls on Estha

You're hard on Estha, a mere child, understandably scared and damaged. And where's the adult supervision when Sophie drowns?

As for Velutha, he's as innocent as a lamb.


So I also kind of see where Margaret Kochamma is going because she is a normal mother, and she goes through this normal human instinct.

Margaret Kochamma, as the mother responsible for Sophie's supervision, is the immature adult blaming a guileless Estha: another woman's child.

[rachmaninoff]

"He left his voice behind. On the station platform Rahel doubled over and screamed and screamed. The train pulled out. The light pulled in" (309).
This passage marks the beginning Rahel and Estha's damaged, but not ruined, relationship. Estha loses his will to speak, and like Adah from the Poisonwood Bible, he withdraws himself from society. The separation of the twins is so tramatic that it takes a sexual healing for them to ease their guilt and become one again.
"The watch they all forgot. It stayed behind in the History House. In the back verandah. A faulty record of time. Ten to two" (295).

I think this is significant because the truth about Velutha's final beating is never revealed. The only people to witness the beating were the twins and the police officers, and none of them released the truth to anyone. Ammu tries to tell the police the truth, but the Inspector Mathew doesn't listen to her and Velutha's all ready dead. However, the fact that the watch is left behind symbolizes how the History House also knows the truth. I think this is why the History House got its name. Ammu and Velutha broke the Love Laws there, which scarred Ammu's entire family for life, and then, Velutha was beaten to his eventual death there, which worsened Ammu and the twins' pain. Overall, a simple relationship at the History House scarred Estha and Rahel's childhood and connection.

[asdf99]

• “Enough? Enough. They stepped away from him. Craftsmen assessing their work. Seeking aesthetic distance." (294)
The beating of Velutha takes place in a very systematic fashion. The policemen do it as if it is a routine thing, without a thought that they are hurting a person. Velutha is portrayed as something completely worthless in this scene. The policemen do not even punch him because of Velutha's untouchable status, and instead kick him continuously as if he is not even human.

• “It isn’t him,” Rahel whispered to Estha. “I can tell. It’s his twin brother. Urumban. From Kochi.”
Unwilling to seek refuge in fiction, Estha said nothing. (295)
At this point in the novel the difference between Rahel's and Estha's perceptions of the world become evidently different. Rahel can not face the truth in things and instead convinces herself that the bad things in her life aren't really happening. We see this in the passage refereced above in that Rahel refuses to acknowledge that it is her beloved Velutha that was beaten.
Estha on the other hand perceives the unfortunate events in his life realistically. He remains silent rather than trying to convince himself of a better scenario.

• “Little Elivis the Pelvis with a spoiled, special outing puff. And beige and pointy shoes. He left his voice behind.” (309)
When Ammu Leaves the twins, we see that the hope that Estha had of being with his mother vanishes, and he faces the reality that she will most likely never come back. With this realization he “left his voice behind”.

• “On the station platform Rahel doubled over and screamed and screamed.” (309)
The strong bond between Ammu and the twins has been emphasized throughout the novel. Here when Ammu leaves the twin and leaves them heartbroken, we see that Rahel doubles over and screams as if their bond is being physically broken as the train takes Ammu away.

[asdf99]

“Since the characters in the God of Small Things failed at their marriages, I thought that the failure of marriage foreshadowed their miserable story ending.

For example, Chacko who got divorced from Margaret failed to gain his independency. His failure of marriage proved that Chacko is not able to get away from Mammachi. Also, Ammu who married to the guy who had turned as alcoholic and vioent decide to leave him and went back to the Ayemenem. Ammu seemed to have her own life after she left her husband, unlike Chacko. However, she was forced by the society in some way. Ammu seemed to find her real love, Velutha who was abandoned by the society. Since the society decided to kill him, Ammu got ill and died later. She had no hope and no dream after Velutha died.

Therefore, I thought that Roy intened to set up the failure of marriages in the begining of the book so that he can foreshadow the storyline”

The failure of Ammu's marriage has a very important effect on the relationship between Ammu and the twins. She is the most important thing in the twins lives, and they see her as both a mother and a father. They strive to feel loved by her, and winning her love seems to be their goal in their childhood. We later see how strong their bond is when Ammu leaves the twins to search for a job. The breaking of their bond in the train station leaves Estha speechless and Rahel very hurt.

[frenchchick825]

You're hard on Estha, a mere child, understandably scared and damaged. And where's the adult supervision when Sophie drowns?

Right, my apologies, I should have elaborated a bit more; I don't think Estha is the one to blame at all.
The problem stems from the Orangedrink Lemondrink man, "thanks to what [he] did to Estha, their Home away from Home was already equipped" (276). Estha needed a place to go to feel safe from the threat of the OD LD man.

Or from Ammu's partitioning of love, because "[Estha] knew that if Ammu found out about what he had done with the Orangedrink Lemondrink man, she'd love him less as well. Very much less" (108). He feels he cannot even turn to his own mother to confide this terrible, painful secret, so he keeps to himself, and builds a place where he can do so.

We could even point fingers at the social system in India; had the love between Ammu and Velutha not been forbidden, Ammu would not have had the need to yell at the twins, calling them "the millstones round [her] neck" and screaming at them to "just go away and leave [her] alone" (240), which they both took to heart.

[Gladys]

Overall, a simple relationship at the History House scarred Estha and Rahel's childhood and connection.

In this culture of cruelty and brokenness - failed loves and marriages, a man with only his moths, paedophilia, racial and caste prejudice, political and legal corruption - Estha and Rahel were heading downhill well before the human sacrifice of Velutha.