Critical Analyses
The God of Small Things and Family
The God of Small Things is a very interesting novel that is mostly based around a family and their relationships. Throughout this novel the majority of the main characters stem from the Ipe family. The role that each family member has or does not have on some characters helps the reader understand the importance or lack of importance of family. Some family members have a large positive influence on others, while other family members leave negative marks on each other. The God of Small Things is a very complex novel and the use of family, and the absence of some family members has helped shape the understanding for the novel.
The first thing that needs to be looked at is the family tree. The head of the family consists of Pappachi and his wife Mammachi. Pappachi’s sister is Baby Kochamma. Pappachi and Mammachi have two children, Ammu and Chacko. Ammu has two kids with her husband, Baba, who she later divorces. Her two children are Rahel and Estha. Chacko marries Margaret and they have one child together, Sophie Mol. Margaret ends up divorcing Chacko and she marries a man named Joe. All of these people are the main members of the family and for the most part, they are the main characters of this novel.
The second way that family helped The God of Small Things become more understandable is the way that secrets destroy the family’s relationships. The first example can be seen in the relationship with Velutha and Ammu. Velutha is an untouchable but he is also one of Estha and Rahel’s best friends. Ammu and Velutha have an affair even though Ammu fully understands that she is breaking the social laws by having an affair with him. This eventually leads to Velutha being blamed for kidnapping the children and raping Ammu. The family then basically shuts out Ammu, Estha and Rahel. At Sophie Mol’s funeral it says, “Though Ammu, Estha and Rahel were allowed to attend the funeral, they were made to stand separately, not with the rest of the family. Nobody would look at them” (Roy 7). This is one way in which Ammu’s lie leads to the whole family disliking her. Another example can be seen with Estha and Orange-drink Lemon-drink man. When Estha goes to see The Sound of Music he gets molested by Orange-drink Lemon-drink Man. Even though Estha knows what the man did to him was wrong he does not want to tell anyone and he keeps it a secret. It says, “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” (Roy 108). In this case Estha did not tell his secret to his family, which ended up hurting him emotionally and mentally. His family could have helped him but he was too scared to tell them. Along with the secrets that are not told, comes the relationship that Estha and Rahel have.
Estha and Rahel have a very interesting relationship throughout the novel and they seem to act differently in the absence of each other. Estha and Rahel have a very close relationship and Rahel even said that she knows things about Estha even if she is not with him. When the twins were young it said this about them, “Esthapen and Rahel thought of themselves together as Me, and separately, individually, as We or Us” (Roy 4). It later goes on to say, “Anyway, now she thinks of Estha and Rahel as Them, because, separately, the two of them are no longer what They we or ever Though They’d be” ( Roy 5). This is saying that when they were younger they were more together and as they got older they grew distant. This can also be seen in the way that they act as well. When Estha and Rahel are separated they are the worst versions of themselves. This is most likely due to the absence of each other’s presence. When Rahel goes away to college she parties and goes somewhat crazy. She even moves to the United States where she gets married to someone that she does not even love. This was not the way she acted when she was around Estha. When Estha is without Rahel he does almost the opposite of what she does. Estha stops talking to everyone around him, does not attend college, and for the most part he stops interacting with the outside world. This stays the same until Rahel comes back and then he somewhat opens up again. Along with the absence of one another comes the absence of their father. Their father was an alcoholoic and seemed to have caused more harm than anything, but the lack of a real father Another example of a family member acting different with the absence of family is Baby Kochama. When Baby Kochama leaves for college in the United States she becomes a different person. She become overweight and once she returns back home she gardens for a little while but then she becomes completely consumed by television and other modern day inventions. Along with the way the family acts without each other, is the way they act with each other.
The last way that family helps The God of Small Things become more understandable is through the way the family acts when together. The first example can be seen in the way that Estha and Rahel act when they are together. When they are younger it says, “Now, these years later, Rahel has a memory of waking up one night giggling at Estha’s funny dream” (Roy 5). It goes on to say that she also remember what Orangedrink Lemondrink Man did to Estha and she also remembers the taste of one of his sandwiches. Along with this odd bond they have with one another is the way that Estha looks out for Rahel. When Rahel starts to go towards Orangedrink Lemondrink Man Estha decides to give her his drink so she does not have to deal with the man. He is just watching out for her and he does not want her to get hurt. Another example is that Ammu still remembers Pappachi beating her and her mother. This affects the way that Ammu parented her children. Lastly, at Sophie Mol’s funeral it can be seen that Estha, Rahel, and Ammu have to be separated from everyone. Baby Kochama told the police that Velutha raped Ammu and now no one wants Ammu to be part of the family. In this case, the presence of family can be negative or positive.
In the end, The God of Small Things was a very interesting novel that centered around family for a large part of the plot. The presence of some family members, such as Estha to Rahel, shaped the way that they acted together. While the absence of some familie member drastically changed the way they would normally act. Overall, the presentation of family in this helped shape the understanding of the plot, characters, themes, and other literary elements.
The God of Small Things is a very interesting novel that is mostly based around a family and their relationships. Throughout this novel the majority of the main characters stem from the Ipe family. The role that each family member has or does not have on some characters helps the reader understand the importance or lack of importance of family. Some family members have a large positive influence on others, while other family members leave negative marks on each other. The God of Small Things is a very complex novel and the use of family, and the absence of some family members has helped shape the understanding for the novel.
The first thing that needs to be looked at is the family tree. The head of the family consists of Pappachi and his wife Mammachi. Pappachi’s sister is Baby Kochamma. Pappachi and Mammachi have two children, Ammu and Chacko. Ammu has two kids with her husband, Baba, who she later divorces. Her two children are Rahel and Estha. Chacko marries Margaret and they have one child together, Sophie Mol. Margaret ends up divorcing Chacko and she marries a man named Joe. All of these people are the main members of the family and for the most part, they are the main characters of this novel.
The second way that family helped The God of Small Things become more understandable is the way that secrets destroy the family’s relationships. The first example can be seen in the relationship with Velutha and Ammu. Velutha is an untouchable but he is also one of Estha and Rahel’s best friends. Ammu and Velutha have an affair even though Ammu fully understands that she is breaking the social laws by having an affair with him. This eventually leads to Velutha being blamed for kidnapping the children and raping Ammu. The family then basically shuts out Ammu, Estha and Rahel. At Sophie Mol’s funeral it says, “Though Ammu, Estha and Rahel were allowed to attend the funeral, they were made to stand separately, not with the rest of the family. Nobody would look at them” (Roy 7). This is one way in which Ammu’s lie leads to the whole family disliking her. Another example can be seen with Estha and Orange-drink Lemon-drink man. When Estha goes to see The Sound of Music he gets molested by Orange-drink Lemon-drink Man. Even though Estha knows what the man did to him was wrong he does not want to tell anyone and he keeps it a secret. It says, “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” (Roy 108). In this case Estha did not tell his secret to his family, which ended up hurting him emotionally and mentally. His family could have helped him but he was too scared to tell them. Along with the secrets that are not told, comes the relationship that Estha and Rahel have.
Estha and Rahel have a very interesting relationship throughout the novel and they seem to act differently in the absence of each other. Estha and Rahel have a very close relationship and Rahel even said that she knows things about Estha even if she is not with him. When the twins were young it said this about them, “Esthapen and Rahel thought of themselves together as Me, and separately, individually, as We or Us” (Roy 4). It later goes on to say, “Anyway, now she thinks of Estha and Rahel as Them, because, separately, the two of them are no longer what They we or ever Though They’d be” ( Roy 5). This is saying that when they were younger they were more together and as they got older they grew distant. This can also be seen in the way that they act as well. When Estha and Rahel are separated they are the worst versions of themselves. This is most likely due to the absence of each other’s presence. When Rahel goes away to college she parties and goes somewhat crazy. She even moves to the United States where she gets married to someone that she does not even love. This was not the way she acted when she was around Estha. When Estha is without Rahel he does almost the opposite of what she does. Estha stops talking to everyone around him, does not attend college, and for the most part he stops interacting with the outside world. This stays the same until Rahel comes back and then he somewhat opens up again. Along with the absence of one another comes the absence of their father. Their father was an alcoholoic and seemed to have caused more harm than anything, but the lack of a real father Another example of a family member acting different with the absence of family is Baby Kochama. When Baby Kochama leaves for college in the United States she becomes a different person. She become overweight and once she returns back home she gardens for a little while but then she becomes completely consumed by television and other modern day inventions. Along with the way the family acts without each other, is the way they act with each other.
The last way that family helps The God of Small Things become more understandable is through the way the family acts when together. The first example can be seen in the way that Estha and Rahel act when they are together. When they are younger it says, “Now, these years later, Rahel has a memory of waking up one night giggling at Estha’s funny dream” (Roy 5). It goes on to say that she also remember what Orangedrink Lemondrink Man did to Estha and she also remembers the taste of one of his sandwiches. Along with this odd bond they have with one another is the way that Estha looks out for Rahel. When Rahel starts to go towards Orangedrink Lemondrink Man Estha decides to give her his drink so she does not have to deal with the man. He is just watching out for her and he does not want her to get hurt. Another example is that Ammu still remembers Pappachi beating her and her mother. This affects the way that Ammu parented her children. Lastly, at Sophie Mol’s funeral it can be seen that Estha, Rahel, and Ammu have to be separated from everyone. Baby Kochama told the police that Velutha raped Ammu and now no one wants Ammu to be part of the family. In this case, the presence of family can be negative or positive.
In the end, The God of Small Things was a very interesting novel that centered around family for a large part of the plot. The presence of some family members, such as Estha to Rahel, shaped the way that they acted together. While the absence of some familie member drastically changed the way they would normally act. Overall, the presentation of family in this helped shape the understanding of the plot, characters, themes, and other literary elements.
Critical Analysis of Color Play
Colors play a huge part in almost every piece of literature that often symbolizes something bigger that usually reveals something about human behavior. In the novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy uses the colors of red, blue yellow and green to symbolize emotions in the novel. Ariel Sadaf Shazia was correct in the belief that the four different colors represent the different emotions in the novel.
Ariel Sadaf Shazia had stated in the essay of colors in the novel that the color red disturbs the color blue and that red symbolizes danger. It would make sense for the red to symbolize both of these things because The Indian culture it was the older generation of Indian who created the Caste System that everyone now follows. The red and the blue interact with each other when Chacko demands that Papachi stop abusing Mamachi, “sullen circles around mounds of red chillies ... watching Mammachi supervise the buying, the weighing, the salting and drying, of limes and tender mangoes. Every night he bear her with a brass flower vase,” ( Roy 47). It is believed that blue is the way of the older world in India and the red is the new generation because in the story, Ammu and Velutha’s love defies the rules of the Caste System because Velutha is an untouchable. The other colors of green and yellow are not as related like the colors of blue and red were. Yellow symbolizes the fear that most of the characters have in the novel according to Shazia. The evidence that Shazia has for this is the yellow tooth of the Orangedrink Lemmondrink man has. It is this fear that paralyzes Estha and triggers the other actions of the novel including Sophie Mol’s death. The last color of green symbolizes oppression according to Shazia. Shazia gives the example of Baby Kochama’s garden being taken over the the green weeds and this could symbolize the smaller things in the novel overcoming the different character’s life and killing them, literally in Sophie Mol’s case and Velutha’s case.
The four colors of red, blue, yellow and green all symbolize different things in the novel, The God of Small Things that makes it such a unique and intriguing novel. Without the use of colors that Roy uses, it could be hard for the reader to decipher what is occurring in the story because of the author’s device of the flashbacks and flash-forwards. Shazia was correct in the belief that colors in the novel only add to the comprehensibility and which makes it universal and timeless
Colors play a huge part in almost every piece of literature that often symbolizes something bigger that usually reveals something about human behavior. In the novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy uses the colors of red, blue yellow and green to symbolize emotions in the novel. Ariel Sadaf Shazia was correct in the belief that the four different colors represent the different emotions in the novel.
Ariel Sadaf Shazia had stated in the essay of colors in the novel that the color red disturbs the color blue and that red symbolizes danger. It would make sense for the red to symbolize both of these things because The Indian culture it was the older generation of Indian who created the Caste System that everyone now follows. The red and the blue interact with each other when Chacko demands that Papachi stop abusing Mamachi, “sullen circles around mounds of red chillies ... watching Mammachi supervise the buying, the weighing, the salting and drying, of limes and tender mangoes. Every night he bear her with a brass flower vase,” ( Roy 47). It is believed that blue is the way of the older world in India and the red is the new generation because in the story, Ammu and Velutha’s love defies the rules of the Caste System because Velutha is an untouchable. The other colors of green and yellow are not as related like the colors of blue and red were. Yellow symbolizes the fear that most of the characters have in the novel according to Shazia. The evidence that Shazia has for this is the yellow tooth of the Orangedrink Lemmondrink man has. It is this fear that paralyzes Estha and triggers the other actions of the novel including Sophie Mol’s death. The last color of green symbolizes oppression according to Shazia. Shazia gives the example of Baby Kochama’s garden being taken over the the green weeds and this could symbolize the smaller things in the novel overcoming the different character’s life and killing them, literally in Sophie Mol’s case and Velutha’s case.
The four colors of red, blue, yellow and green all symbolize different things in the novel, The God of Small Things that makes it such a unique and intriguing novel. Without the use of colors that Roy uses, it could be hard for the reader to decipher what is occurring in the story because of the author’s device of the flashbacks and flash-forwards. Shazia was correct in the belief that colors in the novel only add to the comprehensibility and which makes it universal and timeless
Thematic Essay
The book The God of Small Things contains many themes and life lessons that can be learned. This book is about how the secrets that members of a tight family in a small town in India end up tearing the entire family apart, ruining each member’s life in a different way. One constantly recurring theme is the fact that each family member tries to put their troubles off on other people.
The first chronological instance of a person putting their troubles off on another is when Pappachi, Rahel’s grandfather, beats Mammachi. He has a lot of pent up anger from being cheated out of naming a new species of moth. He first found the moth and took it to a university to get it checked out. The university said it was already discovered; however when another man discovered the same species, he named it after himself, cheating Pappachi. Pappachi takes this pent up anger and beats his wife, creating an unhealthy way of dealing with problems that his family will use for years to come.
The next instance of a family member putting their problems off on another also includes wife beating. Baba, Rahel’s father, was going to get fired from his job at a factory. His boss gave him the option of keeping his job if he allowed the boss to sleep with his wife, Ammu. Baba came to Ammu with the proposition, which she refused. Baba then started to beat Ammu, and then divorced her, leaving her to take care of their twins, Estha and Rahel.
The most clear instance of one member of Rahel’s family putting their problems off on another person involves the main protagonist, Rahel’s baby grand aunt, Baby Kochamma. Baby Kochamma found out about Ammu’s affair with the Untouchable, Velutha. If other people found out about the affair, it would bring shame upon the entire upper-class family, including Baby Kochamma. This was unacceptable to her, so she decides to punish every person involved in the scandal. First, Baby Kochamma locks Ammu in a room by herself, so that she can not escape to cause any more shenanigans with Velutha. Then, once she figures out that the kids have left, she accuses Velutha of raping Ammu and kidnapping her children. She sends the police after him, who eventually beat him within an inch of his life and later kill him. After that, she essentially disowns her niece, Ammu, and her children. She sends Estha back to his father, Baba, splitting up the two closest members of the family, Estha and Rahel. They used to be able to practically read each other’s minds, but they have to be split up because of the supposed shame that their mother has brought on their family. Baby Kochamma ruins her entire family because she does not want to be associated with the shame that her niece has brought her.
No member of Rahel’s family is able to deal with their problems in a healthy way. They all have to blame other people for the problems in their lives. No one is able to accept full responsibility for their problems and is willing to deal with them themselves. So many problems would be avoided in this book if people could try to handle their own responsibilities. This book can teach us just how important it is to not take a shortcut or blame others for the problems in our lives. We all have to take responsibility for our actions.
The first chronological instance of a person putting their troubles off on another is when Pappachi, Rahel’s grandfather, beats Mammachi. He has a lot of pent up anger from being cheated out of naming a new species of moth. He first found the moth and took it to a university to get it checked out. The university said it was already discovered; however when another man discovered the same species, he named it after himself, cheating Pappachi. Pappachi takes this pent up anger and beats his wife, creating an unhealthy way of dealing with problems that his family will use for years to come.
The next instance of a family member putting their problems off on another also includes wife beating. Baba, Rahel’s father, was going to get fired from his job at a factory. His boss gave him the option of keeping his job if he allowed the boss to sleep with his wife, Ammu. Baba came to Ammu with the proposition, which she refused. Baba then started to beat Ammu, and then divorced her, leaving her to take care of their twins, Estha and Rahel.
The most clear instance of one member of Rahel’s family putting their problems off on another person involves the main protagonist, Rahel’s baby grand aunt, Baby Kochamma. Baby Kochamma found out about Ammu’s affair with the Untouchable, Velutha. If other people found out about the affair, it would bring shame upon the entire upper-class family, including Baby Kochamma. This was unacceptable to her, so she decides to punish every person involved in the scandal. First, Baby Kochamma locks Ammu in a room by herself, so that she can not escape to cause any more shenanigans with Velutha. Then, once she figures out that the kids have left, she accuses Velutha of raping Ammu and kidnapping her children. She sends the police after him, who eventually beat him within an inch of his life and later kill him. After that, she essentially disowns her niece, Ammu, and her children. She sends Estha back to his father, Baba, splitting up the two closest members of the family, Estha and Rahel. They used to be able to practically read each other’s minds, but they have to be split up because of the supposed shame that their mother has brought on their family. Baby Kochamma ruins her entire family because she does not want to be associated with the shame that her niece has brought her.
No member of Rahel’s family is able to deal with their problems in a healthy way. They all have to blame other people for the problems in their lives. No one is able to accept full responsibility for their problems and is willing to deal with them themselves. So many problems would be avoided in this book if people could try to handle their own responsibilities. This book can teach us just how important it is to not take a shortcut or blame others for the problems in our lives. We all have to take responsibility for our actions.