The God of Small Things

Class and Gender Divisions

Kate Liu Spring 2005

What sticks in your mind in reading the novel?

Language -- 31 -- “a viable( 能存活的 , 能獨立生存的 ) die-able age.”Children’s perception (birth + death)

Examples: Sophie’s funeral: “Her face was pale and as wrinkled

as a dhobi(washer)'s thumb from being in water for too long. The congregation gathered around the coffin, and the yellow church swelled like a throat with the sound of sad singing.”(6)

1.church blue skies-- It's true (and must be said) that it would have been easier to notice these things lying in a coffin looking up than standing in the pews, hemmed in by sad hips and hymnbooks (7) Velutha

2. bat baby -- The baby bat flew up into the sky and turned into a jet plane without a crisscrossed trail. (8) church = throat

What makes the first two chapters difficult for you?

References to things happening 23 years ago – Orangedrink Lemondrink Man; the death of Sophie Mol; Velutha’s arrest (clues: Rahel’s thinking in the funeral --7; 8; police station and afterwards -- 9; 10) Their tempering with classification and Law p. 31 Estha’s betrayal p. 32. a young man with an old man’s mouth p. 70.

Timeline 1969 –going to see The Sound of Music communi

st march (p.62-69) Estha’s being molested by Orangedrink Lemondrink Man; Sophie Mol’s visit run away out of fear death by drowning and funeral

1969 – Simutaneously, the love between Velutha and Ammu reported by V’s father V accused by the Ipe family of kidnapping the twins V’s being beaten up by the police Velutha’s death (clues: pp 31; 9-10);

1973--Ammu’s death (31), p.5 “a viable die-able age” 1992--the narrative present--Estha (“a quiet bubble fl

oating on a sea of noise,”[13-14] “re-Returned”); Rahel (indifferent, divorced, back for the States); Baby Kochamma (satellite TV and diary) Rahel and Estha re-united.

Timeline (2) Before . ..

-- late 18th century -- the British took Malabar-- the 17th century -- the Dutch AscendencyIn the Dutch had seized the same territory.

May 20, 1498 – Portuguese Vasco da Gama arrived Roman Catholocism,

the first European to reach this region-- Zamorin's conquest of Calicut

Syrian bishops murdered by the Portuguese 52 CE Christianity arrived in a boat (p. 33 inf

o source)

Outline1. The author, the book and its controversies2. The setting: Kelara and the History House 3. Background: Syrian Christianity and Marxi

sm4. Major Themes:

1. Women’s position; 2. Class and Politics;3. Cultural identities; 4. Children’s perspectives; 5. Small Things and Transgression6. The Ending

Arundhati Roy--Biography

“My mother says that some of the incidents in the book are based on things that happened when I was two years old. I have no recollection of them. But obviously, they were trapped in some part of my brain.” (source)

Arundhati Roy-- childhood

born as Suzanna Arundhati Roy on 11/24/1961

mother--Mary Roy (Christian)--a well-known social activist, ran an informal school (Corpus Chrisiti ) strong women in the novel

father (a Bengali Hindu tea planter) uncle--George Issac (owned the Palat Pic

kles--the slogan: “Emperor in the realm of taste”) Chacko

Arundhati Roy--childhood 1-yr-old— parents split

feeling of insecurity because of the broken marriage; “on the edge of the community”

Age 10 – went to school “When I think back on all the things I have

done I think from a very early age, I was determined to negotiate with the world on my own. There were no parents, no uncles, no aunts; I was completely responsible for myself."

Adult Life and Career Age 16 -- left home and lived in a squatter’s colony

in Delhi The Delhi School of Architecture marriage (Gerard Da Cunha)--divorced after 4

years First worked with a TV company:

– a role in Massey Saab– The Banyan Tree--TV series– screenplay--In Which Annie Gives It Those

Ones /Electric Moon a critique of Bandit Queen, which ended up as a

court case. concentrates on her writing while working as a aerobic teacher.

The God of Small Things Completed in May 1996 (after

4/12 years of writing) published in 4/4/1997 by

Random House the Booker Price--Oct. 1997

(India’s 50th anniversary of independence)--the first non-expatriate Indian author and the first Indian woman to win the price

FYI: Arundhati on Writing the Novel

inspiration--“the image of this sky blue Plymouth stuck at the railroad crossing with the twins inside and this Marxist procession raging around it” (Chapter 2)

“so much of fiction is a way of seeing, of making sense of the world…and you need a key of how to begin to do that. This was just a key. For me (the novel) was five years of almost changing and mutating, and growing a new skin. It’s almost like a part of me.”—but she claimed that she never revised. (source)

Controversies India--communist critique from E M S Namboodiripad

(a veteran Communist leader)

– disagrees with the depiction of 'Comrade Pillai (who discriminates against the untouchable, and refuses to help Velutha when his life is threatened);

– sees the novel as anti-Communist campaign (source)

obscenity case--Sabu Thomas (the lawyer who has dragged Roy to court)

-- affront Indian tradition, culture, and morality;

-- “excites sexual desires and lascivious thoughts”; hurts the Syrian Christian community (source)

Setting: Kerala

1. Monsoon rains- fill up the rivers there; -- Kill Sophie Mol.2. Communism--democratically elected Communist government-- abolish landlordism

Marxism in Kerala

“The first Communist government in the world was elected in Kerala in 1957, and from then on it became a big power to contend with. I think in '67 the government returned to power after having been dismissed by Nehru, and so in '69 it was at its peak. And it was as if revolution was really just around the corner.” (Arundhati Roy) +

( p.64-65) 3 reasons Syrian Christians Communism (compatibility in having one god, high level of literacy; Communists’ following the communal divides)

Kerala: Races

60 % -- Hindus 40% -- Muslims and Christians ( A small

group of Jews) caste system adopted not just by Hindus,

but also by people of the other religious groups.

Syrian Christian Community less than 5% of Indian’s population more than 20%-1/3 in Kerala are

Christians (the Untouchables turned “the Rice-Christians” 71)

the Syrian Church is one of the oldest branches of Christianity--came to India with St. Thomas in 52 CE.

Influence of Kerala

“A lot of the atmosphere of A God of Small Things is based on my experience of what it was like to grow up in Kerala. Most interestingly, it was the only place in the world where religions coincide, there is Christianity, Hinduism, Marxism and Islam and they all live together and rub each other down. When I grew up it was the Marxism that was very strong, it was like the revolution was coming the next week…. To me, I couldn’t think of a better location for a book about human beings.”

Allusions to the places in Kelara: History House & Ayemenem House

'History House of Kari Saippu'

Built by a Protestant missionary Baker

Puliyampallil House –the school Arundhati's great-grandfather found.

(pp. 4, 30)

source

Jackfruit. 木波羅

           

   

bluebottlesmangoes

“May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, flatly baffled by the sun.”

But by early June the southwest monsoon breaks . . .

The countryside turns an immodest green. Boundaries blur as tapioca fences take root and bloom. Brick walls turn mossgreen. Pepper vines snake up electric poles. Wild creepers burst through laterite( 紅土 ) banks and spill across th

e flooded roads. Boats ply in the bazaars( 市場 ). And small fish appear in the puddles that fi

ll the PWD potholes( 坑洞 ) on the highways. . . . The wild, overgrown garden was full of the

whisper and scurry of small lives.

The God of Small Things: Characters

The Ipe family 1st generation:. Papachi (Benaan John) + Mammachi (Shosh

amma) Baby Kochamma (Navomi Ipe) (F

ather Mulligan) 2nd generation: Margaret + Chacko; Ammu (1942-7

3) + Baba 3rd generation: Sophie Mol(1960-1969) Esthapp

en (Estha) Rachel

the Untouchables: Vellya Paapen Velutha Paapen Comrade K. N. M. Pillai

Chapter 2 time: 12/1969 (the day before Sophie Mol’s

arrival) place: Ayemenem Cochin for The S

ound of Music.1. Ammu’s life pp. 38-44;2. Baby Kochamma 44-45; 3. Mammachi * Pappachi pp. 46- 504. Cuff-links – language issues; 5. Chacko on history pp. 51- 6. Chacko’s management of the factory 55-

Chapter 27. The twins’ reading habit pp. 57 – 8. At the level crossing p. 58- (Murlidharan pp.

60 - )9. The Communist March pp. 62 – 10. Velutha 68 – 11. Baby Kochamma’s humiliation12. Hatred of Velutha afterwards, 78- 13. Arguments among the family inside the car;

14. The train comes and goes, BK sings to be j

olly. Pale moon.

Questions1. Gender Relations: How are the three grown-up wo

men (Mammachi, Baby Kochama and Ammu) described in Chap 2?

2. Class, Religion & Politics: How are Syrian Christians, Velutha and Marxists presented?

3. Cultural Identity: Chacko and his views of history and cultural identity? Where else do we see the influences of colonial cultures?

4. Children’s Perspectives & Memory: How do the two children respond to English language and the parents’ divorce? How does Rahel remember her past?

5. Titles & Main Themes: the novel’s title, the first chapter’s and the second, why?

1. Women in Kerala

Relative freedom for women in Kerala assertive, energetic, courageous

women instances of patriarchal oppression

Mammachi, Ammu & Baby Kochama

Mammachi – contradictions in her talent and submission to her husband– M’s pickles (and violin) vs Pappachi’s moth

& beating & silence (pp. 46- 47) Plymouth as a revenge; 48)

– Paradise Pickles & Preserves (Mamachi as the “Sleeping Partner” p. 55)

Mammachi, Ammu & Baby Kochama

Ammu –contradictions in her self-assertion and her love – No college education; stranded at home.– “life had been lived” –married the wrong m

an--p.38-44 “Unsafe Edge” (p.44) – Resists “The fate of the wretched man-less

woman.” (p. 44-5)

Ammu –asserting herself (43)“'Occasionally, when Ammu listened to songs that she loved on the radio, something stirred inside her. A liquid ache spread under her skin, and she walked out of the world like a witch, to a better, happier place. On days like this, there was something restless and untamed about her. As though she had temporarily set aside the morality of motherhood and divorceehood. Even her walk changed from a safe mother-walk to another wilder sort of walk. She wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes. She spoke to no-one. She spent hours on the riverbank with her little plastic transistor shaped like a tangerine. She smoked cigarettes and had midnight swims..... . . she lived in the penumbral shadows between two worlds, just beyond the grasp of their power.”(43) * Can you relate to it?

Baby Kochama Baby Kochama -- lives her life backwards (23)—embracing material g

oods now. Her un-requited love for Fr. Mulligan; gardening

TV –one within the boundaries (29) self-righteous – 44-45; (chap 1: 21-29) “Baby Kochamma resented Ammu because she sa

w her quarreling with a fate that she, Baby Kochamma herself, felt she had graciously accepted. ...* Can you relate to it?

2. Class -- The Love Laws/ Caste System p.33 “That it really began in the days when

the Love Laws were made. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And How much.”

caste is “the defining consideration in all Indian politics, (and) in all Indian marriages, (but) the lines are blurring. India exists in several centuries simultaneously.” (p.71 on the Untouchables)

Class & Politics: Velutha and Syrian Christianity

Velutha: – The untouchable 71; his talents 72 – V’s father p. 74

S. Christians – “suffer from inbreeding” p. 59 – Possible supporters of Marxism pp. 64

Marxists movement & the Communist March – pp. 63 - ; 67

Class & Politics: Communism in Kelara

'The real secret was that communism crept into Kerala insidiously. As a reformist movement that never overtly questioned the traditional values of a caste-ridden, extremely traditional community. The Marxists worked from within the communal divides, never challenging them, never appearing not to. They offered a cocktail revolution. A heady mix of Eastern Marxism and orthodox Hinduism, spiked with a shot of democracy'.

3. Influences of Colonial Culture: 1. Pappachi's moth (p.48): an Imperial entomologist

a Joint director, Entomology ( 昆蟲學 ) his need for re-inventing the category; and possessing i

ts name; This obsession and failure becomes something that haunts the whole family.

The influence of the moth p. 48 —"There was a watchful stillness to the photograph

that lent an underlyingchill to the warm room in which it hung" (50)—

* Can you relate to it?

Chacko

2. Chacko's ambivalent position: The Anglophilic characters: p.50-51 -- critical of colonial culture (saying that the Indi

ans are locked out of their history; are ‘prisoner of war),

-- but marrying a white woman. p. 51 -- sympathetic with Marxism (62), but owning th

e factory and naming it "Paradise pickles and preserves''; pp. 55-

-airplanes and pickle baron (p.55-56) * Can you relate to it?

3. History –public//personal & trauma

The birth of the twins //Indo-China war; Marital abuse includes the children // w

ar with Pakistan. The turning point in the family (two dea

ths) // the succession of Syrian Christians by Communists.

Children’s traumatic memories –1) Sophie Mol’s death (17) 2) the mother’s marble eyes (p. 69)

History –personal//colonial

“The History House” (p.51-54) Chacko’s--“an old house at night.” (p.51)—abstract * Can you relate to it? (Being outside of history?)

children’s—a physical space—Kari-Saipu’s house— to enter and use as a haven. connected with History. (p. 54)

in 1990s: “Toy Histories for rich tourists to play in. Like the sheaves of rice in Joseph’s dream, like a press of eager natives petitioning an English magistrate, the old houses had been arranged around the History House in attitudes of deference. ‘Heritage,’ the hotel was called.” (p.120)

Intertextual reference--Kurtz and the Heart of Darkness (colonialism)

History –human//geological

geological time: ‘the Earth woman” (p.52) –8 months of her life// lives on Earth; 2 hrs = human civilization.

Intertextual reference--Kurtz and the Heart of Darkness (colonialism)

3. popular culture :

The Sound of Music (1965); Elvis puff, p. 37 Evis puff; Love-in-Tokyo p.37; a 1964 hit movie f

eaturing a young woman whose ponytail was held by two beads on a rubber band.

Coca-Cola sign TV programs for Kochama

4. Children’s Perspectives & Memories

1. Their understanding of language – Well read; read simple things backwa

rds; – language: p.37 Malayalam vs English

(“Pre NUN sea ayshun”--example of small transgression)/

– “cuff-link” p.50– disposed p. 51

Separation –1. Two-Egg Twins P.4-5 “In those early amorphous years when

memory had only just begun, when life was full of Beginnings and no Ends, and everything was Forever, Esthappen and Rahel thought of themselves together as Me, and separately, as We or Us. As though they were a rare breed of Siamese twins, physically separate, but with joint identities.”--“…now she thinks of Estha and Rahel as Them, because, separately, the two of them are no longer what They were or thought They’d be.”

Separation –2. Parents’ divorce Before and around 1967 P. 60 the children treasured the moment when Amm

u were getting along with Chacko (“precious beads on a necklace” 60)

-- In between the father and the mother, or Ammu and Chacko: pp. 80 – 82: imitating being clerks, remember his anger, the photo, spit bubble. Millstones around Chacko’s neck p. 72

Responses to the death of Velutha and Sophie Mol pp. Ethsa: protecting the mother, Rahel, believes that Sophie does not die at the time of the funeral.

Shocked by Violence

'Blue-lipped and dinner-plate-eyed, they watched, mesmerised by something that they sensed but didn't understand: the absence of caprice in what the policemen did. The abyss where anger should have been. The sober, steady brutality, the economy of it all. They were opening a bottle. Or shutting a tap. Cracking an egg to make an omelette. The twins were too young to know that these were only history's henchmen( 狗腿 ). Sent to square the books and collect the dues from those who broke its laws. Impelled by feelings that were primal yet paradoxically wholly impersonal. Feelings of contempt born of inchoate, unacknowledged fear - civilisation's fear of nature, men's fear of women, power's fear of powerlessness. “

Displacement and loss

The twins’ routes of migration Estha: Assam—Ayemenem—Calcutta (Retu

rned)—Ayemenem (re-Returned) quietness pp. 12-

Rahel: Assam—Ayemenem (3 expulsions)—Delhi—Boston (married to Larry McCaslin)—New York—Washington, D.C.—Ayemenem emptiness/ p. 20

Displacement and loss (2)

Rahel’s and the author’s images of memory: pp. 5; 11; 69 – 70;

Rahel’s desire for a watch whose time she can determine.

Signs of loss: yellow church p. 8; Rahel’s watch (p.37 ten to two) Signs of fragility: The twins like frogs (p.42)

squashed frog 78

The Meanings of the Titles

Pappachi’s Moth Paradise Pickles & Preservers The God of Small Things

Small Things ambulance (Sacred Heart Hospital) and

wedding party (p.58) Murlidharan’s keys and “cupboards, cluttered

with secret pleasure” (p.61)

Small Things What is the god of small things? Small things (e.g. beginning of the novel;

Estha’s dog; Murlidharan 60-61) Big God vs. Small God (P.20 ) —Big Go

d—in control vs Small God from the children’s perspective—away fr

om the adult boundaries; small transgressions in language

the structure of the book is a collection of small thing (episodic, fragmentary) // life

Small Things

Cannot change the big things: Pp. 321 “. . .instinctively they stuck to the

Small Things. The Big Things ever lurked inside. They knew that there was nowhere for them to go. . .They had no future .”

Examples of transgression

Mammachi’s p. 74 letting Velutha become a carpenter.

Ammu’s 43 The kids’ going the Velutha The kids’ changes of language.

FYI: Roy’s own interpretations-- The Title:

“To me the god of small things is the inversion of God. God’s a big thing and God’s in control. The god of small things…whether it’s the way the children see things or whether it’s the insect life in the book, or the fish or the stars--there is a not accepting of what we think of as adult boundaries. This small activity that goes on is the under life of the book, All sorts of boundaries are transgressed upon….”

Transgressions-- Problem with classification—banana jam—neither jelly nor jam (p. 30)

FYI: Biology and Transgression

“I have to say that my book is not about history but biology and transgression. And, in fact is that YOU CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF BRUTALITY UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT HAS BEEN LOVED BEING SMASHED. And the book deals with both things--it deals with our ability to be brutal as well as our ability to be so deeply intimate and so deeply loving.” (Roy)

FYI: Roy: perspectives

“It’s a story that examines things very closely but also from a very, very distant point, almost from geological time and you look at it and see a pattern there. A pattern…of how in these small events and in these small lives the world intrudes. And because of this, because of people being unprotected…the world and the social machine intrudes into the smallest, deepest core of their being and changes their life.”--a last minute title

The Ending

Only one thing mattered now. They knew that it was all they could ask each other. The only thing. Ever. They both knew that.

Even later, on the thirteen nights that followed this one, instinclively they stuck to the Small Things. The Big Things ever lurked inside. they knew that there wasnowwhere for them to go. They had nothing. No future. So they stuck to the small things.(320)

The first night, on the day that Sophie Mol came, Velutha watched his lover dress. . . .

She turned to say it once again: 'Naaley.'Tomorrow. (321)

References:

The Arundhati Roy Web http://website.lineone.net/~jon.simmons/roy/index.htm

Kelara http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Kerala.html

“Now, it is EMS's turn to slam Arundathi Roy!” http://www.rediff.com/news/aug/30ems.htm

Study Guide: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/roy.html