I.
Introduction
Novel
of “God of Small Things” was written by Indian, Arundhaty Roy in 1997. The God
of Small Things is Roy's first book and, as of 2012, is her only novel. The
novel rapidly became an international sensation and won the Booker Prize. This novel is a
description of how the small things in life affect Indians' behavior and their
lives. She wrote this novel to have protest and critic to government. Many
people in her place get discrimination.
This
novel cannot separate from real life of the writer. Many view of this novel
take from writer’s life. For example, the setting of the novel, parents
divorce, one of the twin take architecture as her study same like the writer,
and many violence in this novel same like what happened in writer’s life.
In this paper will analyze certain parts of
intrinsic elements in literary works especially fiction based on critical
reading by John Lye. We explain the themes, the characters, the setting, the
plot, the narrator’s point of view, the language used, fiction as a
representation of reality and worldview.
II. Themes
There are four themes
in this novel, they are:
1.
Social
Discriminations
Many discriminations in this novel, especially
caste. story is set in the caste
society of India. In this time, members of the Untouchable Paravan or Paryan
were not permitted to touch members of higher castes or enter their houses.
This extreme form of discrimination was deeply embedded over centuries in the
Indian society. For example, Chacko explains to the twins that they come from a family of
Anglophiles or lovers of British culture, and he goes on to say that they
despise themselves because of this. Besides the Untouchables were considered as polluted beings;
they have the lowliest jobs and live in subhuman conditions. In India, the
caste system was considered a way to organize society. Then, Chacko's daughter
also did. His English wife's parents were shocked and disapproving that their
daughter should marry an Indian, no matter how well educated. Sophie Mol at one
point mentions to her cousins that they are all "wog," while she is
"half-wog."
Economic
discrimination also happened in this novel. We can see when Baba lost his job
and his ex boss who has much money want to sleep with Baba’s wife, Ammu.
Because of Baba doesn’t have money to buy drink, he want agree with his ex boss’s
request. And Baba proposed Ammu to do that. Then another case, the Ipes are considered upper class. They are factory owners, the
dominating class. Mammachi and Baby Kochamma would not deign to mix with those
of a lower class. Even Kochu Maria, who has been with them for years, will
always be a servant of a lower class. The Ipes are very class conscious. They
have a need to maintain their status. Discrimination is a way of protecting
one's privileged position in society.
Then, Roy
shows other types of less evident discrimination. For example, there is
religious discrimination. It is unacceptable for a Syrian Christian to marry a
Hindu. In more than one passage of the book, the reader feels Rahel and Estha's
discomfort at being half Hindu. Baby Kochamma constantly makes disparaging
comments about the Hindus. On the other hand, there is discomfort even between
the Christian religions, as is shown by Pappachi's negative reaction when Baby
converts to Catholicism.
2.
Class Relations and Cultural
Tensions
Roy
evaluates the Indian postcolonial complex, or the cultural attitudes of many
Indians towards their former British rulers. This attitude can be found in the family, where
Ammu’s father, Pappachi, devotes blindly to the British.
Then, Ammu
calls her father a "wiper" in Hindi for his blind devotion to the
British, Chacko explains to the twins that they come from a family of
Anglophiles, or lovers of British culture, "trapped outside their own
history and unable to retrace their steps," and he goes on to say that
they despise themselves because of this.
Complicated interclass
relation and inferiority cultural tensions arise in the interactions between
Untouchables (Paravan) and Touchables
in Ayemenem. Vellya Paapen is an example of an Untouchable so grateful to the
Touchable class that he is willing to kill his son when he discovers that his
son has broken the most important rule of class segregation—that there be no
inter-class sexual relations.In part this reflects how Untouchables have
internalized class segregation. Nearly all of the relationships in the novel
are somehow coloured by cultural and class tension, including the twins'
relationship with Sophie Mol, Chacko's relationship with Margaret, Pappachi's
relationship with his family, and Ammu's relationship with Velutha. Characters
such as Baby Kochamma and Pappachi are the most rigid and vicious in their
attempts to uphold that social code, while Ammu and Velutha are the most
unconventional and daring in unraveling it.
3.
Forbidden Love
Forbidden
love happened to Ammu and Velutha and also Rahel adult and Esta adult. For the
first is Ammu and Velutha. Vellya Paapen tells Mammachi and Baby Kochamma that Ammu and Velutha are
lovers and he said that Velutha tried to rape Ammu and kidnapped the kids.
And the second
forbidden love happened to Rahel adult and Esta adult. Rahel
is not the least bit ashamed to watch, even to admire, her naked adult brother.
In turn, Estha is not ashamed to be naked in front of her, and he goes about
his activities as usual. As we learn later, the twins are not exempt from the
persistent, socially-inappropriate sexual tide that rises in most members of
the family.
- Betrayal
Betrayal
is a constant element in this story. There are big and small betrayals. Love,
ideals and confidence are all betrayed, consciously and unconsciously,
maliciously and innocently. It seems that everyone has suffered some type of
betrayal.
Comrade
Pillai betrays not only Velutha's trust and ideals but also Chacko's. Pillai
does this with no qualms, to further his own and his party's interests. Another
character prepared to further his own interest at any cost is Ammu's ex-husband
who, in order to save his job, would have been willing to allow his boss to
take Ammu as a mistress. Chacko is betrayed by his wife.
Baby
Kochamma is capable of lying and betraying everyone, even innocent children, to
protect her own social position. Vellya Paapen, also in fear of his own
position, betrays his son by telling Mammachi about Velutha and Ammu.
Velutha,
the purest of all, is the one who is most betrayed. He is even betrayed by a
little seven-year-old boy who loves him dearly. Estha suffers guilt for years
after, maybe because his betrayal was unintentional.
III. Characteristics
There are thirteen
characters explain in this paper. The characters are :
1.
Rahel
Rahel is the partial narrator of the story, and is
Estha's younger sister by eighteen minutes. An intelligent and honest person
who has never felt socially comfortable, she is something of a drifter, and
several times the narrator refers to her as the quality Emptiness. She grows up in Ayemenem and she took architecture in
New Delhi. As an adult, lives in the United States with her husband, Larry
McCaslin. After her divorce and upon hearing of her brother’s return to
Ayemenem, Rahel goes home herself.
2.
Estha
Estha,
which is short for Esthappen Yako, is Rahel's twin brother. He is a serious,
intelligent, and somewhat nervous child who wears "beige and pointy
shoes" and has an "Elvis puff." His experience of the
circumstances surrounding Sophie Mol's visit is somewhat more traumatic than
Rahel's, beginning when he is sexually abused by a Man at a theater. Estha is
the twin chosen by Baby Kochamma, because he is more "practical" and
"responsible," to go into Velutha's cell and condemn him as their
abductor. This trauma, in addition to being shipped (or "Returned")
to Calcutta to live with his father, contributes to Estha becoming mute at some
point in his childhood. Estha never went to college and acquired a number of
habits, such as wandering on very long walks and obsessively cleaning his
clothes.
3.
Ammu
Ammu
is Rahel and Estha's mother. She married their father (referred to as Baba)
only to get away from her family. She divorced him when he started to be
violent towards her and her children. She went back to Ayemenem, where people
avoid her on the days when the radio plays "her music" and she gets a
wild look in her eyes. When the twins are seven, she has an affair with
Velutha, a Paravan (Untouchable). This relationship is the cataclysmic event in
the novel. She is a strict mother, and her children worry about losing her
love.
4.
Baba
Baba
is Ammu's ex-husband and Estha and Rahel's dad. He's an alcoholic who tells a
lot of lies for apparently no reason.
5.
Sophi
Mol
Sophie Mol is the twins’
cousin, daughter of their Uncle Chacko and Margaret Kochamma. But The thing about Sophie Mol, though, is
that, as much as we're inclined to dislike her, she isn't actually all that
bad. It's easy to see how Rahel and Estha dislike her based on their
preconceptions about her rather than who she really is. Unlike them, we get the
chance to see what Sophie is like on her own. At the end of Chapter 13, we see
that Sophie actually wants to be friends with her cousins, and that she's the
one who feels left out. She tries to win them over the best way she knows how:
she gathers up presents to give them:
Sophie
Mol put the presents into her go-go bag, and went forth into the world. To
drive a hard bargain. To negotiate a friendship. (13.185)
Her
stepfather, Joe, dies, she visits Ayemenem with her mother. She has “Pappachi’s
nose” but otherwise she looks decidedly Western compared to the rest of the
family, with her light eyes and skin. She drowns in the Ayemenem River. Her death
and the events surrounding it serve as a focus of the novel. The memory her
death remains alive in the house and changes everything.
6.
Baby
Kochama
Baby
Kochama is Rahel’s and Estha’s grandfather’s sister--their grand-aunt.
“Kochamma” is not a name, but a standard female honorific title. She's selfish, self-centered, snippy, and
just downright mean. Still, a novel without an antagonist would be like
chocolate chip cookies without the milk.
7.
Mamachi
Mammachi
is Chacko and Ammu's mother and Estha and Rahel's grandmother. She's nearly
blind and plays a mean violin. She founded Paradise Pickles and Preserves and
built it into a successful business before turning it over to Chacko, who
transformed it into, um, a less successful business. Mammachi is sort of your
typical cranky old-lady figure – very stubborn and set in her beliefs and
habits. Her ideas of how the world works are pretty much set in stone. She is
prejudiced against the lower classes, always wants to make herself look
important, and hates Margaret Kochamma with a passion.
8.
Papachi
Pappachi
is Estha and Rahel's grandfather, Ammu's father. He was once an Imperial
Entomologist. His biggest failure in life came from his biggest triumph: he
discovered a rare breed of moth, but he didn't get credit or even naming rights
for his discovery. Pappachi was an angry, jealous man who beat Mammachi
regularly. He dies before the action of the novel really kicks off, so he's
referred to mostly as a memory.
9.
Chacko
Chacko
is Ammu's brother, Mammachi's son, Rahel and Estha's uncle, and Sophie Mol's
dad. He's one of those people we want to like but who can be really irritating.
As a young man, Chacko got all the family's love and attention. He went on to
be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, which has made him a little full of
himself. We can consider a number of the characters in the novel to be kind of
elitist. but Chacko is the only one with the credentials to back it up. Then,
Chacko also occupies kind of a weird space in society.
10.
Margaret
Kochamma
Margaret
Kochamma is Chacko's British ex-wife and Sophie Mol's mother. She and Chacko
met in the cafe where she was a waitress while Chacko was studying at Oxford.
After falling for Chacko and marrying him she realized that Chacko was not the
right man for her. While pregnant with their first and only child, Sophie Mol,
Margaret fell in love with a man named Joe. She divorced Chacko, which broke
his heart. After Joe is killed in an accident, Margaret Kochamma decides to
visit the family in Ayemenem for the holidays. She will always regret this
decision.
11.
Velutha
Paapen
Velutha
is Vellya Paapen's younger son. He's also Estha and Rahel's best friend, even
though he's only three years younger than their mother. We first meet Velutha
in 1969 when the family is on its way to the movie theater. Rahel sees him
marching in the street with the rest of the communists. We learn then that
several years ago, he disappeared and nobody knew where he was, though there
were plenty of rumors about him.
12.
Father
Mulligan
Father
Mulligan is the priest Baby Kochamma falls for. Of course, he never returns her
affection. Baby Kochamma nevertheless continues to love him even after he dies.
13.
Reverend
E. John Ipe
He's
Baby Kochamma and Pappachi's father. He was a well-regarded priest in the Mar
Thoma Church. He became known as Punnyan Kunju after the Patriarch of Antioch,
who is the head of the Syrian Christian Church, personally blessed him. His
portrait hangs in the Ayemenem House.
IV. Setting
The
setting of this novel is in Ayemenem, in the Kottayam district of Kerala,
India. India is a very complex society with various cultural and religious
habits and beliefs. Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims share the same
space. Society is divided not only by the very strict caste system but also by
class consciousness. There are a number of languages spoken in India, but the
higher classes make a point of speaking English, sending their sons to study in
England and adopting certain English habits. Kerala, where the story is set
itself has a complex social setup with Hindus, Muslims and Christians having
lifestyle and traditions different from each other. It also has the largest
number of Christian population compared to other parts of India, predominantly
Saint Thomas Christians or Syrian Christians. Kottayam is a district where the
Christians are a majority.
V. Plot
The
story, told here in chronological order, although the novel shifts around in
time, primarily takes place in a town named Ayemenem or Aymanam now part of
Kottayam in Kerala state of India. Most stories start with a fundamental list
of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax,
suspense, denouement, and conclusion. This novel is a series of flashbacks and
flash-forwards that weave together to tell the story of the Ipe family. This
non-sequential narrative style is an extremely useful authorial tool. This
novel deals with flexibility of theme and issues in writer’s place and her
experience.
This
is the fundamental list of ingredients :
a.
The initial situation :
As
the family drives to Cochin, we get a pretty good sense of the groundwork for
what's about to happen. We learn about the political conflicts in the region
and the way Indian society dictates a very specific place for each person. We
get to know the characters and how they interact. The family is full of
anticipation of both the movie and Sophie Mol's arrival. And so are we –
nothing has happened yet, but we get the sense that something big is about to.
b.
Conflict :
When
the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man molests Estha in the lobby of the movie theater,
Estha is filled with two emotions: guilt and fear. He feels guilty because he
is convinced that he has done something wrong – something he can never confess
or explain to anyone else. He's also fearful because the Orangedrink Lemondrink
Man knows where he lives – he can come find Estha whenever he wants.
c.
Complication
Rahel and Estha have experiences at the movie
theater that cause them to feel extreme fear. As a result of her careless
words, Rahel is convinced that Ammu is beginning to love her less. Estha is
terrified of the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man. When they arrive back at the house
after picking up Sophie Mol, Estha thinks two thoughts; first, anything can happen to anyone, and second,
it's best to be prepared (10.28-30). He decides they should get a boat to take
them to the History House – just in case.
When Ammu screams at the kids that it's their
fault she's locked in her room, the kids take it as a sign that they should get
out of there. This stage sets us up for the climax: we learn all of the reasons
the twins decide to run away, but the most horrifying events have yet to
happen.
d.
Climax
The
climax of the novel is when Sophie Mol died. It's mentioned repeatedly and
alluded to through different objects and memories. So when the moment actually
takes place, it's a pretty big deal. The interesting thing about Sophie's death
– and also, perhaps, what makes it so climactic for us as readers – is that
when it finally happens.
e.
Suspense
After
Sophie Mol died, the police comes to Velutha to interrogate her because she has
fair with Ammu and Velutha kidnap Estha and Rahel. But, all of it is wrong.
Then, Ammu comes to police to clear Velutha’s name.
f.
Denouement
In
the aftermath of Sophie Mol's and Velutha's deaths, and the unraveling of the
entire family, Rahel and Ammu take Estha to the train station so he can go live
with Baba. This is the last time they will ever see each other. The greatest
terrors of the novel are over, but the emotional pain that these three
characters feel at the train station will persist. There's nothing else for
them to really do at this point but say goodbye. It's a terrible moment for
each of them, and it's also a painful one for the reader. Ammu tries not to
cry, Estha stops speaking for good as soon as the train rolls away, and Rahel
screams uncontrollably.
g.
Conclusion
Rahel
comes back to Ayemenem from the United States when she hears that Estha has
been re-Returned. Even though Estha still hasn't started talking (we never
actually hear him speak as an adult), Rahel and Estha still have a silent way
of understanding each other. He knows when she returns: "It had been quiet
in Estha's head until Rahel came" (1.92). Similarly, she can sense his
presence without even having to turn around to look at him. As adults, Estha
and Rahel are left to deal with the grief they've suffered through, both
together as kids and individually after they were separated. We don't know what
the future holds for them, but we are left to hope that they will somehow find
a way to pick up the pieces.
VI. The
Narrator’s Point of View
The
narrator of The God of Small Things is not a character in the story, but rather
tells the story from a distance. He or she moves the narrative forward by
delving into each character's perspective, showing us how things look from
where they're standing. This strategy works well with the general style of the
writing, where we're picking up bits and pieces of the plot as we go.
Similarly, the narrator gives us bits and pieces of information about each character,
including information unknown to others – for example, Baby Kochamma's diaries,
Estha's private fears, and Velutha and Ammu's long-brewing love.
That
said, even though the narrator approximates the thoughts of a number of
characters while staying outside the action (a technique called free indirect
discourse – learn to love it!), it's worth noting that we spend a large chunk
of the novel following Rahel around, both as a child and as an adult. As a
result, it's sometimes easy to slip into thinking that the entire novel is told
from Rahel's point of view. In fact, our omniscient narrator manages to get us
to experience multiple points of view by the time we turn the last page.
VII. The Language Used
Language
play gives the reader a clear indication of who the character really is (Stockdale,
2008).
Such use of language is particularly interesting given Roy’s use of a language
that is not natively her own. Roy’s use of language throughout the novel helps
the reader better understand her various complex characters, most importantly
Estahappen and Rahel, the seven years old twins who are most affected by the
events that take place within their family and community in 1969.
The God of Small Things, written in English, falls into the category
of postcolonial literature, a term that has been variously defined. Roy is
considered used both opache and transparent language blending in her novel. One
example is the first sentences which she open the novel, she describe the
situation in Ayemene including what and how are thigs are there. This language
is known as opache language for it tells us about the surface. The other Opache
language that used we can find where Roy describe Baby Kochama especially her
physical appearance. She told that now Baby Kochama is wearing a lot of jewelry, puting make up on her face,
things that she did not do in her young age, that Rahel thinks that “... Baby
Kochama had lived her life backwards” It is because Baby Kochama was a nun.
VIII. Fiction
as a Representation of Reality
Fiction
generally is the representation of reality or known as mimesis. It may represent psychological or
moral or spiritual aspects through symbols, characters used representatively or
symbolically, improbable events, and other devices. In The God of Small Things,
if we trace back to the author’s life background, we can say that this novel is
her autobiographical novel. The setting of the novel, Ayemenem Kerala, is the
place where the Roy grew up in. Arundhati Roy was born in the village of
Ayemenem, Kerala on 24 November 1961 out of an unhappy marriage between a
Christian woman from Kerala and a Bengali Hindu. She hardly ever mentions her
father.
IX. Worldview
World-view
is how readers view of the shape of the world that the fiction projects. Every author
views the world or certain issue through his/her work. This novel tries to
voice caste, politic and discrimination. In that era, something happened in
India. Caste violence happened to low caste. And low caste got discrimination
from high caste. From her writings,
the readers of this novel can conclude and project the social condition as well
as the ideology of life of Indian at postcolonial era. At that time, caste
system was the only way to organize society. Indian’s people very strictly
differentiate people from their caste, and treated them differently according
to what caste they belong to.
References
God of Small Things. California: Dean of the
Graduated.
http://www.shmoop.com
Prasad,
Amar Nath. 2004. Arundhati Roy’s The God
of Small Things: A Critical Appraisal. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.
Roy,
Arundhati. (1997). The God of Small
Things. India: IndiaInk.
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