Summary The God of Small Things, ISBN: 9780143028574 English Literary Studies I (ENGL7311)
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Course
English Literary Studies I (ENGL7311)
Institution
University Of Cape Town (UCT)
Book
The God of Small Things
Amazing book with a captivating story line. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of reading it. The examination on this book was amazing as well, it encouraged vast though processes and visualisation.
-The story will be told in fragments, mostly jumping between scenes in 1969 (focusing on
Sophie Mol’s visit) and 1993, when the twins are reunited at age thirty-one. This style,
focusing on small moments broken apart and examined separately, connects to the theme
of “small things” in the novel. “Kochamma” is a female honorific title, not an actual name.
-The relationship between Estha and Rahel is one of the most important of the book, as they
think of themselves as a single entity, but then have different experiences and are separated
for years. The Ipe family is relatively well off – they have a car.
-Roy creates tension by basically revealing the end (Sophie Mol will die) at the beginning,
and then jumping back and forth in time to slowly reveal how this comes to pass. “Mol” is a
term meaning “girl,” and again “Kochamma” is an honorific – Roy’s style of free indirect
discourse involves telling the story partly through the eyes of the young twins, so these
characters (and others, like Ammu) are only named in the way the twins refer to them.
Rahel clearly has a very active imagination that allows her to avoid confronting tragedy.
-There is more to this “ending” than just Sophie Mol’s death, as Ammu has been socially
disgraced in some way. The story starts out very confusingly, but Roy gives out enough
information to keep up the tension.
-We first see the results of whatever trauma occurred around Sophie Mol’s death. The
twins, who considered themselves as almost one person, are separated for years, and Estha
retreats into silence to avoid his terrible memories. Roy capitalizes and emphasizes certain
phrases that linger in the childrens’ consciousness (like Estha being “Returned”), as part of
her style of presenting the world as the twins perceive it.
-“The Loss of Sophie Mol” is a separate entity from Sophie Mol herself, which introduces the
theme of preservation. Whatever traumatic events occurred in 1969 have lingered on in the
Ayemenem House, despite Estha’s attempts to silence them. Rahel kept her curiosity and
active imagination, but both twins act like “lost souls” without the other around.
-Like the character of Rahel in the novel, Roy also attended architecture college, and also
grew up in Kerala with a brother of similar age. Later the narrator will characterize the adult
Estha as “Quietness” and the adult Rahel as “Emptiness,” both of them lost without the
other. The personal trauma of the Ipe family is also shown as just a fragment of the political
upheaval happening in India.
,-Baby Kochamma will be an antagonist to the twins and Ammu. Each of the family members
struggle with social obligation, love, and personal dislike in their relationships, but Baby
Kochamma always puts her own well-being first. With her makeup and jewelry, Baby
Kochamma is just another thing being “preserved” in Ayemenem.
-The Patriarch of Antioch is the head of the Syrian Christian Church. Though Baby
Kochamma has a tragic backstory of unrequited love, even in her youth she was very self-
centered – using her Christianity and charitable acts only as a means of seeming like a good
person to society and Father Mulligan.
-Roy will often criticize the patriarchal system of India, where a man-less woman has
basically wasted her life and is seen as worthless. Baby Kochamma sticks with the status quo
and allows herself to decline without a husband, spending all her time mourning and
preserving Father Mulligan’s memory, as well as indulging in her own personal grudges and
jealousy.
-Roy will later comment that Baby Kochamma’s paranoia is based in the fear of “being
displaced” – the Ipe family is of an upper class of landowners, and Baby Kochamma is the
type to cling to old class divisions and fear any kind of social change.
-The pickle factory is an important symbol of the theme of preservation, as the Ipes
(especially Mammachi, the pickle maker) preserve old traditions and class divisions. Even
Mammachi makes banana jam, however – suggesting that none of the Ipes could stick to
the status quo, and this ultimately led to tragedy. Roy just hasn’t said what kind of tragedy
yet.
-We still don’t know what Baby Kochamma has done, but she already appears as a negative
character because of her self-righteousness, laziness, and jealousy. She clearly puts herself
and the “family name” above the actual other members of the family. Certain small things –
like the smell of old roses – signify big things and lingering memories.
-The novel contains a contradictory mix of “small things” – the little moments and objects
that Roy uses to build up a story, and a writing style that takes a childlike view of a brutal
world – and “big things,” like the ancient caste system and political turmoil in India. Despite
the family’s attempts at preservation, “things can change in a day” is one of the novel’s
most frequent refrains.
CHAPTER 2
-Sophie Mol and Margaret Kochamma’s arrival in India is the setting for most of the novel’s
action. The Ipes are an upper-class family with their own car (and pickle factory). Roy herself
said that her family also made “pilgrimages” to see The Sound of Music when she was
young.
-Ammu is also a “man-less woman” like Baby Kochamma, but Ammu refuses to accept her
situation as inferior, and she rages against the unfair patriarchal society. Certain descriptors
, like the “Puff” and the “Love-in-Tokyo” come up again and again, emphasizing the
innocence and youthfulness of the twins.
-Ammu’s father was cruel and abusive (as we will learn) and her husband was as well, but
Ammu can still only choose between these men’s last names to have any kind of social
standing. Ammu has the kind of fiery, independent spirit that rebels against the injustice she
grew up with, but as a divorced woman she is basically powerless.
-Instead of offering an escape from her oppressive life in Ayemenem, Baba just becomes
another man abusing his power over Ammu. The Ipe family and the people of Ayemenem
still cling to the traditional views of a “man-less woman” as worthless and disgraceful.
Unfortunately, most of the “love” relationships in the novel are abusive and unhealthy.
-Ammu’s contradictory nature makes her an intriguing character but also leads to great
tragedy for herself and the children. The narrator offers more little hints about the events to
come.
-Baby Kochamma gives great importance to society’s opinion and tries to preserve political
and social divisions. She sees the twins as “less-than” because of their heritage as children
of divorce and mixed religious background, and so thinks they should feel ashamed.
-Pappachi is another antagonistic, negative character and an example of the abusive power
of the patriarchy. Pappachi is never punished for his brutal violence, and in fact is seen as a
model citizen in public. Yet despite his brutal actions, Mammachi never complained, and she
still tries to uphold the traditional society that condoned such beatings.
-Pappachi’s moth will become a symbol of fear and unhappiness, especially for Rahel. The
moth is another small thing that symbolizes a larger stream of events, like Pappachi’s
abusive nature. The fact that Mammachi could live with Pappachi, and even cry when he
died, shows how deeply ingrained such traditions as the male-dominated Indian social
system are. Pappachi, as Imperial Entomologist, represents the old upper class.
-India gained its independence from Britain years earlier, but evidence of British culture is
everywhere, like the fact that the family speaks English and is going to see a movie in
English. Kari Saipu was a symbol of the colonizer as the kind of man to steal Indian dreams
and “redream” them, an Englishman trying to take on the culture of India. The narrator
portrays the twins’ personal tragedy as a slice of a larger history of violence in India.
-Chacko, as a man, was given all the love and privilege that Ammu was denied. He is also
one of the few members of the family with actual credentials to back up his pride and sense
of superiority – others like Baby Kochamma rely solely on the family name and class.
-The twins are clearly intelligent and imaginative children, who are unfortunately stifled by
their situation. Reading words backwards becomes a recurring motif, and will connect to
Estha’s later act of silence, as both manipulating words and refusing to speak any words are
efforts to suppress the memories those words signify.
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