Only the Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside.
The god of small things is an extremely touching rendering of the interpersonal complexities of the members of one family. It plays a game of cat-and-mouse with the boundaries of social and cultural dichotomy, contrasting it with the passionate yearnings of the human conscience. In the desolate village of Ayemenem in Kerala in the 1960s, with communism and modern ideologies rattling the age-old social customs, Roy weaves a suspenseful narrative that is part political commentary, part psychological drama.
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The book spans over two decades but follows no chronological order. The story is told through unfolding memories and flashbacks. It begins, figuratively speaking, at its chronological end. We already know what is going to happen, we just don't know how. There is perhaps no single tragedy or antagonist that could be considered the undoing of the Ipe family. Roy's tale is a dark but whimsical take on the incidents leading up to the present. Touching upon the cruelty of separation, the narrative opens with the reunion of Rahel and Estha, fraternal twins who were separated when they were seven. While the book has no distinguished narrator, it is through the perspective of Rahel that the readers discover the most heartbreaking moments. What makes this even more gut-wrenching is that for a very large portion of the tale, Rahel and Estha are only seven years of age- they have no concept of the social obligations and restrictions that plague the adults around them. They are merely children and struggle to find explanations for the actions of their elders. The perspective may be of a child, but the god of small things is by no means children's literature.
Roy beautifully balances the aftermath of a family tragedy with a background of honour and taboos, love and sexuality, social obligations and personal desires. She tackles some rather uncomfortable issues like intercaste sexual relations, child sexual abuse, mental illness and incest.
Roy paints a complex yet subtle picture. The story is not about what the children know, rather what they understand. While the children have an air of blissful naivety, their emotions are not oversimplified. They are children and may live in a world of their own marking, yet they are not untouched by the barely disguised animosity and resentment being shown to them. This becomes especially evident after the arrival of their cousin Sophie. It is perhaps this feeling of being unwanted that eventually leads to the events of Sophie's drowning. The twins escape to the History House for the first time, starting a chain of events that ruin the lives of so many in a merciless game of crime and punishment, innocence and guilt, right and wrong.
'What came for them? Not death. Just the end of living.'
The children - Rahel, Estha and Sophie - are perhaps the biggest victims in the story. Victims of a world they did not understand, a world that did not understand them. Victims of the politics of the adults, of the trickery of the adults, of the rules framed by the adults. Roy very sensitively captures the effect this has on their emotional and mental well being. It could be said that they never really could grow up, never really recover. The incidents of the book leave a wound so deep that it's not healed even after 25 years. Rahel and Estha considered themselves as two parts of a whole but had to spend most of their lives separated from each other, for no fault of theirs. While both the twins go through profoundly traumatic events, Estha is more severely affected- both because of being molested by the Orangedrink Lemondrink man and because of being the one who condemns Velutha to death. In trying to protect his sister, his world changes overnight. The effect of this is that when we meet him at the starting of the novel, Estha has been mute for a rather large part of his life.
'It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that is purloined. '
Mortality is a recurring theme in the story. Not only are we confronted with the untimely death of Sophie Mol, but Velutha is also brutally executed for no fault of his. Ammu's death is a moment of extreme anguish, even more so for the readers who know the reasons behind her situation. Roy not only deals with the ground realities of death but also its effects on those left behind.
'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.'
Roy quite beautifully portrays the human emotions of love and fear. Fear in the story is not just portrayed as a reaction to something scary, it is shown to be a very powerful motivator. The ‘Love Laws' that dictate who should be loved and how are invoked throughout the book. Love is shown to be the influence behind the biggest decisions of all the characters' lives. Baby Kochamma's unrequited love for Father Mulligan transforms her into a bitter, manipulative woman. Ammu and Veluatha's forbidden romance dooms them both to death. Rahel's fear that Ammu does not love her anymore is what causes her to board the ship to history house for the first time. Estha may not have an understanding of what happened with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man but he does realise that something was wrong. This nurtures in him a sense of fear, a desire to escape, feeling unsafe in his own home. Rahel and Estha's love is expressed physically at the end of the book, resulting in the taboo of incest. (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008) Love is a powerful force in the novel, yet it is not easy to come by. It is twisted and wrapped and withheld as a means of bending others to your will.
'Some things come with their own punishments.'
Roy also tells of what happens to those who break the rules- those who do what they want and not what society wants. Be it the laws of love or those of social division, people who break the socially accepted norms are punished by the society. Baby Kochamma defies her father and converts to Catholicism, so she is condemned to a life of bitterness and solitude. Ammu divorces her husband only to discover that she is unwelcome in her parental home. Upon the discovery of his relationship with Ammu, even Velutha's family turns against him. Vellya Paapen even offers to kill his own son for breaking the ‘love laws'. Velutha and Ammu end up paying for their passion with their lives.
'This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt.'
More than anything, The God of Small Things is a tale about family. It is a story of how families are forced together and torn apart. It is a story of a family and how each member of the family has a different idea of familial love, duty and obligation. Baby Kochamma's obsession with the family's social image causes her to torment and manipulate those around her. Mammachi's differential treatment for her children is a driving force in the story, laced with Jocastaian undertones. Rahel and Estha's relation is perhaps the most important one in the entire novel. They see themselves as one and being separated from each other drives them to the brink of mental sanity. Familial love in the story is constantly struggling against the social constructs of duty and honour. And unfortunately, it is rarely victorious.
'.……..the world had other ways of breaking men.'
The book is also layered with political themes. In a world concerned with the big things, Roy directs the reader's attention to the small things. Roy put emphasis on the Small things going on behind the Big Things like political and social upheaval. This is what makes Roy's writing so poignant. Roy has an extremely sensitive portrayal of difficulties faced by the Untouchables, who are forbidden to touch the members of the upper caste. The story talks not only of the extreme caste discrimination prevalent in the society but also of the less evident forms of discrimination that the characters suffer. We see instances of religious discrimination when Baby Kochamma is looked down on for converting to catholicism. Christians could not marry Hindus, in the eyes of society. As a result, Rahel and Estha are shamed for being half Hindu. Chacko is also implied to have suffered racial discrimination at the hands of his English in-laws.
Through the characters of Ammu and Chacko, Roy talks of the misogyny in Indian society. There is a huge disparity in how the two of them are treated for getting a divorce or having extra-marital relations. After her divorce, Ammu's life is treated as being over but no such parameter is imposed upon Chacko.
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