The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy

In my first attempt to read this remarkable book, I failed to grasp the essence of the story. Perhaps this is because there are so many calamities that assail the reader relentlessly until the end. But once the reader understands how to read the book, they are captivated by its beauty, with each word like a pearl, as it rises beyond the sublime.

The story begins with the return of 31-year-old Rahel Kochamma to her home, Ayemenem House, in Kerala. The house seemed deserted and in disrepair. The only signs of life, other than her great-aunt Baby Kochamma, who was sitting quietly in front of a new television, were bullfrogs and a rattlesnake.

Rahel he or she returned to Ayemenem to see his twin brother, Estha. The two were once inseparable, but had been torn apart for nearly 25 years since the tragedy of 1969, when his cousin Sophie mol drowned in the river. The death of Sophie mol is he ‘important thing ‘: the main among many smaller things which ultimately led to the ruin of the family.

The twins were raised in Ayemenem House: once a beautiful house and property of his grandfather papachi, and his grandmother, mamachi. Ammu, your mother was papachi and the only daughter of mamachi. Mamachi’s her head bears scars and dents from her husband’s blows. Brother of Ammu, Chako, who was Sophie Mol’s father, studied in London where he met and married an English woman, Margaret: the mother of Sophie mol.

When Margaret divorced Chako He came home, and for a time he ran the family Pickle factory. While flirting with women and communism, the family business slowly collapsed. When Margeret’s second husband, Joe, dies in a car accident, Chako invites her and Sophie to visit the Ayemenem house. The other character, who contributes to the bad air of the family and the sadness of the story, is Baby Kochamma, papachi’s spiteful and lying younger sister.

Ammufed up with her father’s violent temper, she left home to Calcutta where he met and got married, Babu: an alcoholic and how papachi, physically abusive. When the abuse affected their children, Ammu divorced him and returned to Ayemenem home. Due, Ammu’s the situation with his own family is uncertain due to his marital misfortune. Even her children, the twins, do not feel loved by their grandparents.

The other main character in the story is Velutha, ‘which means white in Malayalam, because it’s black ‘. He is low caste. On Ayemenem House, his kind were not allowed to touch anything ‘Touchables’ touched. Mammachi I knew a time when Velutha’s nice ‘they were expected to crawl back with a broom, sweeping their tracks so that ‘ others would not be contaminated by accidentally stepping on their footprints.

This is the man who Mammachi’s daughter, Ammu, Falls in love of. Velutha gave Ammu the affection he never enjoyed, and was the father they never had for the twins. Ammu’s romance with a low caste Hindu was the spark that finally ignited the tragic events of history: the death of Sophie mol when the twins were 7 years old.

We finally hear, somewhere in the middle of the story, about the events that led to Sophie Mol’s death. First, Velutha’s the father comes to Mammachidoor and offers to kill his son with his bare hands for having an affair with Ammu. Malachi responded to this angrily while imagining Velutha’srough black hand ‘ in the body of his daughter, and ‘his mouth on hers. Velutha is fired from Ayemenem House, and banished from property on pain of death.

The narrative of the actual death of Sophie Mol is brief. He is now visiting Kerala and staying at Ayemenem House with his mother, Margaret. He joined the twins as they fled after Ammu insulted them. After her boat capsized in the river, Sophie Mol drowned, and the twins, ‘Who could swim like seals?, survived.

The twins remained in hiding after the accident for fear of their family’s wrath. The next morning, the police arrested Velutha. He was beaten almost to death on suspicion of kidnapping the twins and sexually abusing Ammu. This was the version of events he gave them Baby Kochamma. In this way, he believed, they could finally erase the stain on their family caused by the adventure.

Later Estha is pressured by his great-aunt, Baby Kochamma, by saying that Velutha is guilty of kidnapping him and Rahel, and he complied. After that, the family evicted Ammu from the house and forced Estha to go live with Babu, her father. With the death of his cousin, the twins’ childhood was aborted, their family was divided, and an innocent man was tortured to death in prison.

As much as the few hours leading up to Sophie Mol’s death changed the twins’ lives, tragedy loomed even before they were born. The Kochamma family is like a military force bent on self-destruction. They are more brutal and savage when dealing with each other. One of the many tragedies in the book is that what it describes burns in many families not only in Kerala, but around the world.

Mammachi’s dented and scarred head is the symbol of the horrors and decline of the Kochamma family. Your children are doomed early in their lives. They are haunted by the death of their English and white cousin. Even in life Sophie Mol’s Her presence haunted them because of her fair skin. His color and Western manners made the twins feel inferior.

Twenty-five years after his death, like the albino whale in Moby dick that could not be killed, Sophie mol he still had a grip on them. It is as if, even though the twins were alive, they had drowned with it. One wonders what really happened that fateful day. Was Sophie Mol’s death an accident, or was it something else?

Rahel returned home after a failed marriage in America. It is as if your ex-husband is repulsed by the presence of a third party in their union: an undulating, bloated, and wrinkled ghost. Estha To return to Ayemenem House because his father was gone. The twins, now adults and looking for comfort and even love, end up in bed together.

My passion for The God of Little Things it is so strong that I have read it several times, and with each reading a new and painful subject is revealed in a way not unlike the dirty river in Kerala who threw up Sophie mol: swollen ‘like a ghost in an empty auditorium‘.

One wonders why Arundhati roy never followed this masterpiece with another book. His novel speaks of the most heartbreaking truth about the power of evil. It is strident in its abhorrence of hatred and prejudice. I am sure that very few newcomer novelists have gifted the world with a book as memorable as The God of Little Things.

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