Subject: English III

Topic: Social Issues on the God Small

Things.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A research work of such great scope and precision could never have been possible
without great co-operation from all sides. Contributions of various people have
resulted in this effort. Firstly, I would like to thank God for the knowledge he has
bestowed upon me.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Soumyadip Ghosh (Assistant
Professor in English) without whose valuable support and guidance, this project
would have been impossible. I would like to thank the library staff for having put
up with my persistent queries and having helped me out with the voluminous
materials needed for this work. I would also like to thank my seniors for having
guided me and culminate this acknowledgement by thanking my friends for having
kept the flame of competition burning, which spurred me on through these days.
And finally my parents, who have been a support to me throughout my life and
have helped me, guided me to perform my best in all interests of my life, my
grandparents who have always inculcated the best of their qualities in me.

Saurav
Prasad
BBA.LL.B
Roll no:
102/BBA/LLB/14007
4TH Semester

Table of contents
Particulars Pg No.

Acknowledgement 01
Abstract and Keywords 04
Introduction 05
Social Issues on the God of small things 07-26
Importance of The God of small things 17
Conclusion 28
Webliography 29
 Abstract and Key Words

Arundhati Roys The God of Small Things can be seen as one of the most powerful
novels on a definite social problem that of the oppression of the downtrodden, also
touching upon related problems. It problematizes the oppressive machinery based
on caste discrimination and collusion with it of certain political forces. Here we
come to know that the social discriminations which the characters suffer
throughout the novel .The most bitter attack is carried in the novel against the sham
lives lived out by the politicians whose double standards of behaviour and talk are
exposed by the author.
 INTRODUCTION

Arundhati Roy is one of the best-known representatives of the contemporary

generation of Indian writers who write in English. She has astonished the literary
world by winning the Booker Award for her novel The God of Small Things.
Roys maiden novel The God of Small Things was greeted in 1997 by
unprecedented attention from critics, pundits and the media alike.
Published in 1997, The God of Small Things quickly skyrocketed Arundhati Roy
to worldwide critical and popular acclaim. The works of Arundhati Roy are
challenging and richly reward the critics who explore their depths.
Arundhati Roy in her novel - The God of Small Things has effectively presented
such prevailing practices in society. The study proposes to look into how these
works The God of Small Things, create a world and succeed in articulating social
oppression. All these works tell stories in a distinctive manner. Arundhati Roys
fresh perspectives on age old traditions created waves as rebellion against the
social injustice meted out to the downtrodden and to the women. The God of Small
Things will is read as a book, a book which becomes the voice of all those who are
relegated to the margins of the society. More than sixty years have passed since
India gained its political autonomy, but the fact remains that the lower classes and
women living in Indian society are yet to witness freedom in truer sense. In spite of
continuous representation, legislations and revolution, the weaker sections of the
society continue to suffer and the powerful and the privileged, though hypocrites
and law breakers are rewarded. The study proposes to explore the maltreatment
meted out to the subalterns in Arundhati Roys The God of Small Things. It will
highlight the various ways in which the rights and privileges of both these classes
are generally ignored or cancelled out even in the present era of post colonialism.
In the intervening years, Roy has used her celebrity status in India to write instead
in defence of causes she believes in, to become a write for the victims of
modernity.
The significance of the study lies in the fact that Roy has strength and a passionate
sense of justice. Roys works catch out attention on social issues and injustice. If
Roy holds anything specifically, it is a social vision, a vision which has a little
room for the suppression and exploitation of the individual by society, of woman
by man, of untouchables by touchables, of children by elders and political pawns
by political parties. She is wholly committed to the voiceless millions of her
country and has become their voice at a huge risk to herself.
 Social issues on the God of Small
Things

The Social Realism as portrayed by the novelist, can be well understood if we

analyse the social issues which have been raised in the novel. The following
paragraphs discuss those social issues which reflect the social commitment of the
novelist. Arundhati Roy uses a compressed language, thrifty style of foreground,
the essential predicament of the socially oppressed, such is the extraordinary
quality of her narrative art.
When in Chapter 1, the Kottayam Police Inspector Thomas Mathew addresses
Amu, his lecherous gaze express his authority making her wince. Here is the brief,
naked truth of his coercive behaviour. "He started at Ammu's breasts as he spoke.
He said the police knew all they needed to know and that the Kottayam Police
didn't take statements from`Vehsyas or their illegimate children. If I were you he
said I'd go home quietly. Then he tapped her breasts with his button Tap, tap.
Arundhati Roy lays bare the way sex is used by, those in authority to cow down the
defenceless, an age-old device that has little changed even in a democratic rule.
There could be nothing more humiliating than to be called Vehsya (Prostitute) for a
respectable women. Thomas Mathew knows his power and is determined to make
her feel it by stripping of her dignity, when he calls her children "Illegitimate".
'This brief scene burns a painful spot in the readers' consciousness. Another
instance where sex is used to show superior authority is the Estha Orange drink -
Lemon - drinkman episode in Chapter 40. The casual manner in which the stall-
keeper-indulges in it indicates the common practice, but it is in its very casualness
one can see lurking the dark oppressive powers. Reference to Chako's indulgences
with woman workers over looked by the Ayemenem House Women as `Man's
Needs' is another similar example which expresses the way sex becomes an
expression of certain types of social power, ranging from baton-swinging police
officer to a communist sympathiser like Chako to an ordinary cold drink seller. It
silences the weak in a way no other physical exercise of power can do.
The row over Ammu-velutha relation is the key factor in the novel that brings
about catastrophe and misfortune on all. Their sexual attraction and relation is
beautifully woven in more than one level. On the personal level it represents a
union that openly defies all socially constructed restrictions and leads to a sense of
fulfillment and contentment. "Then for what seemed like an eternity but was really
no more than five minutes she slept leaning against him, her back against his chest.
Seven years of oblivion lifted off her and flew into the shadows on weighty,
quaking winds ... Amid the murderous terror of being captured and destroyed for
ever, both Ammu and Velutha find momentary release from the life destroying
realities, the deathly inevitabilities into a soul-elevating feeling of mutual support
and protection in the dark night on the banks of the Mcenachal.
On the social arena their meetings for thirteen lights carve a fatality for them in
terms of gender and caste hostilities. In their sufferings both are utterly lonely.
Both die foul, lonely deaths, chrushed and abandoned by all. The most bitter
attack, is carried in the novel against the Sham lives lived out by the Politicians
whose double standards of behavior and talk are exposed by the author. Kerala has
always been considered a socially aware state, its
awareness level being the highest among all the states of India, with a cent percent
literacy rate and a tradition of Marxist politics dominating. Curiously it is also a
state where the roots of religious orthodoxy and conservatism go deep and spread
over greater part of social life. The power of religion was hardly ever destabilized
by the coming of Marxism to power for Mrs. Roy herself said in an interview.
"Most interestingly it was the only place in the world where religious 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 next week. I was aware of different cultures
when I was growing up and I am still aware of this now. When you see all the
competing beliefs against the same background you realize now they all wear each
other down. To me, I couldn't think of a better location for a book about human
beings.
The rural environment is a significant element, it builds up the lives of' the
villagers at different state, Criss crossing each other and exerting influences that
build up the drama with all its stresses and tensions. Arundhati Roy uses the
literary devices in a subtle manner to create the rural landscape. Her descriptions
are not drawn innocently on pastoral vignettes they add up to basic frame work of
value conflict-, that are sharply brought under focus by her.
Apart from the straight forward realistic portrayals there are woven by the author
intricate patterns by employing several stylistic devices of remarkable aesthetic
beauty but also helps the reader get into the hidden significance of the picture
being presented. These passages of unparalleled verbal beauty sharpen the readers
vision of essential realities of the lives of village folks.
On a larger scale 'The God of Small Things' is about politics which through its
various agencies exercises decisive influence over the lives of the people of
Ayemenem. Unlike writers such as Mulk Raj Anand, Arundhati Roy presents
politics as a very complex force, operative at different levels, beginning with
home, and manipulated by different people for different ends. As Reena Kothari
says
"She introduces the power structure in Society and shows him the more powerful
victimize the less powerful as there is gender oppression, oppression of the lower
caste, and subjugation of children, police extremities and the hypocrite Marxist
leader Mr. K.N.M. Pillai who too doesn't leave the opportunity to oppress any one
for personal gains. It is ironical that the Church makes distinction between lower
caste and upper caste. It is also ironical to see Mr. Pillai using Marxism for
personal gains rather than for poor laborers or the lower caste. The novel portrays
the forces of power working in alliance in the novel. It shows how the caste system
and hierarchy which is still prevalent in India, operates and is a powerful ally of'
patriarchy which is another powerful component of Indian Society.
Society in the novel is tccmi6g' with the exploitive instincts. Even a common place
experience of Estha with orange drink Lemon drink man in Abhilash Talkies
connotes the prevalence of the subtle workings of exploitive intentions. Pappachi's
deep sense of frustration that eventually led to pathetic disintegration of mind has
its source in his being exploited professionally when his entomological findings
was hijacked by a lesser researcher.
Chako and Pillai the polished communist man over are shown indulging in
outwitting each
other. At the bottom of the massive oppressive edifice are Ammu, her Children and
Velutha. As Surendran rightly points out:
"The dimension of oppression of Ammu, her twins and Velutha are not one plus
one plus but one time two times three times all the people and the forces they
encounter. The weight of this power is indeed terrible".'
The authors disgust for party politics is barely concealed in her famous portrait of
comrade Pillai, Chako's deceptive stances and the freedom with which the police is
allowed to unleash its barbarism. In a tone reminiscent of Jonathan swift for its
pointed jibes, Arundhati Roy introduces to us the local political heavy weight
comrade K.N.M. Pillai and creates a cruel caricature. Pillai is indeed right from the
beginning an epitome of all the unpleasant deceptive aspects of degenerate political
tradition which is nothing more than a means of self-promotion maintaining one's
hold over the citalel of local power by playing one against the other. The Sham
facade so assiduously erected by the local practitioners of local politics and the ill-
concealed brute forces of real evil are easily seen in men like Pillai. The cruelest
irony is that he represents a party that represents worker's interests and exists on
the strength of' its pledge to protect them from all kinds of' socioeconomic
exploitation. Their leadership survives on the slogan-raising and noisy marches
challenging such a society as is based on all forms of inequality. Such leaders exist
on perpetual cycle of social crisis or history dumps them into time's dustbin. As the
author writes : "only then when it was too late, and paradise pickles slumped softly
to the floor without SO much LIS a murmur Or even the pretense or resistance
did comrade Pillai realize that what he really needed was the process of war more
than the outcome of victory. War could have been the stallion that he rode, part of
it is not all the way to the legislative Assembly, whereas victory left him no better
oft' then when he started oft".'
The sneer and sarcasm in these words arc clearly, audible to the readers. Pillai is
the triumph of Roy's subtle and complex art of characterization whom she builds
up in fragments that automatically drift into their right places. From the simple
portrayal of the lecherous oil smearing pot-bellied man of the common family man
whose devotion to the Marxist ideology stretches to the extent of christening his
son Lenin, he pushes his devilish brains into plotting to trap poor Velutha and
finally joining hands with the state police in smashing him. Velutha represents the
class of down-trodden untouchable used by the politicians and the police as mere
pawns in the political game of chess. Pillais dubious games are difficult to
understand, even for Chacko. In chapter 14 we read: "Nobody ever learned the
precise nature of the role that comrade Pillai played in the events that followed.
Even Chacko who knew that the fervent, high-pitched speeches about rights of
untouchables delivered by comrade Pillai during the Marxist party siege of
paradise pickles were pharisaic never learned the whole story.
When Velutha arrives at the house of' Pillai there is tension in the air. Pillai has
already decided his course of action. There is cold-blooded attitude at the way he
prefers to take turn eating his favourite dishes. The scene brings out in sharp
contrast the essential cruelty of the man: "Comrade Pillai finished his curd
unhurriedly. He wagged his fingers over his plate.
Kalyani brought water in a little stainless steel container and poured it out for him.
The left over Morsels of loud in his plate, rose and floated. She brought him a
hard-towel. He wiped his hands belched his appreciation and went to the door."
Once again the manner in which the workers leader disowns Velutha brings out the
tragic essence of the untouchables plight who have been pinned down to their age
old position of the lowest of the lonely. Comrade Pillai this time takes recourse to
the party principles to remind Velutha "But comrade, you should know that party
was not constituted to support workers indiscipline in their private life. Velutha
didn't need a long lecture on the subject to understand that he has been abandoned
by a party in which he had looked up to far final succour. In what can only be
called the splendid dramatization of inner mind Arundhati Roy in a small passage
brings forth the inherent contradictions of Pillars position.
"Velutha watched comrade Pillars body fed from the door. His disembodied
piping voice stayed on and sent out slogans. Pennauts fluttering in an empty
doorway. It is not in the party's interest to take up such matters. Individuals'
interest is subordinate to the organizations interest. Violating party discipline
means violating party unity and there it was again another religion turned against
itself.
Another edifice constructed by the human mind decimated by human nature."' By
highlighting human mind with human nature Mrs. Roy seems to focus on the
essential human frailty, its inability to get over its weakness. Velutha stands
betrayed by society by his party which has been `seen by millions like him to be
substitute for religion in the manner in which Graham Greene's Whisk), priest (in
the power and the glory) stand's betrayed by his religion. Green's hero harrowed
and hunted down by the state police, and his own religion finally attains
martyrdom, Velutha's position is similar. No wonder the communists felt deeply
hurt and expressed their outrage in sharp words. There were reports all over the
press that reflected that the Marxists took reference to F.M.S. and CPI (M) rather
too seriously. However, a more serious reading of the novel would reveal that it is
not a particular part), the author seeks to attack, but the sell'-seeking politicians in
general whose principles and ideological commitments act as well-wrought facade
behind which dubious games are played. It is just that in Kerala's politics the
communists happen to have a dominant role and are in a position to influence the
course of social events but variations of human temperament and family
compulsions transcend the limits of party ideology and these leaders act as any
other leader would irrespective of party affiliations. It is the essential debauchery
of political people (whatever party ties) and the inherent selfishness that keeps
them glued to their seats of power that are caricatured. The author has shown a
great deal of artistic insight into human nature in her caricatures of Pillai and
Chako. The author critiques not this party or that party. Her anger is directed
against the political hypocrisy that is so deeply ingrained in the politicians the
unprincipled behaviour and the glittering mask they always wear. Transcending
even these small frames the author questions the social set up that allows or
sanctions inhuman debasement and the cruel caste-ridden structure.
Velutha, the skilled Paravan embodies is the state of Linlohchable in free India.
His plight is not much different from that of Anand's Bakha. Inspite of his in born
noble qualities and physique lie is not yet empowered to strike back. Though the
days of crawling backwards with a broom' sweeping away the foot prints have
become a tale of the past, the Paravan's fate has riot yet witnessed the change.
Velutha a God of Small Things left no foot prints in sand, no ripples in water".
The novel can be read as a potential political story in the sense that politics
intervenes in the basic social issues. And one of the major social issues concern
centrally the untouchables. Compulsions transcend the limits of party, ideology
and these leaders act as any, other leader would irrespective of party. It is an irony
of civilization that people who work hardest to produce riches suffer the most and
fare the worst. They are looked down upon and treated shabbily by the powerful.
We know them as 'working class' a term used all over the world. They are included
in the "small things" Arundhati Roy speaks for. But Indian tradition has left as a
legacy of the Aryan past a section which is placed worse than ordinary members of
the working class. That is known generally as `untouchable' or 'Pariah'. As it
sounds bitter Mahatma Gandhi named them as `Harijans' (Children of God) while
the census authorities during the British rule referred to them as 'exterior classes'.
Now-a-days they are popularly known) as the 'depressed' or 'dalits'.
The lot of the socially deprived, the untouchables has occupied Indian English
writers centrally and remarkable works have been written on the plight of these
lowest of the lowly. One of the prominent novelist to have focused on it is Mulk
Raj Anand whose novel 'The Untouchable' has become one of the strongest works
on the subject. Its protagonist Bakha, though portrayed in a different mould, is as
strong as Velutha.
Arundhati Roy has been targeted by critics for not treating the subject as sharply as
it deserved. The criticism loses much of its sting as we take into account the fact
that 'The God of Small Things' is about several things at the same time. Questions
have been raised about many social institutions assumptions and agencies that
affect common man's and woman's life. Besides being a political satire, as we have
already discussed it is also more about the treatment of woman in traditional Indian
Society and more importantly about the dalits or untouchables. The novelist's
presentation of the dalits is constantly blended with irony. People well-placed in
society attempt to be kind and sympathetic to them but their supremacy
undermines their professed liberal or revolutionary aims. A gentleman wants to
educate the untouchables but dares not to place them in the same school with the
untouchables. A leader talks about social revolution but dreads an untouchable
who holds the party card. An employer recognizes the merits of her employee but
attaches more importance to his caste. Then, the untouchable character in the novel
are presented as types. The device proves useful for the purpose of giving a
realistic view of the varying responses to the grim reality of the dalits. The fact
cannot be disputed that though the dalits are subjected to a similar treatment by the
upper castes their responses are not uniform. We come across three characters in
'The God of Small Things' which belong to the category of the downtrodden. They
are Vellya Pappen and his two sons Kuttapan
and Velutha. They belong to an untouchable caste called Paapen. They are today
trappers according to the tradition. Arundhati Roy gives a lot of information about
the untouchables of Kerala in this connection. She also Lives a generally perfect
picture of the dalits with their oaring responses to the caste-oppression through the
device of trio. Vellya' Paapen Kuttapen and Velutha constitute the trio Which
depicts the three types of the dalits in Indian Society namely the docile
conformist, the discontented paralytic and the rebel who moves for equality and
stakes his life.
The novel mentions only the names of three untouchables castes namely Paravans,
Palayas and Pulayas. They were not allowed to enter the house of the higher caste
people. "Mammachi
told Estha and Rahel that she could remember a time, in her girlhood when
Paravans were
expected to crawl backwards with a broom, sweeping away their foot prints so that
Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by accidentally
stepping into a Paravan's foot prints.

In Mammachi's time, Paravans like other untouchables were not allowed to walk
on public roads not allowed to cover their upper bodies not allowed to carry
umbrellas. They had to put their hands over their mouths when they spoke to divert
their polluted breath away from those whom they addressed. Hierarchial structure
of power and oppression at various levels in patriarchal societies are explored in
the novel. The character of Velutha has been powerfully drawn in terms of his
robust physique and in-born talents for making wooden objects. "He was like a
little magician. lie could make intricate toys-finy wind mills, rattles, minute jewel
boxes out of dried palm reeds, he could carve perfect boats out of tapiocea stems
and figurines on cashew nuts" Not only this, he had exceptional talents for many
other things. "Velutha had a way with machines. Manlmchl often said that if only
he had not been a paravan he might have become an engineer. He mended radios,
clocks, water pumps. He looked after the plumbing and all the electrical gadgets in
the house."' He was indispensable at Ayemenern house. Velutha's skill had
impressed all. But his father Vellya Paapen was an old world Paravan, His heart
often filled with Tenor because He had seen the crawling Backward Days In a fine
passage the author describes his Terror thus Vellya Paapen feared for his younger
son". Ile couldn't say that it was that frightened him. It was nothing that he had said
or done. It was not what he did, but the way he did it. Vellya Paapen's fears belong
to the harsh tragic realities he had seen and experienced. He belonged to the
hierarchical system and couldn't imagine transgressing, the limits set by the caste
system. I was extremely loyal to the Mammachi family who paid for the artificial
dye that was pronounced for him when he lost in an accident. The pitiable scene of
utter surrender to the upper caste family in which we see him groveling before the
elderly ladies and offering his eye removed on his palm in pouring rain in chapter
13 is symbolic of the status of the Paravan untouchables.

The father son relation shows the strain and a wide dark gap. The son has
confidence in himself, harbours different loyalty showing a dangerous tendency to
step over the caste barriers, while the father can't comprehend this beyond the fact
that all this could be constructed as insolence.
Mammachi is quite clear about how to draw lines and see that both the Paravans
remain behind them. In the factory Velutha's talents as carpenter could hardly be
ignored as he was always in demand, ever wanted by the factory for various jobs
which fact was silently resented by the other workers. But here also the caste
discrimination is clearly seen. "To keep the others happy and since she knew that
nobody else would hire him as a carpenter. Mammachi paid Velutha less than she
would a touchable carpenter but more than she would a Paravan. Mammachi did
not encourage him to enter the house. She thought that he ought to be grateful that
he was allowed on the factory premises at all and allowed to touch things that
touchables touched. 'She said that it was a big step for a Paravan." Is Dodiya &
Chakraborty observes in this context:
"Velutha's subjugation is multiple. He is born Paravan son of a ParaParavan a
Community in Kerala, subjected to extreme ignominy through ages. To escape the
inhuman humiliations
Velutha's forefathers had embraced Christianity. But the Christians themselves had
adopted as a matter of natural form of adoption the strict and unavoidable caste-
system thus the Paravans had only received the status of "untouchable Christians
with separate church and priest."
However in Velutha Arundhati Roy presents before us a young of new ideas and
strength. Nothing can be more contrasting than the mo figures of father and son-
Vellya Paapen and Velutha in their different personalities, approaches and
thinking. Velutha is deeply and heartfully aware of his caste and the disadvantages
this puts him into. Yet there is a spark of defiance in him a tidal wave of rebellion
mute and powerful that makes his father fear the future and Mammachi household
resent him. His rebellion is best expressed in being normal as other men are in his
doing things that everyone does and in his ignoring the fact that he is separated
from others by caste barrier. He is the God of Small Things. He possess qualities
that are certainly divine especially when they are compared to those of some of the
other characters in the novel.

Velutha's relation with Ammu spells his rebellion. In a sense the sexual
relationship that Ammu had with Velutha could be described as small things it'
properly placed in the Ayemenem context. This is because having illegitimate
relations with women was something ordinary for Chako. The position of both of
them is that of the out caste who lead lonely lives and are reduced to the condition
of creating their own little joys at gravest risks. Ammus husband was an attractive
young man an Assistant Manager of a Tea Estate in Assam. Soon after their
marriage she discovers that he was a' "full blown alcoholic" and in addition willing
to send his extremely attractive wife to the bunglow of his English Manager Mr.
Rollick. Their marriage breaks. She leaves her husband and returns unwelcomed to
her parents in Ayemenem. She leads a drab and dull life. Ammu quickly learned to
recognize and despair the ugly face of sympathy, and so she brought about
transformation in her personal ways of lonely life decking herself in flowers
listening to songs and music on her radio. She also smoked cigarettes and had
midnight swims. Velutha was also acutely aware of his bitter isolation and
hungered for love and belongingness. Three years younger than Ammu. He finds a
stable heaven in her, someone in whom he can find response to his strength and
confidence and hinds ways to believe in himself. Though Roy depicts the scene of
their heights spent together on the bank of the river Meenachal with deity of her
descriptive art .the latent hunger of the two socially marginalized beings for being
set free from all oppressive limits is symbolically depicted. One is constantly
aware of the sharp heat of pain and awareness of the final conclusion their acts are
shaping in the bodily relations. Even in absolute isolation they were filled with an
awful dread because they had no future. This is tellingly described by the author in
this way. "He folded his fear into a perfect rose. He held it out in the palm of his
hand. She took it from him and put it in her hair".'

This particular chapter clearly mirrors the horrors of social injustice that hangs
over the Velutha Ammu love relationship from the beginning. Velutha was a
sincere Trade Union Worker and that is why he came to repose such abundant trust
in combrade Pillai and in his Marxist party. Vellutha participated in the much
organized by the Travancore Cochin Maxist Labour Union as part of secretariats
March to be organized by their colleague in Trivandrum. Among the demands
were an hour's lunch break for the paddy workers, increase in women workers
wage from Rs. 1.25 to Rs.3 and for men from Rs.2.50 to Rs.4.50 a day. He also
demanded that the untouchables be not addressed by their caste names such as
Achoo Paravan or Kelan Paravan or Kuttan Pulliyan but just as Achoo. Kelan or
Kuttan.-
This created a flutter of panic among the beer-sipping barons. The preceding
section narrates the growth of the Marxist power. Its assumption of the government
in the state and its dilemmas arising out of this development. Obviously Velutha
had great hopes from this government. Ile had also high expectations from
Combrade Pillai by whose side he had remained standing loyally all along as a
party worker and as a trade unionist. Combrade Pillai (ailed to give him any
support in the hour of Vellutha's gravest crisis.

It is a world of double standards where principles and ideals are used as mask to
cover the worst kind of social injustices where cruelty and barbaric behaviour are
used as tools to perpetuate the age old exploitative system.
One of the categories of "small things" Arundhati Roy cares for consists of women.
There can be no gain saying that despite all the socio-economic developments
during the last two centuries women don't occupy an enviable position in society. It
is relevant, therefore, to look into the causes that have kept them in subordination
and relegated them to the status of the second sex.
According to an eminent critic, "The God of Small Things' is a product of the
social reality", which will be described in the following passages. Before that, let
us discuss some of the female characters in the novel. It is interesting to note that
in this novel there are more women than men, Most of the men are shadowy, while
women are sharply portrayed and occupy the center-stage. Mammachi Baby
Kochamma Ammu Sophie Mol, Rahcl keep in motion the story.

As we have earlier seen The God of Small Things is about several things; one of
the chief issues it brings into focus is the family and soul mechanism evolved over
centuries in traditional Indian Society to suppress women and her independence as
a human being. Right at the center is the woeful tale of Ammu, mother of Rafiel
and Estha who suffers silently, yet simmers inside in her a deep discontent.
Now we proceed to discuss the women characters of the novel. Baby Kochamma is
the daughter of reverend F. John Ipe, who was a priest of the Mar Thoma Church.
Her father was a well-known scholar in Christianity and therefore he was widely
respected in the Christian community. So it is not strange for the son or daughter of
such a man to be attracted to religion. But her family background is not the real
reason of her turning to religion in her early life. In fact, she cheats herself and
people around her including her family by pretending to be religions. Her
adventures in the realm of religion are an outcome of a normal biological impulse
which she attempts to promote in a deceptive gap. The attempt fails eventually and
the result is she leads in abnormality and perversion. Her frustration in love and
repressed libido provide us with the key to comprehend the cold, calculated and
inhuman role she plays in the novel. She has become narcissist and eventually goes
to the extent of' sadism. Despite her western education and apparent modernization
she rears all the reactionary ideas inherited from the feudal past in her heart and
misses no opportunity to express them violently in word and deed. She is unkind to
children, to the lower castes and classes, to Hindus in general and even to women.
It is a pity that she submits in the name of decency and honour to the very sexist,
casteist and communal prejudices that have stood in her way and denied fulfilment
to her. Thus social oppression that is a phenomenon that seems strange to us at first
sight but is not so rare in society. In fact, it is victims turning the tools of
oppression that keeps the wheel, moving. Obviously, she doesnt believe in
womens needs or women's rights. That is why she doesn't bother about the smell
of the women Chacko brings to his bed room but wonders how Ammo can endure
the smell of Paravan. As soon as Animu's relationship with Velutha is revealed she
locks Ammu and rushes to the police station with a false complaint. Eventually it
leads to the death of Velutha and the banishment and dispersal of Ammu and her
children. She is responsible for ruining the lives of Ammu, Estha and Rahel.
People who betray others can't trust anyone in life. They are always haunted by the
memory of what they have done to others and afraid of being paid back in their
own coins. That is true about Baby Kochamma. Mammachi is the sister-in-law of
Baby Kochamma, the wife of her brother Benoon John Ipe. Her real name is
Soshamma but she is generally known as Mammachi while her husband is usually
called Pappachi in the novel. Though she is much akin to Baby Kochamma in
submitting to the traditional notions of male supremacy love and marriage her
disposition and differs a lot from that of Baby Kochamma. Baby Kochamma
suffers because she fails to have the man in her choice. Mammachi has got a
husband from arranged marriage seventeen years older than herself belonging to
her own country and community. Yet the marriage doesn't prove happy as her
husband develops some disorder in his personality. The novelist goes deep into the
reality of that disorder and demonstrates a sound knowledge of problems that hunt
the families of the ambitions elite sometime.

Thus Mammachi is not only a passive sufferer of her husband's beating, she is a
victim of his jealousy also. Despite her suffering at the hand of a male chauvinist
and sadist husband, loses all our sympathy when we consider her attitude to sex in
respect of people younger than herself. Her ideas here betray sex bins as well as
class bias to an outrageous extent. Her daughter as well as her son is a divorcee but
she applies two different norms to their sex-relation. To her son Chacko she
permits "Man's Needs" and doesn't mind his flirting with "Pretty women who
worked in the factory. Mammachi appears unkind and unjust to her daughter when
she visits Ayemenem fatally ill with asthma and a rattle in her chest. During that
last visit, Mammachi who has developed a perverse mind asks her if she has been
drinking and suggests that she visit Rahel as seldom as possible." That is highly
unbecoming on the part of a mother who has given so much indulgence to her son.
It is interesting to note how Mammachi and Baby Kochamma fit into the
oppressive family system that blatantly victimizes Ammu. They become active
oppressors, seeking to corner her and then drive her to her miserable death.

One of the most glaring instances of it is the ambiguous stand adopted by these
women with regard to Ammu's relation with Velutha. They express little sympathy
for Ammu's lonely life, her tragic marital circumstances and her anxiety about her
children. On the other hand, their casteist hostility finds double force in Ammu
Velutha laison and breaks out in to expression of moral outrage while Chako's
sexual indulgences with low caste women is overlooked as `Men's Need's' Ammu's
affair with Velutha becomes an unpardonable offence against family's reputation
and status.

This is a typical picture of the double standard of morality practiced traditional

India. Men
enjoy greater laxity and freedom, while the women suffer in the name of 'infinite
tenderness of motherhood. So she proceeds to reclaim her body, tier walk
changes, she wears flowers in her hair, she spends hours on the river bank listening
to a transistor smokes cigarettes and has midnight swims. Tired of the proprietary
handling of her, she examines her body in bath room mirror which shows her
worry about her passing youth. Then there are other factors which stir her. The
arrival of Margaret Kochemma provokes her desires and finally Velutha's return
after many years makes her take a fatal decision to love by night the man her
children loved by day. The secret love affair goes on for thirteen days until it is
reported to Mammachi by Veluth's father and compounded by the accidental death
of Sophie Mol.
To what we can only add that Velutha appears like a father figure to her children
and his real love for the children builds a bridge for the love she too needs. But
earlier she is drawn to him when she sees him holding a red flag at the procession
because he seems to be a rebel, housing "a living breathing anger against the smug
ordered world", she too resents. So what seems an illicit relationship between a
divorcee touchable woman and an untouchable Paravan is actually a union of two
rebels protesting against .hypocritical laws of society not in word but indeed.
When that relationship is revealed, Mammachi and Baby Kochamma only tolerated
but assisted Chacko in his licentious affairs with working women, become highly
indignant. Ammu is tricked into her bedroom and locked while Velutha is
implicated in false cases of attempted rape, kidnapping of children and murder of
Sophie Mol. Velutha is grabbed by the police and killed, while she is allowed to
attend Sophie's funeral standing separately with her children. Soon after the funeral
she goes to the police station and tries to set the -record straight. But the Police
officer dismisses her pleas with the remark that the Kottayam Police doesn't take
statement from Veshyas (Prostitutes) and their illegitimate children. He stares at
her breasts while speaking, taps them with his baton and asks her to leave quietly.
That shows her moral courage on the one hand and the obscene nature of the
enforcers of law and order on the other.

The punishment is unjust as it ruins three lives for the supposed offence of one.
Ammu is separated froth her children as Estha is returned to her father and Rahel
alone is permitted to live at Ayenienem but Ammu is not allowed to visit her
frequently. The last time she conies to Avemenern and meets Rahel, she has
asthma and rattle in her chest. Desperately wanting to have a job that enables her to
bring her children with her, she tries a number of jobs and dies alone in the Bharat
Lodge in Aleppy where she has gone for a job interview. Before her death she is
haunted by a recurrent dream which springs from her traumatic experience. In that
dream, the policemen approach her with snacking, scissors, wanting to hack off her
hair. "They did that in Kottayam to prostitutes whom they had caught in the bazaar
- branded them so that everybody would know them for what they were, Veshyas
so that new policemen on the beat would have no trouble identifying whom to
harass." Obviously that is related to the shock she has received at the Kottayam
Police Station. Death does not end the humiliation of the unfortunate Ammu. The
Church refused to burry Ammu on several counts. So Chacko hired a van to
transport the body to the electric crematorium. He had her wrapped in a dirty bed
sheet and laid out on a stretcher. Finally she is reduced to aches.
What emerges from the above study is that the novel with the three women Baby
Kochamma, Mammachi, and Ammu presents a perfect trio of suffering women.
Baby Kochamma herself a victim of social prejudices is conditioned by society and
identifies herself with the ideas and forces of oppression. Mammachi is
dehumanized and her mind becomes twisted as a result of suffering in a society
dominated by men and money. Ammu, on the other hand, is the rebel who
represents the defiance of the present state of society from educated, passionate
and thinking women. She stands for those women who are aspiring for freedom
and equality. This section of women is challenging traditional ideas and
conventions. The hopes for the future lie with this section only. Thus we see that in
this novel Arundhati Roy puts under focus the deliberately constructed agencies of
cruelty that work against women's interests. In this all are involved, the so-called
progressive politicians, the family members, the police etc. In the traditional Indian
society such forces flourish and find encouragement in maintaining their hold over
the weaker people. Social structures are so formed as to sanctity- women's
victimization. Arundhati Roy's depiction of the miserable lives of women in this
novel critiques in unmistakable terms the perpetuation of these exploitative forces.
Children are also included in 'the small things Arundhati Roy cares for. Such a
concern is not as unexpected as she is the daughter of a Christian Mother and
Christianity is well known for its glorification of childhood. Political leaders in
different countries, while differing in their political convictions and speaking
different languages, don't dispute the fact that children represent the future of the
society and as such, deserve love and care. We read and hear a lot about their
concern for children.

`The God of Small Things' doesn't depict the lot of many children. There are only
three children in the novel namely - Sophie Mol, Estha and Rahel. The novel
presents as we shall see, a contrast betweenthe first one and the last two. All the
three have certain similarities. Their parents are divorced and one of them is not
Syrian Christian. That is what is common to them all. But they differ in several
aspects too.
Sophie Mot's mother is a white woman while the father of Estha and Rahel is a
nonwhile man. While Sophie Mot's father is willing to receive her and her mother
gladly and his family is equally enthusiastic about it. Estha and Rahel are forsaken
by their father. Sophie Mol is elder than her cousins. A major difference lies in the
fact that Sophi Mol dies soort after her arrival as she meets an accident. Estha and
Rahel face several odds but survive. The novel can be viewed as a tale of 'terror'
that destroyed the lives of Velutha and Ammu but also tale of how Estha and Rahel
survived. Estha's parents were not poor. His father was an Assistant Manager in a
tea estate in Assam while his mother's parental home had a pickle factory. So Estha
had a bourgeons background on both sides. He and his sister are subjected to
adversity as their parents get divorced and his mother comes to her parental home
with two children whew- they are quite unwanted and neglected. Estha had an
unhappy childhood because his father's drunken violence followed by post-drunken
badgering began when he was barely two when his bouts of violence began to
include the children and the war with Pakistan began, Ammu left her husband and
returned unwelcomed to her parents in Ayemenem. At this place the children along
with their mother were unwanted a fact the children in their innocence couldn't
realize instantly. However, Estha and his sister soon came to know what people
around them thought about them. They had a double stigma of mixed parentage
attached to them both in religious and ethnic ways. - Moreover, they were the
children of a divorced daughter who had no locustandi. Their grandson let them
know it. Baby Kochamma disliked the twins, for she considered them doomed,
fatherless waifs. Worse still, they were Half-Hindu Hybrids whom no self-
respecting Syrian Christian would ever marry.

While Estha is agonized by the (boldness of his relations at Ayemenm, the

separation of his parents has created a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty, an
identity crisis. His mother hasn't chosen a surname as yet and the result is that on
his note book Estha had rubbed out his surname with spit and taken half of the
paper with it. Over the whole mess he had written in pencil unknown. The
behavior shows not only worry but also resentment for his father.

The unhappy boy had got some comfort as he had discovered a man, Velutha who
really loved the twins. Gradually he had become a father figure to him and even
the frank, outspoken girl Sophie had be friended the twins. But conditions changed
for worse, may worst when Ammus secret relation with Velutha was revealed.
Ammu was tricked into her bed room and locked. The twins came there and
wanted to know the reason. Ammu who was not in a mood to weigh her words,
had screamed if it was not for you I would not be here! None of this would have
happened! I would not be here. I would have been free. I should have dumped you
in an orphanage the day you were born. You' are the milestones round my neck.
Estha who was sensitive enough and knew what milestones 'meant concluded from
it that both he and Rahel were unwanted Ammu didn't like them anymore. So he
decided that though it was dark and raining, the time had come for them to run
away because Ammu didn't want them anymore. Estha's plan didn't include Sophie
but she insisted on joining them and she was able to convince the younger twins to
take her with them. Eventually their little boat collided with a floating toy and
tipped over. Sophie was drowned as she did not know how to swim but the twins
survived. All the children had done was intended to arouse the remorse of the
elders and win the recognition of their worth. It was also an adventure they hoped
to enjoy. It was merely an accident that turned it otherwise. However Estha was
deemed guilty for the death of Sophie. Baby Kochamma took him to the Kottayam
Police " Station and tricked him into identifying Velutha as the man responsible for
kidnapping and murder. Velutha was so dear to him, a father figure and the
accusation was false to the core still Estha had to concede to the demands of Baby
Kocharnma as he thought 'that there was no other way to save his mother.

The experience left a deep lasting impression on the boy's mind. He carried inside
him the memory of a voting man with an old mans mouth. The memory of
swollen face and a smashed upside down smile ... of a blood shed eye that had
opened wandered and then fixed its Laze on him. And what had Estha done? He
had looked into that beloved face and said 'Yes' the betrayal leaves a sense of guilt
deep in his psyche tormenting him like an 'octopus' like a mango hair between
molars. Estha also had the sad memory of how Inspector Thomas Mathew
misbehaved with his mother and called her 'Vchsya' though he couldn't understand
what the word meant at that time the misbehaviour and Arnmu's
Reaction to it had left him uneasy forever. Then the most traumatic experience was
the one at 'Ablillash Talkies' a case of sexual abuse by soft drink seller - at the
refreshment counter. It created a permanent sense of defilement and constant
apprehension of his return. He always feared that if his mother came to know she
would begin to love him less.
Returned to his father, much against his wishes he finished his school with
mediocre results without participating in group activities. Then instead of going, to
the College he began to do the house work like sweeping, swabbing, laundry,
cooking and shopping for vegetables. It' he needed anything at meal time, he got
up and found it himself. Gradually he stopped talking. The development was not
sudden and Estha was a quiet child from the very beginning, so nobody could say
exactly when the change took place.

It was the "psychological equivalent of what lungfish do to get them through the
dry season, except that in Estha's case the dry season looked as though it would
lost for ever. , He nursed his dog Khubchand well during illness and started
walking alone for hours after its death, a habit that stayed with him even when he
returned to Avernenern after twenty three years. The story of Esthas lite raises
naturally the question. Why is it that he lost his speech? The answer lies in the fact
that the boy was brutalized by numerous persons like Baby Kochamma, Kochu
Maria, Inspector Mathews and the Soft drink man. Yet neither his disposition nor
his circumstances permitted film to protest or to rebel against his tormentors. He
had no option but to suffer passively. The voice he couldn't raise against the
injustice done to himself and his dear ones seemed to have lost its utility. That is
the main reason of his numbness. Estha was a harmless child and so quiet that he
was hardly noticed by people around him. That such an innocent child was
subjected to the worst cruelty of the adults and his childhood was destroyed and his
life ruined for no fault of his own, constitutes a major tragedy in the novel. Such
wanton destruction of childhood is staggering to our imagination and pathetic to
our heart. Estha occupied very little space in the world"

Similar was the fate of Estha's sister Rahel who was like a rebel who faces all odds
and survives.
Now, we can say that here the novelist describes not only the sad story of her
fiction, she also indirectly describes the real sad-story of the children in India. The
first thing that strikes us is the insensitivity of Indian adults to the psychology of
the children. Even the educated fail miserably in this respect. Sophie Mot's
guardians don't care to see that she needs the company of children. Attempts are
made to keep her aloof and she befriends Estha and Rahel on her own. The twins
are scolded for things which can't be said to be innocent play. Not satisfied with
that the elders teach them how to pretend to lie and to betray. Even the best among
the adults fail to bridge the gap between themselves and the children. Ammu never
conics to know that her son was a victim of child abuse. She does not even Suspect
it. Estha doesn't tell it to his mother though he discloses it to his sister. Such
communication gaps permit the culprits to escape scot free. Despite all rhetoric the
children are fully neglected in our society and hardly any care is taken to
understand them and to provide them the attention and security they need. Even
when laws are enacted to protect them they are seldom enforced because the
guardians are insensitive and very hypocritical for many reasons.
This hard reality is revealed in Arundhati Roy's fiction 'The God of Small Things'!
By projecting this bitter reality she wants to draw the attention of the sensitive
readers to understand the tragic picture of our Childress' world. Socially aware
intellectuals can't disregard the environment in the modern world.

Importance of the social issues on the God of

Small Things

A lot of things happen in The God of Small Things that many of us might not be
able to relate to right away. Finding someone out there who knows what it's like to
be half of a boy/girl twin duo in Kerala, India in the 1960s with an obsession for
The Sound of Music, a crazy aunt, and a pickle factory in their backyard is kind of
a tall order. Few of us will think about the particulars of the story and say, "Hey,
that's just like my life!" and that's fine. (Actually, it's probably better that way,
given all that the twins Rahel and Estha have to go through.)

That said, there are many aspects of the book that most of us can relate to all too
well. Everyone has had something happen in their life that they wish they could
undo. We've all wondered why something bad had to happen to us. Maybe you
failed a really important test, even though you prepared like crazy and were totally
confident when you sat down to take it. Maybe your crush turned you down when
you thought she/he liked you back. Maybe you've lost someone close to you. At
some point, we all go through an experience in which things seem to go terribly
wrong, and we all agonize over why it had to happen.

At its heart, The God of Small Things is about more than just the way the death of
Sophie Mol affects the lives of Estha, Rahel, and the rest of their family. It's also
about why bad things have to happen in the first place. The book gives us many
different stories about a number of the characters involved, showing how each
person's story got us to the place where we end up. It forces us to think about
whether things happen randomly or if they're meant to be.

CONCLUSION
Mrs. Arundhati Roy has indeed become the most successful writer with her
immortal creation The God of Small Things. This study about the social realism
of her novel has attempted to find out, in a sociological perspective how her novel
has been socially conditioned and how there has been a deep and important
concern of the novelist for the society. This novel The God of Small Things is
not mere production of things or events, but an expression of the social, cultural,
economic and political patterns of Indian society.

Though all her voices seen very vital for the present time, it is not difficult to
achieve it. Because what she voices in her novel for the small things in society, she
does it practically as a social activist. In what she voices for the small things there
lies indeed the peace, prosperity and progress of the mankind and of the world.
While describing these hard social realism of our country, the author hopes that
many sensitive readers of her novel must listen to her sincere voice and would join
their hands with her to take care of the small things which she describes in her
novel. May her voice and vision for those small things comes true here, there and
everywhere, so that her rebelling soul as a social activist and revolutionary spirit as
a progressive writer would be satisfied seeing a new social order free from all
discriminations, exploitations and inequalities.

WEBLIOGRAPHY
Websites reffered:

http://www.answers.com/Q/social_issues_on_the_god_of_small_things
 http://neoenglishsystem.blogspot.in/2010/12/social_realism_on_the_god_of
_small_things .html

https://quotableteacher.wordpress.com/tag/social_facts_on_the_god_of_sma
ll_things -mumbai-
university/

http://arghyajanaliteratureguide.blogspot.in/2011/09/social_realism_on_the_
god_of_small_things .html