The God of Small Things Flashcards
Summary
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a novel set in Kerala, India. It tells the story of fraternal twins Rahel and Estha as they navigate childhood trauma and the rigid social constraints of caste, class, and love.
The story unfolds non-linearly, revealing how their mother, Ammu, defies societal norms by having an affair with Velutha, an Untouchable, leading to tragic consequences.
The twins are separated for years due to the trauma surrounding their cousin Sophie Mol’s death and reunite in adulthood, haunted by their past and the irreversible impact of the “Love Laws”.
The family, including their scheming aunt Baby Kochamma and their stern grandmother Mammachi, upholds the oppressive system that leads to Velutha’s fate.
Quotes and Significance
Quote: ‘When you hurt people, they begin to love you less.’
Speaker: Ammu
Context: Ammu observes that the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man seems like a good man. Rahel then tells Ammu that if she liked him, she should marry him.
Significance: This quote shows the impact of words on others, highlighting how negative words can cause someone to dislike or love them less.
Quote: ‘She arrived on the Bombay-Cochin flight. Hatted, bell-bottomed and Loved from the Beginning.’
Speaker: Narrator in regards to Sophie Mol
Context: The Ipe family is preparing and excited for the arrival of Sophie Mol, Chacko and Margaret Kochamma’s daughter
Significance: The Ipe family holds a strong love and admiration for Sophie Mol, largely due to her status of being from London, which becomes a leading factor to the exclusion Estha and Rahel receive.
Quote: ‘Where the Love Laws lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much.’
Speaker: Narrator in regards to the societal standards in India
Context: During this time period in India, the Caste system was still in placed forbidding the “touchables” and “untouchable” from having any sort of intimacy with each other, making doing so a crime
Significance: This shows the severity of the control the caste system had on the India population, going as far as to control who they were allowed to have relationships with, being a pivotal point to the story
Quote: ‘In that brief moment, Velutha looked up and saw things that he hadn’t seen before. Things that had been out of bounds so far, obscured by history’s blinkers.’
Speaker: Narrator in regards to Velutha
Context: After Sophie Mol’s arrival, the Ipe family goes to see a play, Veltuha is outside observing everything
Significance: Throughout the chaos that the Ipe family experiences, the little moments can bring calm and show one that there are beautiful things in life.
Quote: ‘He knew that if Ammu found out about what he had done with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, she’d love him less as well.’
Speaker: Narration in regards Estha's thoughts
Context: After Rahel gets in trouble and is “loved a little less,” Estha begins to think of what would happen if Ammu were to find out about what the orangedrink lemondrink man had made him do
Significance: It shows why Estha decided to suppress the trauma he had endured, in fear that his mother would deem him unworthy of it, due to the disturbing actions
Quote: ‘And the Air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: The Ipe family is at the airport preparing for Sophie Mol’s arrival at the Ayemenem airport
Significance: Littlest moments are seemingly normal, but can lead to bigger events or changes in life which at the time one is unaware of happening in the future
Quote: ‘This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: The Ipe family drive by a March against Comrade E.M.S’s transition to communism and other policies that were implemented
Significance: Because of how close family is to one another, they will always be able to know what to say that will hurt you the most, which for Ammu has always been the case with Baby Kochamma being the main factor that in the end causes the Terror and harms Ammu’s life
Quote: ‘Change is one thing. Acceptance is another.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: Chacko and Comrade Pillai are discussing Velutha and the workers’ views/ thoughts towards him
Significance: Despite the outlaw of the Caste System, the change in laws will result in no change if a society is unwilling to change their views
Quote: ‘Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: Rahel is reflecting on why things turned out the way that they, believing that everything changed when Sophie Mol arrived to visit
Significance: Introduces the idea that what may seem small at the time and had only lasted a small time, had larger, significant impacts to their family in the future
Quote: ‘There is a war that makes us adore our conquerors and despise ourselves.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: Chacko is explaining to the children the impacts of british colonialism and how that had impacted pappachi
Significance: The war led to many of those in India to hate their own culture and glamorize the european culture more, like pappachi, showing the internal conflict that had occurred as a result of british colonialism
Quote: ‘Ammu said that human beings were creatures of habit, and it was amazing the kind of things one could get used to.’
Speaker: Ammu
Context: At pappachis funeral mammachi is seen sobbing at the loss, despite the decades of abuse she had endured by him
Significance: Despite the abuse she had faced, one can get used to such treatment and be blind sighted by such, allowing them mourn the loss of them despite such abusive behavior that had taken place as she was used to it and saw it as his way of love
Quote: ‘It was never important enough. Because Worse Things had happened.’
Speaker: Narration (inner)
Context: Detailing Rahel’s adult life and how she came to meet her ex husband, his worries about her, and their eventual divorce (brief)
Significance: Shows how what may seem like a great deal to one, may merrily be of least importance to another, with greater things happening without the other knowing
Quote: ‘It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that is purloined.’
Speaker: Narration (inner)
Context: Discussing the treatment and lives of the Ipe family in the future and how it had impacted their living situation
Significance: Describes how the events leading up and the events that took place during Sophie-mol’s death were extremely impactful, that the future of their family had been warped entirely.
Quote: ‘Another religion turned against itself. Another edifice constructed by the human mind, decimated by human nature.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: Velutha attempts to explain to Comrade Pillai the events that had occurred at his visit to Mammachi and Baby Kochamma
Significance: Shows how the systems and beliefs that one makes can ultimately lead to its own failure through they conflicts and flaws procured by itself
Quote: ‘People always loved best what they identified most with.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: The ipe family go to the movies
Significance: One will only care,show love to, or favor characters, ideas, etc. that they feel most reflects or identifies with them.
Quote: ‘What came for them? Not death. Just the end of living.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: It is later revealed that velutha had passed away in the cell they kept him
Significance: Reflects that the death for velutha was the beginning of a new way of living for estha, rahel, and ammu and that although they didin’t die, the lives that they had known before did and they must learn to continue to live with this new version of living
Quote: ‘Some things come with their own punishments.’
Speaker: Baby Kochamma
Context: After ammu gets upset with rahel, rahel is expecting ammu to give her a punishment for her behavior
Significance: Although ammu did not give her a direct or outright punishment for what she had said, she is being punished in a different way that was a natural given, that is more severe than the initial action
Quote: ‘A viable die-able age.’
Speaker: Narration when referencing ammu.
Significance: Its used throughout the story to measure whether someone is able to die, especially regarding Ammu. Possibly measured by how much one has lived and gone through makes
Quote: ‘The God of Loss. The God of Small Things. He left no footprints in the sand, no ripples in water, no image in mirrors.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: Reflecting on why Margaret Kochamma, sophie mol’s mom, believed the death of sophie mol to be estha’s fault, better never thought of it being velutha’s
Significance: Velutha’s role after his death and the Terror was inevitable as he was curating a relationship with ammu, history however would take course and the prevention of this relationship blossoming further would be put to a halt, just as it would have when the caste system was in place
Quote: ‘Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough. Our dreams never big enough. Our lives never important enough. To matter.’
Speaker: Chacko
Significance: In a society where one’s caste placement determines their entire life, they will always be undermined in their abilities and achievements; they will never amount to the same amount of greatness that those in higher rankings hold and matter less (emotionally and physically)
Quote: ‘The infinite tenderness of motherhood and the reckless rage of a suicide bomber.’
Speaker: Narration
Context: Discussing the events that had occurred in Ammu’s life and how she feels like nothing really matters other than her kids as they’re all she has left
Significance: Despite everything that Ammu has been through, she will always hold a soft spot for her children and do whatever it takes to protect them from experiencing her struggles, thus making her reckless with nothing to lose in her ways of achieving this
Themes
Class inequality
Chaos
Effects of Colonialism
Generational Trauma
Loss (Innocence, death, etc.)
Literary Techniques
Mondegreen- How it is used: Rahel mishears locus standi as “locusts stand i”. The original term means the right to bring a case to court. This term is first referenced when Chacko tells Rahel that she has no “Locusts stand i” and is later referenced in regards to Velutha and his tier in the caste system.
Effect/Purpose: Reflects the twins’ innocence, emphasizes their youth, and highlights struggles with communication and understanding of the world in a society that upholds English.
Solecism- How it is used: Intentional usage of grammatical errors and nonstandard language to reflect characters’ social status, cultural backgrounds, and emotional states. The twins mispronounce certain English words when reciting lyrics and have a habit of pronouncing English phrases backward.
Effect/Purpose: Reflects the twins’ innocence and mirrors the linguistic environment of their upbringing. It also gives the reader insight into the twins’ background and social standing. The use of solecism is also portrayed in this environment to add realism to the dialogue and convey the characters’ emotional states.
Metaphor- How it is used: Used to help the reader understand the magnitude of the events in the book. It helps readers visualize the objects, imagery and actions in the book and adds to the immersion. One example is related to the name of the novel, “Small God”, where he represents the insignificant moments that build up over time and have a profound impact on the characters’ lives. Overall, this metaphor is used to illustrate how the personal private is always going to be connected to larger socio political forces.
Effect/Purpose: Deepens the emotional resonance of the narrative and enriches the themes of the novel. They are used in layers which conveys the complexity of the relationships between the characters, their relationships with society and their inner turmoil.
Cataphoric Reference- How it is used: Refers to a moment that will happen later in the text to create anticipation and bind together a non-linear story. An example is the constant referral to an event known as “The Terror”.
Effect/Purpose: Connects the past to the characters’ present lives, creates mystery and foreshadowing, and represents the fragmented nature of traumatic memories.
Anaphoric Reference- How it is used: Refers to moments already introduced in the text to emphasize connections and reinstate themes. An example is the phrase “Things can change in a day.”
Effect/Purpose: Strengthens the significance of key images, objects, or events, illustrating the frustration between the characters’ attempts to move on and the constant pull of their history keeping them static.
Emphatic Capitalization- How it is used: Brings emphasis to words and phrases and to emphasize key ideas and themes. It especially helps the reader capture the perspective of the twins where the emphatic capitalization reflects the way children process language and meaning. An example is “The Loss of Sophie Mol”.
Effect/Purpose: Captures the innocence of childhood while enhancing the impact of the trauma the characters experienced on their lives.
Symbolism- How it is used: Deepens the novel’s exploration of its themes such as love, caste inequality, and the inescapability of the past. One example of this is the repeated symbolism regarding the History House.
Effect/Purpose: Enriches the narrative and helps the reader explore such themes, making them inescapable.
Repetition- How it is used: Reinforces concepts and themes, creates a rhythmic quality to the narrative, and reflects the trauma associated with these ideas. One example is Estha’s internal coping method, a phrase in which he repeats: “Little Man, He lived in a Cara-Van”.
Effect/Purpose: Enhances emotional appeal and thematic resonance, and immerse the reader, almost as if the reader themselves are in the character’s head, coping with the same events.
Simile- How it is used: Creates vivid imagery, evokes emotions, and deepens the impact of the novel’s themes. One example of this technique present in the novel is “His smile was as wide as a pianist’s keyboard.” referring to Comrade Pillai’s insincere smile.
Effect/Purpose: Intentionally make the themes more digestible, and are explicitly used to provide insight into how a child may experience and understand the world.
Non-linear Narration- How it is used: Mirrors the way memory works, revealing the events in a manner of fragmentation. This technique builds suspense and enhances the impact of trauma on the characters’ lives.
Effect/Purpose: Immerses the reader in piecing the story together and engage more actively in the story Roy wants to tell.
Symbols/Motifs
Pappachi’s Moth- Meaning/Significance: Generational trauma/violence/unfulfilled ambition
Effect/Purpose: Reminds readers of unprocessed trauma and inescapable past
Scent of Roses- Meaning/Significance: Represents Death
Effect/Purpose: Accompanies moments of pain and loss, particularly in regards to Velutha’s death.
Locus Standi- Meaning/Significance: Latin phrase for “The right to be heard in court”, symbol of power and denial of power due to caste inequality.
Effect/Purpose: Used to represent marginalization caused by societal standards in India due to the caste system and traditional values. Ammu says she has no “Locust Stand I” referring to how women are stripped of autonomy in a patriarchal system.
Ten to Two- Meaning/Significance: Rahel’s emphasis on the time Ten to Two is an emphasis on a moment of no return.
Effect/Purpose: The repetition of Ten to Two reflects how trauma is relived and imprints itself on the mind.
Velutha’s Leaf Birthmark- Meaning/Significance: Associated with Velutha and the transience of joy. It also represents that like a leaf, Velutha is doomed to perish under the weight of societal oppression.
Effect/Purpose: Velutha is linked with natural imagery and his leaf represents the small joys he shares with the twins in contrast to the brutality he suffers at the end of the novel. It Stands to emphasize how natural innocence and love is crushed under the oppressive regime of human society, notably the caste