NAME : SATHISHREE.

S
CLASS : 12-B
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 CONTENTS
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 PUBLISHER
 INTRODUCTION OF THE STORY
 GENRE OF THE BOOK
 THEME OF THIS BOOK
 MAIN PROTAGONISTS
 SUMMARY
 MESSAGE THIS STORY HOLDS
 CONCLUSION
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE AUTHOR(ARUNDATHI ROY):
Suzanna Arundhati Roy is an Indian author best
known for her novel The God of Small Things
(1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in
1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-
expatriate Indian author. She is also a political
activist involved in human rights and
environmental causes. She was awarded the 2024
PEN Pinter Prize.
 EARLY LIFE
Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya,
India, to Mary Roy, a Malayali Jacobite Syrian
Christian women's rights activist from Kerala and
Rajib Roy, a Bengali Brahmo Samaji tea plantation
manager from Kolkata. She has denied false
rumors about her being a Brahmin by caste. When
she was two years old, her parents divorced and
she returned to Kerala with her mother and
brother. For some time, the family lived with
Roy's maternal grandfather in Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
When she was five, the family moved back to
Kerala, where her mother started a school.
Roy attended school at Corpus Christi, Kottayam,
followed by the Lawrence School, Lovedale, in
Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu. She then studied architecture
at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi,
where she met architect Gerard da Cunha. They
married in 1978 and lived together in Delhi, and
then Goa, before they separated and divorced in
1982.
 The God of Small Things
Roy began writing her first novel, The God of
Small Things, in 1992, completing it in 1996. The
book is semi-autobiographical and a major part
captures her childhood experiences in Aymanam,
the publication of The God of Small Things
catapulted Roy to international fame. It received
the 1997 Booker Prize for Fiction and was listed as
one of The New York Times Notable Books of the
Year. It reached fourth position on The New York
Times Bestsellers list for Independent Fiction.
From the beginning, the book was also a
commercial success: Roy received half a million
pounds as an advance, It was published in May,
and the book had been sold in 18 countries by the
end of June. The God of Small Things received
very favorable reviews in major American
newspapers such as The New York Times (a
"dazzling first novel","extraordinary", "at once so
morally strenuous and so imaginatively
supple”)and the Los Angeles Times ("a novel of
poignancy and considerable sweep"), and in
Canadian publications such as the Toronto Star ("a
lush, magical novel")It was one of the five best
books of 1997 according to Time. Critical response
in the United Kingdom was less favorable, and the
awarding of the Booker Prize caused controversy;
Carmen Callil, a 1996 Booker Prize judge, called
the novel "execrable" and a Guardian journalist
called the contest "profoundly depressing".In
India, E. K. Nayanar, then the chief minister of
Roy's home state of Kerala, especially criticised
the book's unrestrained description of sexuality,
and she had to answer charges of obscenity.

PUBLISHER:
Published in 1997 By, Random House (USA)
Random House of Canada (Canada)
HarperCollins (UK) RST IndiaInk & Penguin
Books (India)
INTRODUCTION OF THE STORY:
The novel takes place in Ayemenem, a village in
the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, in 1969
and 1993. The narrative shifts back and forth in
time in a series of flashbacks, memories, and
foreshadowing of what's ahead. The plot centers
on Estha and Rahel, fraternal boy and girl twins
living with their divorced mother, Ammu, and her
family. The central events of the novel involve the
fateful visit of their half-English cousin, Sophie
Mol, and her mother Margaret Kochamma. We
learn at the beginning of the novel that Sophie
Mol drowns in the river by the family's house. The
rest of the novel pieces together the events that
led up to her death and the aftermath that
ensued, darting back and forth between Estha and
Rahel's childhood and adulthood in the process.
While telling the story of Sophie Mol's death, the
novel resonates with larger political and social
issues. The society that our characters inhabit is
still largely shaped by the caste system, which
defined social classes in India and dictated the
status each person held. The Indian Constitution
of 1949 outlawed the caste system and
discrimination based on social status, but it's
pretty clear throughout the novel that there are
certain social rules that persist and that still have
to be obeyed – particularly in terms of who is
allowed to interact with whom. The novel pays
particular attention to what the narrator calls the
"Love Laws," which interpret the caste system to
explore who is allowed to love whom, how, and
how much. The violation of these social rules is
central to the unraveling of the seemingly nice,
simple life that Estha and Rahel experience as
children and has a key role in forming the
circumstances that lead up to Sophie Mol's death.
The novel also pays attention to class politics,
particularly those based on Marxism and
communism. The rise of the lower classes and the
toppling of the upper classes is a concept at the
heart of these political ideologies that gives hope
to some of the novel's characters and fills others
with fear. Roy herself seems to be particularly
interested in the politics of class. She has written
many political articles and was even awarded the
Sydney Peace Prize in 2004. All in all, Roy's
gorgeous writing makes the whole journey a
pleasure even at the moments when this book
is at its most heart-wrenching.

GENRE OF THIS BOOK:

Novel, Psychological Fiction, Domestic Fiction

THEME OF THIS BOOK:

Love is an “Untouchable” in the novel, just like the
Paravan caste. The emotion is the impetus behind
much of the novel’s major events: It is love that
propels Ammu to sleep with Velutha; love that
fascinates and instills fear in Rahel; the variability
of Ammu’s love toward Rahel that constantly
plagues Rahel as a child; and it is unfulfilled love
that leads to Baby Kochamma’s bitterness, and
leads to her tragic betrayal of Velutha, Ammu,
and the twins. Ironically, the only person who is
“loved” outwardly in the novel is Sophie Mol, a
relative the Kochamma family only knows for a
few weeks. They fawn over Sophie Mol’s arrival
and her death is the ghostly core around which
the novel’s plot is told.

MAIN PROTAGONISTS OF THIS BOOK:

 Rahel Ipe
 Estha Ipe
 Ammu
 Baby Kochamma
 Velutha
 Mammachi
 Pappachi
 Chacko
 Sophie Mol
  Margaret Kochamma
 Babu
 Vellya Paapen
 Kuttapen
 Father Mulligan
 Kochu Maria
 Mr. Hollick
 Larry McCaslin
 Joe
 Comrade K. N. M. Pillai
 Kochu Thomban
 Orangedrink Lemondrink Man

SUMMARY:
Let us have the God of small things summary in a brief
but in a proper way. God of small things summary is
having its Plot from Kerala and covering the time
period from 1969 to 1993. This novel is Arundhati Roy’s
first and only fiction novel. Its set up is in Ayemenem, a
district in Kerala, India. The story starts from 1969
when fraternal twins Rahel and Estha were 7 years old,
and then ends in 1993 when they reunite at age 31.
The story begins with their family background and
telling how Pappachi, their grandfather lost his chance
to become a famous entomologist. Throughout his life,
Pappachi takes it out on Mammachi, their
grandmother by beating regularly. These pairs are
having kids a daughter, Ammu, and a son Chacko.
Chacko does his study in England and there he marries
an English woman named Margaret. Chacko has a
daughter Sophie. But, soon their marriage falls apart,
and Margaret marries with another man Joe. After
divorce Chacko returns home in India. On the other
hand, Ammu wishes to have an adventurous life and
therefore she goes live with a relative away from
Ayemenem. There Ammo meets a man named Baba
and marries him. They have twins, boy Esthappen, and
girl, Rahel. Baba is abusive and incompetent and hence
he lost his job. To get his job back he allows his boss to
have sex with Ammo. But Ammo refuses and returns to
her home with the kids. Chacko invites his ex-wife and
daughter Sophie to visit his place Ayemenem after the
death of a man to whom she was in love. Therefore
Chacko and members of his family go to the airport to
pick them up. But on the way, they are stopped by a
communist rally. Rahel sees Velutha waving a red flag,
who is a dear friend. Velutha is untouchable
maintenance worker, working in their family’s pickle
factory. After the rally, they go to the theater to see
their favorite film. After receiving Margaret and
Sophie, Rahel feels jealous due to the attention given
to Sophie. Rahel meets Velutha to talk about it, telling
him that she saw him at the march. Bur, she will not
tell it to anyone. Ammu becomes jealous, after seeing
her daughter and Velutha talking together. Meanwhile,
Estha tells his sister for a leave plan. They find a boat to
fix up and get ready. During this, it is discovered that
Ammu and Velutha are having an affair. But it is
forbidden due to Velutha’s low class. So, the family
locks Ammu in her room. Assuming this as the perfect
time to escape, kids with Sophie leave the home with
the boat. On the way, a log collides with the boat and
Sophie drowns and dies. Rahel and Estha anyhow
manage their life and go to a large place “History
House.” For hiding themselves. The family takes the
dead body of Sophie as a sign to keep Velutha away
from Ammu and so they blame everything on him.
They tell the police that Velutha has raped Ammu and
kidnaped the kids. Due to the torture of police Velutha
dies. Now, Estha moves to live with his father, Baba
and Rahel stay with Mammachi and Ammu run off to
live on her own. After many years Rahel reunites with
her mother who is suffering from a lung disease that
eventually kills her. After finishing her studies, Rahel
moves to America. There she marries a white man that
she doesn’t really love. At the age of 31, Rahel hears
about returning of her brother, Estha, to Ayemenem,
and so she heads back to meet with him. There she
discovers that her brother had become a mute due to
her Baba. But, Rahel is determined to bring her brother
back to her, and so she spends a lot of time with him
and reminiscing together. This leads to them having
sex, and for the first time, they are with someone they
love. Rahel and Estha, the fraternal twins, are
presenting the major theme of the novel including
forbidden love, discrimination, and familial and social
tensions in such a large family with a lot to lose.

MESSAGE THIS STORY HOLDS:

Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things is about
two fraternal twins in India whose lives are
dictated by tragedies in their past. Significant
themes include family, loyalty, forbidden love,
colonialism/post-colonialism, education
discrimination, and social class inequality.
CONCLUSION:
Arundhati Roy Selected for study in ‘The God of
Small Things’ have been studied from Post
colonial point of view. This novel has dealt with
postcolonial issue. Identify is a fact essential to
prove one’s own existence. The characters are
continuously in search of their own ideas. Roy in
her debut novel ‘The God of Small Things’ has
highlighted the oppression of the other
marginalized group i.e., the ‘Untouchable’ along
with the woman as a subaltern. Here the
untouchable still epitomizer the works form of
marginalization. Roy has tried to sensitize this
Postcolonial society to the cruelty of some of its
traditions. She has challenged certain common-
age-old, self-satisfied yet dehumanizing social
taboos, she has shown how patriarchal ideology
of an ancient culture decides codes of conduct for
both, women like Ammu and untouchables like
Velutha. It is this ideology and the value system
that is responsible for the violence of the
‘Touchable’ towards the ‘Untouchables’. Roy has
presented all this through the eyes of Estha and
Rahel. The God of Small Things is grounded in
historical realities. One finds colonial heritage
local realism all together in the novel. She has
presented a women’s struggle in seeking ‘identity’
in a male dominated conservative society. She has
successfully tried to highlight her attention on
social reform. She has definitely arisen our sense
of potty and sympathy for the mombattis the
downtrodden and the less privileged by this ‘The
God of Small Things’.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.google.com
THANKYOU