'The God of Small Things' is the Book That Changed My Life

In the article "The God of Small Things is the Book That Changed My Life," there is one point that Mai Nardone makes that truly resonates with me. Towards the end of the article, Nardone mentions that Arundhati Roy's novel holds similarities to dystopian novels in that it issues "the same warnings..., only less explicitly." Based in a country experiencing wakes of both communism and colonialism, Nardone explains that the characters living in Kerala are "caught in the orbit of local norms and societal pressures." In a dystopian novel, once a character is able to break from this orbit, he realizes that the pressures of society and of how someone should live come from within. One example of this in The God of Small Things is the idea of "love laws." The "love laws" stand as guidelines for the characters -- these "laws" issue warnings about how one person should love another and the dangers of loving someone too much. These love laws bring the characters outside of their bubble and bring them into a realization of the heartbreak and disappointment that life brings. Much like a dystopian novel, reading The God of Small Things forces us out of our comfortables scope and "takes us outside the sort of thinking to which we're accustomed." Nardone adds that because the intended audience of The God of Small Things is English speakers, Arundhati Roy directly brings us out of our comfort zones and forces us to face the reality of life in other parts of the world.

Single Story - GoST

The epigraph of The God of Small Things states a quote by John Berger, "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." While Arundhati Roy's purpose of using this statement puzzles me (as I haven't yet read the entire novel), this quote obviously has meaning to the story. In every story told, perspective plays a quintessential role in portraying events and the opinions of those involved. However, as we learned earlier in the year from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk, "The Danger of a Single Story," learning only from a single perspective can be hazardous and create a one-dimensional outlook on the world. Another person who addressed the idea of the single story is Susan Sontag in the article we read,"Susan Sontag on Storytelling." In Sontag's words, she states: "we can’t tell all the stories — certainly not simultaneously. We know we must pick one story, well, one central story; we have to be selective." Here Sontag takes a slightly different perspective on the issue but she conveys a very similar message. To Sontag, every story holds truth within another and humanity is joined together by the centrality of the messages. In The God of Small Things, it seems as if the danger of miscommunication -- the single story -- is what will tear the family apart. Though we are all different, every human has similar desires, goals, insecurities, and internal battles. Roy's use of this John Berger quote as the epigraph foreshadows that the single story, or perspective, will bring conflict.

Article:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/30/susan-sontag-writing-storytelling-at-the-same-time/

Ammu, Estha, and Rahel - GoST

So far in The God of Small Things, there is a central message about unrequited and complicated love. At the end of the first chapter, Arundhati Roy comments on many things that have "laws" in the minds of Rahel and Estha -- some of which are as simple and inconsequential as the classification of jam and jelly and some which are much more complex, such as love: "They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how" (31). Estha and Rahel, despite their unconditional care for their mother Ammu, have complicated feelings about how they love their mother. Ammu is a detached mother and has more feminist ideals than many other women of her time. She also sometimes has a temper which Roy refers to as an "Unsafe Edge" (44). Because of this, Estha and Rahel are confused about how they should feel about their mother, "Sometimes she was the most beautiful woman that Estha and Rahel had ever seen. And sometimes she wasn't" (44). However, Ammu's emotionally detached aura and independence doesn't mean she is indifferent about how her children are raised. In fact Ammu truly does care about Estha and Rahel but her complicated past (her toxic marriage to Baba) created an internal battle that Ammu has to fight everyday. Nonetheless, I've found that this "law" of love that Roy introduces in the first chapter is prevalent throughout the first few chapters of The God of Small Things."

Irony and Hypocrisy in "Untouchable"

In Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand, there are several instances of irony and hypocrisy. First and foremost, the caste system is hypocritical in itself. Though people are expected to be upstanding citizens to make it into the upper-castes, they treat the people of the lower-castes extremely poorly. Furthermore, despite the untouchables being unable to receive pay for their work, they are often required to pay more for goods than people of the upper-castes. This is seen when Bakha is cheated out of his money when buying candy in the market. Another instance of irony is when the priest molests Bakha's sister, Sohini, then blames her for touching him and defiling the temple. This irony embedded deeply in the caste system raises the question of whether people actually believe the untouchables are ridiculously inferior and unsanitary, or if they simply just try to exercise their "god-given" power and status. Nonetheless, if these people truly believe that good deeds and high morality will grant them a spot in the upper-castes during their next lives, most people would act more charitable and humane towards the untouchables.

FRQ

In literary works, point of view is important because it provides the lens through which the audience will see the world -- each point of view offers a different perspective and develops a largely different relationship with the audience. Choose a novel or play of literary merit in which the point of view is essential to conveying the author's central message. In a well-organized essay, briefly note the point of view in your novel of choice and explain how it relates to the novel as a whole.