About the author :
Arundhati Roy (born November 24, 1961) is an Indian novelist, author of The God of Small Things, for which she won the Booker Prize. She was born in Shillong, Meghalaya to a Keralite Syrian Christian mother and a Bengali Hindu father. She spent her childhood in Aymanam in Kerala. She left Kerala for Delhi at age 16, and embarked on a bohemian lifestyle, staying in a small hut with a tin roof and making a living selling empty beer bottles. She then proceeded to study architecture at the Delhi School of Architecture.
She began writing The God of Small Things in 1992 and finished it in 1996. She received half-a-million pounds in advances, and rights to the book were sold in 21 countries. The book is semi-autobiographical and a major part captures her childhood experiences in Aymanam.
Roy is also a well known peace activist. One of her first essays was in response to India's testing of nuclear weapons in Pokhran, Rajasthan. The essay, titled The End of Imagination, is a critique against the Indian government's nuclear policies. It was published in her collection "The Cost of Living," in which she also begins her crusade against India's massive hydroelectric dam project. Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May, 2004, for her work in social campaigns and advocacy of non-violence.
‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy :
‘The God of Small Things’, the debut novel of Indian architect Suzanna Arundhati Roy, was published in 1997. A family tragedy centered on the emotional and psychological evolution of fraternal twins Rahel and Estha Ipe, the novel, set in Ayemenem, a remote coastal town in the state of Kerala in southwestern India, shuttles between events in 1969—when the twins, age seven, are involved in the accidental drowning of their British cousin—and more than 25 years later, when the twins reunite as emotionally damaged adults. The novel uses an intricate architecture of flashbacks, memories, poetic dream sequences, interior monologues, and flashforwards to capture the tensions and sorrows of multiple generations of this middle-class Indian family caught up within the social pressures of a modern caste system. The novel became an international best seller and received the prestigious Man Booker Prize. The study guide uses the 2017 Random House paperback edition.
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 representing 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.
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