arundhati Roy's novel "The God of Small Things" complete presentation, including introduction, summary, character map, character's detail, and themes

2. THE GOD
OF SMALL
THINGS

3. 3
“ Anything can
happen to anyone,
and it’s best to be
prepared.” - Estha

4. ““That it really began in the days
when the love laws were made.
The laws that lay down who
should be loved, and how.
And how much.”
-Rahel
4

5. 5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Suzanna Arundhati Roy is an
Indian author.
Born: 24 November 1961 (age
56), Shillong India
Wrote the novel The God Of Small
Things in 1996

6. A Post-colonial Text
6
The God of Small Things responds to and
critiques the attitudes and practices of
British colonialism by:
• Emphasizing its political intent, which
asserts the richness of Indian indigenous
cultures
• Re-telling Indian history from the
perspective of those colonized
• Restoring the connection between Indians
and their natural environments from which
they were alienated during colonialism

7. SETTING OF NOVEL
7
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

8. Beginning of the book
 The God of Small Things is about a family living in India after the Declaration of
Independence. Their story isn't told in chronological order but it is revealed bit by bit
to the reader.
 Rahel and Esthappen (Estha) are seven year old fraternal twins.
 They are living in Ayemenem with their mother Ammu and her brother Chacko, their
grandmother Mammachi and their great-aunt Baby Kochamma.
 Their father Baba lives in Calcutta.
 Ammu left him when the twins were two years old
 The family is expecting the arrival of Margaret and Sophie Mol, Chacko's ex-wife and
daughter, who are living in England.
PLOT SUMMARY(1)
8

9.  Since Margaret's second husband Joe had died in a car accident, Chacko invited them
to spend Christmas in India in order to get over the loss
 When they have arrived, Sophie Mol is taking centre stage.
 So Rahel and Estha stroll around on the river bank and find an old boat
 With Velutha's help they repair it and frequently cross the river to visit an abandoned
house on the other side
 Velutha is an Untouchable(lowest cast), whom Ammu and Chacko have known since
their childhood.
 Their family have given him the opportunity to visit a school and employed him as a
carpenter and mechanic in the family's pickle factory
PLOT SUMMARY(2)
9

10. 10
 MIDDLE OF THE BOOK
 During the guests' stay Ammu is more and more attracted by Velutha.
 One night they meet at the river where they develop tender feelings for each other.
 As it is not possible for an Untouchable to have a relationship or even an affair with
somebody from a superior caste, they have to keep their meetings secret. But one night
Velutha's father observes them and, feeling humiliated by his son's overbearing behaviour,
reports everything to Mammachi and Baby Kochamma
 As a consequence they lock up Ammu in her room.
 There Rahel and Estha find her and, through the locked door, ask her why she's being
locked up
 As she is angry and desperate, she blames the two children that without them she would
be free and they should go away
PLOT SUMMARY(3)

11. 11
 Hurt and confused they decide two run away and stay at the abandoned house.
 But Sophie discovers the twins' plan and demands to be taken along
 While the three are crossing the river, which has risen from heavy rainfall, their boat
capsizes
 Rahel and Estha are able to reach the other shore but Sophie cannot swim and is
carried away by the current.
 After a long search for Sophie, the twins go to the abandoned house and fall asleep
on its veranda
 Neither do they see Velutha, who is sleeping on the veranda nor does he notice the
twins' arrival.
PLOT SUMMARY(4)

12. 12
 Earlier that night, Velutha had visited the house of Ammu's family, not knowing that
their affair had been discovered.

 When he arrived Mammachi insulted him and abducted him from their property and
land
 In the morning the children's absence is detected.
 Then they receive the message that Sophie Mol has been found dead by the river.
 Baby Kochamma goes to the police and wrongly accuses Velutha of attempting to
rape Ammu and kidnapping the children
 When the police find Velutha sleeping on the veranda of the abandoned house, they
beat him up so heavily that he almost dies.
PLOT SUMMARY(5)

13. PLOT SUMMARY(6)
 The twins wake up and observe the whole procedure. At the police station they are
forced by Baby Kochamma to confirm the wrong statement which she has made.
 In the following night Velutha dies in prison.
 After Sophie Mol's funeral Ammu and the twins have to leave the family's house
because Chacko, manipulated by Baby Kochamma, accuses them of being
responsible for Sophie Mol's death
 Estha is sent to his father in Calcutta where he attends school and later college
 Ammu is forced to leave Rahel in Ayemenem in order to look for employment
 But Ammu is not able to earn enough for a living and so she dies of bad health a few
years later alone in a hotel room.

14. 14
PLOT SUMMARY(7)
AT THE END
Rahel returns to Ayemenem at the age of 31.
She hasn't seen Estha since they were separated after Sophie Mol's funeral.
She married an American and moved with him to Boston
After their divorce she has been working to make a living.
Now Rahel returns to Ayemenem because she wants to see Estha, who has already
returned to their family's house.
During his stay in Calcutta he someday stopped speaking. After spending a whole day
together in Ayemenem, Rahel and Estha, sister and brother, are sleeping with each
other.

15. FAMILY TREE
15
The Ipe family
Papchi
(Benaan john)
Ammu
Rahel Larry Estha
Babu
Mammachi
(Shoshamma)
Chako Margaret
Sophie Mol
Joe
Baby
kochamma
(novami)

16. 16
Main characters
Rahel
Estha's female fraternal twin. Much of the story is told from Rahel's perspective as a seven-year-old girl
and as a thirty-one-year-old woman
Estha
Rahel's male fraternal twin. His full name is Esthappen. After Sophie Mol's death, he is sent to live
with his father, Babu, in Assam. At the age of thirty-one, he moves back to Ayemenem.
Sophie Mol
The daughter of Chacko and Margaret Kochamma. After her stepfather Joe dies, she visits
Ayemenem with her mother. She drowns in the Ayemenem river. Her death and the events
surrounding it serve as a focus of the novel.
Ammu
Estha's and Rahel's mother. She married Babu in a glamorous ceremony, but she soon became
disillusioned with their marriage because her husband was an alcoholic.

17. 17
Main characters
Babu
Estha's and Rahel's father and Ammu's ex-husband. He is an alcoholic who is
talked about but never seen in the novel
Velutha
An Untouchable Paravan who serves as a handyman for Ammu, Mammachi,
and the rest of the family. He has a close relationship with Estha and Rahel,
whom he treats lovingly but never condescendingly. He is the father figure
they never had. Velutha has an affair with Ammu, rowing across the river to
see her each night.
Baby Kochamma
Rahel's and Estha's grandaunt. She has a degree in ornamental gardening,
but in her old age she simply watches television and writes in her diary.

18. 18
Main characters
Mammachi
Estha's and Rahel's blind grandmother. She is unhappily married to Pappachi,
who beats her terribly until Chacko defends her
Pappachi
Estha's and Rahel's grandfather. He beats Mammachi with a brass vase
frequently, until Chacko forces him to stop.
Chacko
Rahel's and Estha's uncle, and Mammachi's and Pappachi's only son. He was
a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and he is now a Communist

19. MAJOR THEMES
19
Indian history and politics
Indian history and politics shape the plot and meaning of The God of Small Things in a variety of
ways. Some of Roy's commentary is on the surface, with jokes and snippets of wisdom about
political realities in India. However, the novel also examines the historical roots of these realities
and develops profound insights into the ways in which human desperation and desire emerge
from the confines of a firmly entrenched caste society
Class relations and cultural tensions
In addition to her commentary on Indian history and politics, Roy evaluates the Indian postcolonial
complex, or the cultural attitudes of many Indians towards their former British rulers. After Ammu
calls her father a "[shit]-wiper" in Hindi for his blind devotion to the British, Chacko explains to the
twins that they come from a family of Anglophiles, or lovers of British culture, "trapped outside
their own history and unable to retrace their steps," and he goes on to say that they despise
themselves because of this.

20. MAJOR THEMES
20
Forbidden love
One interpretation of Roy's theme of forbidden love is that love is such a powerful and
uncontrollable force that it cannot be contained by any conventional social code. Another is that
conventional society somehow seeks to destroy real love, which is why love in the novel is
consistently connected to loss, death, and sadness. Also, because all romantic love in the novel
relates closely to politics and history, it is possible that Roy is stressing the interconnectedness of
personal desire to larger themes of history and social circumstances. Love would therefore be an
emotion that can be explained only in terms of two peoples' cultural backgrounds and political
identities
Social discrimination
The story is set in the caste society of India. In this time, members of the Untouchable Paravan or
Paryan were not permitted to touch members of higher castes or enter their houses. The
Untouchables were considered polluted beings. They had the lowliest jobs and lived in subhuman
conditions. In India, the caste system was considered a way to organise society. Arundhati Roy's
book shows how terribly cruel such a system can be as the oppressors were immigrants from
Persia/Iraq during the rule of Venads Dravidian-Tamil king Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal in the ninth
century as mentioned in the Tharisapalli plates.

21. MAJOR THEMES
21
Small Things
In a society concerned with "Big Things" such as the caste system, political affiliations, and
marriage, Roy directs the reader to the "Small Things." These can be small creatures and their
activities-the "whisper and scurry of small lives"-as well as secrets, promises, sins, and other
emotional 'creatures' that people do not want to acknowledge.
Mutability
One of the refrains Roy uses in The God of Small Things is, "Things can change in a day." This
phrase encapsulates the tumultuousness of the characters' lives; when change happens to them,
it is usually on a large and enduring scale. Specifially, the story's three major deaths-Sophie's,
Velutha's, and Ammu's-mark major points of change for all the characters

22. 22
Thanks!
Any questions?

23. 23
Credits
Irum zafar Sidra Safder
Ayesha kiran Sehrish kanwal
Tanzeela Ammara

24. www.wikipedia.com
www.gradesavers.com/thegodofsmallthi
ngs
www.enotes.com
24
Refernces