The Gist of The God of Small Things

Characters
Rahel
Esthappen
Ammu
Baby Kochamma
Sophie Mol
Velutha
Chacko
Mamachi
Pappachi (Shri Benaan
John Ipe)

Setting
Margaret Kochamma
Joe Baba
Kochu Maria
Comrade K.N.M. Pillai
Vellya Paapen
Kuttapen
Inspector Thomas Mathew
The Orangedrink Lemondrink Man
Father Mulligan
Reverend John Ipe

Place
This novel takes place in Ayemenem, India.

Time Period & Political strife

This novel takes place from 1969 -1993.
The two political strifes in the novel are Communism and imperialism.

Main Plot
The main plot follows the main character who is a girl named Rahel. The story takes place between 1969 - 1993 but skips around this time period
going to different periods of Rahels life. The main part of the story takes place during Rahels childhood while she was accompanied by her
fraternal twin, Esthappen. Their lives crumble as they face issues of love and affection in their childhood. The purpose of this story is to show how
small things in life affect the lives of people and their behavior.

Narrative Technique
An interesting narrative technique used by Arundhati Roy is how she shows the perspectives of the children that are shaped by what goes on with
the adults that surround them. By analyzing how the adults around them act, it shapes their overall views on the world and the behavior of the
children. This narrative technique makes the character development more interesting also. Roy also uses time as a narrative technique in order to
show the significance of memory in the lives of the of children. Painful memories especially are important with how the characters develop into
adults. An example of this is when Rahel thinks back to when Sophie Mol had died and drowned in the river and shows how the death of Sophie
Mol affected Rahel as a child, leading into her adult life.