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The God of Small Things

by Arundhati Roy

 Summary
 Themes
 Questions & Answers
 Characters
 Critical Essays
 Analysis
 Teaching Guide
Justify the title of The God of Small Things.

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This is one of my favourite all-time novels, so well done for studying it! You
have asked a very important question, as obviously the title that an author
gives to their work is a very important decision to make, and clearly it must
link in somehow with the overall theme or message of the book.

One place to start would be looking at Chapter Eleven, which itself bears the
same title as the title of this great book. One of the things that is described
in this section is the coming together of Ammu and Velutha:
Who was he, the one-armed man? Who could he have been? The God of
Loss? The God of Small Things? The God of Goose Bumps and Sudden
Smiles? Of Sourmetal Smells - like steel bus-rails and the smell of the bus
conductor's hands from holding them?

Considering this quote, as the series of rhetorical questions thinks about the
identity of Velutha, we can apply the title of "The God of Small Things" to his
character. However, of course, the significance of this title is much wider and
bigger than merely representing his character.

One stylistic aspect of the novel is the way in which Roy uses flashbacks and
two separate time frames, jumping between the twins now and the twins
then, in their childhood. However, the novel ends with one critical moment,
describing the two lovers who have broken all of the Love Rules together,
sharing a moment of happiness. Pay attention to what Roy says about the
focus of Ammu and Velutha in the final chapter:
Even later, on the thirteen nights that followed this one, instinctively they
stuck to the Small Things. The Big Things ever lurked inside. They knew that
there was nowhere for them to go. They had nothing. No future. So they
stuck to the small things.

Therefore we can say that Roy chose to give this novel the title it bears
because the God of Small Things somehow represents the determination
and stubbornness to make the most of a situation and enjoy it for its
pleasures no matter how fleeting those joys may be. Ammu and Velutha
instinctively realise that they are fighting a losing battle. So much goes
against them as they break the "Love Laws" of caste and race. They
instinctively accept the tragic fact that "they had nothing" and "nowhere to
go," and so deliberately limit their thinking to the "small things" that enable
them to enjoy their love until the inevitable happens. Arundhati
Roy presents us with the operation of "big things" such as caste and race
and how people become the victims of such concepts. "The God of Small
Things" therefore celebrates the lives of such victims, lamenting their unjust
end, and recognising that against such big forces, it is perhaps only the
"small things" that we can build our lives around.
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 In The God of Small Things, discuss Velutha's character in detail.  

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 To what extent does religion become important in Roy's The God of
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The God of Small Things                                All                                Study

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In The God of Small Things, discuss Velutha's character in

detail.  

Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things characterizes Velutha as “The God

of Loss” and “The God of Small Things.” Living in a social setting where the
“Big Things” (such as social positions and political connections) prevail,
Velutha is viewed as a “Small Thing” or an “untouchable.” Regardless of his
status in the society, Velutha exudes incessant generosity when he shares
small gifts (love and compassion) with various characters in this story,
including Ammu, Estha, and Rahel, hence wins the title “The God of Small
Things.” In a society plagued with social injustices and cruelty, Velutha
shows unconditional love. In the name of sympathy and love, however,
Velutha loses a lot from these small gifts he advances to other people, and
this earns him the title “The God of Loss.” His love for Ammu makes him
lose his job and ultimately his life.
Arundhati Roy's novel uses Velutha's character to discuss the stigma of
untouchability. Velutha, a Paravan, belongs to the lowest social order. He is
a handsome young man of extraordinary skills. With his professional training
in carpentry, he is an indispensable worker at the Kochamma factory.
According to Chacko, Velutha "practically runs the factory." Unlike his
humble and servile father, Velutha is bold, fearless, and adventurous.

Velutha represents the "God of Small Things." He enters the imaginary world
of the dizygotic twins and fills their lives with happiness and innocence. To
Rahel and Estha, he is the father they never had. He transgresses social
boundaries and dares to love Ammu, a woman of the higher social order.
Velutha is born to lose. He pays the price of love and becomes a victim to a
depraved power game.

Velutha's character reflects the deep suffering and the acute frustration of
the weaker section of the society. His brutal and tragic death leaves the
reader with a lasting sense of loss and injustice.
One of the major issues that is presented in this excellent novel is that of caste
and social stratification. Velutha is an "untouchable," a Dalit who occupies the
lowest social stratum of Indian society. Velutha lives with his father,Vallya
Paapen, and his crippled and paralysed brother, Kuttappen, in a little hut
downriver from Rahel and Estha's house. Velutha is great friends with the
children, although this is officially prohibited.

It was when Velutha was a child that Mammachi noticed Velutha's skill with
his hands, and thus persuaded Velutha's father to send him to a special
school for the untouchables. This education had the impact of making him
not "safe" as an adult. As his father reflects, what Velutha has as an adult is
a kind of self-assurance that "could be construed as insolence" in a
touchable. He works in the pickle factory and has skill both with machines
and with wood. He is also involved in the Communist party. It is clear that
his position as untouchable does not sit easily with him

However, his real involvement comes when he becomes involved in an affair

with Ammu, which transgresses the "love laws" that the novel repeatedly
mentions. This leads him to being blamed for the rape and murder of Sophie
Mol, even though he had nothing to do with it, and his cruel treatment at the
hands of the police. It is this event, and Estha and Rahel's complicity with it,
that haunts the two twins so strongly and creates the central tension of the
novel as they try to come to terms with what happened and their role in it.