The Following Section Contains Literary Discussions and Essays
Character Analysis
Sophie Mol was an important secondary character in The God of Small Things because she affected the primary characters and helped them develop in their characterization. She died at a young age, which left the reader to associate her with adolescent naïve and lack of development through the storyline, but she helped the primary characters of Estha and Rahel develop, especially through her death. She drowned after the boat capsized, while Estha and Rahel lived, which caused them turmoil and guilt in the future with frequent flashbacks haunting them. Although Sophie Mol did not intend to cause harm or unnecessary negativities upon the twins, she unintentionally negatively affected them. Although Sophie Mol made poor decisions and the twins’ points of views gave insight as to why she could be disliked, she lacked inner corruption and had a kind spirit/soul.
Sophie Mol made poor decisions when she died, made Estha and Rahel feel inferior, told the twins that they were bastards and told them what the words meant, and when she was rude to Chacko. Sophie Mol allowed herself to be taken over by the water’s current when she fell out of the capsized boat, which resulted in her drowning, which was a poor and uneducated decision. That instance in the novel was similar to when Leslie Burke drowned in the novel Bridge to Terabithia because she made a poor decision and tried to cross a river at high tide and was overtaken by a water current. Even though in chapter ten of the novel, Kuttapen warned the characters about the river and how it was evil, but they went out anyway and Sophie Mol died, which was wrong on her part because she ignored helpful advice. Sophie Mol continued to appear with negative connotations when she would make Estha and Rahel feel inferior, since the reader of the novel favored the twins, it is reasonable to agree that a character whom makes the twins feel bad should be disapproved of. Sophie Mol makes the twins feel inferior because she has the sophisticated English aura, whereas they are simply and only Indian. She purposefully has a fashion sense with her yellow bellbottom pants and go-go bag, while they wear plain clothing. Baby Kochamma compares the twins to Sophie, which makes them feel inferior and degraded, which makes her appear as if she is in the wrong and making the wrong decisions that make the twins disapprove of her. She made another poor decision when she removed a piece of the twins’ innocence by teaching them new advance teachings, such as about sex and the meaning of being a bastard. She revealed to them that they were “bastards,” which made it seem as if she was the bearer of bad news and was better than the twins because she was something that they were not. According to the twins, Sophie Mol appeared to constantly be rude to others, especially to her father Chacko when she would talk back to him and tell him that she loved her step-dad, Joe, more than him, as seen in chapter nine. Also in chapter nine, the reader sees Sophie refuse to braid Mammachi’s hair and she rejected nice gestures from Baby Kochamma, which makes her appear to be a prideful, impetuous, and immature girl. Although the twins show negative insight on Sophie Mol, they do admit to her nice qualities and kind nature.
Sophie Mol lacked inner corruption and had a kind spirit/soul because she tried to befriend the twins and be liked by them despite their hesitation towards her, and she had to endure Joe’s funeral, which a little girl should not have to do. The word “Mol” means “Little girl,” which is what she was; she died at a young age, but she endured many struggles, such as having to leave her comfort zone, go to India, and unsuccessfully befriend Estha and Rahel. She tried to gain the twins’ approval, as seen in chapter 13, “Sophie Mol put the presents into her go-go bag, and went forth into the world. To drive a hard bargain. To negotiate a friendship” (Roy, 185). She went out with a bunch of presents- Toblerone chocolate, multicolored socks, and souvenir pens from London- to gain the twins’ approvals. Sophie wanted to be friends with her cousins and in the end, she was the one who felt left out, despite the twins feeling left out and inferior. Sophie felt alone and secluded, which was terrible to endure. She also had to terribly endure her step-dad’s, Joe whom she loved even more than her own dad, funeral. Sophie Mol endured a lot, but her insight is often forgotten due to the twins’ input on her. Sophie Mol can be compared to the character of the house elf, Dobby, from the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, because both characters are disliked by the main character, despite their main goal of helping and befriending the main character. Sophie Mol tried to show her love for the twins by giving them gifts and Dobby tries to show his love for Harry Potter by saving him from the evil Heir of Slytherin, but both Sophie and Dobby hurt the twins and Harry instead in the end. Sophie hurts the twins by making them feel inferior and making them feel guilty after she dies because they were last with her and the reason she died, and by getting all attention from family, as seen when Kochu Maria told Rahel that Sophie would be a future Kochamma, which is an honor, but makes Rahel feel poorly about herself, as seen in chapter eight of the novel. And Dobby hurt Harry by breaking his arm with a rogue bludger, or a ball in the game of Quidditch, and tried to take him away from his safe haven of Hogwarts, and he got Harry in trouble with his aunt and uncle by creating a ruckus and noise and blaming it on Harry, but in the end, he is there to help Harry in the seventh book in the series because he loves him, the same way that Sophie Mol loves her cousins and does what she can to show her affection for them. Yet, the twins do not appreciate Sophie enough and Harry does not appreciate Dobby enough, so both Sophie and Dobby die.
Sophie is different from people, especially Estha and Rahel, by her clothing, appearance, and name. She affected and had an impact on Estha, Rahel, Baby Kochamma, and Chacko. Overall, Sophie Mol played an import role in the novel, The God of Small Things, especially by helping in the characterization of Estha and Rahel. Although Sophie Mol made poor decisions and the twins’ points of views gave insight as to why she could be disliked, she lacked inner corruption and had a kind spirit/soul.
Sophie Mol made poor decisions when she died, made Estha and Rahel feel inferior, told the twins that they were bastards and told them what the words meant, and when she was rude to Chacko. Sophie Mol allowed herself to be taken over by the water’s current when she fell out of the capsized boat, which resulted in her drowning, which was a poor and uneducated decision. That instance in the novel was similar to when Leslie Burke drowned in the novel Bridge to Terabithia because she made a poor decision and tried to cross a river at high tide and was overtaken by a water current. Even though in chapter ten of the novel, Kuttapen warned the characters about the river and how it was evil, but they went out anyway and Sophie Mol died, which was wrong on her part because she ignored helpful advice. Sophie Mol continued to appear with negative connotations when she would make Estha and Rahel feel inferior, since the reader of the novel favored the twins, it is reasonable to agree that a character whom makes the twins feel bad should be disapproved of. Sophie Mol makes the twins feel inferior because she has the sophisticated English aura, whereas they are simply and only Indian. She purposefully has a fashion sense with her yellow bellbottom pants and go-go bag, while they wear plain clothing. Baby Kochamma compares the twins to Sophie, which makes them feel inferior and degraded, which makes her appear as if she is in the wrong and making the wrong decisions that make the twins disapprove of her. She made another poor decision when she removed a piece of the twins’ innocence by teaching them new advance teachings, such as about sex and the meaning of being a bastard. She revealed to them that they were “bastards,” which made it seem as if she was the bearer of bad news and was better than the twins because she was something that they were not. According to the twins, Sophie Mol appeared to constantly be rude to others, especially to her father Chacko when she would talk back to him and tell him that she loved her step-dad, Joe, more than him, as seen in chapter nine. Also in chapter nine, the reader sees Sophie refuse to braid Mammachi’s hair and she rejected nice gestures from Baby Kochamma, which makes her appear to be a prideful, impetuous, and immature girl. Although the twins show negative insight on Sophie Mol, they do admit to her nice qualities and kind nature.
Sophie Mol lacked inner corruption and had a kind spirit/soul because she tried to befriend the twins and be liked by them despite their hesitation towards her, and she had to endure Joe’s funeral, which a little girl should not have to do. The word “Mol” means “Little girl,” which is what she was; she died at a young age, but she endured many struggles, such as having to leave her comfort zone, go to India, and unsuccessfully befriend Estha and Rahel. She tried to gain the twins’ approval, as seen in chapter 13, “Sophie Mol put the presents into her go-go bag, and went forth into the world. To drive a hard bargain. To negotiate a friendship” (Roy, 185). She went out with a bunch of presents- Toblerone chocolate, multicolored socks, and souvenir pens from London- to gain the twins’ approvals. Sophie wanted to be friends with her cousins and in the end, she was the one who felt left out, despite the twins feeling left out and inferior. Sophie felt alone and secluded, which was terrible to endure. She also had to terribly endure her step-dad’s, Joe whom she loved even more than her own dad, funeral. Sophie Mol endured a lot, but her insight is often forgotten due to the twins’ input on her. Sophie Mol can be compared to the character of the house elf, Dobby, from the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, because both characters are disliked by the main character, despite their main goal of helping and befriending the main character. Sophie Mol tried to show her love for the twins by giving them gifts and Dobby tries to show his love for Harry Potter by saving him from the evil Heir of Slytherin, but both Sophie and Dobby hurt the twins and Harry instead in the end. Sophie hurts the twins by making them feel inferior and making them feel guilty after she dies because they were last with her and the reason she died, and by getting all attention from family, as seen when Kochu Maria told Rahel that Sophie would be a future Kochamma, which is an honor, but makes Rahel feel poorly about herself, as seen in chapter eight of the novel. And Dobby hurt Harry by breaking his arm with a rogue bludger, or a ball in the game of Quidditch, and tried to take him away from his safe haven of Hogwarts, and he got Harry in trouble with his aunt and uncle by creating a ruckus and noise and blaming it on Harry, but in the end, he is there to help Harry in the seventh book in the series because he loves him, the same way that Sophie Mol loves her cousins and does what she can to show her affection for them. Yet, the twins do not appreciate Sophie enough and Harry does not appreciate Dobby enough, so both Sophie and Dobby die.
Sophie is different from people, especially Estha and Rahel, by her clothing, appearance, and name. She affected and had an impact on Estha, Rahel, Baby Kochamma, and Chacko. Overall, Sophie Mol played an import role in the novel, The God of Small Things, especially by helping in the characterization of Estha and Rahel. Although Sophie Mol made poor decisions and the twins’ points of views gave insight as to why she could be disliked, she lacked inner corruption and had a kind spirit/soul.
Thematic Analysis
Love seems to be such a typical theme for almost every novel that is published now a day. After awhile, it can get boring to read multiple novels with the same theme over and over. Love is a main theme in The God of Small Things, but it’s a different kind of love, a forbidden love. How would you like how you feel about someone to be determined by love laws? These love laws put a big barrier between Ammu and Velutha throughout the novel. Although Estha and Rahel do not show physical attraction towards each other until the end of the novel, they also have a forbidden love because they are siblings. And Baby Kochamma is in love with Father Mulligan who will never be able to marry because he is a priest. Throughout the novel, the theme of forbidden love shows up many times. Love is constantly shot down because of social rules and laws.
These love laws that play a huge part in Velutha and Ammu’s lives determine “who should be loved, how, and how much.” Ammu and Velutha come from two different worlds. Velutha is part of a social class named the Paravans. This social class is very strict and is allowed very few basic rights. For example, in the novel it is mentioned how the people in this class are told to sweep away any footprints they leave so that the higher-class people did not have to walk on ‘contaminated land.’ They were comparable to trash. Velutha was also referred to as an ‘untouchable.’ His social class was so corrupted that they should not even touch anyone outside of their social class. Because of Velutha’s social class, Ammu could not be seen with him. However, she loved him. Ammu winds up having an affair with Velutha and gets caught. Baby Kochamma runs to the police to file a false rape charge and forces the twins, Ammu’s children, to lie to the police. As hard as Ammu tried to fight for her love with Velutha, she lost. Ammu is banished by her family and eventually dies from poverty a few years later. Unfortunately, Ammu and Velutha were not the ones who experienced forbidden love affairs.
Although Estha and Rahel are twins, they too experience forbidden love and break the love laws. These twins share a love much stronger than sibling love. The twins were torn apart when they were seven years old, and did not meet again until they were thirty-one. Because it has been so long, they want to spend every moment together. Once Rahel and Estha return to Ayemenem, many memories from the past are brought back to life. This reminiscing brings the twins even closer than they were to begin with. They wind up growing so close that they fall in love with each other. In chapter twenty of the novel, the twins have sex and lay together for a while. Although incest is such a forbidden thing, the novel only spends a few sentences talking about this scene as if it was nothing. Although these twins broke the love laws, they seemed to have a true love for each other. Unfortunately, it was forbidden as well.
Lastly, Baby Kochamma experienced forbidden love as well. When she was young, she met this man named Father Mulligan. As expressed in his name, Father Mulligan was a priest. As many people know, priests’ cannot be married, which proved to be an obstacle for Baby Kochamma. In the novel, Baby Kochamma has resentment towards Ammu. She sees Ammu and Velutha working to get past the social class issues and love laws and she realizes that she has simply accepted that she will never be able to be with Father Mulligan. Maybe Baby Kochamma resented Ammu so much because she knew that what Ammu and Velutha had, she would never have with Father Mulligan. She had to repress her love for Father Mulligan because she knew it was the right thing to do.
While love is a major theme in this novel, it is not the same kind of love that we experience everyday. In our world today, there are no such thing as love laws, at least not to the degree of those in The God of Small Things. Without these love laws, life could have been very different for Ammu, Estha and Rahel, and Baby Kochamma. This book is very eye opening because it makes the reader realize how fortunate we are to have the freedom to love. While the forbidden love that occurs throughout the novel is very painful and saddening to read, the novel would not be the same without this theme.
Love seems to be such a typical theme for almost every novel that is published now a day. After awhile, it can get boring to read multiple novels with the same theme over and over. Love is a main theme in The God of Small Things, but it’s a different kind of love, a forbidden love. How would you like how you feel about someone to be determined by love laws? These love laws put a big barrier between Ammu and Velutha throughout the novel. Although Estha and Rahel do not show physical attraction towards each other until the end of the novel, they also have a forbidden love because they are siblings. And Baby Kochamma is in love with Father Mulligan who will never be able to marry because he is a priest. Throughout the novel, the theme of forbidden love shows up many times. Love is constantly shot down because of social rules and laws.
These love laws that play a huge part in Velutha and Ammu’s lives determine “who should be loved, how, and how much.” Ammu and Velutha come from two different worlds. Velutha is part of a social class named the Paravans. This social class is very strict and is allowed very few basic rights. For example, in the novel it is mentioned how the people in this class are told to sweep away any footprints they leave so that the higher-class people did not have to walk on ‘contaminated land.’ They were comparable to trash. Velutha was also referred to as an ‘untouchable.’ His social class was so corrupted that they should not even touch anyone outside of their social class. Because of Velutha’s social class, Ammu could not be seen with him. However, she loved him. Ammu winds up having an affair with Velutha and gets caught. Baby Kochamma runs to the police to file a false rape charge and forces the twins, Ammu’s children, to lie to the police. As hard as Ammu tried to fight for her love with Velutha, she lost. Ammu is banished by her family and eventually dies from poverty a few years later. Unfortunately, Ammu and Velutha were not the ones who experienced forbidden love affairs.
Although Estha and Rahel are twins, they too experience forbidden love and break the love laws. These twins share a love much stronger than sibling love. The twins were torn apart when they were seven years old, and did not meet again until they were thirty-one. Because it has been so long, they want to spend every moment together. Once Rahel and Estha return to Ayemenem, many memories from the past are brought back to life. This reminiscing brings the twins even closer than they were to begin with. They wind up growing so close that they fall in love with each other. In chapter twenty of the novel, the twins have sex and lay together for a while. Although incest is such a forbidden thing, the novel only spends a few sentences talking about this scene as if it was nothing. Although these twins broke the love laws, they seemed to have a true love for each other. Unfortunately, it was forbidden as well.
Lastly, Baby Kochamma experienced forbidden love as well. When she was young, she met this man named Father Mulligan. As expressed in his name, Father Mulligan was a priest. As many people know, priests’ cannot be married, which proved to be an obstacle for Baby Kochamma. In the novel, Baby Kochamma has resentment towards Ammu. She sees Ammu and Velutha working to get past the social class issues and love laws and she realizes that she has simply accepted that she will never be able to be with Father Mulligan. Maybe Baby Kochamma resented Ammu so much because she knew that what Ammu and Velutha had, she would never have with Father Mulligan. She had to repress her love for Father Mulligan because she knew it was the right thing to do.
While love is a major theme in this novel, it is not the same kind of love that we experience everyday. In our world today, there are no such thing as love laws, at least not to the degree of those in The God of Small Things. Without these love laws, life could have been very different for Ammu, Estha and Rahel, and Baby Kochamma. This book is very eye opening because it makes the reader realize how fortunate we are to have the freedom to love. While the forbidden love that occurs throughout the novel is very painful and saddening to read, the novel would not be the same without this theme.
Essay
Why so Serious?
Life, in my opinion, requires a proper balance between what is to be considered serious and what is to be considered light-hearted. It is important to have both elements in order to maintain a stable and healthy way of life. Although the two don’t necessary have to be equal, the good should often outweigh the bad. In the novel The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy there is not an equal balance between the serious matter and the light-hearted moments. In terms of being light-hearted the book contains an adequate sense of humor and a strong portrayal of innocence. As for the serious aspects of the novel, there are a few more. The novel deals with grave family issues, forbidden love, and degraded self esteem. There is not a proper balance between the serious matters and the light-hearted ones in this novel and this is ultimately why it is so dismal.
The God of Small Things also portrays a strong sense of innocence. The entire novel is seen through the perspective of a child. It is seen mostly through Rahel’s point of view with the exception of transitioning to Estha’s point of view once. The novel is taken from the simply everyday tasks of Rahel’s life to the horrifying things she had to endure in her lifetime. Innocence is often seen as “blissful ignorance” or not knowing anything about the events that are occurring in your life. This book puts a different meaning to the word innocence. It is not about what the twins don’t know, but rather it is about how they handle and come to terms with what they do know. Although the book does start with the two twins being blissfully ignorant, this quickly goes away due to many different occurrences in their lives. In the beginning of the novel, the family all go to see “The Sound of Music” together. The twins were only about SEVEN at the time and little Estha was forced to go wait out the movie in the lobby because he just could not stop singing along. While in the lobby he is approached by the Orange drink Lemon drink man and ultimately ends up getting molested by him. This poses a question as to whether or not Estha could fully grasp what was happening, due to his innocence. Nonetheless, a part of his innocence was lost that day and from there on out he reacted negatively to it ever being brought up again. Both twins also lost their innocence due to the tragic death of their cousin Sophie Mol.
The book is centered around the death of Sophie Mol. It creates a very large sense of heartbreak within the family. It also almost forces the family to stick together. There are other family problems scattered throughout. Baba, Estha and Rahel’s biological father, was a raging and abusive alcoholic and also a compulsive liar. Pappachi was also a raging alcoholic and very unpleasant person to live with. Margaret Kochamma, the mother of Sophie Mol, was married to Chako but quickly divorced him upon falling in love with a new man that went by the name of Joe. Joe ended up dying in a fatal accident which led Margaret and Sophie to return to Ayemenem to visit the family which is a decision Margaret might regret for the rest of her life. After Sophie Mol died because she drowned in the river, the entire family had to deal with it and mourn the death together. There is also a lot of betrayal and broken trust within the family that adds to their numerous amount of issues.
If love has restrictions, is it really even love? Is it still considered love even if it seems as though the universe is fighting against it? The idea of forbidden love is seen between Ammu and Velutha. Ammu is of a much higher social class than Velutha is so naturally, not very many people want to see them together. Baby Kochamma is the most unsupportive of the two together. She often times tried to sell Velutha out and get him in trouble with the law. She lied and said that he raped Ammu and kidnapped Estha and Rahel. She went to great lengths just to ensure that
Velutha and Ammu would not end up together. This is almost ironic because Baby Kochamma often berated Ammu for not remarrying after Baba. Eventually after very many lies at the hands of Baby Kochamma, Velutha was arrested and beaten to death which greatly upset the twins. Another form of forbidden love was the relationship between Estha and Rahel. At the end of the novel, they took “close family bonding” to an all new level. They were both grieving over tragedies in their life while simultaneously reflecting on old memories when they ended up having sex. Naturally they are not supposed to be together in that way because they are not only brother and sister, but they are twins and that is incest. The book does not go into detail about what all happened after that.
The last issue that is dealt with throughout the entire novel is degraded self esteem. The root of all this lowered self worth is ultimately pointed back to Baby Kochamma. Baby Kochamma would rip on Ammu for never remarrying after her marriage with Baba went to Hell. She then directed her anger on the matter to constantly ripping on the twins for anything that they did. She took any chance that she could to humiliate the twins and degrade them. On the other hand, she raised Sophie Mol on the highest of pedestals. She was constantly kissing the ground that she walked on and praising every single thing that she did. This hit Rahel a lot harder than it hit Estha. It lowered her self worth and very often made her wonder what Sophie Mol had that she did not. Fortunately Sophie noticed this and did whatever she could to direct attention to Rahel in hopes to make her look like the better child and raise her self esteem.
Overall in this novel, there is not a very strong balance between the good and the bad. The bad often times overshadows the good which greatly offsets the balance. There are a lot of serious matters dealt with in this novel. The family has a broad spectrum of issues within each other, there is a great sense of forbidden love, and lastly an extensive amount of degraded self-esteem is portrayed. Although there are some lighthearted topics as well such as the substantial amount of innocence that the twins carry with them and deal with throughout the entire novel.
Research to “Color Play in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things”
The criticism written by Ariel Shazia is about the symbolism of colors in the novel The God of Small Things. She writes about the different meaning of the colors blue, red, yellow, and green. The negative connotation of blue typically represents sadness, such as Baby Kochamma or the British. On a lighter note, it also represents harmony and other positive descriptives. For example, the blue shades in Ammu’s room as Estha is watching her sleep. Red is continuously used as a negative symbol. It is often representative of danger, such as blood, often associated with death or loss. Yellow mainly represents fear through out the novel. One of the biggest symbols is the yellow church, especially because it relates to the death of Sophie Mol’s death, which is one of the most important aspects of the novel. Green is also mentioned in the novel, but not frequently. It typically represents growth or fertility, which explains why it doesn’t appear much because there is not much growth in the memories and current occurrences.
It’s interesting about the representation of color in the novel because many people would not typically see the symbolism in the colors. Arundhati Roy portrayed the colors in an efficient style to create a mood for the setting in the novel. It is important, as well, because India has different meanings for different colors. For example, white is for funerals or death, but in other places, such as America, it is common to wear black. Also, in India weddings are typically colorful and vibrant, such as red wedding dresses. The criticism on the color play is eye opening and would change the reader’s interpretation on the novel if he or she were aware of the color meanings.
Group Discussion #1 Group Leader: Evan Hansen
Quality Questioner: Bailie Pelletier
Literary Luminary: Jovitamae Parsley
Creative Connector: Lizzy Hackl
Recorder: Sarah Burgan
So far, which scene/event of the novel do you think was the most important?
o At Sophie Mol’s funeral it was a very important because introduces us to all of the characters of the novel and gives good background to the novel
o Rahel and other characters are cast off to the side which foreshadows and shows that they weren’t that close with their family
o When we learn about the father’s failure, it’s an important scene because it shows how big of an impact this failure not only had on her father but also on the rest of the family.
o The OrangeDrinkLemonDrink man scene was important because it was a striking moment in the novel and sets the tone for the rest of Estha’s life. He was constantly worried about going in public because he was afraid of what could happen to him.
What are some specific literary devices found within the first six chapters?
o The flashbacks that Roy uses explains what is going on in the current time of India which gives the reader more background and knowledge on what is happening in the real world at the time
o She placed everything specifically where she wanted in the novel, but that is hard to understand sometimes because of all the flashbacks. The flashbacks made it confusing and hard to follow at times
o There was a lot of foreshadowing, motifs, and symbols throughout the first six chapters
o Innocence is a big motif in the novel because Sophie Mol died very innocently and Estha was very innocent when OrangeDrinkLemonDrink man hurt him. Rahel hasn’t lost her innocence yet but has been very disturbed by the death of her cousin.
o She had her pickle store which was a symbol of freezing time which can show that she wanted to hold onto the past
Creative Connector
o In The Secret Life of Bees, Lilly Owens had multiple jars of honey that she wanted to preserve and she broke the jars because her ideas were broken. She could not handle the truth.
o In The God of Small Things, she tried to save the jars of jam to preserve past ideas which symbolized that she wanted to keep things in her life the same, just like Lilly wanted to keep things in her life the same
o On page 6 at Sophie Mol’s funeral, “Her face was pale and as wrinkled as a dhobi’s thumb from being in water for too long” (Roy 6). The imagery of this makes it easier to relate and understand. Just like in the past, in attending open casket funerals we can relate to seeing the pale face of our loved one, just like we can visualize Sophie Mol. In this imagery and description, we can relate and picture in our heads how she felt.
o In I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya also used flashbacks, but it was also very useful just like it was with Roy because it helps the reader understand the current time of the novel.
o Flashbacks can foreshadow in the novel because it builds up to what is about to happen
How do you think the setting of India played in an important role in the novel?
o India had a lot of social movements at the time and were doing a lot of reforming which explains a lot of the things that happened in the novel
o There was also a lot of advancements at the time in India which can affect the novel because it was such a changing time in India that it contributed to her whirlwind of confusion. There was a lot of events in the story that she was a part of that she didn’t want to happen which can be due to the changing times in India.
Quality Questioner: Bailie Pelletier
Literary Luminary: Jovitamae Parsley
Creative Connector: Lizzy Hackl
Recorder: Sarah Burgan
So far, which scene/event of the novel do you think was the most important?
o At Sophie Mol’s funeral it was a very important because introduces us to all of the characters of the novel and gives good background to the novel
o Rahel and other characters are cast off to the side which foreshadows and shows that they weren’t that close with their family
o When we learn about the father’s failure, it’s an important scene because it shows how big of an impact this failure not only had on her father but also on the rest of the family.
o The OrangeDrinkLemonDrink man scene was important because it was a striking moment in the novel and sets the tone for the rest of Estha’s life. He was constantly worried about going in public because he was afraid of what could happen to him.
What are some specific literary devices found within the first six chapters?
o The flashbacks that Roy uses explains what is going on in the current time of India which gives the reader more background and knowledge on what is happening in the real world at the time
o She placed everything specifically where she wanted in the novel, but that is hard to understand sometimes because of all the flashbacks. The flashbacks made it confusing and hard to follow at times
o There was a lot of foreshadowing, motifs, and symbols throughout the first six chapters
o Innocence is a big motif in the novel because Sophie Mol died very innocently and Estha was very innocent when OrangeDrinkLemonDrink man hurt him. Rahel hasn’t lost her innocence yet but has been very disturbed by the death of her cousin.
o She had her pickle store which was a symbol of freezing time which can show that she wanted to hold onto the past
Creative Connector
o In The Secret Life of Bees, Lilly Owens had multiple jars of honey that she wanted to preserve and she broke the jars because her ideas were broken. She could not handle the truth.
o In The God of Small Things, she tried to save the jars of jam to preserve past ideas which symbolized that she wanted to keep things in her life the same, just like Lilly wanted to keep things in her life the same
o On page 6 at Sophie Mol’s funeral, “Her face was pale and as wrinkled as a dhobi’s thumb from being in water for too long” (Roy 6). The imagery of this makes it easier to relate and understand. Just like in the past, in attending open casket funerals we can relate to seeing the pale face of our loved one, just like we can visualize Sophie Mol. In this imagery and description, we can relate and picture in our heads how she felt.
o In I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya also used flashbacks, but it was also very useful just like it was with Roy because it helps the reader understand the current time of the novel.
o Flashbacks can foreshadow in the novel because it builds up to what is about to happen
How do you think the setting of India played in an important role in the novel?
o India had a lot of social movements at the time and were doing a lot of reforming which explains a lot of the things that happened in the novel
o There was also a lot of advancements at the time in India which can affect the novel because it was such a changing time in India that it contributed to her whirlwind of confusion. There was a lot of events in the story that she was a part of that she didn’t want to happen which can be due to the changing times in India.
Discussion #2
The God of Small Things Discussion Sarah: Leader
Baillie: creative connecter
Evan: literary luminery
Jovitamae: questioner
Lizzy: Recorder
Which moment do you think is to blame for Sophie Mol’s death? Chs 7-14 had events that led up to her death. If this moment didn’t happen, would she be different:
· When she arrived and met with twins, Sophie Mol couldn’t fit in due to class difference. Sophie Mol was kind to twins by giving gifts and spending time with them, because she was given attention by adults and others in the past, which is why she used her kindness to give the twins that same attention.
· If Margaret never left her first father because the decision of visiting during the holidays was bad for her. Many absences from her father played important role.
· Maybe ask WHO was to blame for death: twins or Sophie Mol’s incompetence
Literary Topics:
· Full of allusions
o Because of references to Julius Ceasar (Shakespeare) and The Odyssey in ch. 6
· The point of view changed to Estha while he was thinking in Pickle Factory about his future and how to escape his past (should he run away or not) and we saw his point of view instead of just Rahel’s. He eventually decided that everyone needs to be prepared and expect the unexpected. It demonstrates their close relationship because he is the only other person that spoke in first person besides Estha. Similar to Huck Finn how Sherbern was the only one who spoke in first person besides Huck, which was important for that character (characterization)
· Symbol
o Estha had watch that was always stuck at 10 minutes to 2
§ Events in novel not moving in chronological order. Symbol that time is not that important in the book
· Similar to Mammachi’s store how she preserves things to stall time
o It is a common symbol that time is preserved in the book.
· Irony
o Ahmu had a dream in ch. 11 about her lover Velutha
§ Ironic because she looked as if she was having a nightmare and having pain (the twins thought so), but she was actually having a good dream and enjoying it (because it was about her love)
· Reference to Communist party that Velutha was suspected of at the parade- the reader would have to know that during that time period, Communism was spreading from Central Asia into India
o He didn’t want the kids to know, but he knew they knew, but he never flat out said so because he wanted to guard them from it. Everyone seemed to be against from Communism because they were afraid they had to become Communist.
· Foreshadowing that Valutha would be the enemy of the family because Baby Kochamma said that and everyone ended up disliking him.
Creative Connecter:
· The Outsiders & The God of Small Things
o Velutha and Ammu not supposed to be together
§ Similar to The Outsiders
· Ponyboy in love with Cherry, who was from a different group, which was not right, which is similar to Velutha and Ammu because they stayed together despite being from different social/ wealth groups
Question:
· In ch. 7 after Ammu died, Rahel wanted to write to Estha about it and said there are things you can’t do, such as writing the letter: how would you describe that relationship? How there is something outside of it. Is there twin telepathy there?
o She claimed she was running towards something
§ She cared for him and had to not tell him because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings so she honored his feelings by not saying anything at all.
Question:
· Is the point of this book about Sophie Mol’s death or Rahel and Estha’s relationship?
o Their relationship because the majority of the book focused on that and Sophie Mol’s death affected their relationship and played into that aspect of the book, but the book was not solely based on her death.
o There was a lot of detail on her death because it affected their relationship so much.
o Similar to IKWTCBS with Maya’s relationship and how it wasn’t just “me and him” it was “us.” (They said that a lot.) They were very connected and had a strong relationship, same with Maya and her brother.
§ The book really emphasized how their relationships were unions between the two.
o Sophie Mol’s death day, it was raining, and Macbeth on King Duncan’s death, it was described similarly with the rain
The God of Small Things Discussion Sarah: Leader
Baillie: creative connecter
Evan: literary luminery
Jovitamae: questioner
Lizzy: Recorder
Which moment do you think is to blame for Sophie Mol’s death? Chs 7-14 had events that led up to her death. If this moment didn’t happen, would she be different:
· When she arrived and met with twins, Sophie Mol couldn’t fit in due to class difference. Sophie Mol was kind to twins by giving gifts and spending time with them, because she was given attention by adults and others in the past, which is why she used her kindness to give the twins that same attention.
· If Margaret never left her first father because the decision of visiting during the holidays was bad for her. Many absences from her father played important role.
· Maybe ask WHO was to blame for death: twins or Sophie Mol’s incompetence
Literary Topics:
· Full of allusions
o Because of references to Julius Ceasar (Shakespeare) and The Odyssey in ch. 6
· The point of view changed to Estha while he was thinking in Pickle Factory about his future and how to escape his past (should he run away or not) and we saw his point of view instead of just Rahel’s. He eventually decided that everyone needs to be prepared and expect the unexpected. It demonstrates their close relationship because he is the only other person that spoke in first person besides Estha. Similar to Huck Finn how Sherbern was the only one who spoke in first person besides Huck, which was important for that character (characterization)
· Symbol
o Estha had watch that was always stuck at 10 minutes to 2
§ Events in novel not moving in chronological order. Symbol that time is not that important in the book
· Similar to Mammachi’s store how she preserves things to stall time
o It is a common symbol that time is preserved in the book.
· Irony
o Ahmu had a dream in ch. 11 about her lover Velutha
§ Ironic because she looked as if she was having a nightmare and having pain (the twins thought so), but she was actually having a good dream and enjoying it (because it was about her love)
· Reference to Communist party that Velutha was suspected of at the parade- the reader would have to know that during that time period, Communism was spreading from Central Asia into India
o He didn’t want the kids to know, but he knew they knew, but he never flat out said so because he wanted to guard them from it. Everyone seemed to be against from Communism because they were afraid they had to become Communist.
· Foreshadowing that Valutha would be the enemy of the family because Baby Kochamma said that and everyone ended up disliking him.
Creative Connecter:
· The Outsiders & The God of Small Things
o Velutha and Ammu not supposed to be together
§ Similar to The Outsiders
· Ponyboy in love with Cherry, who was from a different group, which was not right, which is similar to Velutha and Ammu because they stayed together despite being from different social/ wealth groups
Question:
· In ch. 7 after Ammu died, Rahel wanted to write to Estha about it and said there are things you can’t do, such as writing the letter: how would you describe that relationship? How there is something outside of it. Is there twin telepathy there?
o She claimed she was running towards something
§ She cared for him and had to not tell him because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings so she honored his feelings by not saying anything at all.
Question:
· Is the point of this book about Sophie Mol’s death or Rahel and Estha’s relationship?
o Their relationship because the majority of the book focused on that and Sophie Mol’s death affected their relationship and played into that aspect of the book, but the book was not solely based on her death.
o There was a lot of detail on her death because it affected their relationship so much.
o Similar to IKWTCBS with Maya’s relationship and how it wasn’t just “me and him” it was “us.” (They said that a lot.) They were very connected and had a strong relationship, same with Maya and her brother.
§ The book really emphasized how their relationships were unions between the two.
o Sophie Mol’s death day, it was raining, and Macbeth on King Duncan’s death, it was described similarly with the rain
Discussion #3
Discussion Leader: Bailie Pelletier
Quality Questioner: Lizzy Hackl
Literary Luminary: Sarah Burgan
Recorder: Jovitamae Parsley
Creative Connector: Evan Hansen
Question 1: Do you think Roy ended the book well or could she have given it a better ending?
The end was disturbing. It could’ve been more conclusive. There was no closure and nothing was tied together. It was like Maya Angelou’s ending, along with Huckleberry Finn.
Question 2: With Ammu and Velutha, do you think their love was genuine? Even though the book ended with them promising to see each other tomorrow, do you think their love endured and lasted?
Some people thought it was mixed on if it was genuine. It was just a back up and the love was weird.
Connections:
· Abrupt ending to the other books we read, such as Maya Angelou.
· The corruptive police force in the thief and the dogs relates to how Velutha was arrested or when the inspected mistreated Ammu. This shows the flaws in the police force, especially with the current cases going on today in the United States, such as the Ferguson and Brown cases.
Literary Terms:
Flashbacks: makes it easier for the reader to connect to the novel
Foreshadow: the love between the characters
Metaphor: Pickle factory-focused on passed events and preserve their memories
Discussion Leader: Bailie Pelletier
Quality Questioner: Lizzy Hackl
Literary Luminary: Sarah Burgan
Recorder: Jovitamae Parsley
Creative Connector: Evan Hansen
Question 1: Do you think Roy ended the book well or could she have given it a better ending?
The end was disturbing. It could’ve been more conclusive. There was no closure and nothing was tied together. It was like Maya Angelou’s ending, along with Huckleberry Finn.
Question 2: With Ammu and Velutha, do you think their love was genuine? Even though the book ended with them promising to see each other tomorrow, do you think their love endured and lasted?
Some people thought it was mixed on if it was genuine. It was just a back up and the love was weird.
Connections:
· Abrupt ending to the other books we read, such as Maya Angelou.
· The corruptive police force in the thief and the dogs relates to how Velutha was arrested or when the inspected mistreated Ammu. This shows the flaws in the police force, especially with the current cases going on today in the United States, such as the Ferguson and Brown cases.
Literary Terms:
Flashbacks: makes it easier for the reader to connect to the novel
Foreshadow: the love between the characters
Metaphor: Pickle factory-focused on passed events and preserve their memories