This book review discusses the dark plotlines that hook and haunt the reader from the exposition to the resolution.
The non-linear way of storytelling shifts between two periods; one is in 1969 when the main events and characters are revealed in a flashback. The novel introduces Rahel and Estha who are fraternal twins. The twins share a mysterious bond that enables them to feel and understand the mental stage of one another perfectly well. They are defined as dizygotic twins with two bodies and one mind. A tragedy occurs which overturns their life. Sophie Mol, their half-English cousin who came to Ayemenem recently with her mother Margaret Kochamma, drowns in Meenachel River, and the twins are accused of Sophie Mol’s death. The events leading to this unfortunate incident are mostly revealed through Rahel’s childhood memories.
"Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes"
What haunts the reader is the long-lasting effect of those decisive moments of life which foreshadow everything to follow. The central themes of love loss, childhood abuse, the end of innocence and the separation of the twins are masterfully moulded in the crucible of the human sufferings of Roy’s characters.
The title aroused curiosity about ‘who’ and ‘why’ a God of small things be. Isn’t a God of Big things good enough for small things too? The novel tries to justify the title in the characters of the fraternal twins- Rahel, Estha and Ammu, their mother who belongs to the class of ‘Touchable’ and Velutha, a Paravan, who belongs to the class of ‘Untouchable’.
The loss of innocence and separation of Rahel and Estha for twenty -three years stripping them of everything precious including their childhood is a major theme. A potential character who could have a benign effect on the childhood trauma of the twins is Velutha. Unfortunately, filial affection among them is never endorsed by a class-rigid impervious Indian society. This dichotomy of societal norms that dictates who and how much a person should love and the natural craving for love disturbs the reader.
Roy accentuates the pain of unrequited love by getting into the psychological depths of Rahel, Estha, Ammu and Baby Kochamma. They belong to a Syrian Christian family that embraces Anglophilia and upholds the rigid values of a close-knit society. The drama played in the Ipe family poignantly addresses casteism and the male-female divide that has existed for centuries in our societies.
Roy analyses different shades of love in a family. The bizarre atmosphere of Ipe’s family pushes each character to cross the boundaries of ‘love laws’ traditionally instilled into the collective psyche of a society. Ammu desperately wants to escape from her family house and fancies her opportunities to emulate her life. She meets Baba at a wedding party in Calcutta. Shortly after they are happily married and start a new life in a tea estate in Assam. Baba soon proves to be a drunkard and a lazy lout who wants to pimp his wife. Ammu being a bold person leaves Baba with her two children. When they return to their family house, they are not welcome guests.
Mammachi, the matriarch of the family and Ammu’s mother is a widow. She is blind and is the owner of the family business. When her husband, Pappachi was alive he used to beat her. He was a reputed entomologist and tried to keep his family’s honour in the society. Once her son, Chacko, stopped Pappachi from beating Mammachi. This incident prompts Mammachi to shift her ‘baggage’ of love to her supportive son Chacko from her abusive husband Pappachi.
When Chacko is a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, he meets Margaret Kochamma, an English woman working at a cafe and soon they get married. Initially, they have had a good life. After Sophie Mol’s birth bickering sets in and later Chacko and Margaret Kochamma divorce. Chacko returns to Ayemenem and takes over the family business. Chacko indulges in illicit relationships with his female employees at the factory. Mammachi and Baby Kochamma, Pappachi’s younger sister know about Chacko’s amorous relationships but are silent about his conduct. Mammachi terms it ‘Men’s Needs’ and even built a separate entrance for Chacko to bring his female workers into his room without entering through the main door.
Ammu who desperately needs emotional support and care from her family receives rejection. Her feminist outlook on life and volatile nature exacerbates the problem. Chacko admits that Ammu, Estha and Rahel are millstones around his neck. Ammu starts searching for a job to support her family. She breaks the ‘love laws’ and finds comfort in Velutha. In Velutha Ammu, Rahel and Estha find the God of Small Things.
Ammu and her children are treated as outcasts at Sophie Mol’s funeral. Inspector Thomas Mathew treats her as a prostitute. Velutha was falsely charged with Estha and Rahel’s abduction. He dies in police custody.
When Inspector Thomas realizes his mistake of alleging Velutha and man-handling him in his custody based on Baby Kochamma’s false complaints, he summons Baby Kochamma and threatens her for misleading him. Velutha is an active communist party worker and once the party takes up the matter, Inspector Thomas would be in serious trouble. He advises Baby Kochamma that the only way out is for the twinsRahel and Estha to admit that Velutha had kidnapped them.
Baby Kochamma with all her villainy plays mind games with Rahel and Estha and makes them speak against Vetutha. Estha is chosen to say ‘yes’ to the question put to him by the Inspector. That was the decisive moment when childhood innocence tip-toed out of Estha and a profound silence had set in. Estha doesn’t speak after that day.
Estha is returned to Baba. When Ammu dies, Rahel is asked to write a letter to inform Estha but Rahel declines because Estha is only an extension of her body. She didn’t find any sense in writing to her body part.
After 23 years of separation, Estha is ‘Re-returned’ to Ayemenem. That was in 1993 the present period in the novel. The twins are now as old as Ammu when she died at the die-able age of 31. Rahel comes to Ayemenem from the U.S. to meet Estha. Baby Kochamma and Kochu Maria are still living in Ayemenem. Baby Kochamma is worried about the twins returning to their grandparents’ property.
It haunted and still haunts me to learn that the so-called values we uphold in the name of caste and family tradition are instrumental in destroying the lives of innocent people. Estha and Rahel are traumatized on multiple levels. Baby Kochamma, Ammu and Mammachi are victims in one way or another. Velutha and Vellya Paapen are victims of our social order.
Among the rejections Estha and Rahel faced as kids, the hardest pill to swallow was from Ammu. Had Ammu been a bit more tolerant towards Estha at Abhilash Talkies she would not have asked him to wait at the lounge while they were watching the film ‘The Sound of Music’. He was sexually molested by the OrangeDrink Lemon Drink Man because of Ammu’s slight negligence. Rahel could sense that his brother was in turmoil. When Ammu praises the OrangeDrink LemonDrink Man without sensing what had happened to Estha, Rahel blurted out that Ammu could marry the man. Ammu was in shock and she said-
“When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”
Those words sank into her and ever since the twins were bothered about Ammu’s mood swings.
The novel scans the damage adult expectations, words and deeds can cause to a child. Baby Kochamma’s comparisons of Sophie Mol and Rahel address the theme of black and white in the novel.
Baby Kochamma too had a past of unrequited love. She was ready to convert her faith to possess Father Mulligan’s love though she never succeeded in her attempts to impress him. When Baby Kochamma learns that Father Mulligan relinquished his faith and embraced Swami’s life, she couldn’t believe it. Nevertheless, she continued to love him. She vented her emotions in a diary day after day.
Great book review👍👍 . I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading it. Sometimes, Roy’s use of language was just pure poetry. Needless to say, I was totally blown away by the time I reached the back cover.
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