1 Major Themes of The God of Small Things The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a rather complex novel

that tells the story of two twins from India named Estha and Rahel. The plot also includes information from their familys past, highlighting important events from the past that carry an influence on the present setting of the novels plot. Throughout the plot, events from past and present reveal the true behaviors of the characters of the novel, as well as common themes that are present throughout the plot. Through a close examination of the plot of The God of Small Things, the following major themes can be found: the theme of fear and the theme of love. The God of Small Things is a novel in which many bad things happen. For example, Sophie Mol drowns, which sends Rahel and Estha into a pretty bad guilt trip, as she was with them at the time of her death (Roy 277). As a result of all of the negative events in the novel, many of the characters live in fear of something. The twins, for example, are both living in fear of two different things. Estha is living in fear of the Orangedrink Lemondrink man finding him after he was molested by that man at a movie theater (Roy 98-99). Estha ended up telling the man all about his familys pickle factory and he is afraid that the man will come find him at home and molest him again. His sister, Rahel, is also living in fear. She is living with the fear that her mother, Ammu, does not love her. Ammu treated the twins rather poorly throughout the novel, giving them a sort of tough love treatment that Estha could deal with but caused confusion with Rahel. These feelings towards the twins climax on the morning after Sophie Mols death when Ammu screams at the kids, If it wasnt for you I wouldnt be here! None of this would have happened...I should have dumped you in an orphanage the day you were born!

2 (Roy 239-240). It was because of the constant verbal abuse that troubled Rahel and the constant state of paranoia caused by the Orangedrink Lemondrink man for Estha that the twins decided to escape to the History House with Sophie Mol across the river, an event that would later lead to the death of Sophie. These examples show that the theme of fear is prevalent in The God of Small Things because of how the twins actions and thoughts were directly influenced by fear. While there are a lot of negative events in the plot of The God of Small Things, there are also a number of more positive events. Some of these events are encompassed within the theme of love. The theme of love covers not only the feelings and relationships side of love, but also the so-called love laws that exist in Indian culture and are made prevalent in the plot of The God of Small Things. These love laws are described as dictating who should be lovedand how much (Roy 209-210). This basically means that the love laws outline which relationships would be looked upon positively in Indian society, and which ones will be looked upon negatively. One example of this sort of love problem is the relationship between Velutha and Ammu, Rahel and Esthas parents. Velutha and Ammu are from different castes, which means that they are not normally supposed to associate with each other for extended periods of time from a cultural standpoint. In fact, Velutha cannot even touch Ammu because the difference between their castes is so great. Ammu, however, realizes that she is deeply in love with Velutha, which can be seen in the way she describes him as a rather attractive man (Roy 80-81). Their relationship effectively broke down the social status wall and brought two opposite ends of the caste system together, which was frowned upon by the Indian community. Another example of the theme of love is the relationship that Rahel and

3 Estha share. From the beginning of the novel, the audience is given a sense that the twins have a special connection to one another. The narrator states that the twins thought of themselves together as Me, and separately, individually, as We or Us, (Roy 4). This shows that the twins were really connected on a personal level. This is also seen at the festival when Rahel returns to India as an adult and senses Esthas presence in the crowd without actually knowing that he is at the festival too, or even in India for that matter: Something altered in the air. And Rahel knew that Estha had come, (Roy 222). These feelings that Estha and Rahel have between each other come together to reveal something more between them, as they end up having sex with each other while Rahel is back in India (Roy 277). These two examples show the presence of the theme of love by demonstrating how love has caused characters to go against social norms and how those characters are connected to one another. The God of Small Things is a novel that is rather profound; there are a lot of events that occur within the plot that are pretty dramatic. The incest between the twins comes to mind here, and the death of the young Sophie Mol as well. Moreover, the novel exhibits two key themes, which set the basis for a majority of the major events that occur within the plot; wither by providing a context in which these events can occur or by giving background information to events that had already happened. Either way, these two themes, the theme of love and the theme of fear, have a major impact on the characters of Arundhati Roys novel, as well as the overall plot.