Your group's website introduction should provide a brief overview of Roy & the novel while mentioning the

major themes and motifs. Also provide an overview of what is contained on your site. The God of Small Things was published in 1997 and is written by Arundhati Roy. Despite being Roys first novel, The God of Small Things received great literary acclaim and won many awards including the Booker Prize. Roy grew up in a village called Ayemenem in India and left her home at the age of 16 to got to an Architecture school. After schooling she worked on a television series and screenplays. Roy uses her literary fame to writing many political articles and nonfiction books. Of these books she has written The End of Imagination, a critique on Indias nuclear policies, and The Cost of Living, which criticized Indias dam projects. Roy was award the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004 for her vocalization about social issues. The God of Small Things takes place in Roys hometown Ayemenem. The majority of the books centers around fraternal twins Rahel and Estha. The twins live with their mother Ammu, uncle Chacko, grandmother Mammachi, and their great aunt Baby Kochamma. The family works at a pickle and jam factory. Sophie Mol, and Maragret, Chackos ex-wife and daughter are visiting Chacko after Margarets second husband Joe dies. Rahel and Estha visit their family friend Velutha to help create a boat. Velutha and Ammu have an affair and because Ammu and Velutha are of different social casts Baby Kochamma locks Ammu in her room. Rahel and Estha leave on the boat with Sophie Mol and Sophie Mol drowns. Velutha gets accused of raping Ammu and dies in prison. After Sophie Mols funeral Ammu goes to Architecture school and Estha is sent to his father in Calcutta. Later Rahel and Estha return after many years and end of sleeping together. There are many themes and motifs in The God of Small Things. The idea that big things in the novel dictate the small things follows throughout the novel. For example, the caste system dictates the small things in the twins lives. This is evident when Baby Kochimmai forces the twins to learn English and makes an effort to write Happy Birthday Sophie Mol in English because European features are coveted in the Indian society. Another theme in the novel is the idea of love and how love laws dictate how much the children are allowed to be loved. The children feel that from their actions they break the love laws and cannot be loved by their family and resort to finding affection and acceptance from each other. A motif that follows the characters throughout the novel is the idea of a hole in the universe. The phrase follows the characters around to illustrate that although these moments are momentous to them, they are just a blink of the Earth Womans eye (54). Another motif that is prevalent in the novel is the idea of Pappachis moth, which was a special species of moth that Pappachi never got credit for. However, the moth represents a curse from Pappachi that follows the children in moments of fear. This website aims to discuss the themes and motifs of the novel and analyze the characters as well as writing style of Roy. This website illustrates the background of Roys life and culture of India along with the key aspects of the novel through visuals. This website shows significant quotations in addition to responses to frequent criticisms of the novel. We hope you enjoy!