Alaman, Caridad, Heruela, Geli I-BAE

Eng 23 (WF 2:00pm-4:30pm)

Final Paper
Who is the God of Small Things?

From the four male characters that our group discussed in our presentation, Estha,

Chacko, Comrade Pillai and Velutha, it was Velutha who turned out to be the true God of Small

Things in Arundhati Roy’s novel. Unlike the other three males, Velutha is the one who won,

despite losing his life, and became a God who is genuinely admired and loved. Even if Estha,

Chacko and Comrade Pillai loved and have been loved to some degree, they are not on par with

the intensity of euphoric feeling and desire that Velutha holds, transcending the strictures of

society.

Estha, for example, wasn’t the one who broke the Love Laws and initiated anything. His

twin sister Rahel was the one who first drew her arms around him, which eventually led to

“teethmarks on a honey-coloured shoulder.” There is clearly some physical attraction between

them, or at least with Rahel, that is not normally seen towards another family member.

The twins had loved each other as siblings when they were young, but after their

separation, they almost seemed like “strangers who had met in a chance encounter.” (152)

The novel itself is vague about whether or not the twins acted on their desires and had

intercourse, seeing as “there is very little that anyone could say to clarify what happened next.

(152)” Whether or not they did have sex, the physical attraction still was hollow of happiness.

Whereas Velutha had grown happy and in love with Ammu in their brief encounters, Estha and

Rahel only sought comfort in each other. They turn to each other to alleviate their grief, a tragic

and somewhat self-centered motive, “Only that they held each other close, long after it was over.

Only that what they shared that night was not happiness, but hideous grief. (152)” which is still
understandable, considering the trauma that they underwent when they witnessed Velutha being

beat up.

As for Chacko and Comrade Pillai, they are similar in their interests. They are both

Anglophiles. Chacko takes pride in his foreign ex-wife and their daughter. Much pomp, décor

and favor is given to Sophie and Margaret on their arrival to India. He has even admitted that he

is an Anglophile himself:

“Chacko told the twins that, though he hated to admit it, they were all

Anglophiles. They were a family of Anglophiles. Pointed in the wrong direction,

trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace their steps—because their

footprints had been swept away.” (25)

Comrade Pillai is proud that his wife can understand English, and he insists on showing off to

Chacko that his son has memorized Shakespeare.

“‘Lenin Mon, tell Comrade Uncle the one Pappa taught you. Friends Romans

countrymen …’ Lenin continued his nasal treasure hunt. ‘Come on, Mon, it’s only

our Comrade Uncle—’…Lenin’s unblinking gaze remained on Chacko. Comrade

Pillai tried again. ‘Lend me your—?’” (129)

 It appears that Chacko is more smitten by the idea that he has had close relations with

foreigners, that he has studied at Oxford, and that he was knowledgeable about Marxism. He

takes advantage of his knowledge by inviting women and “lecturing” them about labor rights and

trade union law, taking it up as an excuse to flirt with them, as Ammu observed:

Ammu said it was all hogwash. Just a case of a spoiled princeling playing Comrade.

Comrade! An Oxford avatar of the old zamindar mentality—a landlord forcing his attentions on

women who depended on him for their livelihood. (31)

And the fact that Mammacchi tolerated his many affairs with other women only shows

that by the time Margaret came to India, most of his affection stemmed not only from their past

relationship, but also Margaret being a foreigner. As evidenced from the favorable treatment that

Sophie and Margaret get from Baby Kochamma and the rest of their household, compared to

Ammu and the twins, it seems that the association with a foreigner lifts up Chacko’s reputation

even more. Margaret is like a relic of the past, proof that Chacko was “better” because he’d gone

abroad to study. Had Margaret been an Indian woman, it is a likely chance that Chacko might’ve

treated her the same way he did with the other women he had sex with—dispensable.

Comrade Pillai is also concerned with his reputation and appearance above all else. He is

a hypocrite. He claims to be for the masses and the oppressed, yet when Velutha comes asking

for help, he coldly turns the other cheek and claims that the private matters of the individual fade

in importance to that of the community. He escapes the reality that the caste system is a

community problem, it affects a considerable chunk of the population instead of a few

individuals alone. By ignoring Velutha and advising Chacko to send the paravan away, it shows

that his care for the masses is fake. With Velutha gone, he gets the votes and confidence of the

factory workers at Paradise Pickles and Preserves. He only seeks to serve his own interests.
 “He may be very well okay as a person. But other workers are not happy with

him. Already they are coming to me with complaints. You see, comrade, from

local standpoint, these caste issues are very deep-rooted.” (131)

The way he treats his wife is also another form of his hypocrisy:

He has gone to Olassa. He’ll be back any time now,” she said. She referred to her

husband as addeham, which was the respectful form of “he,” whereas “he” called

her “eli,” which was, approximately, “Hey, you!” (127)

Communism aims for equal rights in society, and yet the traditional values of society

remain in movement for reform. Comrade Pillai’s household is more peaceful compared to

Ammu’s, since no complaint comes from his wife, who is happy to preserve her bigotry for

untouchables and to simply remain as a complacent mistress of the house.

After disproving the other three, this leaves Velutha as the God of Small Things.

Literally, Velutha showered Ammu with small things, little gifts of his making:

“He was like a little magician. He could make intricate toys… He would bring

them for Ammu, holding them out on his palm (as he had been taught) so she

wouldn’t have to touch him to take them.” (36)

With the innocence of children, Velutha was sincerely fond of Ammu, going as far as to

give her gifts. Even if Ammu wouldn’t directly touch him, touchables weren’t supposed to touch

what the untouchables touched.

 “When her eyes told him that he was not the only giver of gifts. That she had gifts

to give him too, that in return for his boats, his boxes, his small windmills, she

would trade her deep dimples when she smiled. Her smooth brown skin. Her

shining shoulders. Her eyes that were always somewhere else.” (154)

From the very beginning, Velutha showed signs of rebelliousness, which developed to

him joining the reformist movement, and ultimately in breaking the Love Laws. By the end of

the novel, it is revealed that he and Ammu are involved in numerous nighttime trysts, but hide

their love as they may, they were still found out in the end. They even hide their love from each

other, limiting and distracting themselves with the small things—things happening around them

in the present, a small promise of tomorrow, and the faith of the fragility of their relationship

placed onto a dead insect:

“…they fretted over his frailty. His smallness… They chose him because they

knew that they had to put their faith in fragility. Stick to Smallness. Each time

they parted, they extracted only one small promise from each other: Tomorrow?

Tomorrow.” (158)

Ammu had given him her body and he took it without complaint. Velutha and Ammu did

not have a strictly physical relationship, Ammu was “More than touched. Entered,” she was also

“Loved.” By him. (37)

But it is clear that the “Big Things” still lurked inside, their love. They couldn’t fully

express their love for each other, Velutha thought that he “…could lose everything. My job. My

family. My livelihood. Everything. (155)”, but nonetheless, the love was still there and the

system of their society couldn’t stop it.

 Even the small things mattered deeply, and meant something deeper within Velutha, and

that is why Velutha is the God of Small Things. Despite being born a Paravan, love has given

him a godly taste, a divine feeling that the caste system could never cage in.
 Works Cited

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: Random House, 1997. PDF. File

retrieved from Shahid Riaz Islamabad at shahid.riaz@gmail.com

Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Esthappen in The God of Small Things.

Retrieved May 20, 2015 from http://www.shmoop.com/god-of-small-

things/esthappen.html