"Looking at herself like this, Ammu's soft mouth would twist into a small, bitter smile at the memory-not of the wedding itself so much as the fact that she had permitted herself to be so painstakingly decorated before being led to the gallows.It seemed so absurd." pg. 43
By reading Ammu's comments about her wedding, it seems that she no longer cares for marriage. After her first marriage, the old traditions of marriage (like getting elaborately dressed) seem ridiculous. This could lead to a lot of different scenarios, but the obvious path is away from what is accepted. In the future she may not want to be married again because of what she experienced in her first marriage. Ammu almost seems to value untraditional ways of living, no man, no home of her own, and two young children. This could potentially lead her down a path that would greatly affect her family, and herself.
"It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that it purloined."
This quotation interests me so much because it's one of those, oh I know exactly what she means, lines. In this case, the quotation refers to the brief life of Sophie Mol, and to how great the memory of her death was. Her death itself tore the family apart, however her very small lifetime had hardly an impact at all on the story. But in real life, it feels the same way. The death of a family member, friend, whatever stiks with someone for the rest of their own lives. It isn't easy to forget to loss, it's so much easier to forget the person they were.
"Some things come with their own punishment." Page 109
This is another one of those, I so know what this means. To me this captures the feeling of guilt, and self-deprecating regret. After someone has done something wrong, a child stealing a chocolate, an adult betraying a friend, the scolding from the parents and the realization of the friend is not the worst part. The disgust one feels for him or herself is unbearable itself. It seems to me that sometimes the self inflicted punishment can be worse than the one you knew would come.
1) “Mammachi was crying more because she was used to him than because she loved him” (49).
This quotation seems to elucidate a recurring conflict in the novel: problems with love. Everyone in Estha and Rahel’s family has “tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much” (31) and has suffered problems with love and marriage in some way or another. Ammu marries a lazy drug-addict who genuinely seems to have no respect for her whatsoever considering the fact that he feels no shame in asking her to sleep with his boss so that he can keep his job. She cannot act on her love for Velutha because she knows that society will never let them be together and must keep her love a secret. Ammu’s mother, Mammachi has also suffered from abuse from her husband, Pappachi. He beats her every night with a glass vase until Chacko reprimands him. Towards the end of his life, he childishly stops talking to Mammachi altogether simply because she is getting more attention than he is after the success of her pickle factory. Baby Kochamma has remained bitter due to her failed relationship with Father Mulligan. Though their attitudes are completely different, Ammu and Baby Kochamma stand out as being the strongest individuals out of the many of the characters that have problems with love. Unlike Mammachi, who passively accepts her nightly beatings in an attempt to avoid the stigma of divorce, both Ammu and Baby Kochamma possess a fierce inner strength that gives them the power to chase those whom they love despite what others say. Ammu battles against the caste system when she falls in love with an Untouchable, and Baby Kochamma opposes her family’s religious beliefs when she becomes a Roman Catholic so that she can be near Father Mulligan. However, though they both have the courage to oppose the commonly accepted views of society, neither of them end up being able to live happily with the person whom they love. This leads to questions about whether or not opposing society is a futile endeavor, which has been brought up before in novels such as 1984 and Things Fall Apart. According to these books and this narrative thus far, it seems to be true that though you may oppose society, it is unlikely that you will be able to change your life (for the better) or the opinions of others.
2) “Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough. Our dreams never big enough. Our lives never important enough. To matter”(52).
Echoed from page 20, this quotation helps to explain why Rahel doesn’t seem invested in her marriage and why Estha has stopped talking: because they don’t think they matter. They believe that because their troubles are only “a twinkle in the eyes” of the "Earth Woman" and that their personal grief can never measure up to that of an entire country. Because of this, they choose not to talk about the terrors they have witnessed and instead try to find pleasure in the small things. From the first page onward, Arundhati Roy does a beautiful job creating vivid images of the details (the “small things”) like the “dissolute bluebottles” and the nights “suffused with sloth and sullen expectation”(3), which come together to make to novel as a whole (the “big thing”) more enjoyable. While enjoying the small things in life helps distract Rahel and Estha from their looming grief and guilt, it also prevents them from coming to terms with these unhappy memories and destroys them from the inside: Estha is left devoid of words and Rahel feels empty inside. By depicting how their guilt is only heightened as they try to keep silent, Roy encourages readers to find comfort in the small things, but to also voice their emotions in order to avoid living a life paralyzed by guilt.
Response to Michaela’s post: It is interesting how she says, “she had permitted herself.” This makes it seem like Ammu is angry with herself because she thinks she made a conscious decision to marry a man whom she didn’t really know or love.
"Later, looking back on the day, Ammu realized that the slightly feverish glitter in her bridegroom's eyes had not been love, or even excitement at the prospect of carnal bliss, but approximately eight large pegs of whiskey. Straight. Neat"(39).
Although Ammu often mentions the sexism that she faces in her culture and complains that "choosing between her husband's name and her father's name didn't give a woman much of a choice"(37), Ammu still values her culture enough to get married in a loveless relationship. She wants to please her family and culture and get married like she's supposed to, but winds up making a horrible choice. Yet again in this book the theme of warped love is highlighted since on her wedding day, a usually happy, mushy day, Ammu locks herself into an abusive relationship. Her husband is a drunk and their spouse relationship is corrupted; no love exists between Ammu and her husband.
"And for the period of time that he was away, Mr. Hollick suggested that Ammu be sent to his bungalow to be 'looked after.' Already there were a number of lightskinned children on the estate that Hollick had bequeathed on tea-pickers whom he fancied"(41).
Mr. Hollick, a western businessman from England, represents a perfect combination of two main themes in the book. First, the fact that he rapes women shows that he perverts love to the highest degree--taking an act that's supposed to represent the highest form of physical affection and forcing it upon women he doesn't know. The fact that Mr. Hollick is white brings up another point--the negative relationship that the protagonists in the book have with the west. There are very few times when a western idea is introduced in the book without a negative connotation. So far we've seen 30-year-old Rahel's American life as unfulfilling and dangerous, and the deceitful grand aunt Baby Kochama forces the children to read and write in English. Here, Mr. Hollick, an Englishman, perpetuates the theme of warped love and the wicked west.
Clearly, I agree with Neha when she mentioned all of the misconstrued examples of love mentioned thus far into the book. You mentioned Ammu and Baby Kochamma as two of the strongest characters. Who do you think has suffered more at this point in the book? I'd personally say Ammu, but I don't know if I'm being influenced by what I know of the end of the novel or not.
"One of her ambitions was to own a watch on which she could change the time whenever she to (which according to her was what Time was meant for in the first place)." (37)
this quotation reminded me of Slaughterhouse Five and the view that the Tralmafadorians have on time. they do not dwell on death because those that have passed on are still alive in their memories. Rahel's watch is stuck in one moment like the rest of her family. they only think about the moment that she died rather than the rest of her life. instead of moving on and thinking about the rest of her great life, the family is stuck in time. thinking back to happier moments in her life would give the a better sense of closure and they could be more like the Tralmafadorians.
"Pointed in the wrong direction, trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace their steps because their footprints had been swept away." (51)
chacko's comments on their lack of knowledge on history fuels Rahel's and Esta's curiosity on the History House. their midnight trips across the lake is what caused Sophie to die. if Chacko had not suggested this his daughter might still be alive. this quotation also relates to Sophie's life. after she died it was as if her past had been erased and her death was the only memorable moment. esta and Rahel were never forgiven for her death even though in their past they did many other good things. history keeps getting forgotten in this novel.
Response to Neha's post Love isn this book is not how it is typically portrayed. each character has a bad eperience with love. even the twin's relationship is not normal. they seem more connected than most other siblings.
1. “[Estha] was looking out through the barred window at the darkness. He couldn’t see [Rahel], sitting outside in the darkness, looking in at the light” (182).
This quotation is interesting in that it relates to the description of the History House that is described back at the beginning of the novel. When Estha and Rahel are young, they believe that the History House is a place where they can look through the windows to try and find out their history, but no matter how hard they try all they can see are “shadows” (52). When the get older, however, it is the opposite case. At the point from where this quotation is from, Rahel and Estha have already visited the History House. Now, rather than having trouble looking inside the History House, they have trouble looking away; they are still suffering from the aftermath of Velutha’s death to the extent where every action they do and almost every breath they take is with the belief that they are the reason for Velutha’s demise. In this description, Estha is looking out of a “barred window,” which hints at the fact that his life is like a prison cell and he is constantly looking out into darkness. Because Rahel and Estha were they were so young when Margaret Kochamma and Sophie Mol came, they don’t realize that Velutha, Ammu, and Sophie’s deaths were not their fault: they are the “Sinned Against” and the “victims, not the perpetrators” (182). What is equally notable is the fact that “everything changes” when Sophie Mol and Margaret Kochamma come to Ayemenem, both of whom are from Britain (183). This reveals a deeper meaning to the story, suggesting that in the same way that Sophie is responsible for the destruction in Rahel and Estha’s family, the British are responsible for the political and religious tensions in India at the time. Even after Sophie Mol dies, Rahel and Estha are scarred; similarly, after the British left India, political chaos ensued and left the Indians in a state of confusion.
2. “The low cement pickle vats silhouetted in the gloom made the factory floor look like an indoor cemetery for the cylindrical dead. The earthly remains of Paradise Pickles & Preserves” (183).
This describes the factory where Mammachi used to make her preserves; more importantly it is where she makes her “illegal” jam (185). The jam is banned because it is an unclassifiable substance: it is not the right texture to be neither jam nor jelly. By manufacturing it, Mammachi disobeys the rules, something that almost everyone in the family does. The significance of the jam being banned is that is reveals society doesn’t like the unclassifiable because they cannot define it easily and therefore feel threatened. They don’t understand this unique consistency of the jam-jelly and because cannot classify it, they ban it. In the same way that the unclassifiable jam is banned, Ammu and Velutha’s unclassifiable love is condemned by society because they do not understand it. Like Mammachi and the jam, Ammu defies the norms and continues to pursue her love for Velutha despite society’s objections. Mammachi’s attempts at digressing from the norm don’t work: the factory is shut down and the illegal jam goes with it. Ammu’s unique love is ridiculed by members of society, namely Baby Kochamma, and her attempts at defying the norm end when Velutha is victimized by society’s rigid rules and dies. Later, the factory looks like a “cemetery’ meaning that all hope of being able to deviate from the accepted path is dead. From this, it seems true that even attempting to rebel against societies expectations is never successful in the end.
"And so, while her natural garden wilted and died, Baby Kochamma followed American NBA league games, one-day cricket and all the Grand Slam tennis tournaments"(28).
I think that it is really interesting how, after being rejected by a western man, Baby Kochamma continues to turn to western culture for comfort. She used to be a fantastic gardener, showing her love of nature that comes with Indian culture, but she drops it immediately to embrace Hollywood's glamorous lifestyle. Baby Kochamma also reprimands the twins for not speaking English, and embraces Sophie Mol with exponentially more enthusiasm than the twins. Despite being rejected, Baby Kochamma stays with her new religion when she leaves and strives for a more western way of living.
"Hooded in her own hair, Ammu leaned against herself in the bathroom mirror and tried to weep. For herself. For the God of Small Things. For the sugar-dusted twin midwives of her dream"(214).
I really like the image of Ammu leaning against a mirror to cry. It clearly demonstrates how alone she feels and how there is literally no one for her to turn to other than herself. I also liked how Ammu is "hooded" by her hair. This also shows how Ammu feels like she must hide herself, but feels naked and exposed. In the end this makes sense because her love cannot be hid and her vulnerability is completely justified when her lover is killed and her children are taken from her.
Neha, I really like your connection between unclassifiable jam and society's rejection. I definitely agree, seeing as so many people in The God of Small Things can't fully be defined. Chacko, an Indian man, and Baby Kochamma, an Indian woman, both try to embrace western culture. The twins are neither one soul nor two and share a bond that cannot be labeled. Ammu's relationship with Velutha isn't exactly "cookie cutter," so society tries to obliterate it.
Response to Jackie: I completely agree with you about how Baby Kochamma embraces western culture, as exemplified in her devotion to her television. Also, as she becomes addicted to television, all of the small things are ignored; she doesn’t look outside at the garden, she ignores the “cockroaches scurry[ing]” and the “[whizzing] midges,” and she ignores the filth that she is surrounded by (84). She only concentrates on the television, which is a western device. This can be applied to her life, meaning that Baby Kochamma has ignored her culture and is instead fixated on the Western ways of life. Interestingly, this “more modern” way of life has given her only isolation and paranoia.
"Leaving everybody to wonder where she had learned her effrontery from." pg 171
"They make people love you a little less." pg 107
It would seem that Ammu is emerging as a character who is not afraid of offending anyone. She is tenacious about her opinions, and is not afraid to speak her mind. When she is questioned, or is appeared to be looked down upon she charges head first into the argument and confronts people. She seems a lot like her father, always searching for a fight, even if it might be easier to let things be. She doesn't seem content with anyone having an opinion that conflicts or degrades herself. I think that this is going to pose some problems in the future for her children. She is obviously not afraid of hurting them, as seen on page 107 with her careless comment towards Rahel. I do not doubt that she loves them, but because she had to grow up fast with her abusive father, it seems that in a way she almost resents them. Their innocence and naiveness seems to bother her, or to worry her beyond belief. So she tries to harden them, and prepare them for the real world. But really in the process, she is making them more delicate. Rahel and Estha are simply scared to disappoint her in any way. This dependancy on impressing their mother might lead them to utter turmoil as the book continues.
"And once again, only the Small Things were said. The Big Things lurked unsaid inside." (165)
This is obviously important because it has part of the title in it. The quotation sets up the conversation between Mammachi and Margaret Kochamma, in which all of the "Big Things", like how Mammachi hates Margaret are left unsaid. "Small Thins" and "Big Things", though not proper nouns, are capitalized in the middle of the two sentences. The diction and syntax of the two lines tell the reader that these are important. Small Things versus Big Things. They reappear, Estha and Rahel are small and Mammachi, Baby Kochamma seem to be Big Things; to me at least. The orangedrink and lemondrink man too is a Big Thing and in the book that doesn't seem to be a good thing. While Eastha and Rahel and even Ammu and Velutha are small, they are also innocent, and honest. The "small things" are not as powerful however they are the ones who understand true happiness and love. Baby Kochamma however has a very strange love for all things new and expensive. Mammachi is blind and old and has a very strange way of loving Chacko;solely and almost desperately. While this may be a stratch for just this quotation, the title must mean something recurring in the story, and these people come to mind when comparing the "Small Things" versus the "Big Things"
This quote seems to relate to the feeling that the death of Sophie Mol lived on longer than her life. No one can remember that Sophie Mol lived and strived as a human being, all they can remember is her tragic death. Like Sophie said in her previous post "it is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory the life that purloined." And because the death still hovers around the broken remains of the family, both Estha and Rahel are trapped in the past and are unable to move forward.
“And finally, on that dreadful night, Estha who had decided that through it was dark and raining, The Time Had Come for them to run away, because Ammu didn’t want them anymore.” Pg 250
“As Baby Kochamma told her story, she began to believe it.” Pg 245
I choose these quotes because I believe they show the absurd things that the characters of these books believe. Yet for each character, the lies are believed for different reasons. For Estha and Rahel, their youth and naïve way of thinking clouds the truth.
What is truly blind anger from Ammu (“you’re the millstones around my neck!”) they believe, and that they, innocent children, cause suffering. So they flee the scene, believing the lies of their mother, not truly understanding the severity of their situation. So they ran away, because “Ammu didn’t want them anymore” so their time had come. They decided to get on the boat and attempt to leave their old lives behind. And because they believed that lie, the consequences of it would follow them forever.
Baby Kochamma on the other hand, is blinded by confusion and fear. The confusion was why any one would want to sleep with an untouchable (“how could she stand the smell?”) Her one-track mind didn’t have the capacity to understand what attraction could be. But her pride decided that if she didn’t understand, then she would make up a story that would fit into her world. The other factor was fear. The fear that someone would find out the shame of their family (a touchable sleeping with an untouchable) and they would be cut away from society. Out of fear of being an outcast, Baby Kochamma lied to the police officer and to herself in order to preserve the family’s dignity.
1. “It was a kiss that demanded no kiss-back” (211).
This is one of the few moments in the novel where Ammu and her children are happy together (there is also a brief period of time at Abhilash Talkies). Here, the reader gets to see the love that Estha and Rahel have for their mother as opposed to the fear they have of her “black moods” that seems to be more prevalent throughout the novel. It is also evident that Rahel is not purely a destructive and cruel child as it appears when she is mercilessly killing ants, but instead possesses emotions of love and compassion as well. Though Ammu is often harsh on Rahel and Estha and seems to want them to grow up and to recognize the stark cruelties of society, in this passage she is reminded of their unconditional love for her, a quality that does not really exist in love between lovers or other members of her family. Ammu cherishes Rahel’s selfless kiss because it is not a “cloudy kiss full of questions that wanted answers” like the kisses of a “one armed [man] (211), which is presumably Velutha. However, after this blissful moment, Ammu becomes possessive over her body and shrugs off her children “the way a bitch shrugs of her pups” (211). The word choice coveys the bi-polar and seemingly cruel nature of Ammu; though many times Ammu’s bluntness is off-putting but is fueled by love, in this case it doesn’t seem to be that way. Ammu isn’t protecting her children from the dangers of life, brutalities of poverty or stereotypes, but instead is pushing them away from her, as if she is also a danger. Perhaps she doesn’t want them to get too attached to anyone, including herself, so that they aren’t devastated if anything should happen to her. If Ammu has distanced herself from her children for Rahel and Estha’s benefit (as opposed to actually having “had enough of them”) it is because she values their overall well-being over her own; as opposed to being selfish and keeping her children close—which they all would enjoy in the short run, but in the long run might spoil them—she chooses to help her children in the long run and miss out on being close with them so that they will not get attached to her and be motivated to act responsibly. Because Ammu is harsh on Rahel and Estha, they try to act based on what is right in order to gain her approval rather than doing what is wrong since they know she will “love them a little less” if they do. Although Ammu may seem cruel at first, in reality I believe that she is only trying to help her children. But her good intentions may not have positive results because it is her callousness that makes Rahel hate her and feel unloved for much of her adolescence, which contributes to her rebelliousness and subsequent expulsion.
“The engineers of the concerned municipality sawed off the tusks and shared them unofficially. Unequally” (209).
This passage about an electrocuted elephant appears right after Ammu is describing her dream, so it ruptures the flow of the chapter, thereby signifying its importance. This unfortunate tale of the elephant after death helps underscore the mistreatment of Velutha after he dies, which is significant because the novel never directly talks about Velutha after he dies. The elephant lives his life unaware of the dangers that humans and technology presents to him and later is electrocuted and dies. Even after he dies, he is still exploited for everything he is worth. He is done injustice to in both life and death: while living, it dies prematurely due to human interaction and after death, it’s body is torn up to be sold and corrupt people get the money. First humans kill him and then profit off his death, not stopping to feel guilty. After this, flies swarm around the body trying to extract any last piece of life remaining until every little scrap is gone and the elephant has nothing left. He has been wronged and is degraded because the engineers secretly steal his tusks and don’t even share them equally. This situation is similar to Velutha’s life and foreshadows his death. He lives unaware of the implications of his actions and dies because he doesn’t follow the rules of society. He encounters name-calling, torture, and humiliation and is constantly demeaned because of his Paravan (untouchable) status. After he dies, he is still not left alone because cruel people, like Baby Kochamma, constantly pick at his memory and continue to degrade him by using him as an example of how Parvans cannot be trusted because they will always betray you. He is done injustice to because the police refuse to acknowledge that they made a mistake and that he in fact did not kill Sophie Mol since they know he is a Parvan so he can easily be blamed for a crime he did not commit and no one will care. His corpse has also been mutilated and he cannot rest in peace. Just like the elephant dying on the road is the first time any such thing has happened, Ammu and Velutha’s love is unique and was the first time a Touchable had loved an Untouchable and admitted it. Velutha’s death sets the precedent for other Untouchables; he is used as a warning telling those who try to defy stereotypes that they should be aware that they are up against all odds and may even end up dying.
To continue with your line of thinking, the small things continue to be an important part of the novel because they help to reveal more about the characters. For example, a “small thing” could be the electrocution of an elephant on the road. But this situation reveals more about Velutha as a character and is thus an important moment. Ammu’s dreams—a seemingly small thing--help the reader to understand more about her desires, which deepens the reader’s understanding of her. The small things, like the “mombatti” prove to be just as—if not more—important than the big things, like the “laltain” because without the small mombatti, the laltain has no purpose (85). The mombatti (tallow-stick) gives off light whereas the laltain (lantern) lets the light be seen. They both serve their own purpose and work as one to create something useful. In the same way, the small insights that Roy gives the reader, along with the big insights, help to give the story a deeper meaning.
First, these are some terrific posts. I like the quality of the posts and the responses to each other are great.
A few ideas to follow up on. Consider Pappachi's Moth--it's another example of the desire to classify, and it marks the great failure of Pappachi's life.
I am also interested in the image of the electrocuted elephant. I think "Kochu Thomban" is a very strange but interesting chapter. The elephant is something almost god-like in this chapter, but we just saw the demise of an elephant in power lines...
Lastly, the small god/big god stuff is laid out most clearly early on, in the scene where Rahel's American husband doesn't understand the emptiness in her eyes. Maybe around 42? Definitely on the left hand page...
"She said nothing, but used her hands to modulate Mammachi's fury, to stroke it anew... Mammachi was completely unaware of the manipulation" pg 268
"She managed that by doing what she was best at. Irrigating her fields, nourishing her crops with other people's passions" pg 305
By looking at these two quotations, you can see the manipulative qualities of Baby Kochamma. Throughout the book she never seems to be a large character, always backstage during the acts of the play. However, she is revealed to be the puppet master controlling the story. Baby Kochamma's "hands.." are used "to modulate... fury, to stroke it anew" to make others complete her desires (pg 268). She always tries to "[nourish] her crops" by fueling people's anger (pg 305). Her successes come from the failures and misery of others. She avoids jail by threatening children with the fate of their mother. She lives a lavish life when she is older because of the death of Mammachi. Yet because she makes her moves away from the stage, everyone is "completely unaware of the manipulation" (pg 305). She gets what she desires because she indirectly crushes the desires and needs of others.
20 comments:
"Looking at herself like this, Ammu's soft mouth would twist into a small, bitter smile at the memory-not of the wedding itself so much as the fact that she had permitted herself to be so painstakingly decorated before being led to the gallows.It seemed so absurd." pg. 43
By reading Ammu's comments about her wedding, it seems that she no longer cares for marriage. After her first marriage, the old traditions of marriage (like getting elaborately dressed) seem ridiculous. This could lead to a lot of different scenarios, but the obvious path is away from what is accepted. In the future she may not want to be married again because of what she experienced in her first marriage. Ammu almost seems to value untraditional ways of living, no man, no home of her own, and two young children. This could potentially lead her down a path that would greatly affect her family, and herself.
"It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that it purloined."
This quotation interests me so much because it's one of those, oh I know exactly what she means, lines. In this case, the quotation refers to the brief life of Sophie Mol, and to how great the memory of her death was. Her death itself tore the family apart, however her very small lifetime had hardly an impact at all on the story. But in real life, it feels the same way. The death of a family member, friend, whatever stiks with someone for the rest of their own lives. It isn't easy to forget to loss, it's so much easier to forget the person they were.
"Some things come with their own punishment." Page 109
This is another one of those, I so know what this means. To me this captures the feeling of guilt, and self-deprecating regret. After someone has done something wrong, a child stealing a chocolate, an adult betraying a friend, the scolding from the parents and the realization of the friend is not the worst part. The disgust one feels for him or herself is unbearable itself. It seems to me that sometimes the self inflicted punishment can be worse than the one you knew would come.
1)
“Mammachi was crying more because she was used to him than because she loved him” (49).
This quotation seems to elucidate a recurring conflict in the novel: problems with love. Everyone in Estha and Rahel’s family has “tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much” (31) and has suffered problems with love and marriage in some way or another. Ammu marries a lazy drug-addict who genuinely seems to have no respect for her whatsoever considering the fact that he feels no shame in asking her to sleep with his boss so that he can keep his job. She cannot act on her love for Velutha because she knows that society will never let them be together and must keep her love a secret. Ammu’s mother, Mammachi has also suffered from abuse from her husband, Pappachi. He beats her every night with a glass vase until Chacko reprimands him. Towards the end of his life, he childishly stops talking to Mammachi altogether simply because she is getting more attention than he is after the success of her pickle factory. Baby Kochamma has remained bitter due to her failed relationship with Father Mulligan. Though their attitudes are completely different, Ammu and Baby Kochamma stand out as being the strongest individuals out of the many of the characters that have problems with love. Unlike Mammachi, who passively accepts her nightly beatings in an attempt to avoid the stigma of divorce, both Ammu and Baby Kochamma possess a fierce inner strength that gives them the power to chase those whom they love despite what others say. Ammu battles against the caste system when she falls in love with an Untouchable, and Baby Kochamma opposes her family’s religious beliefs when she becomes a Roman Catholic so that she can be near Father Mulligan. However, though they both have the courage to oppose the commonly accepted views of society, neither of them end up being able to live happily with the person whom they love. This leads to questions about whether or not opposing society is a futile endeavor, which has been brought up before in novels such as 1984 and Things Fall Apart. According to these books and this narrative thus far, it seems to be true that though you may oppose society, it is unlikely that you will be able to change your life (for the better) or the opinions of others.
2)
“Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough. Our dreams never big enough. Our lives never important enough. To matter”(52).
Echoed from page 20, this quotation helps to explain why Rahel doesn’t seem invested in her marriage and why Estha has stopped talking: because they don’t think they matter. They believe that because their troubles are only “a twinkle in the eyes” of the "Earth Woman" and that their personal grief can never measure up to that of an entire country. Because of this, they choose not to talk about the terrors they have witnessed and instead try to find pleasure in the small things. From the first page onward, Arundhati Roy does a beautiful job creating vivid images of the details (the “small things”) like the “dissolute bluebottles” and the nights “suffused with sloth and sullen expectation”(3), which come together to make to novel as a whole (the “big thing”) more enjoyable. While enjoying the small things in life helps distract Rahel and Estha from their looming grief and guilt, it also prevents them from coming to terms with these unhappy memories and destroys them from the inside: Estha is left devoid of words and Rahel feels empty inside. By depicting how their guilt is only heightened as they try to keep silent, Roy encourages readers to find comfort in the small things, but to also voice their emotions in order to avoid living a life paralyzed by guilt.
Response to Michaela’s post:
It is interesting how she says, “she had permitted herself.” This makes it seem like Ammu is angry with herself because she thinks she made a conscious decision to marry a man whom she didn’t really know or love.
"Later, looking back on the day, Ammu realized that the slightly feverish glitter in her bridegroom's eyes had not been love, or even excitement at the prospect of carnal bliss, but approximately eight large pegs of whiskey. Straight. Neat"(39).
Although Ammu often mentions the sexism that she faces in her culture and complains that "choosing between her husband's name and her father's name didn't give a woman much of a choice"(37), Ammu still values her culture enough to get married in a loveless relationship. She wants to please her family and culture and get married like she's supposed to, but winds up making a horrible choice. Yet again in this book the theme of warped love is highlighted since on her wedding day, a usually happy, mushy day, Ammu locks herself into an abusive relationship. Her husband is a drunk and their spouse relationship is corrupted; no love exists between Ammu and her husband.
"And for the period of time that he was away, Mr. Hollick suggested that Ammu be sent to his bungalow to be 'looked after.' Already there were a number of lightskinned children on the estate that Hollick had bequeathed on tea-pickers whom he fancied"(41).
Mr. Hollick, a western businessman from England, represents a perfect combination of two main themes in the book. First, the fact that he rapes women shows that he perverts love to the highest degree--taking an act that's supposed to represent the highest form of physical affection and forcing it upon women he doesn't know. The fact that Mr. Hollick is white brings up another point--the negative relationship that the protagonists in the book have with the west. There are very few times when a western idea is introduced in the book without a negative connotation. So far we've seen 30-year-old Rahel's American life as unfulfilling and dangerous, and the deceitful grand aunt Baby Kochama forces the children to read and write in English. Here, Mr. Hollick, an Englishman, perpetuates the theme of warped love and the wicked west.
Clearly, I agree with Neha when she mentioned all of the misconstrued examples of love mentioned thus far into the book. You mentioned Ammu and Baby Kochamma as two of the strongest characters. Who do you think has suffered more at this point in the book? I'd personally say Ammu, but I don't know if I'm being influenced by what I know of the end of the novel or not.
"One of her ambitions was to own a watch on which she could change the time whenever she to (which according to her was what Time was meant for in the first place)." (37)
this quotation reminded me of Slaughterhouse Five and the view that the Tralmafadorians have on time. they do not dwell on death because those that have passed on are still alive in their memories. Rahel's watch is stuck in one moment like the rest of her family. they only think about the moment that she died rather than the rest of her life. instead of moving on and thinking about the rest of her great life, the family is stuck in time. thinking back to happier moments in her life would give the a better sense of closure and they could be more like the Tralmafadorians.
"Pointed in the wrong direction, trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace their steps because their footprints had been swept away." (51)
chacko's comments on their lack of knowledge on history fuels Rahel's and Esta's curiosity on the History House. their midnight trips across the lake is what caused Sophie to die. if Chacko had not suggested this his daughter might still be alive. this quotation also relates to Sophie's life. after she died it was as if her past had been erased and her death was the only memorable moment. esta and Rahel were never forgiven for her death even though in their past they did many other good things. history keeps getting forgotten in this novel.
Response to Neha's post
Love isn this book is not how it is typically portrayed. each character has a bad eperience with love. even the twin's relationship is not normal. they seem more connected than most other siblings.
1.
“[Estha] was looking out through the barred window at the darkness. He couldn’t see [Rahel], sitting outside in the darkness, looking in at the light” (182).
This quotation is interesting in that it relates to the description of the History House that is described back at the beginning of the novel. When Estha and Rahel are young, they believe that the History House is a place where they can look through the windows to try and find out their history, but no matter how hard they try all they can see are “shadows” (52). When the get older, however, it is the opposite case. At the point from where this quotation is from, Rahel and Estha have already visited the History House. Now, rather than having trouble looking inside the History House, they have trouble looking away; they are still suffering from the aftermath of Velutha’s death to the extent where every action they do and almost every breath they take is with the belief that they are the reason for Velutha’s demise. In this description, Estha is looking out of a “barred window,” which hints at the fact that his life is like a prison cell and he is constantly looking out into darkness. Because Rahel and Estha were they were so young when Margaret Kochamma and Sophie Mol came, they don’t realize that Velutha, Ammu, and Sophie’s deaths were not their fault: they are the “Sinned Against” and the “victims, not the perpetrators” (182). What is equally notable is the fact that “everything changes” when Sophie Mol and Margaret Kochamma come to Ayemenem, both of whom are from Britain (183). This reveals a deeper meaning to the story, suggesting that in the same way that Sophie is responsible for the destruction in Rahel and Estha’s family, the British are responsible for the political and religious tensions in India at the time. Even after Sophie Mol dies, Rahel and Estha are scarred; similarly, after the British left India, political chaos ensued and left the Indians in a state of confusion.
2.
“The low cement pickle vats silhouetted in the gloom made the factory floor look like an indoor cemetery for the cylindrical dead. The earthly remains of Paradise Pickles & Preserves” (183).
This describes the factory where Mammachi used to make her preserves; more importantly it is where she makes her “illegal” jam (185). The jam is banned because it is an unclassifiable substance: it is not the right texture to be neither jam nor jelly. By manufacturing it, Mammachi disobeys the rules, something that almost everyone in the family does. The significance of the jam being banned is that is reveals society doesn’t like the unclassifiable because they cannot define it easily and therefore feel threatened. They don’t understand this unique consistency of the jam-jelly and because cannot classify it, they ban it. In the same way that the unclassifiable jam is banned, Ammu and Velutha’s unclassifiable love is condemned by society because they do not understand it. Like Mammachi and the jam, Ammu defies the norms and continues to pursue her love for Velutha despite society’s objections. Mammachi’s attempts at digressing from the norm don’t work: the factory is shut down and the illegal jam goes with it. Ammu’s unique love is ridiculed by members of society, namely Baby Kochamma, and her attempts at defying the norm end when Velutha is victimized by society’s rigid rules and dies. Later, the factory looks like a “cemetery’ meaning that all hope of being able to deviate from the accepted path is dead. From this, it seems true that even attempting to rebel against societies expectations is never successful in the end.
"And so, while her natural garden wilted and died, Baby Kochamma followed American NBA league games, one-day cricket and all the Grand Slam tennis tournaments"(28).
I think that it is really interesting how, after being rejected by a western man, Baby Kochamma continues to turn to western culture for comfort. She used to be a fantastic gardener, showing her love of nature that comes with Indian culture, but she drops it immediately to embrace Hollywood's glamorous lifestyle. Baby Kochamma also reprimands the twins for not speaking English, and embraces Sophie Mol with exponentially more enthusiasm than the twins. Despite being rejected, Baby Kochamma stays with her new religion when she leaves and strives for a more western way of living.
"Hooded in her own hair, Ammu leaned against herself in the bathroom mirror and tried to weep. For herself. For the God of Small Things. For the sugar-dusted twin midwives of her dream"(214).
I really like the image of Ammu leaning against a mirror to cry. It clearly demonstrates how alone she feels and how there is literally no one for her to turn to other than herself. I also liked how Ammu is "hooded" by her hair. This also shows how Ammu feels like she must hide herself, but feels naked and exposed. In the end this makes sense because her love cannot be hid and her vulnerability is completely justified when her lover is killed and her children are taken from her.
Neha, I really like your connection between unclassifiable jam and society's rejection. I definitely agree, seeing as so many people in The God of Small Things can't fully be defined. Chacko, an Indian man, and Baby Kochamma, an Indian woman, both try to embrace western culture. The twins are neither one soul nor two and share a bond that cannot be labeled. Ammu's relationship with Velutha isn't exactly "cookie cutter," so society tries to obliterate it.
--Jackie Lebovits
Response to Jackie:
I completely agree with you about how Baby Kochamma embraces western culture, as exemplified in her devotion to her television. Also, as she becomes addicted to television, all of the small things are ignored; she doesn’t look outside at the garden, she ignores the “cockroaches scurry[ing]” and the “[whizzing] midges,” and she ignores the filth that she is surrounded by (84). She only concentrates on the television, which is a western device. This can be applied to her life, meaning that Baby Kochamma has ignored her culture and is instead fixated on the Western ways of life. Interestingly, this “more modern” way of life has given her only isolation and paranoia.
"Leaving everybody to wonder where she had learned her effrontery from." pg 171
"They make people love you a little less." pg 107
It would seem that Ammu is emerging as a character who is not afraid of offending anyone. She is tenacious about her opinions, and is not afraid to speak her mind. When she is questioned, or is appeared to be looked down upon she charges head first into the argument and confronts people. She seems a lot like her father, always searching for a fight, even if it might be easier to let things be. She doesn't seem content with anyone having an opinion that conflicts or degrades herself. I think that this is going to pose some problems in the future for her children. She is obviously not afraid of hurting them, as seen on page 107 with her careless comment towards Rahel. I do not doubt that she loves them, but because she had to grow up fast with her abusive father, it seems that in a way she almost resents them. Their innocence and naiveness seems to bother her, or to worry her beyond belief. So she tries to harden them, and prepare them for the real world. But really in the process, she is making them more delicate. Rahel and Estha are simply scared to disappoint her in any way. This dependancy on impressing their mother might lead them to utter turmoil as the book continues.
"And once again, only the Small Things were said. The Big Things lurked unsaid inside." (165)
This is obviously important because it has part of the title in it. The quotation sets up the conversation between Mammachi and Margaret Kochamma, in which all of the "Big Things", like how Mammachi hates Margaret are left unsaid. "Small Thins" and "Big Things", though not proper nouns, are capitalized in the middle of the two sentences. The diction and syntax of the two lines tell the reader that these are important. Small Things versus Big Things. They reappear, Estha and Rahel are small and Mammachi, Baby Kochamma seem to be Big Things; to me at least. The orangedrink and lemondrink man too is a Big Thing and in the book that doesn't seem to be a good thing. While Eastha and Rahel and even Ammu and Velutha are small, they are also innocent, and honest. The "small things" are not as powerful however they are the ones who understand true happiness and love. Baby Kochamma however has a very strange love for all things new and expensive. Mammachi is blind and old and has a very strange way of loving Chacko;solely and almost desperately. While this may be a stratch for just this quotation, the title must mean something recurring in the story, and these people come to mind when comparing the "Small Things" versus the "Big Things"
In response to Neha's journal on May 12:
This quote seems to relate to the feeling that the death of Sophie Mol lived on longer than her life. No one can remember that Sophie Mol lived and strived as a human being, all they can remember is her tragic death. Like Sophie said in her previous post "it is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory the life that purloined." And because the death still hovers around the broken remains of the family, both Estha and Rahel are trapped in the past and are unable to move forward.
“And finally, on that dreadful night, Estha who had decided that through it was dark and raining, The Time Had Come for them to run away, because Ammu didn’t want them anymore.” Pg 250
“As Baby Kochamma told her story, she began to believe it.” Pg 245
I choose these quotes because I believe they show the absurd things that the characters of these books believe. Yet for each character, the lies are believed for different reasons. For Estha and Rahel, their youth and naïve way of thinking clouds the truth.
What is truly blind anger from Ammu (“you’re the millstones around my neck!”) they believe, and that they, innocent children, cause suffering. So they flee the scene, believing the lies of their mother, not truly understanding the severity of their situation. So they ran away, because “Ammu didn’t want them anymore” so their time had come. They decided to get on the boat and attempt to leave their old lives behind. And because they believed that lie, the consequences of it would follow them forever.
Baby Kochamma on the other hand, is blinded by confusion and fear. The confusion was why any one would want to sleep with an untouchable (“how could she stand the smell?”) Her one-track mind didn’t have the capacity to understand what attraction could be. But her pride decided that if she didn’t understand, then she would make up a story that would fit into her world. The other factor was fear. The fear that someone would find out the shame of their family (a touchable sleeping with an untouchable) and they would be cut away from society. Out of fear of being an outcast, Baby Kochamma lied to the police officer and to herself in order to preserve the family’s dignity.
1.
“It was a kiss that demanded no kiss-back” (211).
This is one of the few moments in the novel where Ammu and her children are happy together (there is also a brief period of time at Abhilash Talkies). Here, the reader gets to see the love that Estha and Rahel have for their mother as opposed to the fear they have of her “black moods” that seems to be more prevalent throughout the novel. It is also evident that Rahel is not purely a destructive and cruel child as it appears when she is mercilessly killing ants, but instead possesses emotions of love and compassion as well. Though Ammu is often harsh on Rahel and Estha and seems to want them to grow up and to recognize the stark cruelties of society, in this passage she is reminded of their unconditional love for her, a quality that does not really exist in love between lovers or other members of her family. Ammu cherishes Rahel’s selfless kiss because it is not a “cloudy kiss full of questions that wanted answers” like the kisses of a “one armed [man]
(211), which is presumably Velutha. However, after this blissful moment, Ammu becomes possessive over her body and shrugs off her children “the way a bitch shrugs of her pups” (211). The word choice coveys the bi-polar and seemingly cruel nature of Ammu; though many times Ammu’s bluntness is off-putting but is fueled by love, in this case it doesn’t seem to be that way. Ammu isn’t protecting her children from the dangers of life, brutalities of poverty or stereotypes, but instead is pushing them away from her, as if she is also a danger. Perhaps she doesn’t want them to get too attached to anyone, including herself, so that they aren’t devastated if anything should happen to her. If Ammu has distanced herself from her children for Rahel and Estha’s benefit (as opposed to actually having “had enough of them”) it is because she values their overall well-being over her own; as opposed to being selfish and keeping her children close—which they all would enjoy in the short run, but in the long run might spoil them—she chooses to help her children in the long run and miss out on being close with them so that they will not get attached to her and be motivated to act responsibly. Because Ammu is harsh on Rahel and Estha, they try to act based on what is right in order to gain her approval rather than doing what is wrong since they know she will “love them a little less” if they do. Although Ammu may seem cruel at first, in reality I believe that she is only trying to help her children. But her good intentions may not have positive results because it is her callousness that makes Rahel hate her and feel unloved for much of her adolescence, which contributes to her rebelliousness and subsequent expulsion.
2.
“The engineers of the concerned municipality sawed off the tusks and shared them unofficially. Unequally” (209).
This passage about an electrocuted elephant appears right after Ammu is describing her dream, so it ruptures the flow of the chapter, thereby signifying its importance. This unfortunate tale of the elephant after death helps underscore the mistreatment of Velutha after he dies, which is significant because the novel never directly talks about Velutha after he dies. The elephant lives his life unaware of the dangers that humans and technology presents to him and later is electrocuted and dies. Even after he dies, he is still exploited for everything he is worth. He is done injustice to in both life and death: while living, it dies prematurely due to human interaction and after death, it’s body is torn up to be sold and corrupt people get the money. First humans kill him and then profit off his death, not stopping to feel guilty. After this, flies swarm around the body trying to extract any last piece of life remaining until every little scrap is gone and the elephant has nothing left. He has been wronged and is degraded because the engineers secretly steal his tusks and don’t even share them equally. This situation is similar to Velutha’s life and foreshadows his death. He lives unaware of the implications of his actions and dies because he doesn’t follow the rules of society. He encounters name-calling, torture, and humiliation and is constantly demeaned because of his Paravan (untouchable) status. After he dies, he is still not left alone because cruel people, like Baby Kochamma, constantly pick at his memory and continue to degrade him by using him as an example of how Parvans cannot be trusted because they will always betray you. He is done injustice to because the police refuse to acknowledge that they made a mistake and that he in fact did not kill Sophie Mol since they know he is a Parvan so he can easily be blamed for a crime he did not commit and no one will care. His corpse has also been mutilated and he cannot rest in peace. Just like the elephant dying on the road is the first time any such thing has happened, Ammu and Velutha’s love is unique and was the first time a Touchable had loved an Untouchable and admitted it. Velutha’s death sets the precedent for other Untouchables; he is used as a warning telling those who try to defy stereotypes that they should be aware that they are up against all odds and may even end up dying.
Comment on Simone’s Journal:
To continue with your line of thinking, the small things continue to be an important part of the novel because they help to reveal more about the characters. For example, a “small thing” could be the electrocution of an elephant on the road. But this situation reveals more about Velutha as a character and is thus an important moment. Ammu’s dreams—a seemingly small thing--help the reader to understand more about her desires, which deepens the reader’s understanding of her. The small things, like the “mombatti” prove to be just as—if not more—important than the big things, like the “laltain” because without the small mombatti, the laltain has no purpose (85). The mombatti (tallow-stick) gives off light whereas the laltain (lantern) lets the light be seen. They both serve their own purpose and work as one to create something useful. In the same way, the small insights that Roy gives the reader, along with the big insights, help to give the story a deeper meaning.
First, these are some terrific posts. I like the quality of the posts and the responses to each other are great.
A few ideas to follow up on. Consider Pappachi's Moth--it's another example of the desire to classify, and it marks the great failure of Pappachi's life.
I am also interested in the image of the electrocuted elephant. I think "Kochu Thomban" is a very strange but interesting chapter. The elephant is something almost god-like in this chapter, but we just saw the demise of an elephant in power lines...
Lastly, the small god/big god stuff is laid out most clearly early on, in the scene where Rahel's American husband doesn't understand the emptiness in her eyes. Maybe around 42? Definitely on the left hand page...
"She said nothing, but used her hands to modulate Mammachi's fury, to stroke it anew... Mammachi was completely unaware of the manipulation" pg 268
"She managed that by doing what she was best at. Irrigating her fields, nourishing her crops with other people's passions" pg 305
By looking at these two quotations, you can see the manipulative qualities of Baby Kochamma. Throughout the book she never seems to be a large character, always backstage during the acts of the play. However, she is revealed to be the puppet master controlling the story. Baby Kochamma's "hands.." are used "to modulate... fury, to stroke it anew" to make others complete her desires (pg 268). She always tries to "[nourish] her crops" by fueling people's anger (pg 305). Her successes come from the failures and misery of others. She avoids jail by threatening children with the fate of their mother. She lives a lavish life when she is older because of the death of Mammachi. Yet because she makes her moves away from the stage, everyone is "completely unaware of the manipulation" (pg 305). She gets what she desires because she indirectly crushes the desires and needs of others.
Superb
Post a Comment