Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is her debut work and the most popular one among the connoisseurs of literature. The author has a success in the depiction of India in the postcolonial period with all its social problems. Roy depicts the inner world of the main characters and the way of their development. A. Roy uses different techniques which make her work so alive and captivating. The use of non-sequential narration, foreshadowing, the method of different points of view, the use of children’s language, the structure of the work and its setting demonstrates Roy’s literary workmanship.
The story takes place in the small town of southwest India, Ayemenem. It depicts the events of 1969 when the caste system has been already organized in India. It is also the time of communist ideology penetrating the whole world and the rise of human awareness. Society is divided not only by caste but also by religious and ideological beliefs. There are a lot of religions in India as far as a lot of languages spoken on its territory. The high classes usually communicate in English and send their children to study in England. This period from Indian history is chosen by the author deliberately to depict «an inextricable mix of experience and imagination.” The choice of historical events and the use of different techniques make The God of Small Things more captivating and relevant.
The book consists of twenty-one chapters. There are short and long chapters as well. Some long chapters have subdivisions. The God of Small Things is not written in the chronological narrative style. The novel consists of the jumble of different flashbacks and sidetracks which combine making the plot of the story. The use of different language techniques, namely the language of memory helps the author to depict the main characters’ thoughts and feelings. The reader is taken from the present to the past and vice versa. Thoughts, memories, facts and events are abruptly broken off in one part of the work and are depicted further in other parts. The main events of the novel penetrate the whole plot connecting thematically or appearing in Rahel’s mind. The narrative voice is omniscient which know everything which has happened and will happen in the future. A paragraph or sentence rules are not followed in Roy’s work. Such a non-chronological narrative style helps Roy makes the emphasis on those events from the Kochamma family which are relevant for covering the essential themes. This authorial method helps to base the story on the ideas. More than that, there is no end to the story. The concluding chapter depicts the events which have happened in the middle of the story. It allows the reader to think up what is missing in the story. The reader becomes one of the main characters of the story who is plunged into the life of the work by the author (Passo-Miquel).
Foreshadowing is another important technique used by Roy in her book. All events are connected with a cataclysmic, mysterious and all-important story which is called “The Loss of Sophie Mol”. The reader is still unaware of this event until the end of the story. The reader does not know what happened. He/she is only aware of the fact that this event has influenced the life of the whole family. The uncovering of the secret of Sophie Mol’s death exists parallel with the events of the presents namely Rahel’s return to his native town and his reunion with Estha creates a complex atmosphere of the plot (Sharma and Talwar). This technique helps the author to create intrigue and tension in her work. The reader has anticipation and expectation of what happens further on. There are a lot of repetitions used in the work as far as main characters are always returned to the events of the past which cannot be forgiven and always remain in their minds. This technique helps to make the work more alive when everything is found out at the end of the story (Passo-Miquel).
The technique of point of view is another one observed in Ray’s work. Although the story is narrated from the third person singular and the narrator knows everything, the reader observes everything depicted in the story through Rahel’s eyes. This technique involves the reader in the events represented by Roy and the reader becomes the part of this story. When Rahel was seven years old, the reader gets acquainted with the surrounding world through his mind. Facts, objects, events are represented from a different light. The childish vision of the surrounding world adds to the work piquancy and charm. Another interesting moment where the same technique is used is the memories of an adult woman from her childhood which is now observed from another point of view. The author demonstrates different points of view of the same situation. The same event may be observed differently by the child and the adult. There is the opposition of a childish and critical vision of the world (Passo-Miquel).
As far as this story presents the life of two children, the author uses interesting techniques to demonstrate their impressions fully. The author resorts to the use of capitalization of certain words and phrases pointing out their importance to the children’s perception. Children rephrase things in a new phonetic way which demonstrate their childish observation of the world. They stress the importance of those things which are indifferent to the adults. They observe such ideas and feelings which are not paid attention to by the adults. The use of this technique helps the reader to see the world through the main characters’ minds. Depicting the situation from Estha and Rahel’s childhood, the author says: “Three children on the river bank. A pair of twins and another, whose mauve corduroy pinafore said Holiday! in a tilting, happy font. Wet leaves in the trees shimmered like beaten metal. Dense clumps of yellow bamboo drooped into the river as though grieving in advance for what they knew was going to happen. The river itself was dark and quiet. An absence rather than a presence, betraying no sign of how high and strong it was” (Roy, p. 275). As we can see, the author points out the word ‘Holiday!‘ which is of great importance for children and she uses a wide range of poetic words depicting the world from the children’s point of view.
The use of different techniques helps the author to create a real atmosphere of India in the postcolonialism time with its culture and caste structure and the role of love for the Indians. Roy demonstrates the way of forming the personality connecting with its identity and events of the past and the present. Our personality consists of our memories from the past, real life in the present and our hopes for the future. Roy succeeds in the depiction of this process with the help of many techniques. The setting of Roy’s work is charming and exotic, the characters are complicated and the plotline is enigmatic.
Works Cited
- Passo-Miquel, Catherine 2011, Breaking Bounds in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.
- Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things, USA: Harper Perennial, 1998. Print.
- Sharma, Bala and Talwar, Shashi. Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things: Critique and Commentary, USA: Creative Books, 1998. Print.