God of Small Things Analysis - Love Restrained by Society

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The next example of love is of a topic that is socially taboo, even til this day and most probably in the far future as well – Incest. The love between Rahel and Estha began with an innocent nature, as they were both kids. It was mentioned once of twice in the novel that they felt so alike that they were the same person, even. Things like reading each other's minds and Rahel waking up laughing because of the dream Estha was having showed just how strong their bond was as twins. Although Estha's innocence in the novel was destroyed earlier on than Rahel's, mostly because of what the Orangedrink Lemondrink man did to him and witnessing the brutality of the Velutha's beatings, he still continued to protect Rahel's innocence by going along with the story of Velutha's twin. Rahel, in turn, supported him with whatever he did, including the plans regarding the boat they found. They always had each other's backs and so when they were ripped apart from each other at an early age, it cut them both deeply with evidences of Rahel's rebellious nature in school, and Estha's loss of speaking. However, years later, when Estha returns to their home village and Rahel decides to go back as well, only for the sole reason being Estha's return. The air between them during their reunion seemed calm yet with sad undertones. One would think that a reunion like that should have been more enthusiastic but I derived from the novel that they were both still hurting from all the tragedies they have experienced since they were children and were looking for solace in each other. As I mentioned earlier, the love that they shared started off as innocent, and yet even though it was implied in the novel that they had sex together, I believe that it was still innocent and an act of healing each other. Although understandably, it was very much incestuous and once again, gravely frowned upon in society.

Baby Kochamma was the main antagonist in the novel and was very hard to like throughout the novel because of her selfish, manipulative and downright mean actions. Not much was said about her background and her childhood but we are however, given the details of her love in the past. When Baby was still young and thin, She fell deeply for Father Mulligan, a priest who used to visit her dad, Rev. E. John Ipe and to get his attention, she would pretend to bathe a street kid out of the charity of her heart. They would then make small talk while she gives the kid a bath. This continued to go on and it was implied in the novel that even Father Mulligan looked forward to these little chats they would have over the bathing child. When the time came for Father to leave, Baby grew desperate to be near him because she was so in love with him that she decided to join the convent for she thought that it was a surefire way of getting to be with Father 24/7. However, she when she was in the convent, she started to realize that the actual chances of her actually getting to be assigned with Father Mulligan were slim, and so she decided to give up and have her dad bring her home. This sort of love was nothing short of forbidden, whether or not Father Mulligan reciprocated Baby's love. Bound by his obligation and the eyes of society, their relationship was already doomed from the start.

Finally, Velutha and Ammu's love is the biggest example of love bound by the Caste System of India. As explained earlier, Velutha was an Untouchable, the lowest of the low in the rankings and Ammu was from a higher caste. It was an unwritten rule that people from higher rankings should never be with those of the lower rankings lest they want to bring their family great shame. And yet when Ammu gazed upon Velutha in a new light while he carried Rahel, love grasped her heart. It was the same with Velutha as he had known Ammu for a long time now, but in a completely new light in that moment. “This knowing slid into him cleanly, like the sharp edge of a knife. Cold and hot at once. It only took a moment.” was how Velutha fell for Ammu. He was even surprised by the strength of his love for her because he was even falling in love with her children, Rahel and Estha. “When he saw the children, something clenched inside him. And he couldn't understand it. He saw them every day. He loved them without knowing it.” explained his love for the twins. Eventually, Ammu and Velutha began their secret love affair. She would row her tiny boat to meet him on nightly rendezvous and they would make love and then sit and talk about the “small things”, because even if they loved each other, they knew deep inside that it would never work out long enough for them to be able to talk about the “big things” or their future. Society has been the most cruel to this couple and they both suffered immensely as consequences and yet, knowing the possible punishments in their future, they still saw each other and fell more and more in love with one another. They were brave enough to rebel against the rules of society, the caste system and what people thought of them and because of that, the society needed to do something drastic to this couple, just to reinforce in everyone else's heads that the rules of society were still very much in tact and had grave consequences if not followed. This is why the police were so brutal with Vestha and the writing in the novel was very graphic during this scene and until the death of Vestha because it was not only Vestha they were trying to kill, it was also freedom and love, especially, that society murdered.

Bibliography

Ranjini Manian. India's Caste System for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. Book. October 18, 2013.

History Of The Caste System In India. Website. October 19, 2013.

Paul Brians. Arundhati Roy:The God of Small Things Study Guide. December 13, 1998. Website. October 18, 2013.

Hansjörg Stalder. Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things. May 2008. Website. October 18, 2013

The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. October 18, 2013.