Alka Chaudhary & Dr. Ved Parkash
Abrtact
Arundhati
Roy, a social activist has bequeathed the problem of untouchability pervading
the Indian society in her booker winner novel, The God of Small Things. Her
novel explores the caste system, gender difference and the police-politician
relation that have existence in the country even after virtually six decades of
independence. The novel discloses the cavernous gap between the touchables and
the untouchables; the exploiters and the exploited, and the powerful and the
powerless. It is all about how the human values of the children, youth, women
and the untouchable have been impinged upon, and how they have been deceived.
Here in this paper, I will discuss the maltreatment convened out to Velutha,
one of the characters in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and how the
idea of social prejudice is explored in the novel?
Paper
Literature is an expression
of the most intimate consciousness of life and society in which it grows and
develops. It has some purposes to fulfill, some thoughts to be contemplated and
some plans to be acted upon for the welfare of humanity. When it broods upon
such different things, it witnesses changes taking place in life and society,
and, therefore, these changes are reflected in literary works. In its
corrective function literature projects the ills of the society with a view to
making the society realize its mistake and make amends. Indian English
literature is
also doing the same thing.
It expresses thoughts, feelings and emotions in a rational and interesting
manner, and directly or indirectly throws light upon different changes in its
own way.
The Indian English
literature from its very beginning has witnessed socio-cultural,
economic and political
changes in the life of the nation. Indian English novelists have been showing
deep concern about these problems in the past also; in fact, a sustained level of
involvement with social issues of caste and gender discrimination has marked
the writings of such writers as Mulkraj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Bhawani
Bhattacharya, Manohar Malgonkar, Nargis Dalal, Ruth Prawer Jhabwalla, K.A.
Abbas, Nyantara Sehgal and others. Even now in spite of getting independence,
the social issues are still there to be taken care of.
Today, when India is a
democratic country, Indian English writers are now writing with anew zeal and
confidence, blending social aspects and phenomenal situations in their literary
works. To name a few, there are Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Shashi Despande,
JayantMahapatra, and Namita, Ghokle, Amitav Ghosh, Jhupha Lahiri, Dina Mehta
and Arundhati Roy.
Arundhati Roy is one of the most
celebrated writers produced by India, whose book The God of Small Things
won the Man Booker prize and put Indian literature on the map. Her books mostly
revolved around social justice and the anguish that various social groups
suffered. While her works can be pretty depressing, they also reflect the
ground realities that most people often lose sight of.
Her must-read book is The God of
Small Things, which brought her fame and popularity. As can be guessed
from the title, the theme of the book is about how even small things affect
people’s lives.
Untouchability
is a direct product of the cast system. It is not merely the inability to touch
a human being of a certain cast or sub cast. It is an attitude on the part of a
whole group of people that relates to a deeper philological process of thought
and belief, invisible to the naked eye, translated in to various physical acts
and behaviors, norms and practices. Untouchability is prompted by the spirit of
social aggression and the belief in the parity and pollution that characterizes
Casteism. It is generally taken for granted that dalits are considered polluted
people at the lowest end of the cast order.
Untouchability
is a cancer that has been eating our society from ancient time towards this has
been handed down from generation to generation. Cast system was at first a kind
of division of labour. Then it became a tool in the hands of the upper cast
people to exploit and marginalize the lower castes. Millions of Indians are
still untouchables in the sacred land of Gandhi, Buddha and Ambedkar. They live
the parallel universe of isolation. All Indians are violating the basic rights
and the human rights of other Indians.
Arundhati Roy’s booker prize winning novel deals with the ravages of caste
system in south Indian state, Kerala. Roy presents both the miserable plight of
untouchables and also the struggle of a women trying to have fulfilment in life
in a patriarchal society. Velutha, the god of small things, transgress the
established norms of society by having a affair with a women of high caste. The
ultimate outcome of this love is tragic death of an “untouchable” by “touchable
boots” of state police, an event that makes a travesty of the idea of God. God
is no more in control of “small things” rather the small things have an
ultimate power over God turning him to “The God of loss”(265). The idea of
untouchability is explored at two levels in the novel. Firstly we have socially
untouchables, or Parvan, who are never allowed basic human rights. Secondly, we
have metaphoric untouchables in high castes. Here discrimination expresses
itself in marginalizing the women in their personal and public life.
A complete
appreciation of The God Of Small Things requires an awareness of three things,
first the role of the Syrian Christian Community; second, communism and last,
but not the least, the caste system of Kerla.
The community represented in “The God of Small Things” is Syrian
Christian. The Christians of Kerala are divided in to five characteristics:
Roman Catholic, Orthodox Syrian, Nestorian,Marthoma, and Anglican
In the novel
religious differences appear In the disagreements between Mulligan (who belongs
to the Roman catholic church) and reveled Ipe (who belongs to the mathoma
church) as well as in Baby Kochamma’s conversation to Catholicism and her
consequent lack of suitors. The socio – political changes brought about by
colonial rule led to upper caste Hindus shinning the Syrian Christians. Between
1888 – 1892 every one of Syrian Christian denomination founded so called
evangelical societies that rough out law caste converts and built school and
chapels and publicized mass baptisms (Bayly 314 – 320). The God of Small Things
thus refers to the school for “Untouchable” built by the great – grandfather of
the twins, Estha and Rahel. However, as Roy points out, even though a number of
paravas and member of other low castes converted to Christianity, they
were made to have separate churches and thus continued to be treated as
“Untouchabiles”. After the Independence, they were denied government benefits
created for “Untouchable” because officially, on paper, they were Christians
and there for casteless.
Gender inequality is another recurring social issue in the novel.
In The God of Small Things, characters like Mammachi, Ammu and Baby
Kochamma are discriminated against because they are female. In the book, male
characters predominantly have more power. For example, Pappachi is a high
ranking individual who is part of the government, while Mammachi is in charge
of the household duties. When Mammachi starts a pickle factory and becomes
more powerful, Pappachi becomes jealous and abusive towards her. In the novel, the
female characters appear resourceful and smart, yet they never fully
develop to become strong matriarchs because of the strict social
structure.
Although higher class female
characters like Rahel, Ammu and Mammachi are physically healthy, they are not the
decision makers in the family or society. An example of this would be when
Ammu’s first failed marriage to the man she had met a wedding. She was
described as a typical Indian bride who did not dare to stare her fiancée in
her face until they got married.
Additionally, people speak lowly of
women who do not marrying society. This is evident when Roy talks about Baby
Kochamma, who accepted her unfortunate fate of not having any husband,
resenting Ammu because she saw her fighting against that same fate. When
Baby Kochamma truly could not find a spouse, her father sent her off to
college. This shows that families view marriages as more important than
education for women.
In
addition to her commentary on Indian history and politics, Roy evaluates the
Indian post-colonial complex, or the cultural attitudes of many Indians toward
their former British rulers. After Ammu calls her father a
"[shit]-wiper" in Hindi for his blind devotion to the British, Chacko
explains to the twins that they come from a family of Anglophiles, or lovers of
British culture, "trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace
their steps." He goes on to say that they despise themselves because of
this.
A
related inferiority complex is evident in the interactions between Untouchables
and Touchables in Ayemenem. Vellya Paapen is an example of an Untouchable so
grateful to the Touchable class that he is willing to kill his son, Velutha,
when he discovers that Velutha has broken the most important rule of class
segregation—that there be no inter-caste sexual relations. In part, this
reflects how many Untouchables have internalized caste segregation. Nearly all
of the relationships in the novel are somehow colored by cultural and class
tension, including the twins' relationship with Sophie, Chacko's relationship
with Margaret, Pappachi's relationship with his family, and Ammu's relationship
with Velutha. Characters such as Baby Kochamma and Pappachi are the most rigid
and vicious in their attempts to uphold that social code, while Ammu and
Velutha are the most unconventional and daring in unraveling it. Roy implies
that this is why they are punished so severely for their transgression.
To sum up, Arundhati Roy has
presented a slice of Indian life, its ups and downs, tears and turmoil. The
God of Small Things is, indeed, a fine study of individual and social
psychology. The characters of the novel themselves are affected by the two
psychological factors- denial of basic psychological and social needs, and
traumatic experiences. There are unmistakable clues in the text itself which
suggest the reader pay some attention to psychological aspect of the narrative.
Works Cited
1.Arundhati, Roy. The
God of Small Things. Penguin Books India, 2002
2.Bayly, Susan. Saints, Goddesses, and Kings.
Cambridge University Press, 1989.
3.Singh, K.S The Schedule Castes: The People
of India. National Series Volume 2 of the Anthropological Survey of
India. Delhi: Oxford Up, 1993.
4.Federal Research Division. India:
A Country Study.
Eds. James Heitzman and Robert L. Warden. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton UP, 1995
5.Moffit, Michael. An
Untouchable Community In South India. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton
UP, 1979.
