Postmodernist Technique

One example of the postmodernist technique of intertextuality is on page 79, when Estha is playing on the bed at Mammachi and Pappachi’s house. The book says the Estha at night would wrap bed sheets around himself and pretend to be Julius Caesar and say “Et tu, Brute”. This shows that the children have an understanding and comprehend the idea of betrayment, Estha goes to show he understands it in the next couple paragraphs but more specifically when Kochu Maria tells him to go play on the beds at his father's house and break the beds there. After Kochu Maria tells Estha to stop he looks at her and says “Et tu Kochu Maria- Then fall, Estha!” and he fell over and “died”. This can be seen as Kochu Maria “betraying” Estha by preventing him from playing his games or having fun. …show more content…
When Rahel sees the trash can morph into a kangaroo and start hopping, that shows magic realism. I think this technique is used in the situation to show how a child’s imagination can take over at anytime and ads to the effectiveness of the postmodernist writing throughout the book of how our minds as humans jump around from thought to thought or get distracted by other things going on around us and not acting in a fluid timeline. I believe the placement of this event was key to how it works with the rest of the book also, this happens when Rahel and Estha are running through the airport pretending they are the co-Ambassadors of India, which based on the cast system that is used in India it would be impossible for them to rise that high which adds to the fact that children can’t understand what is possible and what would be considered