“THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS” 1. Introduction
Arundhati Roy was born on November 24, 1961, in Shillong Meghalaya, in Bengal, North Eastern India. Her father was a Hindu tea planter, and her mother was a Christian teacher and social activist. Roy began her education at "Corpus Christi," a school founded by her mother in Aymanam, India. This school was very informal. As a result, Roy developed a way of thinking and writing. From the beginning of her education, Roy wanted to be a writer. It was her childhood dream.
She demonstrated her independence at the early age of sixteen, leaving her home to live on her own in a small hut with a tin roof. She survived for seven years by selling empty beer bottles for …show more content…
Amma, the woman, is a Syrian Christian, identified as upper caste Christians, almost equivalent to Brahmans. Velutha, the male hero, too is a Christian, but the identity that marginalizes and in the end murders him is that of a Paravan, a Dalit. The story makes it clear that caste among Christians is as much a determiner of life chances as among ‘Hindus’ – with Dalits
2. Gender Discrimination in “The God of Small Things”:
The Novel ‘The God of Small Things’ discusses one of the severe issues of gender discrimination in Indian society. In the novel Roy discusses the issue of inequality of male and female. The female protagonists and the other women live their lives under the predominance of patriarchal society. It is observed in Indian society that women are denied their basic rights. This unequal of male and female are described as a system of social structures.
The action of the novel takes place in Ayemenem. The novel centers round a Syrian Christian family. Pappachi is the head of the family. He returns to Ayemenem from Delhi to spend the years of his retirement. He is accompanied by his wife Mammachi, Baby Kochamma, their son Chacko and daughter Ammu. Ammu gets married and becomes the mother of the twins Rahel and