Page 1 THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS  PUBLISHED 4/4/1997 by Random House  COMPLETED IN 1996  WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE IN 2001(the first non-expatriate Indian author and the first Indian woman to win the price)

Page 2 ARUNDHATI ROY  Born as Suzanna Arundhati Roy on 11/24/1961 in Ayemenem  Mother-Mary Roy a well known social activist  Father - a Bengali Hindu tea planter  Uncle-George Issac  At the age of 16 she left home and lived in a squatter ’ s colony in Delhi  The Delhi School of Architecture  She married with Gerard Da Cunha but she divorced after 4 years  She has worked as a production designer and written the screenplays for two films.

Page 3 ARUNDHATI ROY – BOMBING FOR FEMINISMN Short extract of a speech of Arundhati Roy discussing the US war on Afghanistan and Iraq. 2 min

Page 4 SETTING: KERALA “ A lot of the atmosphere of A God of Small Things is based on my experience of what it was like to grow up in Kerala. Most interestingly, it was the only place in the world where religions coincide, there is Christianity, Hinduism, Marxism and Islam and they all live together and rub each other down. When I grew up it was the Marxism that was very strong, it was like the revolution was coming the next week …. To me, I couldn ’ t think of a better location for a book about human beings. ”

Page 5 SUMMARY The God of Small Things is a heart-rending story about seven years old Estha and Rahel, two-egg twins. Estha and Rahel along with their Ammu (mother) live in their maternal grandparents’ house in Ayemenem (Kerala) following Ammu’s divorce. Ammu works in the family’s pickle factory in spite of which she and her kids are denied any rights, let alone love, by her Oxford returned brother Chacko who considers them nothing less than millstones around his neck. The story goes further when Chacko’s ex-wife Margaret brings their daughter Sophie to Ayemenem on a visit from London. The ill-fated visit ends in the demise of Sophie for which Estha and Rahel have to pay a heavy price. The kids are the biggest victims as they are snatched of their childhood, their happiness sought in small things. The story reveals History’s cruel way of taking revenge at people who break the Love Laws. ‘The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.’

Page 6 CHARACTERS PAPPACHI BABY KOCHAMMA VELUTHA PAAPEN AMMU SOPHIE MOL RAHEL ESTHA CHACK O MAMMACHI BABAMARGARET

Page 7 RAHEL…  becomes preoccupied with things and can't seem to sit still  has an incredibly active imagination  seems to exist in a version of reality that's all her own  ‘s imagination is childlike and wondering.  is sent away to school where she is expelled for misbehavior  wears always a hair band Love in Tokyo  Separated from Estha, her other half, she is kind of a lost soul.  enters an architecture program in Delhi when she meets Larry McCaslin  spends most of her adult life drifting from one thing to the next  Estha is really the only reason she returns. “ Rahel never wrote to him. There are things that you can’t do – like writing letters to a part of yourself. To your feet, or hair. Or heart..”

Page 8 ESTHA…  is serious and earnest  's imaginary is more like a worst-case-scenario handbook  loves his mother and Velutha  is protective of Rahel  loves Elvis Presley ( he wears his hair in a puffed-up style to imitate him)  has a very childlike view of the world  loves The Sound of Music  has anxiety about being molested again  No longer is it a happy and innocent place for him.  When he has been re-returned to Ayemenem, he has stopped speaking entirely and he spends his days going for long walks and doing the household chores. “Anything can happen to anyone and It's best to be prepared”

Page 9 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND  INDIAN INDIPENDENCE FROM ENGLAND 1948  SINO – INDIAN WAR 1962  WAR AGAINST PAKISTAN1947  MAHATMA GHANDI ‘S INFLUENCE ( the traditional ruler and high priest, and announcing the "peaceful liberation" of Tibet and India)  THE SUCCESSION OF SYRIAN CHRISTIANS BY COMMUNISTS

Page 10 THE MEANINGS OF THE TITLE 1)Small things (e.g. beginning of the novel; Estha ’ s dog; Murlidharan) 2)Big God( in control ) Vs Small God 3)(from the children ’ s perspective ) away from the adult boundaries; small transgressions in language 4)the structure of the book is a collection of small thing (episodic, fragmentary) like everybody’s life 5)VELUTHA is actually the God of small things for Ammu “...instinctively they stuck to the Small Things. The Big Things ever lurked inside. They knew that there was nowhere for them to go...They had no future. ”

Page 11 MAJOR THEMES INNOCENCE LOSS FEAR IDENTITY MORTALITY INDIAN SOCIETY SEPARATION MEMORY AND PAST VERSIONS OF REALITY FAMILY VIOLENCE LOVE