Roy and the Sixth Sense

Arundhati Roy's writing style in The God of Small Things is quite distinctive. Her sensory imagery is very strong and her carefully chosen diction creates almost an eerie atmosphere for the novel. While the story focuses on several characters, Roy dedicates the most time to Rahel. The novel switches back and forth from the 1960s to the 1990s, and readers frequently see Rahel as a child. Despite her young age, her thoughts and analogies are morbid and dark. She often thinks about death. While considered to be a love story, The God of Small Things in some aspects reads like a mystery. The audience knows that there has been a death, but it is not initially revealed how the death comes about. What really creates the mysterious and ominous atmosphere is Roy's appeals to the readers sixth sense. The objects and places she describe allows readers to visualize this almost electric quality of the world around the family in Ayemenem. Roy writes, "Rain. Rushing, inky water. And a smell. Sicksweet. Like old roses on a breeze,” (29). The combination of the visual, olfactory, and tactile all combine to create an unsettling feeling in readers. Another example is when the narrator describes how the loss of Sophie Mol affected the family remarking, "The Loss of Sophie Mol stepped softly around the Ayemenem House like a quiet thing in socks. It hid in books and food. In Mammachi’s violin case. In the scabs of the sores on Chacko’s shins that he constantly worried. In his slack, womanish legs," (18). The way she describes the emotions of the household almost has a ghostly quality to it. The diction and metaphors and similes Roy uses are quiet, yet powerful. While tragic, the language and writing style of The God of Small Things is beautiful. There is something oddly satisfying in the unsettling feeling that comes with this carefully written novel that evokes such strong emotions in readers.

Single yet Plural Story

Throughout The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy readers are provided with several different perspectives on a central story. The author begins the novel with a quote from John Berger, "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." Rahel and Estha's family is complicated to say the least. The twins are thrown into a country and a family in turmoil. We experience their story in bits and pieces that focus on various characters. In many ways, we experience the story like a child. We learn the history of the family members in short periods of time, not in chronological order. As children, we know what the end of our grandparents story is, but we learn their journey to that ending at various times and family gatherings and usually only in small chunks. I firmly believe that the various experiences we have had in our past shape how we perceive the present. In the novel several family members are watching the same event unfold, but the personal crises and problems they are facing shape their reality. The story of the death of Sophie Mol is different for each character. By writing the novel in the manner she does, Roy takes readers through the journeys of the family members in the same way you learn about your own, which in some ways causes readers to feel as though they are a distant relative learning their own family's story. Readers feel connected to the characters, even the ones they loathe, creating a captivating novel, that while is in no means is an easy read, is still hard to put down.

AP Style Question for Untouchable

The famous writer Anaïs Nin once said, “The role of the writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.” Choose a novel in which an author uses a story to discuss a controversial topic. In a well-organized essay, explain how the author approaches this subject and how he or she effectively argues his or her opinion.

The Perspective of Privilege

        As the world moves towards greater equality and continues the fight for social justice, there has become an increasing awareness of the problems posed by those who advocate from privileged perspectives. The author Mulk Raj Anand grew up in the Kshatriya caste, which is considered the “aristocratic” caste, only below the priests and other religious leaders. His first novel Untouchable was inspired by the suicide of his aunt after she was disowned by the family for eating with a Muslim woman. While Anand viewed the inhumane treatment of the untouchable caste he wrote about first-hand, he never truly experienced it first-hand. This clear distinction appears with the description of the protagonist of the novel. Bakha in many ways becomes an “other” in the story. He is attractive, strong, clean, and works hard. The manner in which he is presented sometimes comes across as if he was unusual for his caste. At the end of the book, Gandhi, an idolized figure by Bakha, professes that untouchables must change and “purify” themselves before they are welcomed into society. Anand points out this implicit bias of Gandhi by remarking, “But now, now the Mahatma is blaming us, Bakha felt” (131). Many of those who speak on the behalf of marginalized groups do so with good intentions. However, frequently their socialized beliefs and ignorance to the complete experience of the oppressed have negative effects on the cause. In order for us as a society to reach actual equality and break the cycle of oppression, those of oppressed identities must be put in positions of power. Those who can speak on personal experiences are the strongest advocates. Equality requires the participation of all groups of people, but we cannot allow for the privileged to always speak for the oppressed - that just adds to the problem.