Bianca Johnson- Discussion Director The God of Small Things tells the story of one family in the town of Ayemenem in Kerala, India. The novel opens with Rahel's return to Ayemenem after hearing that her twin brother, Estha, has come home. We switch to the funeral of Sophie Mol, when the twins are seven years old. Rahel believes that Sophie is awake during her funeral and buried alive. The rest of the family refuses to acknowledge the twins and Ammu. On the train ride back to Ayemenem, Ammu cannot speak except to say "He's dead ... I've killed him." Rahel and Estha have not seen each other since Estha was sent away as a child to live with Babu in Assam. Both twins have traveled somewhat aimlessly until returning to their childhood home. Rahel looks out on the family's former factory, Paradise Pickles & Preserves, and contemplates how all the strangeness in her family resolves around the incident of Sophie Mol's death.
Next, we find the family traveling to Cochin to greet Sophie Mol and her mother, Margaret Kochamma, upon their arrival from England. On their way, they see their servant, Velutha, marching with a group of Communists. Back in the present, Rahel watches Estha undress in the moonlight, neither of them saying a word. The final chapter describes the first night of Ammu's and Velutha's affair. They are both drawn to the riverbank, where they meet and make love for the first time. After that, they continue to meet in secret and share their admiration of "Small Things" such as the creatures of the riverbank. Each night as they part, they say to one another: "Tomorrow? Tomorrow." On the last night they meet before Velutha's death, Ammu is compelled to turn back and repeat one more time: "Tomorrow."
I am doing the connector. This book can connect to the world because its about family consequences. There life was really hard. Inthe book they had a part when they were talkin about how they had famly problems. I found that i can connect to that because i have family problems. Also about love it can connect to the world because everyone has problems with love. One of the characters in the book named Ammu died and 31, an di can connect to that because i had deaths in my fmily be for.
Paratha- Fried flatbread, often stuffed with spiced vegetables, and generally an unsuitable companion to chocolate sauce
Bandh- General strike used as a political protest
Laddoo- A common sort of cookie made of lentil flour, ghee, raisins, nuts, and spices
Diwali- The very popular fall Hindu festival of lights. Also known as "Deepavali." How does this scene affect your perception of her in relation to the Velutha-Ammu love affair
Sara Touzard- Illuminator (part 1) Illuminator is a person that finds quotes that are interesting, confusing, important, etc. They highlight parts of the book explain why the quote was chosen. In the book God of Small Things by: Arundhati Roy, the author uses a lot of descriptions and detail throughout the story and uses figurative language like simile and metaphors.
1) Page 8 (part 2) “During the funeral service, Rahel watched a small black bat climb up Baby Kochamma’s expensive funeral sari with gently clinging curled claws. When it reached the place between her sar and her blouse, her roll of sadness, her bare midriff, Baby Kochamma screamed and hit the air with her hymnbook. The singing stopped for a “Whatisit? Whathappened? And for a Furrywhirring and a Sariflapping.
The sad priests dusted out their curly beards with goldringed fingers as though hidden spiders had spun sudden cobwebs in them.
The baby bat flew up into the sky and turned into a jet plane without a crisscrossed trail.”
I choose this quote because I thought it was funny when Baby Kochamma had a bat behind her back and how she was trying to get rid of it with her sari by moving it back and forth and swating the bat with her hymnbook. Also the way she was freaking out at the bat in the middle of the funeral. When I read this quote I was thinking about how Baby Kochamma would react to the bat as feeling scared and screaming loudly to go away while their was a funeral being held. People might notice her and start to laugh and make fun of her or tell her to be quiet and leave the funeral to get rid of the bat. I think this passage was about Sophie Mol’s funeral and figuring out how she died, how the family was feeling miserable at the funeral and remembering Sophie Mol. I think other people will feel bad that a family member died and probably laugh at Baby Kochamma ‘s scared reaction and not pay attention to the funeral at all. One question I would probably ask the author is why she wanted a character in the story to interrupt a funeral because I think it’s rude that a person interrupts a funeral. The most important change in this section is the loss of Sophie Mol because they are losing a family member that brought joy and excitement. Without Sophie Mol the family would loose a friend, a daughter, and loose their family sprit.
2) Page 42
“Ammu loved her children (of course) but their wide eyed vulnerability and their willingness to love people who didn’t really love them exasperated her and sometimes made her want to hurt them- just as an education, a protection…
To Ammu, hertwins seemed like a pair of small bewildered frogs engrossed in each other’s company, lolloping arm in arm down a highway full of hurtling traffic. Entirely oblivious of what trucks can do to frogs. Ammu watched over them fiercely. Her watchfulness stretched her, made her taut and tense. She was quick to reprimand her children, but even quicker to take offense on their behalf.”
I choose this quote because I thought it was important to show how Ammu feels about being a mother and taking care of her children. Throughout the book the author shows Ammu sometimes disrespecting her children and she yells at them a lot since Estha and Rahel would always get in trouble. This quote brings out Ammu’s caring side and shows how she will always be there for her children no matter what. As I was reading I was thinking about Ammu bringing out her motherly instinct. It kind of reminded of me of how animals protect their young in the wild. But instead of animals Ammu was protecting Estha and Rachel from the outside world. I think this text was about how the family was going somewhere and how Ammu had to make sure that her children stay with her always and not get lost. I think other people think that it’s very important to take care of children and always keep an eye on them. Sometimes children, especially younger children under the age of 10 may walk away or go with a stranger so it’s important to always know where they are. Young children believe everything they hear and are innocent. Ammu is talking about how her kids are easy to fool and need to be protected.
3) Pages 55-56 (p. 4) “Up to the time Chacko arrived, the factory had been a small but profitable enterprise. Mammachi just ran it like a large kitchen. Chacko had it registered as a partnership and informed Mammachi that she was the Sleeping Partner. He invested in equipment (canning machines, cauldrons, cookers) and expanded the labor force. Almost immediately, the financial slide began, but was artificially buoyed by extravagant bank loans that Chacko raised by mortgaging the family’s rice fields around the Ayemenem House. Though Ammu did as much work in the factory as Chacko, whenever he was dealing with food inspectors or sanitary engineers, he always referred to it as my Factory, my pineapples, my pickles. Legally this was the case, because Ammu, as a daughter, had no claim to the property" I choose this quote because I think it’s important to show how women are treated in India. In the book Chacko, Mammachi, and Ammu worked in a family owned business where they make canned preservatives and pickles called Paradise Pickles & Preservatives and they worked as a team to build the factory, get people to work in the factory, and make all the food. Mammachi and Ammu did all of the work making the preserved fruit and pickles work while Chacko got equipment and expanded the business. The company wasn’t working out because Chacko just spent money and did nothing. So when health inspectors and other major food businesses checked the factory out Chacko said that he owned the place and saying that he’s been doing all the work. Mammachi and Ammu were upset at Chacko for not giving them any credit and Chacko owned the property after Ammu’s husband died. In India women are treated like second- hand slaves and mostly stay at home taking care of the children while men are out working. Men have more opportunities than women. Men can own property, get an education, a job, be in a government, and vote. Women in India want to have equal opportunities as men but they can’t, just because they are woman. This text made me feel frustrated because Chacko shouldn’t get any credit for the factory Mammachi should be the person that does because she’s worked hard to get the business running and people should appreciate the work Mammachi put in. Other people might think that Chacko is greedy and only doing it for the money and how he shouldn’t be treating Mammachi like this. Also to appreciate countries that allow women opportunities like voting, getting an education, owning land, being part of the government, etc. because women are still treated badly in today’s world. What I think will happen next in the story is that Chacko and Mammachi might close the business because they might have fights and don’t want to work with each other.
4) Page 155- 156 (p.5) “The door of the furnace changed shut. There were no tears. The crematorium “In charge’ had gone down the road for a cup of tea and didn’t come back for twenty minutes. That’s how long Chacko and Rahel had to wait for the pink receipt that would entitle them to collect Ammu’s remains. Her ashes. The grit from her bones. The teeth from her smile. The whole of her crammed into a little clay pot. Receipt No. Q498673. Rahel asked Chacko how the cremation management knew which ashes were whose. Chacko said they must have a system. Had Estha been with them, he would have kept the receipt. He was the Keeper of Records. The natural custodian of bus tickets, bank receipts, cash memos, check book stubs. Little man lived in the Cara- van. Dum- dum. But Estha wasn’t with them. Everyone decided it was better this way. They wrote to him instead. Mammachi said Rahel should write to. Write what? My dear Estha, How are you? I am well. Ammu died yesterday. Rachel 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. In Pappachi’s study, Rahel (not old, not young) with floor dust on her feet, looked up from the Wisdom Exercise Notebook and saw that Esthappen Un- known was gone. She climbed down (off the stool off the table) and walked out to the verandah. She saw Estha’s back disappearing through the gate. It was midmorning and about to rain again. The green- in the last moments of that strange, glowing, pre- shower light- was fierce. A cock crowed in the distance and its voice separated into two. Like a peeling off an old shoe. Rahel stood there with her tattered Wisdom Notebooks. In the front of the verandah of an old house, below a button- eyed bison head, where years ago, on the day that Sophie Mol came, Welcome Home Our Sophie Mol was performed."
Things can change in a day.”
I choose this quote because I thought it was an interesting yet moving part of the text. While I was reading it I was thinking about how Ammu died and how Rahel, Mammachi, Pappachi, and Estha were feeling because Ammu was a daughter to Mammachi and Pappachi and a mother toward Estha and Rachel. Rahel didn’t want to see her mother die because she loved her dearly even if her and Estha didn’t get along with Ammu that well. They didn’t want to let their mother go before their very eyes. Without a mother Estha and Rahel won’t have anyone to take care of them and understand them as they grow up and become adults and succeed in the future. Imagine if your mother died when you were at a young age. How would you feel? Will life be different without having a mother by your side? Even if Estha and Rahel’s grandparent takes care of them it won’t feel the same love they had toward Ammu. Ammu was a mother that thought differently about her children. Tough on the outside and nurturing on the inside. This text made me think about how I felt about a very close family member dying when I was younger. To feel sad, depressed, lonely, and feel like someone took away your spirit and destroyed it into a million pieces. I think this text was about Ammu’s cremation and how the family felt about her dying. What I think would happen next is that Estha and Rahel are now forced to live with their grandparent and uncle since their mother died and their father left. The most important change in this section is that Estha and Rahel have no mother and now have to live with their grandparent and uncle for the rest of their lives. They have to learn that there is a time in every person’s life when they have to let go and keep going on without their family members. Unfortunately Ammu’s life was cut short. Now Estha and Rahel have to grow up and take responsibility for themselves.
5) Pages 193-194 (final part) “The first third of the river was their friend. Before the Really Deep began. They knew the slippery stone steps (thirteen) before the slimy mud began. They knew the afternoon weed that flowed inwards from the backwaters of Komarakom. They knew the smaller fish. The flat, foolish pallathi, the silver paral, the wily, whispered koori, the sometimes karimeen.
Here Chacko had taught them to swim (splashing around his ample uncle stomach without help).
Here they had discovered for themselves the disconnected delights of underwater farting.
Here they had learned to fish. To thread coiling purple earthworms onto hooks on the fishing rods that Velutha made from slender culms of yellow bamboo.”
I choose this quote because it described a part of Estha and Rachel’s childhood that they remembered. In the book the stories are told in third person and show things that are happening in the Ayemenem house in both the past and present of Estha and Rachel’s family. While I was reading the passage I was imaging Estha and Rachel learning how to swim from Chacko and how they kept splashing their uncle with water and how they learned to fish. This text made me think about what it’s like to be a kid. To have fun and not worry, not have a care in the world. To have someone take care of you and love you. To always be happy, free, to discover new things, and always be curious about life. Even though Estha and Rachel had bad times in their childhood they remember a time when they were feeling positive, and just having a good time with their uncle.At least they had this memory that would always make them smile. (Sorry about the post. The quotes were kind of long and I needed to explain why I choose these quotes.)
Bianca Johnson- Discussion Director
ReplyDeleteThe God of Small Things tells the story of one family in the town of Ayemenem in Kerala, India. The novel opens with Rahel's return to Ayemenem after hearing that her twin brother, Estha, has come home. We switch to the funeral of Sophie Mol, when the twins are seven years old. Rahel believes that Sophie is awake during her funeral and buried alive. The rest of the family refuses to acknowledge the twins and Ammu. On the train ride back to Ayemenem, Ammu cannot speak except to say "He's dead ... I've killed him." Rahel and Estha have not seen each other since Estha was sent away as a child to live with Babu in Assam. Both twins have traveled somewhat aimlessly until returning to their childhood home. Rahel looks out on the family's former factory, Paradise Pickles & Preserves, and contemplates how all the strangeness in her family resolves around the incident of Sophie Mol's death.
Next, we find the family traveling to Cochin to greet Sophie Mol and her mother, Margaret Kochamma, upon their arrival from England. On their way, they see their servant, Velutha, marching with a group of Communists. Back in the present, Rahel watches Estha undress in the moonlight, neither of them saying a word. The final chapter describes the first night of Ammu's and Velutha's affair. They are both drawn to the riverbank, where they meet and make love for the first time. After that, they continue to meet in secret and share their admiration of "Small Things" such as the creatures of the riverbank. Each night as they part, they say to one another: "Tomorrow? Tomorrow." On the last night they meet before Velutha's death, Ammu is compelled to turn back and repeat one more time: "Tomorrow."
I am doing the connector. This book can connect to the world because its about family consequences. There life was really hard. Inthe book they had a part when they were talkin about how they had famly problems. I found that i can connect to that because i have family problems. Also about love it can connect to the world because everyone has problems with love. One of the characters in the book named Ammu died and 31, an di can connect to that because i had deaths in my fmily be for.
ReplyDeleteChristian Plaza- Word Watcher
ReplyDeleteVeshya- another word for prostitute
Calcutta- In the northeast, about as far as it could be from Ayamenem.
mundu- A single piece of cloth arranged as a sort of loose pair of trousers, tied at the waist, worn by both men and women
Kohl- Black eye-liner, used to darken the inner rim of the eyelid.
Malayalam- The chief language of Kerala.
Chachen- another word for Father
Paravan- The first occurrence of this untouchable caste name. Velutha is a paravan.
Laterite- A reddish type of stone
Christian plaza- Word watcher
ReplyDeleteParatha- Fried flatbread, often stuffed with spiced vegetables, and generally an unsuitable companion to chocolate sauce
Bandh- General strike used as a political protest
Laddoo- A common sort of cookie made of lentil flour, ghee, raisins, nuts, and spices
Diwali- The very popular fall Hindu festival of lights. Also known as "Deepavali." How does this scene affect your perception of her in relation to the Velutha-Ammu love affair
Sara Touzard- Illuminator (part 1)
ReplyDeleteIlluminator is a person that finds quotes that are interesting, confusing, important, etc. They highlight parts of the book explain why the quote was chosen. In the book God of Small Things by: Arundhati Roy, the author uses a lot of descriptions and detail throughout the story and uses figurative language like simile and metaphors.
1) Page 8 (part 2)
ReplyDelete“During the funeral service, Rahel watched a small black bat climb up Baby Kochamma’s expensive funeral sari with gently clinging curled claws. When it reached the place between her sar and her blouse, her roll of sadness, her bare midriff, Baby Kochamma screamed and hit the air with her hymnbook. The singing stopped for a “Whatisit? Whathappened? And for a Furrywhirring and a Sariflapping.
The sad priests dusted out their curly beards with goldringed fingers as though hidden spiders had spun sudden cobwebs in them.
The baby bat flew up into the sky and turned into a jet plane without a crisscrossed trail.”
I choose this quote because I thought it was funny when Baby Kochamma had a bat behind her back and how she was trying to get rid of it with her sari by moving it back and forth and swating the bat with her hymnbook. Also the way she was freaking out at the bat in the middle of the funeral. When I read this quote I was thinking about how Baby Kochamma would react to the bat as feeling scared and screaming loudly to go away while their was a funeral being held. People might notice her and start to laugh and make fun of her or tell her to be quiet and leave the funeral to get rid of the bat. I think this passage was about Sophie Mol’s funeral and figuring out how she died, how the family was feeling miserable at the funeral and remembering Sophie Mol. I think other people will feel bad that a family member died and probably laugh at Baby Kochamma ‘s scared reaction and not pay attention to the funeral at all. One question I would probably ask the author is why she wanted a character in the story to interrupt a funeral because I think it’s rude that a person interrupts a funeral. The most important change in this section is the loss of Sophie Mol because they are losing a family member that brought joy and excitement. Without Sophie Mol the family would loose a friend, a daughter, and loose their family sprit.
2) Page 42
“Ammu loved her children (of course) but their wide eyed vulnerability and their willingness to love people who didn’t really love them exasperated her and sometimes made her want to hurt them- just as an education, a protection…
To Ammu, hertwins seemed like a pair of small bewildered frogs engrossed in each other’s company, lolloping arm in arm down a highway full of hurtling traffic. Entirely oblivious of what trucks can do to frogs. Ammu watched over them fiercely. Her watchfulness stretched her, made her taut and tense. She was quick to reprimand her children, but even quicker to take offense on their behalf.”
I choose this quote because I thought it was important to show how Ammu feels about being a mother and taking care of her children. Throughout the book the author shows Ammu sometimes disrespecting her children and she yells at them a lot since Estha and Rahel would always get in trouble. This quote brings out Ammu’s caring side and shows how she will always be there for her children no matter what. As I was reading I was thinking about Ammu bringing out her motherly instinct. It kind of reminded of me of how animals protect their young in the wild. But instead of animals Ammu was protecting Estha and Rachel from the outside world. I think this text was about how the family was going somewhere and how Ammu had to make sure that her children stay with her always and not get lost. I think other people think that it’s very important to take care of children and always keep an eye on them. Sometimes children, especially younger children under the age of 10 may walk away or go with a stranger so it’s important to always know where they are. Young children believe everything they hear and are innocent. Ammu is talking about how her kids are easy to fool and need to be protected.
3) Pages 55-56 (p. 4)
ReplyDelete“Up to the time Chacko arrived, the factory had been a small but profitable enterprise. Mammachi just ran it like a large kitchen. Chacko had it registered as a partnership and informed Mammachi that she was the Sleeping Partner. He invested in equipment (canning machines, cauldrons, cookers) and expanded the labor force. Almost immediately, the financial slide began, but was artificially buoyed by extravagant bank loans that Chacko raised by mortgaging the family’s rice fields around the Ayemenem House. Though Ammu did as much work in the factory as Chacko, whenever he was dealing with food inspectors or sanitary engineers, he always referred to it as my Factory, my pineapples, my pickles. Legally this was the case, because Ammu, as a daughter, had no claim to the property"
I choose this quote because I think it’s important to show how women are treated in India. In the book Chacko, Mammachi, and Ammu worked in a family owned business where they make canned preservatives and pickles called Paradise Pickles & Preservatives and they worked as a team to build the factory, get people to work in the factory, and make all the food. Mammachi and Ammu did all of the work making the preserved fruit and pickles work while Chacko got equipment and expanded the business. The company wasn’t working out because Chacko just spent money and did nothing. So when health inspectors and other major food businesses checked the factory out Chacko said that he owned the place and saying that he’s been doing all the work. Mammachi and Ammu were upset at Chacko for not giving them any credit and Chacko owned the property after Ammu’s husband died. In India women are treated like second- hand slaves and mostly stay at home taking care of the children while men are out working. Men have more opportunities than women. Men can own property, get an education, a job, be in a government, and vote. Women in India want to have equal opportunities as men but they can’t, just because they are woman. This text made me feel frustrated because Chacko shouldn’t get any credit for the factory Mammachi should be the person that does because she’s worked hard to get the business running and people should appreciate the work Mammachi put in. Other people might think that Chacko is greedy and only doing it for the money and how he shouldn’t be treating Mammachi like this. Also to appreciate countries that allow women opportunities like voting, getting an education, owning land, being part of the government, etc. because women are still treated badly in today’s world. What I think will happen next in the story is that Chacko and Mammachi might close the business because they might have fights and don’t want to work with each other.
4) Page 155- 156
ReplyDelete(p.5)
“The door of the furnace changed shut. There were no tears. The crematorium “In charge’ had gone down the road for a cup of tea and didn’t come back for twenty minutes. That’s how long Chacko and Rahel had to wait for the pink receipt that would entitle them to collect Ammu’s remains. Her ashes. The grit from her bones. The teeth from her smile. The whole of her crammed into a little clay pot. Receipt No. Q498673. Rahel asked Chacko how the cremation management knew which ashes were whose. Chacko said they must have a system. Had Estha been with them, he would have kept the receipt. He was the Keeper of Records. The natural custodian of bus tickets, bank receipts, cash memos, check book stubs. Little man lived in the Cara- van. Dum- dum. But Estha wasn’t with them. Everyone decided it was better this way. They wrote to him instead. Mammachi said Rahel should write to. Write what? My dear Estha, How are you? I am well. Ammu died yesterday. Rachel 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.
In Pappachi’s study, Rahel (not old, not young) with floor dust on her feet, looked up from the Wisdom Exercise Notebook and saw that Esthappen Un- known was gone. She climbed down (off the stool off the table) and walked out to the verandah. She saw Estha’s back disappearing through the gate. It was midmorning and about to rain again. The green- in the last moments of that strange, glowing, pre- shower light- was fierce. A cock crowed in the distance and its voice separated into two. Like a peeling off an old shoe.
Rahel stood there with her tattered Wisdom Notebooks. In the front of the verandah of an old house, below a button- eyed bison head, where years ago, on the day that Sophie Mol came, Welcome Home Our Sophie Mol was performed."
Things can change in a day.”
I choose this quote because I thought it was an interesting yet moving part of the text. While I was reading it I was thinking about how Ammu died and how Rahel, Mammachi, Pappachi, and Estha were feeling because Ammu was a daughter to Mammachi and Pappachi and a mother toward Estha and Rachel. Rahel didn’t want to see her mother die because she loved her dearly even if her and Estha didn’t get along with Ammu that well. They didn’t want to let their mother go before their very eyes. Without a mother Estha and Rahel won’t have anyone to take care of them and understand them as they grow up and become adults and succeed in the future. Imagine if your mother died when you were at a young age. How would you feel? Will life be different without having a mother by your side? Even if Estha and Rahel’s grandparent takes care of them it won’t feel the same love they had toward Ammu. Ammu was a mother that thought differently about her children. Tough on the outside and nurturing on the inside. This text made me think about how I felt about a very close family member dying when I was younger. To feel sad, depressed, lonely, and feel like someone took away your spirit and destroyed it into a million pieces. I think this text was about Ammu’s cremation and how the family felt about her dying. What I think would happen next is that Estha and Rahel are now forced to live with their grandparent and uncle since their mother died and their father left. The most important change in this section is that Estha and Rahel have no mother and now have to live with their grandparent and uncle for the rest of their lives. They have to learn that there is a time in every person’s life when they have to let go and keep going on without their family members. Unfortunately Ammu’s life was cut short. Now Estha and Rahel have to grow up and take responsibility for themselves.
5) Pages 193-194
ReplyDelete(final part)
“The first third of the river was their friend. Before the Really Deep began. They knew the slippery stone steps (thirteen) before the slimy mud began. They knew the afternoon weed that flowed inwards from the backwaters of Komarakom. They knew the smaller fish. The flat, foolish pallathi, the silver paral, the wily, whispered koori, the sometimes karimeen.
Here Chacko had taught them to swim (splashing around his ample uncle stomach without help).
Here they had discovered for themselves the disconnected delights of underwater farting.
Here they had learned to fish. To thread coiling purple earthworms onto hooks on the fishing rods that Velutha made from slender culms of yellow bamboo.”
I choose this quote because it described a part of Estha and Rachel’s childhood that they remembered. In the book the stories are told in third person and show things that are happening in the Ayemenem house in both the past and present of Estha and Rachel’s family. While I was reading the passage I was imaging Estha and Rachel learning how to swim from Chacko and how they kept splashing their uncle with water and how they learned to fish. This text made me think about what it’s like to be a kid. To have fun and not worry, not have a care in the world. To have someone take care of you and love you. To always be happy, free, to discover new things, and always be curious about life. Even though Estha and Rachel had bad times in their childhood they remember a time when they were feeling positive, and just having a good time with their uncle.At least they had this memory that would always make them smile.
(Sorry about the post. The quotes were kind of long and I needed to explain why I choose these quotes.)