The God of Small Things LitChart

The God of Small Things

AUTHOR BIOFull Name: Suzanna Arundhati Roy

Pen Name: Arundhati Roy

Date of Birth: 24 November, 1961

Place of Birth: Shillong, India

Date of Death: Still living

Brief Life Story: Roys father was a Hindu tea plantation manager and hermother was a Syrian Christian womens rights activist. Her parents divorcedwhen she was two, and Roy moved with her mother and brother (who wasonly a few months older than she was) to Kerala, the setting of The God ofSmall Things. Roy studied architecture in Delhi, India, and then acted in severalindependent films, and later married filmmaker Pradip Krishen. The God ofSmall Things is her first and only novel, but it immediately became aninternational success and Roy was awarded the Booker Prize in 1997. Sincethen Roy has written many nonfiction essays and has become an outspokencritic of the Indian government, the United States, and global policies ofimperialism, capitalism, and nuclear war. She currently lives in Delhi and isworking on a second novel.

KEY FACTSFull Title: The God of Small Things

Genre: Literary Fiction, Family Drama

Setting: Ayemenem, Kerala, India

Climax: Sophie Mol dies and Velusha is beaten

Protagonists: Estha and Rahel

Antagonists: Pappachi, Baby Kochamma

Point of View: Third person omniscient, free indirect discourse

HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXTWhere Written: Delhi, India

When Written: 1992-1996

When Published: 1997

Literary Period: Contemporary Indian Literature

Related Literary Works: Roy often denies the influence of Salman Rushdie onher work, but he is a famous British Indian contemporary writer (famous forMidnights Children and The Satanic Verses) whose style is similar to Roys. In thetext of The God of Small Things, Roy references such diverse works as F. ScottFitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, andShakespeares The Tempest.

Related Historical Events: The God of Small Things takes place mostly in 1969and 1993, in Ayemenem (Aymanam), in the district of Kerala. Marxist ideasgrew popular in Kerala soon after Indias liberation from British colonial rule,and in 1967 the Naxalite party split off as a more radical Communist groupthan the mainstream. The growing social unrest from these labor movementsaffects the action of the early novel. The ancient Hindu caste system (dividingUntouchables from Touchables, among other rules) was abolished around1950, but many Indians still clung to old traditions and the class divide. Someof the characters in the novel are also Syrian Christians, an ancient communityin Kerala originating with St. Thomas.

EXTRA CREDITThe Sound of Music. As a child, Roys family also made several car journeys tosee The Sound of Music, as it was one of the few English films available. Roysays she didnt like the movie much, but the pilgrimage to see it was like goingto church or something.

Activism. Since the publication of The God of Small Things and her subsequentfame, Roy has become an outspoken activist on many issues in India andthroughout the world. Her opposition to a dam project in India even landedher in jail for a single symbolic day.

The events of The God of Small Things are revealed in a fragmentary manner,mostly jumping back and forth between scenes in 1969 and 1993, withbackstory scattered throughout. The story centers around the wealthy, land-owning, Syrian Christian Ipe family of Ayemenem, a town in Kerala, India. Mostof the plot occurs in 1969, focusing on the seven-year-old twins Estha andRahel, who live with their mother Ammu, their grandmother Mammachi, theiruncle Chacko, and their great-aunt Baby Kochamma.

In the backstory before 1969, Mammachi was married to Pappachi, anImperial Entomologist who beat her cruelly. By 1969 Pappachi is dead andMammachi is blind. Behind her house is the Meenachal River and her picklefactory, Paradise Pickles & Preserves. Baby Kochamma is a bitter, jealous oldwoman who unrequitedly loved an Irish missionary. Chacko went to Oxfordand married Margaret Kochamma, an English woman. They had a daughter,Sophie Mol, and then Margaret left Chacko for a man named Joe. Chackoreturned to Ayemenem and took over the pickle factory. Ammu married Baba,trying to escape Ayemenem, but Baba turned out to be an abusive alcoholic.After the twins were born the two separated and Ammu moved back toAyemenem. In the wider society of Kerala, the Communist Party is gainingpower and threatens to overthrow landlords like the Ipes. The Ipes live nearan Untouchable (an inferior caste) family that includes Velutha, a young manwho works for Chacko and is beloved by the twins.

The main action centers around Sophie Mols visit to Ayemenem. Joe dies in anaccident, and Chacko invites Margaret Kochamma to Ayemenem for theholidays. Estha, Rahel, Ammu, Chacko, and Baby Kochamma make a trip to theairport, and on the way their car is trapped by a Communist march. The familythen goes to see The Sound of Music, and Estha is molested by theOrangedrink Lemondrink Man, a vendor at the theater. The next day Sophieand Margaret arrive, and the family returns to Ayemenem.

Estha fears that the Orangedrink Man will come for him, so he and Rahel find aboat and row across the river to the History House, the abandoned home ofan Englishman who went native. The twins set up a hideout there. MeanwhileAmmu dreams about Velutha, and that night she and Velutha meet by the riverand have sex. They continue to meet every night for the next two weeks.

Finally Vellya Paapen (Veluthas father) comes to Mammachi and confesseshis sons relationship with Ammu. Mammachi and Baby Kochamma lock Ammuin her room, where she screams that the twins are millstones around herneck. The twins decide to run away to the History House, and Sophie Molcomes with them. Their boat tips over as they cross the river and Sophie Moldrowns. The twins reach shore and, terrified, fall asleep in the History House,unaware that Velutha is there too.

Baby Kochamma goes to the police, telling Inspector Thomas Mathew thatVelutha tried to rape Ammu and kidnapped the children. Six policemen findVelutha and beat him brutally in front of Estha and Rahel. When Mathew findsout that Velutha is innocent, he threatens to charge Baby Kochamma. Terrifiedfor herself, she convinces Estha to save Ammu by telling the police thatVelutha killed Sophie Mol. Velutha dies in jail that night. After Sophie Mols

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funeral Baby Kochamma convinces Chacko to throw Ammu out of the house,and Ammu is then forced to return Estha to Baba.

The twins are separated for twenty-three years, during which Estha stopsspeaking altogether. When he is thirty-one Baba re-returns him toAyemenem. Meanwhile Rahel is kicked out of many schools, and Ammu dieswhen Rahel is eleven. Rahel marries an American and lives in Boston, but thengets divorced and returns to Ayemenem when she hears Estha is there.

The twins are reunited in 1993. Mammachi has died and Baby Kochamma andthe cook, Kochu Maria, spend all day watching TV as the house falls apart. TheHistory House has become a five-star hotel. Rahel and Estha (who still doesntspeak) sift through some old trinkets and notebooks and end up reaffirmingtheir closeness by having sex.

Rahel IpeRahel Ipe One of the twins and protagonists of the novel, Rahel is anenergetic, imaginative girl. She and Estha are so close as to almost considerthemselves one person, though their appearances and personalities aredifferent. After Rahel is separated from Estha, she drifts from school to schooland then job to job, lost without her other half. She eventually marries LarryMcCaslin and moves to America, but she and Larry are divorced when RahelsEmptiness becomes too much. When she is thirty-one Rahel returns toAyemenem to see Estha again.

Esthappen YEsthappen Yakako Ipe (Estha)o Ipe (Estha) The other twin and protagonist, Estha is moreserious and well-behaved than Rahel, and he also experiences more of theharshness of the world at an early age. Estha is molested by the OrangedrinkLemondrink Man and then lives in fear that he will be molested again. It isthen Estha who must betray Velutha to his face, so he cannot hide in thefantasies that Rahel allows herself. After Ammus scandal Estha is returnedto live with his alcoholic father Baba, and Estha soon stops speaking entirelyor even acknowledging other people. After twenty-three years Baba re-returns him to Ayemenem and Estha and Rahel are reunited.

AmmuAmmu The mother of the twins, an independent woman who is both a lovingmother and has an unsafe edge. Ammu was beaten cruelly by Pappachi as achild, so she grew up with a natural distrust of patriarchal Indian society. Shemarried Baba to escape Ayemenem, but he was an abusive alcoholic so Ammuleft him after the twins were born. Ammu is then disgraced because of herdivorce, and she causes a huge scandal by having an affair with theuntouchable Velutha. After Sophie Mols death Ammu returns Estha toBaba, as she cant afford to keep both twins. Ammu dies of a lung disease fouryears later, alone in a lodge.

NaNavvomi Ipe (Babomi Ipe (Baby Ky Kochamma)ochamma) Pappachis younger sister, a staunch SyrianChristian who loves Father Mulligan when she is young. Baby Kochamma thengrows into a bitter, jealous woman who betrays Ammu and the twins to saveherself. When she is old she spends all day watching TV while the house fallsapart around her.

ChackChacko Ipeo Ipe Ammus brother, who received all the privilege that Ammu wasdenied. Chacko went to Oxford and became a Rhodes Scholar. While inLondon he married Margaret Kochamma, but she left him after theirdaughter, Sophie Mol, was born. Chacko then returns to Ayemenem and takesover Paradise Pickles. Though Chacko supports Marxism, in practice he acts asa typical landlord with traditional caste prejudices.

MammachiMammachi The mother of Chacko and Ammu, a violinist and pickle-makerwho sees the world in strict divisions of class, wealth, and caste. She enduresPappachis violence without complaint, but after Chacko stops Pappachi,Mammachi comes to love Chacko with an almost sexual love.

Sophie MolSophie Mol The daughter of Chacko and Margaret Kochamma, Sophie isbeloved by all the Ipes because of her whiteness and beauty. The twinsbefriend her for the short period before her death. Her visit is the setting formost of the novels action.

VVeluthaelutha A Paravan (Untouchable) who grew up with Ammu and is veryskilled with his hands. He is an excellent carpenter and fixes all the machines inthe pickle factory, but is still treated as second-class. He grows into a

handsome young man and is beloved by the twins. His affair with Ammu,betrayal, and brutal death make up much of the novels tragedy.

Shri Benaan John Ipe (PShri Benaan John Ipe (Pappachi)appachi) Mammachis husband, an ImperialEntomologist who discovered a new species of moth but then didnt have itnamed after him. This haunts him ever after, and Pappachi grows angry andcruel later in life. He viciously beats Mammachi and Ammu, all while acting likea kind husband and father in public.

Margaret KMargaret Kochammaochamma Chackos English wife and Sophie Mols mother. Herparents dont approve of her marriage to Chacko, and she later leaves him forJoe.

KKochu Mariaochu Maria The cook of the Ipe family, an extremely short, bad-temperedwoman who comes to share in Baby Kochammas TV addiction.

VVellya Pellya Paapenaapen Veluthas father, an Untouchable with a glass eye that theIpes paid for. Though he loves his son, he is willing to kill Velutha to fulfill hissocial obligation.

ComrComrade K. N. M. Pillaiade K. N. M. Pillai The ambitious leader of the Communist Party inAyemenem. He is an opportunistic man who prints labels for Chackos picklefactory while also trying to convince Chackos laborers to revolt.

BabaBaba The father of Rahel and Estha, and ex-husband of Ammu. Aftermarrying him, Ammu learns that he is an alcoholic and compulsive liar. He triesto prostitute Ammu to his boss in order to keep his job and later growsabusive, and then Ammu leaves with the children.

Inspector Thomas MathewInspector Thomas Mathew A police inspector of Kerala who sends theofficers to beat Velutha. When it seems like Velutha might be innocent, he tellsBaby Kochammas that the twins will have to implicate Velutha or else he willcharge Baby with the crime.

The OrThe Orangedrink Langedrink Lemondrink Manemondrink Man An ugly older man who works in themovie theater and molests Estha.

KuttapenKuttapen Veluthas paralyzed brother.

LLenin Pillaienin Pillai Comrade Pillais son.

Father MulliganFather Mulligan An Irish missionary that Baby Kochamma lovesunrequitedly. He comes to India to refute Hinduism, but ends up becoming aHindu himself.

Larry McCaslinLarry McCaslin Rahels ex-husband from Boston.

JoeJoe The man Margaret Kochamma leaves Chacko for. He dies in anaccident.

UrumbanUrumban Not a real character, a twin that Velutha invents to pretend hewasnt in the Communist march, and that the twins then use to avoid thinkingabout Veluthas death.

Kari SaipuKari Saipu An Englishman who went native and lived in the HistoryHouse.

ReRevverend E. John Ipe (Punnerend E. John Ipe (Punnyan Kunju)yan Kunju) The father of Baby Kochamma andPappachi, a minister who was famous for having been blessed by the Patriarchof Antioch.

DrDr. V. Verghese Verghese Vergheseerghese A doctor who treats children and sexually harassestheir mothers.

Miss MittenMiss Mitten Baby Kochammas Australian missionary friend who dislikesthe twins.

MurlidharMurlidharanan An insane man who sits on a milestone, counting his keys.

ComrComrade E. M. S. Namboodiripadade E. M. S. Namboodiripad The leader of the Communist Party inKerala.

KKochu Thombanochu Thomban The Ayemenem temple elephant.

In LitCharts each theme gets its own color. Our color-coded theme boxesmake it easy to track where the themes occur throughout the work.

CHARACHARACTERSCTERS

THEMESTHEMES



FFAMILAMILY AND SOCIAL OBLIGAY AND SOCIAL OBLIGATIONTIONThe God of Small Things basically deals with the complicated relationshipsbetween members of the Ipe family in Ayemenem, India. Each family memberhas different factors weighing on their relationships, like social obligation,familial duty, and personal dislike. Baby Kochamma, one of the books mostnegative characters, allows her personal grudges and preoccupation withsocietys approval to lead her to betray her own family. Outside of the Ipes,Vellya Paapen also chooses his duty to society over familial love when heoffers to kill his son, the Untouchable Velutha, for sleeping with Ammu. It isthis tension between internal love and social obligations that makes up most ofthe novels conflict.

The most important relationship of the book is between the twins Estha andRahel and their mother, Ammu. The twins see themselves as almost oneperson, and their closeness is a shelter from the harsh political and socialforces of their world. The twins relationship with Ammu is also very complex,as Ammu is both a loving mother and an unpredictable woman who sometimessays and does things that hurt her children deeply. The very existence of thetwins in her current state of divorce is also a disgrace for Ammu in Indiansociety. Mammachi deals with social and personal issues with her children aswell, as she loves Chacko with a repressed sexuality and forgives his affairs,but disowns Ammu when Ammu sleeps with an Untouchable. Familial love isalways struggling with society and duty in the novel, and it is rarely victorious.

INDIAN POLITICS, SOCIETYINDIAN POLITICS, SOCIETY, AND CLASS, AND CLASSThe members of the Ipe family deal with a variety of social and politicalinfluences that cause much internal and external struggle in the novel. In thelarger society of Kerala, India (in the 1969 portion of the novel), Marxist ideashave taken root and begin to upset the class system of landlords and laborers.This directly affects Paradise Pickles and the characters of Velutha, Chacko,and Comrade Pillai. The ancient Hindu caste system is another importantfactor this system was officially abolished years earlier, but it still remainsstrongly imprinted on the minds of the public. The Love Laws of the castesystem are of particular significance, particularly the divide betweenTouchables and Untouchables (a caste seen as vastly inferior).

Most of the Ipe family is also Syrian Christian, and Mammachi and BabyKochamma in particular use their faith to justify many of their actions. Esthaand Rahel, who are half-Hindu, half-Syrian Christian, must then struggle withthis conflicting identity. The gender double standard of Indian society isanother large factor in the plot, as Pappachi and Chackos sins are generallyoverlooked, while Ammu is disgraced and scorned for being divorced. Overall,the small things that occur between the characters of the novel serve as amicrocosm for the big things happening throughout India, as many politicaland social forces struggle against each other and the country leans towardsviolence and unrest.

LLOOVE AND SEXUVE AND SEXUALITYALITYLove comes in many forms in The God of Small Things, but it is most importantwhen it crosses divides of society and duty. The relationship between Esthaand Rahel is the strongest of the book, as the two are so close as to almostconsider themselves one person. Yet when the young Rahel lists the peopleshe loves she does not include Estha, but instead those she is supposed tolove according to familial duty. Roy emphasizes the Love Laws early andoften, foreshadowing the importance she will give to love that crossesboundaries of society and tradition. The central example of this is Ammusrelationship with Velutha, an Untouchable. This relationship is horrifying tothe community and leads to Veluthas death and Ammus exile, but it is also themost positive example of romantic love in the novel.

Unfortunately, love and sexuality often take on more violent and oppressiveforms, as Mammachi is beaten by her husband and Estha is molested by theOrangedrink Lemondrink Man. Roy ends the novel with Estha and Rahelsincestuous union after they are reunited, followed by Ammus first sexualencounter with Velutha. The poetic descriptions and juxtaposition of thesescenes against violence and death gives them greater impact, and throughthem Roy shows that love can cross divides of politics and hatred. Even thoughsuch love can lead to tragedy, it is still incredibly valuable.

CHANGE VS. PRESERVCHANGE VS. PRESERVAATIONTIONMany characters try to preserve old memories and traditions in the novel, butRoy also portrays the inevitable march of change through small shifts in thestatus quo. Paradise Pickles & Preserves is the most obvious symbol ofpreservation (pickling things to preserve them), as Mammachi and the peopleof Ayemenem cling to the old caste system and the gender double standard. Inplaces like Mammachis house and the History House things linger from thepast and are nursed and kept alive, like the Loss of Sophie Mol or the ghostof Kari Saipu. Other than through its name, the History House also becomes asymbol of preservation as the resting place of Rahels plastic watch with thetime painted on it a small example of literally freezing time.

Despite these attempts at preservation, the pickle jars keep leaking, and oneof the books common refrains is things can change in a day. Much of theaction takes place in two days, one in 1969 and one in 1993 the days ofSophie Mols death and Rahels reunion with Estha. The efforts to preservetradition are eroded away, and change still comes to both characters andcountry through the small things. Ammu gets divorced and then loves anUntouchable, defying gender roles and the caste system, and the Marxistmovement gains power and overturns the system of landlords and laborers.Small things like Ammus warning that she loves Rahel a little less lead to bigevents like Rahel and Estha running away, which in turn leads to Sophie Molsdeath.

SMALL THINGSSMALL THINGSIn both the novels title and in her writing style, Roy emphasizes the smallmoments, objects, and changes that symbolize and lead to the Big Things inlife, like death, love, and political upheaval. Much of The God of Small Things iswritten in a kind of free indirect discourse, a style where the third-personnarrator partly perceives the world in the childlike way that young Estha andRahel do. This leads to many words written oddly (like Bar Nowl or LocustsStand I) but also to an emphasis on the innocent way a child sees the world,focusing on certain images and words. Through this lens, Roy dwells on smallthings like Rahels watch, Esthas Two Thoughts, and the little Marxist flaginstead of straightforwardly describing the plot of the story.

Within the narrative itself, Roy often points out that small talk is a mask forlarge, hidden feelings. The most important example of this is in Ammu andVelushas relationship at the end of the book. Instead of speaking of the hugetaboo they are breaking or the impossibility of their future, the two loversfocus on the bugs in the jungle around them and look no farther thantomorrow. While the Big Things eventually reveal themselves, it is the smallthings of the novel that make the story so poignant and human, and Royswriting style so intimate.

Symbols appear in red text throughout the Summary & Analysis sections ofthis LitChart.

PAPPACHIS MOTHThe actual moth was an insect that Pappachi discovered while he was ImperialEntomologist, and he believed it to be a new species. Later in his life, otherlepidopterists decided that the moth actually was a new species, but theydidnt name it after Pappachi and he considers this the greatest failure of hislife. The narrator muses that this moth has haunted the family ever since,beginning with Pappachis bursts of rage and domestic abuse. In the presentday of the novel, Pappachis moth becomes an eerie symbol of fear andunhappiness, particularly for Rahel. When something bad happens she feelsthe moth with unusually dense dorsal tufts land on her heart, and when shefeels safer or more loved the moth lets go for a while.

PARADISE PICKLES & PRESERVESThe pickle factory next to the Ipe house becomes a plot point as its laborersflirt with Marxism and rebellion, but the pickles themselves are symbolic of thetheme of preservation. Pickling the fruits and vegetables is essentiallypreserving them so they last forever, just like the Ipe family tries to preserve

SYMBOLSSYMBOLS



the past notably the memory of Sophie Mols death and the old dividesbetween landlords and laborers, Touchables and Untouchables. Within thepickle factory itself, the banana jam Mammachi makes is also symbolic, asbanana jam is illegal to sell because it cannot be properly categorized as eitherjam or jelly. Rahel compares this to much of the familys conflict, as lines ofreligion and caste are blurred and this confusion of categories leads totragedy.

The color-coded boxes under each quote below make it easy to track thethemes related to each quote. Each color corresponds to one of the themesexplained in the Themes section of this LitChart.

CHAPTER 1It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longerthan the memory of the life that it purloined. Over the years, as the memory ofSophie Mol slowly faded, the Loss of Sophie Mol grew robust and alive. Itwas always there. Like a fruit in season. Every season.

Narrator

He didnt know that in some places, like the country that Rahel came from,various kinds of despair competed for primacy. And that personal despair couldnever be desperate enough. That something happened when personal turmoildropped by at the wayside shrine of the vast, violent, circling, driving,ridiculous, insane, unfeasible, public turmoil of a nation. That Big God howledlike a hot wind, and demanded obeisance. Then Small God (cozy andcontained, private and limited) came away cauterized, laughing numbly at hisown temerity.

Narrator

They used to make pickles, squashes, jams, curry powders and cannedpineapples. And banana jam (illegally) after the FPO (Food ProductsOrganization) banned it because according to their specifications it wasneither jam nor jelly. Too thin for jelly and too thick for jam. An ambiguous,unclassifiable consistency, they said Looking back now, to Rahel it seemed asthough this difficulty that their family had with classification ran much deeperthan the jam-jelly question They all broke the rules. They all crossed intoforbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who shouldbe loved and how. And how much. The laws that make grandmothersgrandmothers, uncles uncles, mothers mothers, cousins cousins, jam jam, andjelly jelly.

Narrator

Perhaps its true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours canaffect the outcome of whole lifetimes. And that when they do, those few dozenhours, like the salvaged remains of a burned house the charred clock, thesinged photograph, the scorched furniture must be resurrected from theruins and examined. Preserved. Accounted for.Little events, ordinary things, smashed and reconstituted. Imbued with newmeaning. Suddenly they become the bleached bones of a story.

Narrator

CHAPTER 2What was it that gave Ammu this Unsafe Edge? This air of unpredictability? Itwas what she had battling inside her. An unmixable mix. The infinitetenderness of motherhood and the reckless rage of a suicide bomber. It wasthis that grew inside her, and eventually led her to love by night the man her

children loved by day. To use by night the boat that her children used by day.The boat that Estha sat on, and Rahel found.

Narrator

The marchers that day were party workers, students and the laborersthemselves. Touchables and Untouchables. On their shoulders they carried akeg of ancient anger, lit with a recent fuse. There was an edge to this angerthat was Naxalite, and new.

Narrator

Pappachi would not allow Paravans into the house. Nobody would. They werenot allowed to touch anything that Touchables touched. Caste Hindus andCaste Christians. Mammachi told Estha and Rahel that she could remember atime, in her girlhood, when Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with abroom, sweeping away their footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christianswould not defile themselves by accidentally stepping into a Paravansfootprint.

Narrator

Stop posing as the childrens Great Savior! Ammu said. When it comes downto brass tacks, you dont give a damn about them. Or me.Should I? Chacko said. Are they my responsibility?He said that Ammu and Estha and Rahel were millstones around his neck.

Ammu, Chacko

CHAPTER 4Dyou know what happens when you hurt people? Ammu said. When youhurt people, they begin to love you less. Thats what careless words do. Theymake people love you a little less.

A cold moth with unusually dense dorsal tufts landed lightly on Rahels heart.Where its icy legs touched her, she got goosebumps. Six goosebumps on hercareless heart.A little less her Ammu loved her.

Ammu

CHAPTER 6And the Air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these, onlythe Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside.

Narrator

CHAPTER 8She was aware of his libertine relationships with the women in the factory, buthad ceased to be hurt by them. When Baby Kochamma brought up the subject,Mammachi became tense and tight-lipped.He cant help having a Mans Needs, she said primly.Surprisingly, Baby Kochamma accepted this explanation, and the enigmatic,secretly thrilling notion of Mens Needs gained implicit sanction in theAyemenem House. Neither Mammachi nor Baby Kochamma saw anycontradiction between Chackos Marxist mind and feudal libido.

Narrator, Mammachi

QUOQUOTESTES



Suddenly Ammu hoped that it had been him that Rahel saw in the march Shehoped that under his careful cloak of cheerfulness he housed a living,breathing anger against the smug, ordered world that she so raged againstThe man standing in the shade of the rubber trees with coins of sunshinedancing on his body, holding her daughter in his arms, glanced up and caughtAmmus gaze. Centuries telescoped into one evanescent moment. History waswrong-footed, caught off guard.

Narrator

In her growing years, Ammu had watched her father weave his hideous web.He was charming and urbane with visitors, and stopped just short of fawningon them if they happened to be white. He donated money to orphanages andleprosy clinics. He worked hard on his public profile as a sophisticated,generous, moral man. But alone with his wife and children he turned into amonstrous, suspicious bully, with a streak of vicious cunning. They werebeaten, humiliated and then made to suffer the envy of friends and relationsfor having such a wonderful husband and father.

Narrator

CHAPTER 9The earthly remains of Paradise Pickles & Preserves.Where long ago, on the day that Sophie Mol came, Ambassador E. Pelvisstirred a pot of scarlet jam and thought Two Thoughts. Where a red, tender-mango-shaped secret was pickled, sealed and put away.Its true. Things can change in a day.

Narrator

CHAPTER 10Velutha shrugged and took the towel away to wash. And rinse. And beat. Andwring. As though it was his ridiculous, disobedient brain.He tried to hate her.Shes one of them, he told himself. Just another one of them.He couldnt.She had deep dimples when she smiled. Her eyes were always somewhere else.Madness slunk in through a chink in History. It took only a moment.

Velutha

CHAPTER 11If he touched her he couldnt talk to her, if he loved her he couldnt leave, if he spokehe couldnt listen, if he fought he couldnt win.

Who was he, the one-armed man? Who could he have been? The God of Loss?The God of Small Things? The God of Goosebumps and Sudden Smiles?

Narrator

As the door was slowly battered down, to control the trembling of her hands,Ammu would hem the ends of Rahels ribbons that didnt need hemming.Promise me youll always love each other, shed say, as she drew her childrento her.Promise, Estha and Rahel would say. Not finding words with which to tell herthat for them there was no Each, no Other.Ammu, Estha, Rahel

CHAPTER 13Because of you! Ammu had screamed. If it wasnt for you I wouldnt be here!None of this would have happened! I wouldnt be here! I would have beenfree! I should have dumped you in an orphanage the day you were born! Yourethe millstones round my neck!

Ammu

Vellya Paapen began to cry. Half of him wept. Tears welled up in his real eyeand shone on his black cheek. With his other eye he stared stonily ahead. Anold Paravan, who had seen the Walking Backwards days, torn between Loyaltyand Love.Then the Terror took hold of him and shook the words out of him. He toldMammachi what he had seen. The story of the little boat that crossed the rivernight after night, and who was in it. The story of a man and woman, standingtogether in the moonlight. Skin to skin.

Narrator

CHAPTER 14With a street fighters unerring instincts, Comrade Pillai knew that hisstraitened circumstances (his small, hot house, his grunting mother, hisobvious proximity to the toiling masses) gave him a power over Chacko that inthose revolutionary times no amount of Oxford education could match.He held his poverty like a gun to Chackos head.

Narrator

CHAPTER 16Sophie Mol? she whispered to the rushing river. Were here! Here! Near theillimba tree!Nothing.On Rahels heart Pappachis moth snapped open its somber wingsThere was no storm-music. No whirlpool spun up from the inky depths of theMeenachal. No shark supervised the tragedy.Just a quiet handing-over ceremony. A boat spilling its cargo. A river acceptingthe offering. One small life. A brief sunbeam. With a silver thimble clenched forluck in its little fist.

Narrator, Rahel

CHAPTER 18Blue-lipped and dinner-plate-eyed, they watched, mesmerized by somethingthat they sensed but didnt understand: the absence of caprice in what thepolicemen did. The abyss where anger should have been. The sober, steadybrutality, the economy of it all.They were opening a bottle.Or shutting a tap.Cracking an egg to make an omelette.The twins were too young to know that these were only historys henchmen.Sent to square the books and collect the dues from those who broke its laws.Impelled by feelings that were primal yet paradoxically wholly impersonal.Feelings of contempt born of inchoate, unacknowledged fear civilizationsfear of nature, mens fear of women, powers fear of powerlessness.

Narrator



CHAPTER 19The twins looked up at her. Not together (but almost) two frightened voiceswhispered, Save Ammu.In the years to come they would replay this scene in their heads. As children.As teenagers. As adults. Had they been deceived into doing what they did?Had they been tricked into condemnation?In a way, yes. But it wasnt as simple as that. They both knew that they hadbeen given a choice. And how quick they had been in the choosing! Theyhadnt given it more than a second of thought before they looked up and said(not together, but almost) Save Ammu. Save us. Save our mother.

Estha, Rahel

Inspector Thomas Mathew squatted on his haunches and raked his jeep keyacross the sole of Veluthas foot. Swollen eyes opened. Wandered. Thenfocused through a film of blood on a beloved child. Estha imagined thatsomething in him smiled. Not his mouth, but some other unhurt part of himThe Inspector asked his question. Esthas mouth said Yes.Childhood tiptoed out.Silence slid in like a bolt.Someone switched off the light and Velutha disappeared.

Narrator

CHAPTER 20This was the stuff their dreams were made of. On the day that Estha wasReturned. Chalk. Blackboards. Proper punishments.They didnt ask to be let off lightly. They asked only for punishments that fittedtheir crimes. Not ones that came like cupboards with built-in bedrooms. Notones you spent your whole life in, wandering through its maze of shelves.

Narrator

There was very little that anyone could say to clarify what happened next.Nothing that (in Mammachis book) would separate Sex from Love. Or Needsfrom FeelingsBut what was there to say?Only that there were tears. Only that Quietness and Emptiness fittedtogether like stacked spoons Only that what they shared that night was nothappiness, but hideous grief.Only that once again they broke the Love Laws. That lay down who should beloved. And how. And how much.

Narrator

CHAPTER 21Even later, on the thirteen nights that followed this one, instinctively theystuck to the Small Things. The Big Things ever lurked inside. They knew thatthere was nowhere for them to go. They had nothing. No future. So they stuckto the small things.

Narrator

The color-coded boxes under "Analysis & Themes" below make it easy to trackthe themes throughout the work. Each color corresponds to one of thethemes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart.

CHAPTER 1: PARADISE PICKLES & PRESERVESThe narrator introduces Ayemenem, asmall town in Kerala, India, anddescribes the humid jungle and themonsoons that come in June. In 1993Rahel Ipe is returning to herchildhood home in Ayemenem, whereher great-aunt Navomi Ipe (whomeveryone calls Baby Kochamma) stilllives. Rahel has come back see herdizygotic twin Estha, who she hasntseen in twenty-three years. Aschildren Rahel and Estha didnt lookalike, but they always thought ofthemselves as a single person inseparate bodies, and they sharecertain memories and dreams thatonly one twin experienced.

The story will be told in fragments,mostly jumping between scenes in 1969(focusing on Sophie Mols visit) and1993, when the twins are reunited atage thirty-one. This style, focusing onsmall moments broken apart andexamined separately, connects to thetheme of small things in the novel.Kochamma is a female honorific title,not an actual name.

After their long separation, however,the twins are now distinct individualsand strangers from each other. Thenarrator describes their birth. Thetwins parents, Baba and Ammu, weredriving to the hospital when their carbroke down, so they had to take a bus.Estha and Rahel were almost born inthe bus, and later they wished theyhad been, as they got the idea that itwould mean free bus passes for life.

The relationship between Estha andRahel is one of the most important of thebook, as they think of themselves as asingle entity, but then have differentexperiences and are separated for years.The Ipe family is relatively well off theyhave a car.

The story then jumps to 1969 (whenthe twins are seven years old), to thefuneral for Sophie Mol, Estha andRahels cousin and the daughter oftheir uncle Chacko, Ammus sister.Sophie was visiting from Englandwhen she died. At the funeral Ammu,Estha, and Rahel are made to standapart from the rest of the mourners.Rahel imagines that Sophie Mol is stillalive in her coffin, showing Rahel theceiling of the church. Rahel imagines aman falling from the ceiling and dying,and she thinks of other breakingmen and a smell like old roses. Rahelthen watches a bat climb up BabyKochammas sari, and she sees SophieMol cartwheel in her coffin whileeveryone is distracted.

Roy creates tension by basicallyrevealing the end (Sophie Mol will die) atthe beginning, and then jumping backand forth in time to slowly reveal howthis comes to pass. Mol is a termmeaning girl, and again Kochamma isan honorific Roys style of free indirectdiscourse involves telling the story partlythrough the eyes of the young twins, sothese characters (and others, like Ammu)are only named in the way the twins referto them. Rahel clearly has a very activeimagination that allows her to avoidconfronting tragedy.

After the funeral Ammu and the twinsgo to the police station, and Ammuasks to see someone named Velutha.Thomas Mathew, the police inspector,calls Ammu a veshya (prostitute) andthreatens her if she doesnt go homequietly. Ammu leaves and starts to cry,and Estha helps her onto a bus andhugs her.

There is more to this ending than justSophie Mols death, as Ammu has beensocially disgraced in some way. The storystarts out very confusingly, but Roy givesout enough information to keep up thetension.

SUMMARY & ANALSUMMARY & ANALYSISYSIS



Two weeks after that, Estha wasReturned sent to live with hisfather (the twins parents aredivorced) in Calcutta. Soon afterwardhe began to grow quieter and quieteruntil he stopped speaking altogether.The quietness helped him erase thewords describing his painfulmemories, and he began to take longwalks around the neighborhood.Twenty-three years later, Baba hasre-returned Estha to Ayemenem,and now Estha walks around the oldfamiliar places of the village. SinceRahel has returned, however, thequietness in Esthas head has beenbroken by the sounds of memories.

We first see the results of whatevertrauma occurred around Sophie Molsdeath. The twins, who consideredthemselves as almost one person, areseparated for years, and Estha retreatsinto silence to avoid his terriblememories. Roy capitalizes andemphasizes certain phrases that linger inthe childrens consciousness (like Esthabeing Returned), as part of her style ofpresenting the world as the twinsperceive it.

The story then follows Rahel after herseparation from Estha. She lived withher uncle Chacko and grandmotherMammachi in Ayemenem during thesummers, where the Loss of SophieMol still remained long after thememory of Sophie Mol herself faded.Meanwhile Rahel drifted from schoolto school, get expelled for differentstrange reasons like stealing ateachers wig and purposefullycrashing into other students. Basicallyshe was exercising her curiosity aboutthe world, as no one was around toraise her or teach her about life.

The Loss of Sophie Mol is a separateentity from Sophie Mol herself, whichintroduces the theme of preservation.Whatever traumatic events occurred in1969 have lingered on in the AyemenemHouse, despite Esthas attempts tosilence them. Rahel kept her curiosityand active imagination, but both twinsact like lost souls without the otheraround.

Rahel eventually went to anarchitecture college in Delhi, whereshe stayed for eight years withoutever graduating. There she met LarryMcCaslin, an American student, andshe married him and moved toBoston. Eventually he grew weary ofher constant detachment anddepression, as she watched horriblethings happening in India and alwaysfelt an emptiness where Estha used tobe. They were divorced, and thenRahel heard that Estha had come backto Ayemenem, so she returned as well.

Roy also attended architecture college,and also grew up in Kerala with a brotherof similar age. Later the narrator willcharacterize the adult Estha asQuietness and the adult Rahel asEmptiness, both of them lost withoutthe other. The personal trauma of the Ipefamily is also shown as just a fragment ofthe political upheaval happening in India.

Baby Kochamma, who is now eighty-three, is pleased that Estha doesntspeak to Rahel when they interactnow, and she gets no specialtreatment from him. Baby Kochammadoesnt like the twins, and she wishesthey would leave soon, as they makeher uncomfortable. In her old age shehas started wearing all ofMammachis jewelry at once andputting on lots of makeup.

Baby Kochamma will be an antagonist tothe twins and Ammu. Each of the familymembers struggle with social obligation,love, and personal dislike in theirrelationships, but Baby Kochammaalways puts her own well-being first.With her makeup and jewelry, BabyKochamma is just another thing beingpreserved in Ayemenem.

When she was eighteen, BabyKochamma fell in love with an Irishmonk named Father Mulligan. FatherMulligan would visit BabyKochammas father, who was areverend in the Syrian Christiancommunity (and famous for oncehaving been blessed by the Patriarchof Antioch), and Baby Kochammawould make up questions about theBible as an excuse to talk to him. Thenshe started performing charitableactions to impress him, but nothingever came of it.

The Patriarch of Antioch is the head ofthe Syrian Christian Church. ThoughBaby Kochamma has a tragic backstoryof unrequited love, even in her youth shewas very self-centered using herChristianity and charitable acts only as ameans of seeming like a good person tosociety and Father Mulligan.

Eventually Father Mulligan left Keralaand Baby Kochamma followed him toMadras, defying her father andbecoming a Roman Catholic. Shejoined a convent, but soon realizedshe would hardly ever see FatherMulligan, so she sent for her father tofetch her. Her father knew she wasunlikely to find a husband now, so hesent her to school to studyOrnamental Gardening. BabyKochamma never stopped lovingFather Mulligan from afar, but shestayed in Ayemenem, grew very fat,and spent all her time gardening.

Roy will often criticize the patriarchalsystem of India, where a man-lesswoman has basically wasted her life andis seen as worthless. Baby Kochammasticks with the status quo and allowsherself to decline without a husband,spending all her time mourning andpreserving Father Mulligans memory, aswell as indulging in her own personalgrudges and jealousy.

Almost fifty years later BabyKochamma discovered television, andsince then her garden has beenabandoned. She and Kochu Maria, thehouse cook, watch American TVshows all day and enter all thecontests they see. Baby Kochammahas also grown very paranoid, and shekeeps her doors, windows, and evenher refrigerator locked.

Roy will later comment that BabyKochammas paranoia is based in thefear of being displaced the Ipe familyis of an upper class of landowners, andBaby Kochamma is the type to cling toold class divisions and fear any kind ofsocial change.

Baby Kochamma questions Rahelsuspiciously, but Rahel ignores her.Rahel looks out at the old picklefactory, Paradise Pickles & Preserves,which sits between the house and theriver. Mammachi used to run it andmake a variety of preserved products,including banana jam, which wasofficially illegal as it could not becategorized as either jam or jelly.Rahel thinks about how this difficultywith classification is the source ofmany of her familys troubles, as theyall broke some kind of social rule.

The pickle factory is an importantsymbol of the theme of preservation, asthe Ipes (especially Mammachi, thepickle maker) preserve old traditions andclass divisions. Even Mammachi makesbanana jam, however suggesting thatnone of the Ipes could stick to the statusquo, and this ultimately led to tragedy.Roy just hasnt said what kind of tragedyyet.

The story jumps back to 1969, afterSophie Mols death, when BabyKochamma acted self-righteouslypious even though much of thetrouble was her fault. Ammuconsulted a Twin Expert aboutseparating her children, and theexpert said that it would be okay tosend Estha away. So Estha took thetrain to Madras and then to Calcutta,still haunted by the face of a beat-upyoung man and the smell of old roses.

We still dont know what BabyKochamma has done, but she alreadyappears as a negative character becauseof her self-righteousness, laziness, andjealousy. She clearly puts herself and thefamily name above the actual othermembers of the family. Certain smallthings like the smell of old roses signify big things and lingering memories.



The narrator steps back, musing thatthings can change in a day, and thatlittle, seemingly ordinary things canadd up to life-changing events. Thestory potentially began with SophieMols arrival in India, but the narratorsays that it also could have beguncenturies before, when the Hinducaste system was laid down, includingthe Love Laws.

The novel contains a contradictory mixof small things the little moments andobjects that Roy uses to build up a story,and a writing style that takes a childlikeview of a brutal world and big things,like the ancient caste system andpolitical turmoil in India. Despite thefamilys attempts at preservation, thingscan change in a day is one of the novelsmost frequent refrains.

CHAPTER 2: PAPPACHIS MOTHThe narrative picks up in 1969 asEstha, Rahel, Ammu, Chacko, andBaby Kochamma drive in the familysblue Plymouth to Cochin, where theywill see The Sound of Music (for thethird time), stay at the Hotel SeaQueen, and then pick up Sophie Moland her mother, MargaretKochamma, from the airport.Margaret Kochamma is Chackos ex-wife, an English woman who left himfor a man named Joe. Joe has recentlydied, and Chacko invited Margaretand Sophie to spend the holidays withhim in Ayemenem.

Sophie Mol and Margaret Kochammasarrival in India is the setting for most ofthe novels action. The Ipes are an upper-class family with their own car (andpickle factory). Roy herself said that herfamily also made pilgrimages to seeThe Sound of Music when she wasyoung.

The narrator gives variousdescriptions of the characters in thecar. Ammu currently has no surname,as she can only choose between herex-husbands name or her fathersname. Estha has his hair in an Elvispuff, and Rahel has her hair tied up ina band called a Love-in-Tokyo. She iswearing a watch with the time paintedon it. Chacko, a former Rhodesscholar, quotes from The Great Gatsbyas they drive.

Ammu is also a man-less woman likeBaby Kochamma, but Ammu refuses toaccept her situation as inferior, and sherages against the unfair patriarchalsociety. Certain descriptors like the Puffand the Love-in-Tokyo come up againand again, emphasizing the innocenceand youthfulness of the twins.

Ammu is twenty-seven years old, andshe remembers her past, mostly herfatal mistake of marrying the wrongman. When she was eighteen shemoved with her father to Ayemenem,and because she had no dowry no oneasked to marry her. The rebellious,independent Ammu escaped for asummer to Calcutta, where she mether husband at a wedding reception.They moved to Assam and were happyfor a while, until Ammu learned thather husband was an alcoholic and acompulsive liar.

Ammus father was cruel and abusive (aswe will learn) and her husband was aswell, but Ammu can still only choosebetween these mens last names to haveany kind of social standing. Ammu hasthe kind of fiery, independent spirit thatrebels against the injustice she grew upwith, but as a divorced woman she isbasically powerless.

After Estha and Rahel were born,Ammus husband (Baba) tried toprostitute her to his boss in order tokeep his job (which he was losingbecause of drinking), and he beat herwhen she refused. When the violencecontinued and spread to the children,Ammu left her husband and returnedto Ayemenem. Her parents reluctantlytook her back, but she was alwaysdisgraced in the town for being adivorcee.

Instead of offering an escape from heroppressive life in Ayemenem, Baba justbecomes another man abusing his powerover Ammu. The Ipe family and thepeople of Ayemenem still cling to thetraditional views of a man-less womanas worthless and disgraceful.Unfortunately, most of the loverelationships in the novel are abusive andunhealthy.

The narrator describes AmmusUnsafe Edge, how on certain daysshe would seem dangerous and wild,like she had nothing to lose, but onother days she was a caring, maturemother to the twins. The narratormuses that it was her recklessnessthat led her to later love by night theman her children loved by day.

Ammus contradictory nature makes heran intriguing character but also leads togreat tragedy for herself and the children.The narrator offers more little hintsabout the events to come.

The story returns to the car ride in thePlymouth. Even in 1969 BabyKochamma doesnt like the twins, asthey are half Hindu and the children ofa divorced woman, so she is alwaystrying to make them feel unhappyabout their unhappy fate. Despite hergrudge, the children draw great joyfrom each other.

Baby Kochamma gives great importanceto societys opinion and tries to preservepolitical and social divisions. She sees thetwins as less-than because of theirheritage as children of divorce and mixedreligious background, and so thinks theyshould feel ashamed.

Rahel thinks about the car and how onits roof is a sign advertising ParadisePickles & Preserves. The picklecompany began with Mammachissmall personal business. She began tobe successful just as her husband wasretiring, and Pappachi was bitter andjealous. He would beat her nightlywith a brass flower vase, until one daythe adult Chacko returned and put astop to it. Pappachi took out his rageby destroying a rocking chair, and henever spoke to Mammachi again.

Pappachi is another antagonistic,negative character and an example of theabusive power of the patriarchy.Pappachi is never punished for his brutalviolence, and in fact is seen as a modelcitizen in public. Yet despite his brutalactions, Mammachi never complained,and she still tries to uphold thetraditional society that condoned suchbeatings.

Earlier in life Pappachi had worked asan Imperial Entomologist, and oncehe discovered a moth he believed wasa new species. He was not believedabout this until years later, after hisretirement, and then the moth wasnamed not after Pappachi but aftersome other entomologist thatPappachi disliked. Pappachiconsidered this the greatest failure ofhis life, and the moth supposedlyinspired his fits of rage in later life.Pappachis moth then came to hauntall his descendants with fear andmisfortune. Mammachi still criedwhen Pappachi died, and Ammu toldthe twins it was because Mammachihad gotten used to her husband andhis violence.

Pappachis moth will become a symbol offear and unhappiness, especially forRahel. The moth is another small thingthat symbolizes a larger stream ofevents, like Pappachis abusive nature.The fact that Mammachi could live withPappachi, and even cry when he died,shows how deeply ingrained suchtraditions as the male-dominated Indiansocial system are. Pappachi, as ImperialEntomologist, represents the old upperclass.



Chacko describes Pappachi as ananglophile, and admits that everyonein the family is an anglophile. Hedescribes history as an old house, andthe twins think he is talking about theHistory House, an old place acrossthe river that was owned by KariSaipu, an Englishman who wentnative. Chacko laments the state ofthe Indian people, whose dreams havebeen commandeered by theircolonizers. The twins would latergrow more familiar with the HistoryHouse, as a place where history wasacted out as violence, and again theythink of the smell of old roses.

India gained its independence fromBritain years earlier, but evidence ofBritish culture is everywhere, like the factthat the family speaks English and isgoing to see a movie in English. KariSaipu was a symbol of the colonizer asthe kind of man to steal Indian dreamsand redream them, an Englishmantrying to take on the culture of India. Thenarrator portrays the twins personaltragedy as a slice of a larger history ofviolence in India.

The narrator describes Chackos habitof assembling model airplanes andthen almost immediately crashingthem, despite Mammachis assertionthat her son is one of the cleverestmen in India. After Pappachi died,Chacko quit his job teaching at acollege and moved back toAyemenem, hoping to become apickle baron. He took over thefactory from Mammachi, bought newequipment, and hired lots of workers,but the business immediatelydeclined.

Chacko, as a man, was given all the loveand privilege that Ammu was denied. Heis also one of the few members of thefamily with actual credentials to back uphis pride and sense of superiority others like Baby Kochamma rely solelyon the family name and class.

In the car the twins are worried aboutbeing late for The Sound of Music, asthey get stopped by an approachingtrain. While they wait the twins readsigns backwards. They used to quoteThe Jungle Book and The Tempest, andwere offended when Miss Mitten, amissionary friend of BabyKochammas, gave them a book forlittle children. They recited the bookto Miss Mitten with all the wordsbackwards, and she said she sawSatan in their eyes.

The twins are clearly intelligent andimaginative children, who areunfortunately stifled by their situation.Reading words backwards becomes arecurring motif, and will connect toEsthas later act of silence, as bothmanipulating words and refusing tospeak any words are efforts to suppressthe memories those words signify.

Most of the waiting cars shut off theirengines as the delay lengthens.Beggars and vendors appear, andEstha watches Murlidharan, aninsane man who sits on the milestoneat the crossing, counting his keys andreliving old memories, while Rahelimagines what is happening in TheSound of Music. Suddenly the beggarsdisappear and a huge march ofMarxists sweeps through the line ofcars, carrying red flags.

Murlidharan is a kind of extreme exampleof the preservation of old memories apotential insanity that the twins will facebecause of their traumatic pasts. TheCommunist Party is very successful inKerala during this time period, andthreatens to upset the social order theIpes defend.

Chacko himself is a self-proclaimedMarxist, but he is still a landlorddriving a nice car, so he is quiet andafraid. Baby Kochamma is terrifiedand tries to avoid eye contact with anyof the marchers. Thousands of peoplepass chanting Workers of the WorldUnite! The narrator steps back anddescribes the swift rise of theCommunist Party in Kerala, and thetheories about why it was sosuccessful.

Though Chacko agrees with Marxistideas, in practice he still upholds theclass divisions between landlord andlaborer. This march is an early sign ofwhat will fuel Baby Kochammasparanoia. The rise of Communism is thekind of large social change that theentrenched upper class fears.

Chacko had become enthralled withMarxism in college, and he andPappachi would argue every dayabout the Communist government led by Comrade E. M. S.Namboodiripad that had recentlybeen elected in Kerala. Thegovernment grew more and moreviolent in its transition until theCongress Party returned to power.Ten years of political chaos followed,and then the Communists werereelected.

Chacko can dabble in Marxism withoutconsequences, as he has the luxury of notactually belonging to the laboring class.Years later Namboodiripad will becomethe leader of the first democraticallyelected Communist government of all ofIndia.

There had recently been a famine inIndia, so the government putrevolution on hold to fight hunger.This angered the Chinese CommunistParty, and they began to support amilitant faction of the IndianCommunist Party called the Naxalites.The Naxalites had since broken offand begun arming militias in smallvillages and occasionally killinglandowners.

The Naxalite movement is the great fearof the upper classes during this time.Communism had entered Keralainsidiously, rarely upsetting the statusquo, but the anger and violence of theNaxalites directly threatens theestablished social order and makes thoseat the top of that order want to preserveit all the more.

The marchers that day are on theirway to demand a one-hour lunchbreak and that Untouchable workersnot have to be addressed by theircaste names. The march containsboth Touchables and Untouchables,and it is full of palpable anger. In thePlymouth, Rahel sees Velutha (ayoung man she knows) holding aMarxist flag and she rolls down thewindow, leans out of it, and yells forhim. Velutha disappears and Ammuand Baby Kochamma pull Rahel backinto the car, furious.

The more radical Communist ideastargeted not only the hierarchy oflandowners and laborers, but also thedeeply entrenched caste system of India.In Marxist thought, people are divided byclass, not caste, so in theoryUntouchables and Touchables should beseen as equals. This kind of change wastoo radical for many Indian Communists,however, as Roy will reveal.

The narrator describes Velutha, whois an Untouchable, a Paravan. He has aleaf-shaped birthmark on his back. Ashe child he worked for Pappachi withhis father, Vellya Paapen, but theywere not allowed to enter the Ipehouse or touch anything theTouchables touched. In older timesUntouchables had even had to crawlbackwards with a broom, sweepingaway their unclean footprints.

Velutha is a Dalit, an Untouchable,which is a caste seen from birth asinferior no matter a persons actions orabilities. Though the idea of caste comesfrom Hinduism, it became a deeplyingrained social system to the point thateven Syrian Christians like the Ipes holdthe same extreme prejudices.



Even as a child, Velutha was veryskilled with his hands, and later helearned carpentry from a Germancarpenter. Velutha built the Ipe diningroom table, the sliding back door, andset up all the machines in the picklefactory when Chacko took over.Vellya Paapen worried about his son,as Velutha had none of the shame andself-deprecation that Untouchableswere supposed to have.

Untouchables are supposed to seethemselves as inherently inferior, butVelutha clearly lacks that self-hatred andis confident in his own rights andabilities. The only way he can expressthis is by fighting against the unfairsystem that oppresses him, and hopingthat Communism will bring change.

Soon afterward Velutha disappearedfor four years. Meanwhile his brother,Kuttappen, had an accident and wasparalyzed. Velutha then returned toAyemenem and Chacko hired him towork for Paradise Pickles. The otherworkers sometimes grumbled abouthis presence, so Mammachi paid himless than the Touchable workers, butshe still felt she was giving Veluthaspecial treatment, and that he shouldbe grateful.

It is not just the Ipes, but even thelaborers of Ayemenem feel the samesense of superiority over Untouchables.It is ironic that Velutha, the figure mostrepresenting social, political, andpersonal upheaval, works at the picklefactory where the old ways arepreserved.

The narrator then hints at the Terrorthat would come later, and how VellyaPaapen came to Mammachi andoffered to kill his own son. But earlier,in the months before the presentnarrative, Velutha and the twins hadbecome very close friends, and hecooked for them and made them toys.

Vellya Paapen and Velutha will alsoshare a complex relationship where lovestruggles with social obligation. Veluthais one of the most innocent, positiveadult characters of the book.

Back in the present one of themarchers opens the cars door andmocks Baby Kochamma, giving her aMarxist flag and making her wave it.When he leaves and the march endsChacko asks Rahel if she really sawVelutha among the marchers, as thatcould mean trouble for the factory.The narrator says that BabyKochamma focused her anger andshame at Velutha in the days afterthat, so that in her mind he came totake the place of the marcher who hadhumiliated her.

Chacko is concerned that a Naxalite-type revolution could occur at the picklefactory again an example ofpreservation fearing change. BabyKochamma allows her personal grudgesto eclipse her moral judgment. All herfear of social embarrassment and beingdisplaced comes to focus in a hatred forVelutha.

As they keep waiting the twins thinkabout Ammu telling them the story ofJulius Caesar. Estha used to act outthe Et tu, Brute? scene to Kochu Maria,who thought he was insulting her inEnglish. Ammu used the famousbetrayal to explain that no one couldbe trusted, and that even Estha couldgrow up to be a Male Chauvinist Pig.

Estha quoting Caesar is an ironicforeshadowing of how he will laterbetray Velutha, scarring himself for lifein the process. Ammu lashes out againstthe patriarchy, but she is basicallypowerless in her situation.

Estha and Rahel blow spit bubbles inthe car, which infuriates Ammu, as itreminds her of Baba. Chacko comesto the childrens defense, and theangry Ammu tells him to stop playingthe savior, as he doesnt really careabout the twins at all. Chacko basicallyagrees, and says that Ammu, Estha,and Rahel are millstones around hisneck. Then the train passes by andChacko starts the car again.

Chacko has all the privilege and powerthat Ammu does not, so he can afford toplay-act as Marxist, as father-uncle, andas professor, all the while admitting thathe doesnt really care about the twins atall. Estha and Rahel, on the other hand,long for Chackos affection.

CHAPTER 3: BIG MAN THE LALTAIN, SMALL MANTHE MOMBATTIThe narrative returns to 1993, wherethe Ayemenem house has grown filthyand decrepit while Baby Kochammaand Kochu Maria spend all their timewatching TV. They watch a subwaybusker play on the Phil Donahueshow, and the narrator muses aboutsomething a man once told Esthaabout dreams: Big Man the Lantern,Small Man the Tallow-stick.

The dirty, dilapidated house is a tragicprize for Baby Kochammas jealouspreservation of the Ipe family name.The busker is like the Indian people,whose dreams have been stolen andredreamed by others.

Estha enters the house silently, andBaby Kochamma proudly predictswhat he will do, as he has the samehabits every day. Rahel follows him tohis room, Ammus old room, which isobsessively clean. She watches Esthaundress, studying his nakedness forfamiliarity. She touches his ear butEstha doesnt react, and he begins towash his clothes in a bucket.

The adult Estha obsessively cleaninghimself is a foreshadowing of theuncleanness he will experience in thenext chapter. Estha and Rahel study eachother carefully, as they are basicallystrangers at this point.

CHAPTER 4: ABHILASH TALKIESBack in 1969 the family reaches thecinema hall, which is called AbhilashTalkies. Ammu, Baby Kochamma, andRahel go into the girls bathroom andtake turns peeing into the same toilet.Rahel enjoys the intimacy this activitycreates. Meanwhile Estha goes aloneinto the boys bathroom and climbsonto some junk so he is tall enough topee in the urinal. Chacko has gone tosee about the hotel.

Estha and Rahel constantly seem to beseeking more love from a family thatgenerally disapproves of them. This sceneis one of the only times Rahel feels closeto Baby Kochamma. Estha is a moreserious child, who dresses nicely andinsists on using the urinal like an adult.

The family enters the movie theater,where The Sound of Music has alreadybegun. In the movie the nuns aresinging How Do You Solve A ProblemLike Maria, and Estha cant stophimself singing along in his high, purevoice. The people in the audience getangry, but Estha cant seem to helpsinging, so Ammu sends him out tothe lobby.

This scene emphasizes Esthas purity andinnocence just before he is molested. Thechildren are more innocent and free intheir actions, while the adults mustalways consider their social obligations.

Estha sits down and sings in the lobby,and he wakes up the man sellingrefreshments, the OrangedrinkLemondrink Man. The fat, dirty manis angry at first, but then he coaxesEstha into accepting a free drink andcoming behind the counter. The manasks Estha about Ayemenem and hisMammachi, and he makes Estha holdhis penis while Estha drinks the lemondrink. Estha recites the differentpickled products Mammachi makes totry and mentally escape from thesituation. Then the man ejaculatesonto Esthas hand, wipes it off, andsends him back into the movie.

This is the first major traumaticexperience of the book, and basicallywhen Estha first loses his innocence. Itis also the first major experience that onetwin has had without the other. Roy stillportrays the horrible scene from achildlike point of view, so the man isalways known as the OrangedrinkLemondrink Man. This is yet anotherexample of a love/sexual relationshipbeing abusive and violating.



Estha feels unclean and traumatized.He watches the clean, white childrenin The Sound of Music and comparesthem to his own feeling of dirtinessand degradation. In his mind heassociates Sophie Mol with thesewhite children who seem moredeserving of love than he. Estha getsnauseated and Ammu takes him intothe bathroom. He retches and washeshis hands and face many times, andthen Ammu takes him to get a lemondrink to cheer him up.

Much of the novel is about a series ofcauses and effects, and the twins werealready worried about the white SophieMol somehow stealing their Ammuslove. Estha now feels impure and lessdeserving of love, which will affect hisactions later in the novel. Estha cleanshimself thoroughly, as he will continue todo obsessively as an adult.

The Orangedrink Lemondrink Man ispolite and friendly to Ammu, but healso mentions that he knows exactlywhere Paradise Pickles is. Esthaknows that this is a veiled threat, andhe helplessly accepts some sweetsfrom the man and says nothing toAmmu. Ammu makes the rest of thefamily leave the movie, as she doesntwant Estha to risk a fever beforeSophie Mol comes. They walk throughthe lobby and the Orangedrink Manoffers Rahel a sweet, but she isrepulsed by his yellow teeth and turnsaway.

Even though Estha has said nothing toRahel, they share an innate sense andRahel knows to be afraid of theOrangedrink Man. Unfortunately Ammuand the family are more concerned withthe impression they will make on SophieMol than worried about Esthas health.Estha feeling unsafe at home will alsocontribute to his future actions.

As they are walking out Ammucompliments the OrangedrinkLemondrink Mans friendliness, andRahel unthinkingly says why dontyou marry him then? Everyonefreezes, and Ammu tells Rahel thatwhen you hurt someone, they love youa little less. Rahel feels Pappachismoth land on her heart, and she isterrified that Ammu now loves herless.

In Rahels active imagination, the mothbecomes an eerie image of fear andunhappiness. Ammus social standing is atouchy subject, as she is basically livingas a disgraced woman because she isdivorced.

They take a taxi to the Hotel SeaQueen, and Estha longs for a river towash away his sickness. The familygoes up to Chackos room, where he isfeasting. Rahel asks Ammu to punishher, but Ammu says some thingscome with their own punishments.Then Estha goes off to sleep withAmmu and Baby Kochamma, andRahel, panicked about losing Ammuslove, stays with Chacko.

This idea of punishment also connects tothe effects small things have onpeoples lives small mistakes likeRahels careless phrase should come witha small punishment. Later the twins willlong only for punishments that fit theircrimes instead of ones that last alifetime.

Chacko lies awake and thinks aboutSophie Mol, who is coming tomorrow.He last saw her as a baby after his wifeMargaret told Chacko she was leavinghim for Joe. Rahel cant sleep either,and she asks Chacko worriedly if itspossible that Ammu will love SophieMol more than she loves the twins.Chacko says anything is possible.

Chacko offers Rahel no comfort, as he islost in his own personal family drama.Because of her contradictory personalityAmmus love often seems like a fragilething, and the twins are horribly afraid oflosing it.

In the other room Estha wakes up andvomits in the sink. Then he goes andstands outside Rahels room. Rahelsomehow knows he is there andopens the door for him. Chackoignores them and wonders if Veluthawas really in the Communist marchearlier. Comrade K. N. M. Pillai, thehead of the Party in Ayemenem, hadbeen hoping to create a new laborunion at Paradise Pickles. Chackohimself talked to his workers aboutMarxism, but Pillai would also invitethem into his printing press andencourage them to rebel againstChacko, all the while printing labelsfor Paradise Pickles as well.

This is another concrete example of themysterious connection the twins share.Chacko supports Marxism intellectually,but he still wants to act as a landlord ineverything but name. Pillai also seemsless than idealistic, as he feels no qualmsabout doing business with wealthy-Chacko, talking Marxism with comrade-Chacko, and plotting the overthrow oflandlord-Chacko all at the same time.

Velutha is the only card-carryingCommunist in the factory, but Pillaidoes not want him as an ally becausehe is an Untouchable. Still the workersbegan asking for raises, andMammachi always acted as thetraditional landlord and denied them.Chacko meanwhile continued to play-act as a Marxist and ignore thediscontent. Chacko lies in bed andmuses that maybe he will organize hisown labor union. On the next bedEstha and Rahel sleep whileembracing each other. They dreamabout their river, which runs behindthe Ayemenem house.

Despite the goals of the Communistmarch and Veluthas obvious intelligenceand ability, in Ayemenem Velutha willnever be anything more than anUntouchable. Mammachi sticks to theclass divides, which are unfair butcomprehensible she is the pickle-maker,the preserver of tradition while Chackotries to blur the lines between boss andworker.

CHAPTER 5: GODS OWN COUNTRYThe narrative returns to 1993, whereRahel discovers that the river hasbeen reduced to a trickle and is toopolluted to swim in. Across the riverthe History House (which Rahelthinks of as the Heart of Darkness)has been built up into a five-star hotel.In the hotel history is neatlyrepackaged for tourists to easilyunderstand, and the traditionalkathakali performances (an ancientdance and drama telling myths andstories) are shortened drastically. Thenarrator points out that a small thinglingers there among the hotelbuildings, buried in the dirt: Rahelsold plastic wristwatch with the timepainted on.

This watch is one of the small thingssignifying a larger event of violence, butthe watch itself also symbolizes thetheme of preservation the time ispainted on the watch, so time is literallyfrozen. The image becomes especiallypotent considering how Rahel and Esthaare still trapped inside their memorieseven after twenty-three years, as if timestopped for them at the place whereRahels watch lies buried.



Rahel walks around Ayemenem andComrade Pillai greets her, askingabout her husband and America. Sheshocks him by saying she is divorced,and then Pillai boasts about his sonLenin, who works in a foreignembassy. Rahel remembers Lenin as achild, one day when both Rahel andLenin were at the doctors officebecause they each had objects lodgedin their noses Rahel a glass bead andLenin a bean. Rahel blew her nose onelast desperate time and dislodged thebead just before the nurse called forher. Back in the present ComradePillai shows Rahel an old photographof Lenin, Estha, Sophie Mol, and Rahelherself, taken only days before Sophiedied.

The divide between the upper classRahel and the lower class Lenin wasapparent even in the kinds of things theystuck up their noses. Time does indeedseem preserved in Ayemenem, as thesame characters haunt the same placesand are eager to show old photographs another medium where time is frozen ata single moment. Rahel has also becomea disgraced woman by being divorced,as the same kinds of standards andprejudices are still preserved inAyemenem.

CHAPTER 6: COCHIN KANGAROOSBack in 1969, it is the day of SophieMol and Margaret Kochammasarrival at the Cochin Airport. Ammudresses Rahel in a special dress, andRahel feels like an Airport Fairyready for the play they have beenrehearsing for: being on their bestbehavior to impress Sophie Mol. Rahelnotices four life-sized kangaroostatues (with trashcan pouches) in theArrivals Lounge as the family waits.

Estha and Rahel take on differentepithets throughout the story, as if theyare playing dress-up with their identities.Later this will be a kind of copingmechanism. The family has idealizedSophie Mol to a ridiculous degreealready, and they want to impress herEnglish sensibilities.

Baby Kochamma tells the twins thatthey are Ambassadors of India sothey must be on their best behavior.Rahel digs through the kangarootrashcans and Estha is distracted byfrightened thoughts of theOrangedrink Lemondrink Man.Finally Sophie Mol and MargaretKochamma arrive, and everyonegreets each other politely, saying onlySmall Things and leaving the BigThings unsaid. Chacko is proud andexcited to see his ex-wife anddaughter, and he starts introducingeveryone. Sophie is wearing yellowbell-bottoms and is loved from thebeginning.

This is the first time the narratorspecifically references the Big Things andthe Small Things, the former lurkinginside, the other on the surface. BabyKochamma is only concerned that thetwins behave well and impress SophieMol. The way the narrator describesSophie as loved from the beginningshows how jealous the twins are of her,as she naturally receives all the love theycrave.

Estha is momentarily distracted by afamous comedian purposefullydropping his luggage nearby, andBaby Kochamma tries to impressSophie Mol by referencingShakespeare. When Chackointroduces Estha, Estha refuses to sayhow do you do and Ammu furiouslypromises him a punishment later.Meanwhile Rahel has disappearedbehind a curtain and wont come out,as she is afraid of Ammus anger andthe moth on her own heart.

The twins are overcome by the suddenchange in the family and the play ofimpressing Sophie Mol, Estha because ofhis recent trauma and Rahel because ofher fear that Ammu loves her less. Thisonly leads Ammu to get angrier withthem, however.

Chacko picks up Sophie Mol until sheasks him to put her down, and thenthey go to get her luggage. Esthacoaxes Rahel out from the curtain andAmmu berates the twins aboutdisobeying her in public. BabyKochamma scorns her managementof the children, but Ammu says theydont need a Baba because she lovesthem Double.

Chacko immediately gives Sophie Molthe affection the twins want, but SophieMol scorns it. Ammus fierce love for herchildren also comes from her desire toprove that a woman can raise childrenwithout a man.

Ammu then sends the twins off to sayhello properly, and they talk brieflywith Sophie Mol. Sophie says that sheloves Joe the most of anyone, and shedoesnt think of Chacko as her dad.Rahel then recites her list of who sheloves most, which goes Ammu,Chacko, Mammachi, Velutha, andthen Sophie Mol (even though theyvenever met until now). She doesntinclude Estha because the twins dontcount.

Rahels practiced list of who she lovesshows two important things that whatshe and Estha share is more than love,more like two halves of one person, andthat Rahel, like the other Ipes, has beentaught to put social obligation overpersonal love. Thus Rahel is supposed tolove Sophie Mol, even though theyvenever met.

Everyone gets into the Plymouth andstarts the trip back to Ayemenem. Onthe way they pass a dead elephant,but they are relieved to see it isntKochu Thomban (Little Tusker), theAyemenem temple elephant whocomes to their house sometimes.Baby Kochamma makes the twinssing a song to show off their Englishpronunciation.

The huge changes that are coming withSophie Mols arrival seem foreshadowedby this omen of a dead elephant, a BigThing. Baby Kochamma still sticks to thescript she has practiced for impressingSophie.

CHAPTER 7: WISDOM EXERCISE NOTEBOOKSIn 1993 Rahel looks throughPappachis study, where mountedmoths and butterflies havedisintegrated into dust. Rahel reachesinto her old hiding place behind abook and finds Baby Kochammasrosary, which Rahel stole twenty-three years before. Estha appears inthe doorway but doesnt say anything.Then Rahel finds that Ammu hadhidden something there as well, fourold Wisdom Exercise Notebooksthat the six-year-old twins had used topractice their writing.

The adult twins act like the reader,looking through small things that signifythe larger events of the familys past. TheAyemenem House has become a HistoryHouse of its own, where Pappachismoth and the twins childhood have beenpreserved despite their long absence.

Rahel reads through the notebooksand laughs at their childlike stories.Under many of them Ammu hadwritten corrections, and the narratormuses how Ammu never finished hercorrections in her own life. The storyshifts to years earlier, the last timeAmmu came back to Ayemenem, yearsafter Chacko had kicked her out andshe had no Locusts Stand I (Locusstandi: legal standing).

Locusts Stand I is another example offree indirect discourse, as Roy neveractually explains what the phrase means,but only narrates it as the twins perceiveit. After the events of 1969, Ammusdecline is swift and tragic.



On this last visit Ammu had just beenfired from her receptionist job forbeing sick too often, and Rahel hadjust been expelled from a school.Ammu bought Rahel presents fit for aseven-year-old, as if she could freezeher daughter in time. Ammu had arattle in her throat and kept coughingup phlegm. They had lunch withMammachi and Chacko, andMammachi suggested that Ammu notvisit anymore. Ammu left the table insilence and Rahel refused to go afterher.

Ammu joins the Ipe tradition of trying topreserve a moment in time forever as shetries to keep Rahel a child. Ammu hassome kind of lung disease, probablytuberculosis. Mammachi as usual is moreconcerned with the social perception ofthe family than with her own daughtershealth.

Rahel never saw Ammu alive afterthat. Ammu died alone in a lodge atage thirty-one. She had beendreaming about policemen coming tocut off her hair to mark her as aveshya, a prostitute. The churchwouldnt bury Ammu, so Rahel andChacko took her to a crematorium.Chacko tried to hold Rahels hand asAmmu disappeared into the machine,but Rahel slipped away. Rahel did nottell Estha about Ammu, as it wouldhave been too strange like writing aletter to her own body.

Ammus demise will be all the moretragic when we learn more details of herlife and downfall. This is the second timethe word veshya has been associatedwith Ammu, the first being when thepolicemen called her a prostitute inAyemenem. Rahel acknowledges herspecial relationship with Estha, but theycan be no comfort to each other in theirseparation.

CHAPTER 8: WELCOME HOME, OUR SOPHIE MOLBack in the Ayemenem house,Mammachi waits patiently for thefamily to return. Mammachi isbasically blind, and she plays her violinand remembers her first batch ofprofessional pickles. They lookedbeautiful but the bottles leaked, andeven after years of adjustmentsParadise Pickles bottles still leaksome.

The symbol of Paradise Pickles growsmore complex, as the pickle jars leakdespite Mammachis attempts atperfectly preserving her foods. In thesame way the family will break socialtaboos even as they try to cling to oldtraditions.

Mammachi then thinks of MargaretKochamma, whom she has never metbut despises anyway. Mammachihates her for her working-classbackground and for marrying Chacko.The day Chacko stopped Pappachifrom beating Mammachi, Chackobecame Mammachis only Love. Sheforgives his affairs with his factoryworkers, calling them Mens Needs.Mammachi even built a separateentrance to Chackos room, so hisNeeds didnt have to go through thehouse, and she pays his lovers so theyseem more like prostitutes to her.

Mammachi transfers all her feelings,even romantic ones, from Pappachi toChacko, so her hatred of Margaret is alsojealousy. Mammachi condoning ChackosMens Needs is tragically hypocriticalconsidering Ammus disgrace and exile.Mammachi sees the world in strictdivides of class, so by consideringMargaret working-class and Chackoslovers prostitutes she makes it easier toscorn and hate them.

In the kitchen Kochu Maria writesWELCOME HOME OUR SOPHIEMOL on a huge cake. Kochu Maria isvery short and bad-tempered. Despiteher lowly job, she is proud of being aSyrian Christian and a Touchable, andshe holds grudges against those shethinks have insulted her like Esthasaying Et tu, Kochu Maria?

Like Baby Kochamma, Kochu Mariarelies solely on her heritage as a source ofpride and superiority. Even though she isof a lower class like the laborers andUntouchables, she still hates and scornsthem instead of empathizing with them.

The Plymouth pulls into Ayemenemand everyone stops working to gatheraround the car. The children get out ofthe car and Rahel realizes she is anunnecessary part of the Play now, aseveryone is just there to see SophieMol. Chacko introduces Sophie andMargaret to Mammachi, and againonly the Small Things are said.

The Ipes are indeed all Anglophiles, asthey fawn over and practically worshipSophie Mol for her whiteness. The childspoint of view sees the small talk andpoliteness for what it is, an elaborateplay to impress Sophie and Margaret.

Velutha approaches the outskirts ofthe crowd and Rahel slips away toplay with him. Velutha tosses her upand down and Ammu watches themtogether, admiring Veluthas baretorso and smile. She suddenly hopesthat Velutha was actually in the march,that he also has a hidden anger underhis cheerful exterior.

Despite his low caste, Velutha is belovedby the children for his willingness toshare in their fantasies and his kindnessin small things. Ammu sees Velutha as aman for the first time, a sexual being, andshe hopes that he shares her anger at theunjust society that oppresses both ofthem.

Velutha notices Ammus gaze, andhistory is caught off guard. Veluthanotices simple things, such as thefact that Ammu is now a woman, andthat perhaps she has things to offerhim now, just as he had built her littletoys when they were children. Thenthey look away and history returnswith its Love Laws.

This is one of the important smallmoments of the book, when thelargeness of history is condensed intoan instant. Again small things, like thelittle toys Velutha makes, bring anintimacy to something huge like breakinga caste taboo.

Velutha goes back to playing withRahel, and he denies being in themarch when she accuses him. Veluthasays it was probably his long-lost twinbrother Urumban. MeanwhileKochu Maria brings out the giant cakeand admires Sophie Mols beauty inMalayalam (she doesnt speakEnglish). Kochu Maria sniffs SophieMols hands and MargaretKochamma insensitively asks if that ishow men and women kiss here too.Ammu responds sarcastically, sayingshe feels like part of a tribe thats justbeen discovered, and storms out.

Velutha introduces Urumban to playfullydistract Rahel and avoid causing troubleat the factory, but later the twins will usethis imaginary twin to deal with anddeny Veluthas brutal death. Ammu alsosees the Play for what it is, but sheunderstands the racist implications ofthis idolizing of whiteness and sees thatthe Ipes are basically exoticizingthemselves.

No one knows where Ammu learnedher rebelliousness and feminism, asshe hadnt been taught or read aboutit. She learned it from her father, whoacted like a charitable gentleman tothe public but then in private wasabusive, cruel, and sadistic to Ammuand Mammachi. Ammu remembersone night when Pappachi beat her andthen shredded her favorite boots.After years of this cruelty, Ammugrew to almost enjoy confrontationsand being put down by Someone Big.

Ammu shares Roys anger against theinjustice in much of Indian society, wherea man can get away with promiscuousaffairs (like Chacko) and violence (likePappachi), but a woman must acceptdisgrace and abuse without complaint.At this stage in her life Ammu has almostnothing to lose, and so she feels noqualms about speaking her indignationaloud.



After Ammu leaves, Kochu Maria cutsthe cake and serves a piece toeveryone while Mammachi plays theviolin. Ammu calls from the house forRahel to come in for her AfternoonGnap. Baby Kochamma noticesVelutha being over-familiar, and shewarns that he will be the familysNemesis just because she wants toget him in trouble.

The spelling of Afternoon Gnap isanother example of free indirectdiscourse, where the narrator describessmall things in the way the twins seethem. Baby Kochamma is not beingprophetic about Velutha, but only bitterand jealous.

Kochu Maria boasts to Rahel thatSophie Mol will be the nextKochamma and make everythingbetter, and Rahel gets angry and goesto kill some ants. Sophie Mol leavesthe Play and watches Rahel. Shesuggests that they leave one ant aliveso it can be lonely, but Rahel ignoresher and runs away.

Sophie Mol first begins to escape hercaricature as perfect white niece andbecome a human that the twins will laterbefriend. Rahel is still jealous of all theattention Sophie gets, and afraid oflosing Ammus love.

CHAPTER 9: MRS. PILLAI, MRS. EAPEN, MRS.RAJAGOPALANIn 1993, Rahel explores theabandoned ornamental garden andthinks about how she has no plans orLocusts Stand I now. Rahelremembers Sophie Mol tellingChacko that she loved him less thanJoe, and Sophie Mol being lonelywhen the twins left her out. After thatEstha and Rahel took Sophie to seeVelutha, each of them in makeup andpretending to be ladies, and he madethem wooden spoons. The adult Rahelmuses on Veluthas sweetness, how healways went along with the childrensfantasies.

We are given only these memories andsummaries to fully humanize Sophie Moland Velutha, as they have few

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