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Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things Study Guide

Using this Guide

List of other study guides

Suggestions and contributions are welcome by writing to the author: Paul Brians. This version was

mounted December 13, 1998.

Roy's novel was published 1996, quickly became a best-seller, and won the prestigious Booker Prize

in October, 1997.

Roy often denies in interviews that she has been influenced by Salman Rushdie, but it is difficult to

see how she could have avoided his influence, pervasive among younger South Asian writers.

Particularly notable here are such typically Rushdean stylistic tricks as capitalizing Significant Words

and runningtogether other words. More importantly, her novel is filled with the same sort of insistent

foreshadowing as occurs throughout Midnight's Children, and like Rushdie (and models Günter

Grass and Gabriel García Márquez) uses an incongruously jaunty tone to relate tales of horror and

tragedy. Like his Shame, her novel is partly a protest against South Asian prudery which stands in

the way of love.

Her most original contribution in this novel is her portrayal of children, entering into their thinking in

a way which does not sentimentalize them but reveals the fierce passions and terrors which course

through them and almost destroy them.

Arundhati Roy Website (Warning: irritating banner ads will pop up in a separate window each time

you look at a page on this site.)

In the notes below if a term is used more than once it is usually defined only upon its first

occurrence, but you can use the "find" command in your browser to locate the definition. Roy

herself provides translations in context for some of the Malayalam words and phrases she uses, and

those are not covered below.

Cast of Characters

Rahel (girl) and Esthappen Yako (Estha): fraternal ("two-egg") twins.

Ammu: their mother, born 1942. Married to "Baba" ("father": his real name is never given) and

divorced.

Baby Kochamma (born Navomi Ipe): Rahel and Estha's grandfather's sister--their grand-aunt.

"Kochamma" is not a name, but a standard female honorific title.

Sophie Mol ("Sophie girl"): the twins' cousin, daughter of their Uncle Chacko and Margaret

Kochamma. Throughout the novel, "mol" is "girl" and "mon" is "boy."

Margaret Kochamma: daughter of English parents, former wife of Chacko, then of Joe, mother of

Sophie Mol.

Mammachi (Shoshamma Ipe): blind grandmother of Rahel, Estha, and Sophie Mol, founder of the

family pickle factory. "Mammachi" simply means "grandmother."

Pappachi (Benaan John Ipe): late abusive husband of Mammachi. ("Pappachi: of course means

"grandfather.")

Chacko: son of Mammachi, divorced first husband of Margaret.

Joe: second husband of Margaret, died 1969.

Kochu Maria: "Little Maria": the tiny cook of the household.

Larry McCaslin: Rahel's American husband.

Velutha Paapen: Paravan untouchable around whom much of the action revolves.

Vellya Paapen: his father.

Kerala is well known for its relative freedom for women. Despite the fact that Western readers are

likely to feel the female characters in this novel are intolerably constrained, they are in fact generally

a highly assertive and energetic bunch; though Roy clearly seeks to depict as well the various ways

in which they have been hurt by male domination. As you read, try to identify acts of female

courage and assertiveness as well as instances in which women are oppressed.

The Dedication

Mary Roy is the author's mother, who struggled to raise Arundhati on her own while teaching in the

rural village of Aymanam (called "Ayemenem" in the novel) in southwestern India, in Kerala State.

Arundhati left home at age sixteen to study architecture in Delhi.

Chapter 1

The story begins twenty-three years after the main events which will be covered by the novel, with

flashbacks to that earlier period which culminated in the funeral of Sophie Mol. References to the

Orangedrink Lemondrink Man and the death of Sophie Mol will be explained later in the novel.

Jackfruits

A very large sweet fruit common in South and East Asia.

PWD

Public Works Department (local utilities department).

the scurry of small lives

The first of many references that echo the theme of the title.

Syrian Orthodox bishops

More than a third of the population of Kerala consists of Christian families, some dating back many

centuries. The Syrian Church is one of the older branches of Christianity.

zebra crossing

Striped pedestrian crossing.

Crimplene bell-bottoms

Wrinkle-resistant knit polyester jersey fabric which can be woven and impressed with various

textures. The main action of the novel is set in 1969, when bell-bottomed pants were popular.

go-go bag

"Go-go" started as an expression in mangled English used by French speakers to express the idea of

"without limit," as in "Whisky à go-go." In English it was associated with the sort of dancing done in

"go-go bars," and--by extension--with the clothing worn by the dancers, e.g. "go-go boots," etc.

Sophie Mol was hip to the current fads.

Ende Deivomay! EEE sadhanangal!

My God! What creatures!

curly beards

Orthodox Priests, unlike their Roman Catholic counterparts, wear full beards.

What evidence is there that Rahel's startling visions during the funeral service may be imaginary?

veshya

Prostitute.

And now, twenty-three years later

This refers to the reunion of the adult twins in the "present."

After Sophie Mol's funeral, when Estha was Returned

Refers to the earlier period, when he was a child; not to be confused with the time in the present

when he was "re-Returned."

Calcutta

In the northeast, about as far as it could be from Ayamenem.

pesticides bought with World Bank loans

Agricultural production in India was greatly boosted during the sixties by the development of new

high-yield varieties and the application of large amounts of fertilizer which had the unfortunate effect

of often damaging the environment. The World Bank offered loans to support such intensive

agriculture, which has often been blamed for its socially damaging side-effects.

the Ayemenem office of the Communist Party

Communism has been especially successful in Kerala, where Marxists have often dominated a

famously effective government. (Other states where Communist governments have been formed are

West Bengal and Tripura in the northeastern region of India.) Kerala has the highest literacy rate in

India and a low infant mortality rate.

Aertex vest

An inexpensive brand of undershirt.

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 (though women add upper garments to it). Longer than the dhoti.

The old omelette-and-eggs thing.

Napoleon famously justified his uses of violence by saying "You can't make an omlette without

breaking eggs." Violent revolutionaries of all stripes are fond of repeating this slogan.

mangosteen

Garcinia mangosiana L.

A tropical fruit with a thick, dark-red skin. See http://www.mangosteens.com/.

wogs

Insulting British term for foreigners considered inferior.

What do the stories so far about the twins suggest about them? What kind of children were they?

a mediocre college of architecture in Delhi

Roy herself studied at the Delhi School of Architecture, though she was not strongly drawn to the

subject and never practiced as an architect.

a nice athletic run

Roy enjoys running, and has worked as an aerobics instructor.

Then Small God . .

How does this passage explain the title of the novel?

Kohl

Black eye-liner, used to darken the inner rim of the eyelid.

When she was eighteen, Baby Kochamma fell in love

Since she is now eighty-three, this would have been around 1930.

In 1876, when Baby Kochamma's father was seven years old

Just as Baby Kochamma seems to have lived her life backward, in Rahel's view, we are told her

history in a sort of reverse fashion, receding more and more into the past.

Since charity had not produced any tangible results, the distraught young Baby Kochamma invested

all her hope in faith.

An allusion to First Corinthians 13:13.

Koh-i-noor

An enormous diamond now part of the crown jewels of England; but it orginally belonged to the

Mughals, Muslim rulers of India. Picture of the Koh-i-noor.

Anthurium andraeanum

A large, waxy flower which originated in Colombia, but which is now common in Hawaii and other

tropical locales. The most popular varieties are red ("rubrum"). Page on the anthurium.

cannae and phlox

Canna indica originated in tropical America, but has been commonly cultivated in England, under the

name "Indian shot." Canna indica. None of these flowers is native to India. Why is Baby Kochamma

bent on growing such an "exotic" garden?

gum boots

Rubber boots.

Patcha

The word literally means "green."

Ooty cupboards

Ooty is the popular name of Udhagamandalam, a luxurious "hill station" in the Nilgiri Mountains of

Tamil Nadu, just across the border from Kerala in the northeast. Furniture from there would have

belonged to wealthy visitors. More information about Ooty.

willow-pattern dinner service

An imitation Chinese ware manufactured in England and formerly extremely popular. Pictures of

Blue Willow ware.

stuffed, mounted Bison head

The term "bison" is used here to designate a wild Indian water buffalo, displayed here as a hunting

trophy.

kunukku earrings

A type of ancient Christian Keralite jewelry, usually gold earrings consisting of a short, thin chain

with a small ball hanging from it.

Paradise Pickles & Preserves

The fact that Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children has a protagonist who owns a pickle factory has

been much commented on. Roy claims not to have been much influenced by Rushdie, and in fact

spiced and pickled chutneys and other preserves are so common in India that she need not have

taken the idea of featuring a pickle factory in her novel from Rushdie. Her uncle George Isaac

(model for Chacko) actually runs a pickle factory (Palat Pickles) in real life.

And banana jam (illegally) after the FPO (Food products Organization) banned it

Indians often complain about their vast bureaucracy which promulgates all manner of restrictive

rules.

Note the repeated references to Sophie Mol's funeral which identify the passages in which they

occur as being set in the "past."

baba

Father

As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

Galatians 6:7

tiffin carrier

Lunchbox

Hoovering

Vacuuming. Hoover was one of the first manufacturers of vacuum cleaners, and the name of the

firm became a verb, fallen into disuse in the U.S. but still common elsewhere.

mango hair

Mangos contain fibers which easily become caught between teeth.

By the end of the first chapter, Roy has given us all manner of dark hints about the events leading

up to Sophie Mol's death. What do you make of them?

Before the British took Malabar

Malabar denotes the southwestern coast of India from Goa southward, including most of Kerala.

The British conquered it in the late 18th century.

before the Dutch Ascendency

In the 17th century the Dutch had seized the same territory.

before Vasco da Gama arrived, before the Zamorin's conquest of Calicut

On May 20, 1498, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut, India after having

sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, and became the first European to reach this region. After

many struggles, some of them bloody, the Portuguese established a colony.

before the Zamorin's conquest of Calicut

The Zamorin was the hereditary ruler of Calicut when da Gama arrived.

Syrian bishops murdered by the Portuguese

When the Portuguese gained trading concessions in the area, they tried to impose Roman

Catholicism on the members of the older Syrian Church which predated them. The Syrians,

resenting this attempt at domination of their community, decided to send a couple of their priests to

Rome as representatives. Their mangled corpses were found washed up on the shore of Kerala a

few weeks later. This incident played an important role in the eventual reassertion of Syriac

Christianity in Kerala.

Christianity arrived in a boat

Tradition says that St. Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, brought Christianity to this region in 52 CE.

Whatever the truth may be, it is well documented in Persian that there were Christians in Kerala by

the late 7th century.

Keep the last three sentences in the chapter in mind as you read the rest of the book. What is their

significance?

Chapter 2

Epigraph: "however, for practical purposes, in a hopelessly practical world . . .

In the previous paragraph, Roy has been ruminating over when her story can be said to have really

begun. This phrase introduces the sentence which continues at the beginning of Chapter 2, so she is

saying that, for practical purposes, it all began on "a skyblue day in December sixty-nine."

when something happens to nudge its hidden morality from its resting place and make it bubble to

the surface and float for a while. In clear view. For everyone to see.

Figure out what this means at the appropriate point below.

Further east, in a small country . . .

Why do you think Roy alludes to the Vietnam War here?

The Sound of Music

The film had been released in the U.S. in 1965.

Malayalam

The chief language of Kerala.

Elvis puff

This "puff" of hair becomes his symbol; whenever it is mentioned, we know that Estha is being

discussed.

Love-in-Tokyo

Love in Tokyo was a 1964 hit movie directed by Pramod Chakravorty featuring a young woman

whose ponytail was held by two beads on a rubber band. Like Estha's puff, her "fountain in a

Love-in-Tokyo" becomes Rahel's symbol.

Chachen

Father.

Chetan and Cheduthi

Older brother and older brother's wife (Malayalam).

Ammaven

Uncle; mother's brother.

Appoi and Ammai

Mother's brother and mother's brother's wife (Malayalam).

Gatsby turned out all right

From F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby (1925).

migrated to Calcutta from East Bengal after Partition

In 1947 the Subcontinent was partitioned into a northern Muslim-dominated state called "Pakistan"

and and southern Hindu-dominated state called "India." Masses of people fled in both directions,

encountering bloody violence on all hands. East Bengal fell to Pakistan, and later became

Bangladesh. Calcutta is in West Bengal.

They didn't reply.

At this point arranged marriages were still the norm, and for a young woman to agree to marry a

man without her parents' advance permission would have been shocking behavior.

spanner

wrench

intercommunity love marriage

An interreligious marriage, in this case between a Christian and a Hindu, entered into by the

individuals involved without it being arranged by their parents.

boot

trunk

Koshy Oommen

A typical Syrian Christian name.

kathakali dancer

The classical folk dance of Kerala, performed, unlike Bharata Natyam, exclusively by men playing

both male and female parts.

What does Chacko mean by calling his relatives a family of Anglophiles?

After reading at Oxford you come down.

Originally "come down" referred to the graduated student traveling south, home to London; but since

Chacko is from India, the term simply reinforces his alienness.

His oar (with his teammates' names inscribed in gold)

Announcing to the world that he had been on a rowing team at Oxford.

sleeping partner

A business partner who provides some of the financing, but is not allowed to participate in actually

managing the company. Americans say "silent partner."

Kipling's Jungle Book

The twins learn about their own land through the eyes of an English Imperialist writer.

Can you see any symbolism in the fact that the twins like to read backwards?

What is symbolized by the bridal party in the ambulance?

Parsis

Zoroastrians, called "Farsis" in Persia (Iran). They have only small communities in India, necessarily

somewhat inbred.

bhajan

A devotional song

parippu vadas

Also vadai: spicy fried patties made of ground lentils. A common street food. A recipe.

Spoken like a true bourgeoisie.

Chacko, seeking to put Ammu down, mistakenly uses the term for a whole social class instead of for

an individual. He should have called her a bourgeois (if he followed the English practice of applying

the term to both men and women) or, even more correctly, a bourgeoise (middle-class woman).

Onner Runder Moonner One, two, three.

An Oxford avatar of the old zamindar mentality

An English-influenced reincarnation of the traditional landlord.

the Congress Party

The party which governed India beginning with independence, continuing until the late 90s, here

representing the establishment.

land reforms

Redistribution of farmland from rich landlords to poor peasants.

accused him of "providing relief to the people and thereby blunting the People's Consciousness and

diverting them from the Revolution.

Rigid Marxists often accuse liberal reformers of alleviating the sufferings of the oppressed just

enough to make them reluctant to engage in revolution.

Paravan

The first occurrence of this untouchable caste name. Velutha is a paravan.

cheroot

Cigar.

bonnet

Hood.

"Thanks, keto!" said. "Valarey thanks."

Roughly: "Thanks a lot, OK?"

Ividay!

Over here!

Ammu is angry with Rahel, not because she has called out to a communist, but because she has

publicly made it clear that she knows an untouchable.

What is the point of the passage about the old woman on the train outside of New York?

toddy tapper

Toddy is the sweet, fermented sap of various palm trees, tapped to provide a cheap alcoholic drink.

converted to Christianity . . . to escape the scourge of Untouchability

Untouchables have been ready converts to foreign religions like Islam and Christianity which

promised to relieve them of the burdens of inegality; but as often as not, informal Muslim and

Christian caste systems evolved along the lines of the old Hindu one.

Pariah

Untouchable.

government benefits

The Indian government has engaged in strenuous affirmative action on behalf of untouchables ever

since independence, but these measures have not reached all of them.

Bauhaus

A highly influential German style emphasizing sleek modernity, clean lines, simplicity.

What sorts of skills does Velutha possess? What is the nature of his conflicts with his father?

In the "flash-forward" which begins "At least not until the Terror took hold of him," what is it that

Vellya Paapen has seen that he feels the need to tell Mammachi about? (This will be spelled out

later, but you may be able to guess, just from this passage.)

laterite

A reddish type of stone.

For American readers, the attraction of Velutha to the Ipe children will be reminiscent to many

accounts of the attraction of slaves for young white children in stories about the pre-Civil War

South.

kites

Vultures.

She was looking down at the floor of the car. Like a coy, frightened bride who had been married off

to a stranger.

This is not an unusual image, but the very stereotype of an ideal Indian bride, who would not dare

brazenly to stare her fiance in the face until after they were married, though she might glance at him

covertly before then.

Inquilab Zindabad!

Long live the Revolution!

scree bed

Scree are pebbles, so this refers to part of her rock garden.

Remember Baby Kochamma's rage against Velutha when the crisis starts later.

Et tu, Brute?--then fall, Caesar.

The Latin phrase means roughtly "And you too Brutus?" The English phrase was added to Caesar's

last words by Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar.

biscuit crumbs

cookie crumbs

Chapter 3

This chapter begins by once more interrupting the story of the trip to see The Sound of Music to tell

us more about an encounter between Rahel and Estha which took place in later years, after both had

returned to Ayamenem.

Big Man the Lantern. Small Man the Tallow-stick.

Big and small lights. A tallow-stick is a stick daubed with fat which can serve as a sort of torch.

Poda Patti!

Get lost, you dog!

dustbin

Trash can.

A Quantas koala

The Australian airline Quantas featured a kaola as its foreign ads for many years.

Two ballpoint pens with silent streetscapes and red London buses that floated up and down in them.

Souvenir "floaty pens" like these, with images that slide through an oil-filled barrel against a fixed

background are sold all over the world, but most are manufactured in Denmark by the Eskesen

company. A floaty pen page.

Drownable in, as Larry McCaslin had said and discovered to his cost.

This sentence establishes clearly, even if earlier clues are disregarded, that the twins are adults in this

scene.

Chapter 4

Estha alone.

This phrase comes to stand for Estha's vulnerability and withdrawn nature in the rest of the novel.

Rahel was too short to balance in the air above the pot.

Traditional Asian toilets call for the user to squat above them in the air; some people try to do the

same more precariously with modern toilets which are better designed for sitting upon.

The Emperor Babur had a wheatish complexion

Babur (1483-1530) was the founder of the Mughal Dynasty which ruled much of India until the

British arrived. "Wheatish" means "wheat-colored," a golden brown. This adjective is commonly

used in matrimonial advertisements in India to indicate the person being described is not

dark-skinned.

napthalene balls

Deodorant balls commonly placed in men's urinals.

Eda cherukka!

Hey you, boy!

Ominous foreshadowings earlier in the novel have pointed to this encounter with the Orangedrink

Lemondrink Man. Many books have been built around such incidents, but in The God of Small

Things, it is just the first of a series of disasters that destroys the happiness of the family. For Estha,

it is the dividing point between his innocent, relatively happy childhood, and the haunted years that

will follow.

Elvis the Pelvis

Because of his hip-swivelling performances in the late fifties, Elvis Presley was dubbed "Elvis the

Pelvis" by the newspapers. Here the phrase ominously sexualizes little Estha.

soo-soos

Childish euphemism for penises.

What are the main characteristics of the scene of the Estha's molestation? Does any of it strike you

as surprising or unusual?

Notice how Roy avoids explicitly describing Estha's feelings. How do are you made to realize that

Estha has been traumatized by this encounter?

What about the scene with Ammu and the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man makes Estha so

frightened?

Ammu's reaction to Rahel's offhand comment about marrying the man starts a self-destructive

process in her parallel to Estha's. Thus their twinship is reflected, but their closeness is about to be

destroyed.

Up to the scene in which they part in the hotel, only Estha has been called "alone," but his sister is

called "Rahel Alone" for the first time.

paratha

Fried flatbread, often stuffed with spiced vegetables, and generally an unsuitable companion to

chocolate sauce. A recipe for cauliflower paratha.

Why is Rahel so chilled by Chacko looking at the photo of his daughter?

Chapter 5

Note how the image of the river unites the ending of the last chapter with the beginning of this one,

though it is set years later.

Severed torsos soaping themselves

All of the images associated with the River here are negative in some way or other, even this

description of people standing waist-deep in the water as they bathe.

fresh tandoori pomfret

Fish baked in a traditional clay oven (tandoori)Ñvery Indian.

crêpe suzette

Properly crêpes suzette, sugared crepes cooked in butter and flamed in an orange liqueur

sauce--very European.

transplanted in the Heart of Darkness

Whereas in Conrad's famous novel the heart of darkness was symbolized by its distance from

Europe, here it is the European-style intrusion into the Indian landscape that creates darkness.

Note the irony of the former's communist leader's house being used as a luxurious dining room for

tourists.

While Kunti revealed her secret to Karna on the riverbank.

That Karna is her eldest son, and thus the older brother of his sworn enemies, the Pandavas (from

the Mahabharata). Kunti tries in vain to convince him that he should not fight the Pandavas.

However, he rejects her advice and eventually becomes the commander of the Kaurava army

arrayed against his brothers, the Pandavas. Because she had abandoned Karna in infancy and he

was brought up as a commoner in ignorance of his noble heritage, he suffered many indignities

which might be compared to those of Velutha in the novel. The full story is told in Chapter 12.

Karna is eventually slain by his brother Arjuna. The story of Karna

Poothana suckled young Krishna at her poisoned breast.

Poothana was a demon who tried in vain to kill the infant Krishna. Although his astounding powers

allowed him to thrive despite her attempts on his life, her poison turned his skin dark blue or black.

Bhima disemboweled Dushasana and bathed Draupadi's hair in his blood.

In the Mahabharata, an apocalyptic world-spanning war is triggered when the five Pandavas

foolishly wager their joint wife, Draupadi, in a rigged game of chance against their enemies, the

Kauravas. Dushasana, one of the most important Kauravas, is responsible for dragging Draupadi

forward just after their side has won her and attempting to strip her naked (though this attempt is

foiled by a miracle). Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers married to Draupadi, and especially

noted for his strength (he was the rival of Dushasana in wrestling prowess), swears to take

vengeance on Dushasana by drinking his blood. Draupadi, however, says she wants to bathe her hair

in Dushasana's blood, and does not fasten up or wash her hair until she can do so. Toward the end

of the climactic battle, Bhima exacts the revenge described in this passage, in the process killing a

man who, like all the Kauravas, is his cousin. Roy tells her version of this story in Chapter 12.

What characteristics do these myths have in common? How do they relate to the rest of this section?

the History House

This is how the children think of the old, abandoned mansion of Kari Saipu on the abandoned

rubber plantation in Akkara, across the river.

kebabs

Spiced, marinated meat, ground or in cubes, usually grilled on a skewer. The children are

twenty-five years too late in calling Rahel a hippie because the heyday of the hippies was a

quarter-century ago.

bandh

General strike used as a political protest.

Aiyyo

An expression of dismay.

Orkunnilley

Don't you remember?

Oower

Yes.

Aiyyo paavam

What a pity!

a DDA flat

Delhi Development Authority apartment.

gram

Lentil.

Ayurvedic

Traditional Indian medicine.

Orkunnundo?

By the end of the chapter we begin to understand why Sophie Mol had inspired such jealousy in the

twins.

Chapter 6

Like well-whipped egg white.

This is a somewhat strained reference back to the Orangedrink Lemondrink man's semen, which had

been compared to egg white.

betel

The chewing of betel leaf causes the saliva to turn red.

chakka velaichathu

Jackfruit jam.

ammoomas

Grandmothers.

appoopans

Grandfathers.

sweeper class

Members of an untouchable caste. Note that the Christians depicted here share their Hindu

neighbors' prejudices against untouchables.

namaste

Traditional Indian gesture of greeting, palms together and upright, a little like traditional "prayer"

posture in the Christian west.

kappa

Cassava root, cooked in various ways.

meen

Fish.

vevichatu

Cooked.

What are the mixed feelings of the Foreign Returnees?

What do you think is the twins reaction to Ammu threatening to send them away?

larfing

Laughing. "Jolly Well" is one example of a common pattern in the twins' thinking in which they

convert metaphors into concrete images involving plays on words.

laddoo

A common sort of cookie made of lentil flour, ghee, raisins, nuts, and spices. A recipe for laddoo.

Note how all kinds of random events and words trigger Estha's memory of his encounter with the

Orangedrink Lemondrink man.

Why do you think Sophie Mol's words, "Recover from the Shock," are capitalized in the way they

are?

Note how both adults and children are jockeying for position in this encounter at the airport.

Chapter 7

We are now back in the "present," shortly after Rahel has returned home as an adult. Why is the old

school essay by Estha on the Odyssey that Rahel reads appropriate at this point?

Ferus

?

maharani

Queen.

Little Nehru

Dressed like the first premier of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Locusts Stand I

A misunderstanding of a Latin phrase [locus standi] meaning "no [legal] standing, but it comes to

signify something like "homeless" in the novel.

ayah

Nanny.

The church refused to bury Ammu.

The usual reason for refusing burial is suicide; but in this case it is more likely that Ammu refused to

repent the "sin" of her affair with Velutha.

Chapter 8

Why does Mammachi despise Margaret Kochamma so much?

chatta Blouse.

Chacko Saar vannu

Mr. Chacko has arrived. "Saar" is a phonetic spelling of an Indian pronunciation of the English word

"Sir."

kodam puli tree

A variety of tamarind tree bearing fruit shaped like a kodam or round bowl.

his What Happened to Our Man of the Masses? suit

Allusion back to the beginning of Chapter 6, when Ammu noted Chacko's unusually formal clothing.

like the English dairymaid in "The King's Breakfast"

Refers to an illustration to A. A. Milne's 1925 poem by that title. The complete poem with its

original illustrations by E. H. Shepard.

What does it mean that Amma "had gifts to give him, too."

Aiyyo kashtam

Literally, "Oh, what a pity!" but used here as a reproach: "How could you say that!"

Why doesn't Rahel want Velutha to see Sophie Mol?

Kando . . .

Translated in the text: "'Can you see her?' 'I can see her.'"

Sundari kutty

Lovely little girl.

the Scarlet Pimpernel

Allusion to a once-popular 1905 novel by the Baroness de Orczy (recently made into a Broadway

musical) featuring a daring aristocrat who works to save nobles in Revolutionary France, and a

rhyme that features in the novel.

Kushumbi

Jealous woman.

Explain the relevance of the ant-killing scene to the themes of the novel. What is the difference

between things as the adults perceive them and as the children perceive them?

Chapter 9

We are back in the "present" at first, but quickly slip back in Rahel's memories into the past.

What does Rahel mean by her musings on whether there is room for her and Estha in the house?

pallu

The loose end of a sari which is draped over the shoulder.

bindis

Red dots worn on the foreheads of women.

How did Sophie Mol reveal herself to be human, and how did that revelation affect the twins?

chenda

Drum.

Chapter 10

Pectin, Hectin and Abednego

Alluding to the three Jewish heroes who were thrown into the firey furnace by Nebuchadnezzar's

servants along with Daniel: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Note the flood imagery which foreshadows much that is to come.

Twins were not allowed.

What is the significance of this thought?

She heard a nun's voice singing the boat song.

Singing like Maria in The Sound of Music, who became, like Estha, a refuge from danger.

Amhoo

Moo.

Mandalay.

In central Burma.

vallom

Small boat.

Aiyyo, Mon! Mol!

Aiee! Boy! Girl! (Literally, "Son! Daughter!.)

koojah

Earthenware water jar.

idi appams

Steamed rice noodle cakes.

kanji

Rice soup.

meen

Fish.

How have Velutha's feelings toward the children changed?

For the first time it is confirmed that it was Velutha the children saw in the march.

Chapter 11

What qualities draw Ammu to Velutha in her dream?

What does the title of the chapter seem to refer to here?

a song from a film called Chemmeen

Note the ominous associations of this song from the 1965 film directed by Ramu Karia. The film

was made in Malayalam, and its English title was The Wrath of the Sea.

burning ghat

Funeral pyre.

Why does not mentioning Velutha's name to the twins make Ammu feel more attached to him?

Describe the children's relationship with their mother in this scene.

Can you guess why Chacko will threaten and drive away Ammu?

The "silent stranger" is, of course, the grown Estha.

Chapter 12

kuthambalam

Inner part of the Hindu temple, just outside of the inner sanctum.

rakshasa

Demon.

Karna

See the note above, on Karna and Kunti. The story Kunti tells him is her own. Note that Estha joins

Rahel just as the twins are mentioned in the story. What else does this story have to do with Estha

and Rahel's story?

It is not unusual for Indian classical performances to last all night.

Why is it mentioned that the Kathakali men went home to beat their wives?

The rose bowl

The pink arch of the dawn sky.

Chapter 13

churidar

Traditional narrow, tight-fitting trousers with folds near the ankles; worn by both men and women in

North India.

shervani

"Nehru jacket": long formal jacket with stand-up collar.

Why does Roy tell us the story of how Margaret and Chacko met at this particular point in the

novel, do you think?

Why does Margaret love Chacko? Why does he love her?

secretly pawned her jewelry

It is traditional for Indian brides to be given lavish jewelry which is normally only pawned or sold in

the direst emergencies.

dhobi

Person who washes clothes for a living.

At this point a section break is indicated by the image of a small fish.

Note how we keep circling around the incident of Sophie Mol's drowning, looking at events which

led up to it and events that followed it, slowly tightening the circles to focus in at last on what

actually happened. What effect does this technique have on you?

Keep in mind as you watch Baby Kochamma trying to take her revenge those aspects of her own

history which have made her the kind of woman she is.

mittam

Yard.

Modalali Mariakutty

Landlord Mariakutty.

They were both men whom childhood had abandoned without a trace.

What do you think this sentence means?

What is Comrade Pillai's main motivation in saying what he does and does not about Velutha to

Inspector Thomas Mathew?

Why does Margaret Kochamma never think about Velutha?

A second fish occurs at this point.

What is the significance of the various things that Margaret Kochamma has taken with her and

Sophie Mol to India?

Chapter 14

Ajantha

The brand name of an audio equipment company in Kerala, named after the famous Buddhist cave

site. Information about the Ajanta caves.

kavani

Top part of a two-piece sari, draped diagonally across the upper body.

Modalali

Landlord.

O, young Lonchin varhas scum out of the vest

Here is the original text of the lines Latha mangles:

O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west,

Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;

And, save his good broadsword, he weapons had none,

He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone.

He swam the Eske River where ford there was none,

But, ere he alighted at Netherby gate,

The bride had consented, the gallant came late

The entire text of the poem.

The poem tells, of course, of another illicit romance, and a dangerous crossing by water.

Friends Romans countrymen lend me your

Antony's funeral oration over the body of the slain Julius Caesar, another ominous tale.

Why does his poverty give Comrade Pillai an advantage over Chacko?

Oru kaaryam parayettey?

Shall I tell you something?

keto

Have you heard?

Allay edi

Isn't that so? (rudely)

As a Communist, Pillai should be in favor of equality, but he shares the same prejudices as others in

the village against the untouchables.

He broke the eggs but burned the omelette.

See above, note on the relevant passage in Chapter 1.

Another fish marks the end of the scene at Comrade Pillai's and a shift back to Velutha.

Chickens would come home to roost.

"The chickens have come home to roost" is an old expression meaning someone has received

punishment for what he or she has done. Doom.

Koo-koo kookum theevandi

Kooki paadum theevandi

Rapakal odum theevandi

Thalannu nilkum theevandi

This is a rhyme about a train which was printed in a popular Malayalam reader for children:

The train screams koo-koo-koo

The train sings and screams

The train runs day and night

The train stops, exhausted.

avial

A spicy vegetable stew cooked in coconut milk, a typical Malayali dish.

Enda?

What is it?

Comprador capitalist

A Marxist insult suggesting that Velutha is a sellout, one who collaborates with the exploiters of the

working class. But it almost certainly not the fact that Velutha has crossed class lines that so offends

Comrade Pillai, but that he has crossed caste lines.

Spring-thunder

"Spring Thunder Over India" is the title of an editorial hailing the Naxalite Communist rebellion in

the People's Daily, organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China July 5, 1967.

It was reproduced in Liberation, Vol. I No. 1 (November 1967). Since then the phrase has come to

stand for Keralite Communism generally. The original editorial.

Chapter 15

The action of this chapter follows immediately upon that of the preceding one.

Chapter 16

What pattern have events taken on at the end of this chapter?

Chapter 17

Back to the "present." His trauma of that night seems to have extended a quarter century into the

future.

ashram

Hindu spiritual center.

Diwali

The very popular fall Hindu festival of lights. Also known as "Deepavali." More information about

Deepavali. How does this scene affect your perception of her in relation to the Velutha-Ammu love

affair?

in saffron

In saffron-yellow robes, traditionally worn by holy men.

sadhus

Hindu ascetics.

swamis

Senior members of a Hindu religious order.

What effect does it have in the novel to have the end of Velutha's story told indirectly, in retrospect,

at the end of this chapter?

Chapter 18

We now leave the retrospective narrative to plunge back into that fateful night.

civilization's fear of nature, men's fear of women, power's fear of powerlessness.

Relate these various fears to elements of the novel.

Madiyo?

Is it enough?

Madi aaririkkum

It may be enough.

Chapter 19

F.I.R.

"First Information Report," the initial report of illegal activity at a local police station.

chhi-chhi

Expression of disgust used as a euphemism for excrement.

meeshas

Moustaches.

Childhood tiptoed out.

What does this mean?

How does Baby Kochamma manipulate Chacko into getting Ammu and the twins out of

Ayamenem?

Chapter 20

Why is Rahel concerned that there be "proper punishments" in the imaginary school Ammu is

imagining?

After another fish, we return to the "present." Why do you think Roy has the twins "break the love

laws" at the end of her novel?

Chapter 21

There's no time to lose

One of the verses from "Ruby Tuesday" by the Rolling Stones. The song concerns parting from a

loved one, but this particular stanza emphasizes the urgency of acting on love in the present. The

lyrics of the entire song.

Why do you think this pivotal love scene has been postponed to the end of the book?

It is no coincidence that Roy has placed two scenes of lovemaking (between Rahel and Estha and

between Ammu and Velutha) in close proximity to each other at the end of the novel. What

relationships do you see between these two scenes?

What does it mean that "they stuck to the Small Things"?

Chappu Thamburan

A spider.

Why is the last word of the novel "Tomorrow"?

What messages do you think Roy was trying to convey in writing this novel?

Notes by Paul Brians

List of other study guides

Thanks for help to Arindam Basu, Arnab Chakladar, Priya Chandra, Sundeep Dougal, Paula Elliot,

Chandra Holm, Jayashree Mohanka, Gary Williams, and Sumathy Sivamohan. Special thanks to

Raji Pillai for many translations of Malayalam and Hindi words and phrases.

Modern South Asian Literature in English

For more about Arundhati Roy and other South Asian writers, see Paul Brians' Modern South Asian

Literature in English .

First mounted November 28, 1998.

Last revised, December 15, 2003.

This page has been accessed times since December 17, 1998.

Last revised March 5, 2003.