Theme Analysis

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy details the lives of the Ipe family. It primarily focuses on twins, Rahel and Estha, but also describes numerous events in the past and present of their relatives. They are not told chronologically but the scattered story-telling adds to the effect of Roy’s style of writing. The characters entail that family plays an important role in the plot of this story, and it can also be seen as a theme. Arundhati expresses the theme that the relationship between family is an important part in the growth of character in The God of Small Things by including scenes of endearment between family members as well as moments of tension.

            A family is not a family without love, and Roy exhibits this in a scene between the twins and their mother, Ammu, where she discusses how much she loves them. “‘Everybody says that children need a Baba. And I say no. Not my children. D'you know why?’ Two heads nodded… ‘Because you're our Ammu and our Baba and you love us Double.’ ‘More than Double,’ Ammu said” (Roy 142). The children never really had a father figure, Baba, because he moved away when they were young children, but that does not stop Ammu from taking care of her children. By caring for her two children with relatively no help from others, it taught the twins independency when it comes to taking care of a family. Although it is not stated whether they had their own families when they were older, they applied independency in decision making. An example of this was Estha’s decision to built a boat to get away from the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man.

            That scene showed how Estha became independent, and Roy includes a scene solely for the growth of Rahel. Her, Ammu, Baby Kochamma, and Estha are at Abhilash Talkies to see the The Sound of Music. All of them except Estha go to the bathroom together. “Rahel liked all this. Holding the handbag. Everyone pissing in front of everyone. Like friends. She knew nothing then of how a precious feeling this was. Like friends” (Roy 91-92). Although a very peculiar scene, Rahel had learned the meaning of friendship from such a seemingly trivial human act. She liked sharing that experience with her family, so it cemented a strong relationship between them. Rahel also had the responsibility of holding their things while they used the bathroom, so she also had the duties of a woman as well.

            Alternatively, Roy to develop character with the arguments and scenes of tension between the family members. In the car ride to watch The Sound of Music Ammu and Chacko, her brother, are talking in the car when Chacko interrupts her saying, ‘“Ammu,’ Chacko said, his voice steady and deliberately casual, ‘is it at all possible for you to prevent your washed-up cynicism from completely coloring everything?’ Silence filled the car like a saturated sponge” (Roy 68). Since they are brother and sister, differences between them are bound to happen, but since Chacko verbally criticized Ammu, the other family members are bound to learn something form outburst. They, or at least the narrator, realize that family members are the ones that know where everybody’s weakness is. Although this is seen as a problem, Roy reminds readers that family knows family best even it is for exploitation.

            The times of affection between family members can bring out the most of its members. On the other hand, the moments of quarrel are able to shed the true colors hidden within them. From rough to happy times, a lesson can learned from what is said. Since most of the events that happened in the book took place when Rahel and Estha were kids, they learned the most from their experiences. Regardless of what happens Roy divulges all in order for her readers to understand her theme of family. Arundhati Roy expresses that the role of family relations plays an important part in the learning curves of each of the characters by her use of scenes of affection and tension.