The God of Small Things; pp. 3-129

The God of Small Things is different from the other non-western literature we have read in class. This is mostly because the author, Arundhati Roy, has strong feminist undertones within the text. In addition, the story is unique because it is poetic and plays with language. When I first began reading this book, I was aware of the poetic language, but I did not realize just how creative Roy is when playing with text. Roy is making a statement about the English language and how much power it has in many cultures. In the story, the main character Rahel sees the power of the language when she is young, and is recounting those events when she returns home as an adult. In many ways, language seems to be the main object of Roy’s attention in the story.

Aside from language, another important aspect of the text is feminism. Although the feminist aspects are somewhat hidden within the text, it remains a very important part of the story that Roy is telling. In some ways I think it is more powerful to have the reader discover the aspects of the story that show inequalities between men and women in the Indian culture.