God of Small Things Quotes Essay Example for Free

God of Sm alwaysy Things Quotes EssayExtended metaphor Perhaps Ammu, Estha and she were the worst transgressors. But it wasnt sound them. They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that send down who should be kip downd and how. And how much. The laws that make grandmothers grandmothers, uncles uncles, mothers mothers, cousins cousins, jam jam, and jelly jelly.Rahel and Estha live in a night club with very rigid class lines. Commonly held view that a married lady friend had no mail in her parents home. As for a divorced daughter according to Baby Kochamma, she had no position anywhere at all. And for a divorced daughter from a love marriage, well, words could non describe Baby Kochammas divulge exasperationChacko told the twins that, though he dis identicald to admit it, they were all Anglophiles. They were a family of Anglophiles. Pointed in the wrong direction, trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace their steps because their footprints had been swept awayThe concept of Anglophilia is a big one in this book, from the way everyone fawns over Sophie Mol, to Chackos self-asserting attitude just well-nigh his Oxford degree, to the whole familys obsession with The Sound of Music. But its pretty clear that the thing they love also holds them down. When Chacko says their footprints have been swept away, he is making a reference to the way members of the Un cutaneous sensesable class have to sweep away their footprints so that people of higher classes dont pollute themselves by walking in them. Even though by Indian standards their family is of a relatively high social status, they are of a low social status in relation to the British.Pappachi would non allow Paravans into the house. Nobody would. They were not allowed to touch anything that Touchables touched. Caste Hindus and Caste Christians. Mammachi told Estha and Rahel that she c ould remember a time, in her girlhood, when Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with a broom, wholesale away their footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by accidentally stepping into a Paravans footprint. In Mammachis time, Paravans, like other Untouchables, were not allowed to walk on public roads, not allowed to cover their upper bodies, not allowed to carry umbrellas. They had to put their turn overs over their mouths when they spoke, to divert their polluted breath away from those whom they addressed. (2.270) This quote speaks volumes about the experience of the Untouchables, and it helps us appreci consume the kinds of deeply ingrained attitudes that drive so much of the prejudice and hate we see in the novel.Then Baby Kochamma shuddered her schoolgirl shudder. That was when she said How could she stand the smell? Havent you noticed? They have a peculiar(a) smell, these Paravans. (13.129) uniform Mammachi, Baby Kochamma has a heap of prejudices against other social classes, and these prejudices run deep. By disparaging Velutha out loud and saying that his smell must have been intolerable, she tries to show just how high class she is.Mammachis rage at the old one-eyed Paravan standing in the rain, drunk, dribbling and covered in mud was re-directed into a cold contempt for her daughter and what she had done. She thought of her naked, coupling in the mud with a man who was cypher merely a filthy coolie. She imagined it in vivid detail a Paravans coarse black hand on her daughters breast. His mouth on hers. His black hips jerking amidst her parted legs. The sound of their breathing. His particular Paravan smell. Like animals, Mammachi thought and nearly vomited. (13.131) Again, we see just how deeply Mammachis prejudices run. She doesnt see Ammu and Veluthas relationship as love between two people, as it might look to us. As far as she is concerned, it is as low as two animals going at it in the mud. The ide a of a coolie (lower-class laborer) having sex with her daughter is so repulsive to Mammachi that it almost makes her puke.Still, to say that it all began when Sophie Mol came to Ayemenem is only one way of looking at it.Equally, it could be argued that it actually began thousands of years ago. Long onward the Marxists came. Before the British took Malabar, before the Dutch Ascendancy, before Vasco da Gama arrived, before the Zamorins conquest of Calicut. Before three purple-robed Syrian bishops murdered by the Portuguese were lay down floating in the sea, with coiled sea serpents riding on their chests and oysters knotted in their tangled beards. It could be argued that it began long before Christianity arrived in a boat and seeped into Kerala like tea from a bag.That it really began in the days when the Love Laws were do. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much. (1.207-210) This quote is full of what might seem like obscure references, but what its bas ically doing is pushing us to think about what caused everything to fall apart for Estha and Rahel. Did everything discern crashing down because Sophie Mol came to Ayemenem? Or do the events of the novel happen as a result of decisions, actions, and rules that were made thousands of years before any of our characters were even born? Do things happen for a reason, because theyre part of this massive plan, or do they just happen because the world is fickle like that?Estha knew that if Ammu found out about what he had done with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, shed love him less as well. Very much less. He entangle the shaming churning heaving turning sickness in his stomach. (4.245) We can be pretty sure that if Ammu ever found out that Estha was molested, she wouldnt be upset with him. Shed be unbelievably angry at the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, but she would never actually blame Estha. Yet, in Esthas mind, what happened to him is his fault, and he carries it around as his shameAm mu touched her daughter gently. On her shoulder. And her touch meant Shhhh.Rahel looked around her and saw she was in a Play. But she had only a low-pitched part.She was just the landscape. A flower perhaps. Or a tree.A face in the crowd. A Townspeople. (8.48-50)This endorsement turns the way Rahel understands her role at home upside-down. All of a sudden, things are totally different than they commonly are. Rahels realization that theyre in a play shows us that everyone here is playing a part to round extent they arent being themselves. Sophie Mols arrival topples over Rahels reality she goes from being one of the leads to being the nobody in the background.Now, all these years later, Rahel has a memory of waking up one night giggling at Esthas quaint dream.She has other memories too that she has no right to have.She remembers, for instance (though she hadnt been there), what the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man did to Estha in Abhilash Talkies. She remembers the taste of the tomato sandwiches Esthas sandwiches, that Estha ate on the Madras Mail to Madras. (1.10-12) Rahels ability to remember things that happened to Estha and not her tells us a lot about their enounce identity and how profoundly she understands him.