zaaaAP Lit SuperBlog

Where Did the Time Go

The way God of Small Things is written is interesting. I like how the events are out of order and that the reader finds out the end of the book first. At some parts of the book the time changes got confusing and it made the book hard to read. Sometimes I didn't know if I was in the past or the present. I thought the ending of the novel was good. I feel that the book would have felt incomplete or weird if the final chapter ended in the present instead of the past. Although I like the final chapter I'm not sure  why Roy chose a scene with Ammu and Velutha to end the book. It seemed to me that most of the book was centered on Estha and Rahel. I thought it would have been logical to end with them. The book ends with hope, and I thought that Estha and Rahel would have been an obvious choice to show hope because they are the next generation. Although maybe Estha and Rahel are too stuck in the past to offer any hope.

Why not What is the What?

I just started a novel called What is the What?. It is the story of a 'lost boy;- a boy who was forced to flee his home in Sudan during the war and genocide. The story is obviously heart-breaking and the writing is brilliant. So I'm wondering why we don't read novel/autobiographies like this as well as older works of fiction. I understand that in a high school course, we have only so much time, but surely we need to incorporate some fiction that gives us insight into factual historical events.

Do you agree? What books have you read this year that you wish we had discussed as a group? I always find it frustrating when we are sitting in a silent room and nobody has the energy or inspiration to speak. Maybe if we voted as a class we could have more say in what we read and thus have a more lively conversation.

My original point was that God of Small Things has a lot to do with history, and I wish we had spent some time learning about the reality of caste in India. How do you feel about it?

Our Lives are Acted Out

After recently taking the practice AP multiple choice section, I was able to fully immerse myself in The God Of Small Things for the first time since we started reading it. I feel as though we are rushing through this book, almost as if to get another one in before we start preparing for the AP Exam. I feel in order for us as students to fully comprehend Roy's true meaning behind this book it is necessary to spend the same amount of time on this book as we have the last couple of books What do you think?

That being said it was very interesting looking into the passage that we had to answer questions about for the practicce multiple choice section of the AP exam. The thing that I was most interested in was the way Roy made it seem like the characters in the book were all acting out a play when Sophie Mol was there. I thought it was really cool how Roy talked about Rahel going backstage, with Ammu following her, to go talk to Velutha. In many regards I think this is true in real life. Most people put up a front, or a fake personlaity to avoid any disharmony of conflict. In  sense, we are not being who we are truly meant to be, we are just actors in this gigantic play, who are too afraid of straying from their scripted lines and possibly even walking off stage every once in a while. What is your analysis of Roy's allusion to play's in the book? 

Striking Line Poem

I really like this assignment. My striking line is "There are certain things you can't do. Like write a letter to a part of yourself like your feet or hair or heart." (156). I was thinking of making a poem about someone who wasn't there when Ineeded them. I would start off the poem as if someone was saying that to me and then I'd respond by saying something like "well there are certain things you could never do either..." and then go into how they were never there. Does this sound like a good idea?

What is Love?

Ammu as a character contradicts herself in the department of loving her children.. She says that she loves her children enough for a mother and a father but she also tells those same children that she loves them less when they are cruel or mean to people. How can Ammu have both of these feelings. They don't seem to work together. Rahel is worried now that her mother loves her less then Estha or Sophie mol but Rahel says that she loves her children most in the world. Also they reckless way she acts sometimes hinders her children. Maybe she has to act recklessly because she has to much to live up to.

Finally, A New Topic

Though The God of Small Things may not be my favorite book we have read this year, I really appreciate that it steps into a new culture that is not discussed often in English classes (or at least mine). Though the cultures that are usually part of the books we read are unquestionably important, I sometimes find it frustrating that we never learn about other places in the world besides Western Europe and America. In my four years of English, I cannot remember reading book about Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Island cultures. I think there was one other book we read on Middle Eastern culture. I think there should be a more diverse range in literature because Americans no relatively little about other people's cultures. The media fails to provide this information, so perhaps the school should step in. Does anyone else agree? Has anyone else had a different experience and read literature from diverse cultural backgrounds?

Color?

So I have not really been at class all week, so I don't really know if we have discussed this yet, but I have been wondering what all these different colors mean.  Skyblue must have been mentioned a thousand times in the book and there really doesn't seem to be any pattern to it.  Sometimes, it's skyblue when there are communists everywhere, and sometimes it's a skyblue Plymouth bought from somebody. (47 for the latter) Is there any significance at all or is it just a light blue and an easy way to describe everything?
Blue isn't my only problem. Green is a pain in the donkey. It seems like there is no way green could be a motif (even though I'm sure it is) because there are so many different types of green in this book.  Slushgreen, mossgreen, swampgreen, plain green, it's almost like the author wrote the word green, opened the dictionary, pointed, and put that word in front of green. It's random, they do not seem to ever relate, and I need a lot of help with this color.
The worst colors are the ones that appear randomly. Powder-pink, golden, yellow, purple, red, orange, you name it, the color is probably in the book.  Is this just Roy's style, or does every color in the book have a meaning?
Then there's black and white and anything in the middle. Is black, white, grey different because of the lack of color, and if so, is that even relevant or close to a motif? Can someone shed some light on one or any of these colors?

Color

So I have not really been at class all week, so I don't really know if we have discussed this yet, but I have been wondering what all these different colors mean.  Skyblue must have been mentioned a thousand times in the book and there really doesn't seem to be any pattern to it.  Sometimes, it's skyblue when there are communists everywhere, and sometimes it's a skyblue Plymouth bought from somebody. (47 for the latter) Is there any significance at all or is it just a light blue and an easy way to describe everything?
Blue isn't my only problem. Green is a pain in the donkey. It seems like there is no way green could be a motif (even though I'm sure it is) because there are so many different types of green in this book.  Slushgreen, mossgreen, swampgreen, plain green, it's almost like the author wrote the word green, opened the dictionary, pointed, and put that word in front of green. It's random, they do not seem to ever relate, and I need a lot of help with this color.
The worst colors are the ones that appear randomly. Powder-pink, golden, yellow, purple, red, orange, you name it, the color is probably in the book.  Is this just Roy's style, or does every color in the book have a meaning?
Then there's black and white and anything in the middle. Is black, white, grey different because of the lack of color, and if so, is that even relevant or close to a motif? Can someone shed some light on one or any of these colors?

Tipsy Turny

I have noticed that a lot of people were blogging on the fact that GOST is a hard novel to follow due to the constant changes in point of view.  While this maybe the case, I believe the author does this for a reason.  Just like most of the characters find themselves not truly connected to one another, for instance even Estha and Rahel find that their once close bond between each other is broken when Rahel leaves, I believe we find ourselves not connecting personally with the characters either.  With Arundhati Roy changing the point of view constantly, she creates this detachment between the characters themselves and us as the reader.  I actually find this way of writing enjoyable and keeping me on edge, though I will admit it is difficult at times.  So I guess my question is does anyone else agree that Roy writes the novel from different point of views in order to convey the detachment between the characters and us? Or does anyone find this way of writing interesting?

Two Thoughts (or Three)

In chapter ten of The God of Small Things, Estha tells us of his two thoughts: 1) That "anything can happen to anyone" and 2) "It's best to be prepared" (pg. 186)  Later on in the chapter he adds his third thought 3)" a boat".  He repeats them again a few pages later, and I was just wondering if anyone knew what these thoughts meant.  Are they irrelevant or do they mean something?  Any thoughts?

The Script of Life

 I have not been enjoying The God of Small Things as much as I thought I would. The way the novel jumps around in time has left me in endless confusion. Despite this, my interest has been held by Roy's use of poetic devices. Every other page or so Roy hooks my interest again with a striking simile, metaphor or other literary device. 

There is one metaphor in particular that I was amazed by. On page 166 I really enjoyed Roy's interpretation of the family greeting Sophie Mol. I liked her comparison of it to a play mostly because I find it completely relatable. Whenever I am meeting distant relatives or most other people for that matter I feel almost like I am performing or putting on an act. I am always much politer and more courteous than I am usually. 

Whenever I am in a situation like this I feel like the other person is performing as well. After the polite introductions there are always the predictable age appropriate questions asked to me. Lately it has been "where are you going to go to college" or "what will you major in?". These questions seem to have been placed in some kind of univeral script for introductions and small talk making these encounters even more play like. Has anyone else had any interactions like this? Or come across anything else in the novel that you find personally relatable?

Misunderstanding

I had very high hopes for The God of Small Things. One being because it wasn’t Pride and Prejudice, and I was honestly relived not to be reading it, but the other being that Mr. Heidkamp made it sound so fantastic. I have really enjoyed, for the most part, all the books we have read this year and I was excited to read Mr. Heidkamp’s choice of book.

However, my expectations were not met.  I found it hard to get into the story, maybe because that first chapter threw me off, and after that is was difficult to grasp the time of the novel. But as I continued to read I found that the constant changing of time and subtle changes in point of view were also making it hard for me to follow the events of the novel.  Despite thinking that the pros that Roy uses are incredible written and beautiful to read, I still was uninterested and disconnected from the novel

I’m not completely sure why this novel is a any different from the others for me,  but I am a tad disappointed that now being over half done with novel, I still feel like I  never got a chance to really know or connect with the characters like I have with our other novels. Has anyone else had any trouble connecting with The God of Small Thing, and do you know why? Or is this anyone’s favorite novel so far?

Ammu Von Trapp?

After reading chapters 6 through 10 and watching a little clip of The Sound of Music, I've noticed that Ammu is similar to Baron Von Trapp.  Ammu's high expectations of Estha and Rahel could stem from the way she was treated as a child.  Ammu's father was a "monstrous, suspicious bully, with a streak of vicious cunning", and he also beat Mammachi and Ammu (172).  Because of this treatment Ammu "developed a lofty sense of injustice and the mulish, reckless streak that develops in Someone Small who has been bullied all their lives by Someone Big" (172-3).  Ammu could be strict with Estha and Rahel because she does not want them to misbehave, however, she, unlike Pappachi, would not beat them for misbehaving.  Baron Von Trapp expects his children to have good manners and do as they are told, similar to Ammu and her children.  In the movie Maria encouragesthe Von Trapp children to have fun, and Velutha could be considered to have a similar role in the book.

The Sound of Music seems to have a larger role in this book than I expected.  The fact that Ammu and the rest of her family are anglophiles shows, and the relationship of the characters in the book relate to the characters in the movie is also clear.  Are there any other connections between the book and the movie, or between the book and the West?

Just a Few of My Favorite Things

I must admit that the sing along to "My Favorite Things" was the highlight of my day.  Usually, I would not share this openly with anyone, but The Sound of Music is my absolute favorite musical of all time.  Singing along with Julie Andrews and the Von Trapps almost made me forget about the piles of homework that I have yet to finish.

I grew up watching and singing along with The Sound of Music.  Today reminded me of the countless times that I sat down with my family and truly just "lived in the moment".  Nothing could spoil our fun.

Unfortunately, it did for Estha.  The whole incident with the Orangedrink Lemondrink man kind of brought me back to reality.  True, not all things in life are as horrible as what Estha experienced.  But at the same time, all things are not as wonderful as in The Sound of Music.  I think that Roy made The Sound of Music seem so important to Estha and Rahel because it helped them get lost in the moment and forget about their problems.  Instead of worrying, they sang along...just singing about a few of their favorite things.

Outrage and Disgust

I am utterly appalled and horrifyingly disgusted by of the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man. He's a pedophile! I was very surprised with Estha's reaction because he did nothing for himself. He didn't yell for help or run away. Estha is old enough to understand that he was being violated. Just before this scene Ammu stated that she was proud that Estha accomplished and independent "man" task of going to the "His" room by himself. From that comment I figured Estha would at least try to play the role and get away from the freak. It felt very strange to me how this man's yellow teeth attracted Estha to him like mosquito's to a bright light. I was just so mad to read what happened to Estha. I wanted to get in that scene just so I could beat the crap out of that pervert. I was so scared for Estha afterwards as well because he was finally afraid of what just happened; it was a slow process for Estha. But he acted like any victim of sexual assault would in the end. I think he felt vulnerable, a little ashamed and filthy, especially when he described the hot sticky white egg white on his hands that wouldn't come off.And it was just creepy how this sick man spoke of how he knew the town where Estha live just so Estha would feel threatened to keep his mouth shut. And when he told Estha, "I'll see you in Ayemenem sometime (106)." I wanted to beat him up all over again! Another thing that got me worked ip was the he was called Uncle. I don't know who gave him that undeserving title but the idea of giving him the name of someone who is suppose to be someone you care for and cares for you was awful. I didn't get that part.

The syntax or phrasing of this paragraph may be confusing because it matches my tone. This scene really affected me as a reader, I apologize.

The Hairy Beast

I have thoroughly enjoyed this novel so far. However, there have been several points where I have simply felt dirty. In Chapter 2, when the description is given about the man with three types of hair, I had to ask myself, "Why is this important?" 

I at first wanted to throw up. He has long hair on his head. Then he has long hair coming from his armpits! And he has a mane growing from his nevermind!

I am appalled at this description. I begin to wonder if the people in this book have any pride in themselves at all. They poop in their river. They stand naked on the street. Why can't they just be like Americans?

And I don't quite understand the significance of the description. I think it is to explain the cultural differences between the old-world India, the effects imperial England has had on its state of mind, and the influence of the communist regime. However, I simply do not know any British Imperial Communists that enjoy staring at a mane of naked man. How disturbing.

I would also like to know what the deal was with the imagery describing Estha changing his clothing and Rahel peering in to watch. She is completely messed up in the head. Does she have no decency? Maybe she is a communist as well. It is all part of a grand scheme.

Not to mention the scene in the theatre lobby. While it made me laugh, I just felt awful for Estha. 

My point is this. What is the purpose of all this sexuality? Will there be another plot turn where Estha, Rahel, and Velutha have some sort of an affair?

Sex is appalling. 

A Unique Style

There are a few odd things I have noticed while reading The God of Small Things. For instance, for reasons I am not sure of, some words and phrases are capitalized. For example:
"For a Breath of Fresh Air" (29).
"That was a Good Sign" (92).
"Things People Hadn't Done For Her" (93).
"you haven't Learned you Lesson" (94).
I was trying to figure out what compelled the author to capitalize these words, seemingly arbitrarily but could not come up with anything. I think it adds a unique style to the writing but I cannot make sense of it.

Another thing Arundhati Roy does, though I don't think it is as often, is combine words. For example:
"Getout or Shutup" (96).
"Thiswayandthat" (96).
Once again I do not see a reasoning for combining these specific words. Does anyone have any ideas about why Roy chose to do these things?

Wait What?

So I was at work Saturday minding my own business and doing this weekends reading of God of Small Things when all of a sudden my world was turned upside down. Let me first say that up until page 98 I thought that Arundhati Roy's writing was extremely interesting and purposeful. Similar to what other 'bloggers' were saying about Roy's use of imagery, I was able to get a solid mental image of everything that she was describing and that made reading the book easier and more fun. However, when Roy describes Estha's incident with the Orangedrink Lemondrink man at the movie theatre I was thoroughly disgusted. Now, I'm assuming that obviously that scene will serve some purpose in the short term or long term future of the novel. But did Roy really need to go into such vivid and obscure detail over the whole incident? If the purpose of writing it in that way was to simply show how disgusting it was, then mission accomplished. However, I feel there was another reason for that scene and for her such extreme attention to detail. If anybody knows what that is I would be interested to know.

The Roy-Rushdie Duo

As usual when we start a new book, I like to look up biographical information on the author.  So I did just that for Arundhati Roy.  Here are some of my findings:

Arundhati Roy was born in Bengal, India, on November 24, 1961, and grew up in Kerala.  Her parents had interesting lives: "Her father was a tea planter, and her mother would later help alter India's inheritance laws by successfully suing for Christian women to receive an equal share of their fathers' estates."  (Her mother's act already seems to connect with a theme in the book.)

After working several odd jobs, A. Roy did some work in the film industry, starring in a movie, and writing scripts for movies and television dramas.  In 1997, God of Small Things was published.  It soon thereafter became a best-seller, and won the Booker Prize, but some critics complained about the obscenity of sexual scenes in the book.

The article describes God of Small Things as a "semiautobiographical work departed from the conventional plots and light prose that were typical among best-sellers" and that it's written in "lyrical language"--the part about "lyrical language" only seems typical of books written by those under the influence of India, and I can certainly see it in the book.

What's even more interesting about A. Roy is something I read in the chapter 1 notes in our special God of Small Things packet.  Paul Brians, the person who compiled the notes, says, "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."

So I decided to look up information on Salman Rushdie, too.

Salman Rushdie was born on June 19, 1947, in Bombay (now Mumbai), India.  He studied at schools in India and England.  Many of his books are considered to be allegories of situations in India.  Although his books have won prestigious awards, criticism for them has also been fierce.  Iranian Muslim clerics issued a virtual death sentence on S. Rushdie after considering his book Satanic Verses (published in 1988) to be blaspheming Islam.

From what I've researched, it appears that the people who lived in this area were very much influenced by their surroundings, and passionately wrote to bring light to the circumstances, often in the face of intense opposition.

(Sources: Article on Arundhati Roy is from http://school.eb.com/eb/article-9123760?query=Arundhati%20Roy&ct= Note: In order to access this site, you may have to login through using a username and password provided by OPRFHS Library Services.

Articles on Salman Rushdie from http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth87 and http://school.eb.com/eb/article-9064456?query=Salman%20Rushdie&t= which again may have to be accessed from the same username and password as the A. Roy article.)

Intrigued

Before I read the book, I read a lot of the reviews in the beginning by various magazines and editors and the one by People Magazine caught my eye. They described this book as "Lushly Romantic". This got me thinking about which two characters this romance will present itself between. Victoria mentioned in class the strange almost sexual relationship between Rahel and Estha and this makes me curious to see if its going to be between these two characters. So now I find myself most interested between this relationship and their intensity that was described in the beginning of the novel and if it will return in the same manner. Anyone else?

Possible Motifs

I am so glad that we haven't reviewed motifs yet in English.  I feel that, when we are given a list of motifs, it ruins that hunt of trying to find them in the book and unravel their significance.  I'd much rather look for them and decipher their meanings at the same time, which is what I have been doing for the first half of the book.  So here are some possible motifs and their possible meanings.  Am I really off the map here?  Has anyone else seen these connections or meanings in the reoccurring themes, or have any specific examples?

Water: A sense of washing away, restarting, or even just a new topic that Roy will talk about.
Boundaries, sometimes unclear: It gives a blurry sense of time or historic feel to the character's past.
Clean vs. dirty: There's something about the way Rahel and Estha distinguish what is dirty and what is clean.
The twin identity vs. the separate characters: Differences between Rahel and Estha become more apparent as they grow older.
Big vs. small: There's some comparison between the two, usually right after each other in a passage.

Then there is Roy's infinite use of color, the way a child comprehends and learns the English language, and the references to The Heart of Darkness.  I think all of these devices and techniques, added to the writing style, make The God of Small Things a fantastic novel.

Family is Destroyed

In The God of Small Things I've noticed how Rahel and Estha's family has been destroyed.  Throughout the novel it seems as if the family is more worried about their outward appearance and fitting into their caste so much that they neglect their familial responsibilities. 

Rahel's happiest moment was when Ammu and Baby were all relaxed and together when they were using the bathroom.  That was a moment when their social status didn't matter because it was something every human has to do.  It was a moment where they all had to do something in common and couldn't worry about being embarrassed or humiliated.

Baby seems the most influenced by her caste, she lives through the eyes of what someone expects her to be.  She creates Sophie Mol to be some God in her head because she's an English girl, yet in reality Sophie Mol is a human girl who in many ways acts worse than her cousins whom Baby always harass.

I just feel bad for Rahel and Estha, it seems to me as if they are the God of small things.  They don't worry about the overall picture of things, they don't care about the caste.  They care about how they can twist English words around, and watches. 

They care about the small things in life and they don't seem to judge people by their caste unlike their relatives.

Such a Downer

As I was reading chapter 2, I noticed how unpleasant it is.  Even chapter 1 was not uplifting with Sophie's death and all.  But chapter 2 is full of violence and unhappiness.  Ammu's story is depressing.  She married the wrong man.  An alcoholic and compulsive liar to be specific.  He offered her to another man, and beat her when she did not agree to it.  Her life became a pattern of "drunken violence followed by postdrunken badgering" (42).  When she moved back with her family, they were not understanding and seemed ashamed.  I would not want to be her.

Another sad situation is Mammachi.  Her husband resented her for having her own pickle business and "every night he beat her with a brass flower vase" (47).  Pappachi is a cold-hearted character.  Who buys a car and doesn't let anyone else use it or even sit in, all for "revenge".

A lot of these characters are mean, violent, and unreasonable.  Do you guys think the story will have any positive, happy aspects to it?  It's kind of just a downer so far...

Time Sure Does Fly by Fast

So far I really like God of Small Things.  The imagery is amazing at times and so far the characters are all interesting.  The plot is grasping my attention and I've only heard good things about the book from past seniors. 

Yet, the only problem I'm having with the book is the speed of time within the text.  With Light in August, I was annoyed by the jumps in time, and I think with a re-reading of that book I will come to appreciate it more. 

With God of Small Things though, I'm just confused as to what exactly is going on during the times that are mentioned.  The characters grow from infants to 30 year-old adults in the span of 20 pages or so.

There's a lot of information that is packed into the first chapter, I'm just worried that all the chapters will be like that.  Which to me, would take away from the reading. 

I like the book, I'm just worried about the speed of time in the book. How does everyone else feel about the book so far?

Is the "Small God" Dead Already?

Although I like God of Small Things so far, I can't help but already be confused about what the "God of Small Things" is, if it even is something at all. In chapter one alone, "small things" are mentioned more than once and there is even a specific mention of a "Small God." When the relationship between Rahel and Larry McCaslin is being described, it says,

"Then Small God (cozy and contained, private and limited) came away cauterized, laughing numbly at his own temerity. Inured by the confirmation of his own inconsequence, he became resilient and truly indifferent. Nothing mattered much...Because Worse Things had happened. In the country that she came from, poised forever between the terror of war and the horror of peace, Worse Things kept happening...So Small God laughed a hollow laugh, and skipped away cheerfully. Like a rich boy in shorts." (20)

This passage seems to imply that somehow, the "Small God," in charge of "private" matters, has been killed or forgetten in a changing world. This could be another way Roy parallels her imagery with the story, or something more. Do you think this will end up being a major theme in the novel? Or did Roy just mention it to set up something else? There seemed to also be a pattern of death and blood in the novel, do you think these two themes could be connected in some way?

Digital Books, Worse Things

This might not be exactly related to topics of discussion, but how do you feel about electronic books? They make things called Kimbles that can download any book you want and then you read it on this little portable screen. My experience with reading has been connected pretty closely with books, their font, their paper, and their cover. People put alot of thought into that kind of thing. So I just wanted to know how you felt about the idea of electronic books.

Technology also plays a role in God of Small Things. Education for women and television are new concepts in this world. The technological environment doesn't seem very advanced or detailed. Here's a passage that led me to think that: "In the country...poised forever between the terror of war and the horror of peace, Worse Things kept happening." -20