Word Choices - AP English Literature - Blog

Dependence on Someone, Something, Anything.

I found that the section of The God of Small Things that detailed Baby's obsession with T.V. was particularly interesting. It seems as if Baby Kochamma uses television to forget about her love for Father Mulligan. With Father Mulligan, she let him take over her life. She would plan her Thursdays around him, and even changed religions in hopes of becoming closer to him. Arundhati Roy writes, "That was all she wanted. All she ever dared to hope for. Just to be near him. Close enough to smell his beard. To see the coarse weave of his cassock. To love him just by looking at him (25)." To me this is crossing the line from cute to creepy. Similarly, with the T.V., Baby Kochamma takes her interest to an extreme. She depends on it for entertainment and becomes paranoid because of what she sees on BBC. I thought Baby's dependence first on Father Mulligan, and then T.V shows a lot about her personality. She is easily influenced and although never married, is constantly dependent on someone or something. 

semi parallel: like the euphrates and tigris or a river runs through it or some fruity comparison

On the surface Dead Man may seem like pointless weirdness, or in high school terms "super random." And although I find the symbolism loose and confusing, I do think that there is still a very clear message to the work. This is one of many times I have seen the film but i think it made more sense this time because of the work we had done with, Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse now. 

Besides all of them having a symbolic river in it (as I cleverly alluded to in the title), these three works have many parallel motifs and they all serve similar purposes as works of art in their respective culture. It was because of the close relationship Dead Man had to more explicit work like Heart of Darkness that I could figure out these Purposes. 

All three of these movies form a powerful message on a couple or more different levels. At least two or more levels. One level being sociological or a criticism of actual tangible events in a culture (imperialism, savage wars, western bruteness) and the next a more ontological or 'deep' meaning. It happens that we may be blessed with several 'deep' meanings in each work.

I personally I have noticed allusions to intellectual discovery and universal development as an allegorical theme in each.  to be continued for the extra points...

One Being

Although I thoroughly Beloved, I am ready to embrace a new novel. I began reading God of Small Things  last night. I am not even through the first chapter, but I can already tell I am going to enjoy it. Roy's imagery is eloquent and clear, I can really visualize his descriptions, and his sentences flow beautifully. 

However, the first chapter is a flashback, complicating the storyline from the beginning, it is slightly challenging to grasp. But, there is one aspect that has already gotten me thinking of how it will play out through the novel, and allowed me to further understand the beginning. The relationship between the two main characters, and siblings Rahel and Estha.

They are twins, a brother and sister who identify themselves as one being. They are described as "a rare breed of Siamese twins, physically separate, but with joint identities."(pg 5) They were aware of each other's thoughts, feelings and dreams, even when they were apart, nothing had to be spoken for the other one knew everything about their sibling. The scientific reasoning presented for this complete understanding of one another may be their  simultaneous fertilization in the womb, but I think the reason is more spiritual and deeper than that.

Rahel and Estha depart from each other when they are 31 years old, and live separate identities and do not think much  of each other, until Rahel has a memory about Estha and she returns to their first home in Ayemenem.

I am not even a chapter into this novel and Rahel and Estha's relationship is by far my favorite out of all the complicated relationships we have uncovered this year.

Hum sari achchi kham karenge.

I have scanned throught the packets we recieved in class over a newest novel, The God of Small Things. I have heard from reliable sources that the novel displays a contemporary India, and Mr.Heidkamp stated that one of the main themes of the novel was inescapability.

When I think about it, the biggest example of inescapability is the caste system. This system defined people by thier "dharma" or duty in the country. There were different levels of the caste that signified what people's dharmas were, and there would often be discrimination between the caste members. Particularly to the ones who were destined to be outcast from the system and live as rejects. These people were seen as unholy since god had not assigned them a specific dharma. In addition, by being a reject from society, you were also a reject from temples of worship meaning that holy figures like Brahmins could not bless them. Therefore, these people were known as "untouchables" because they could not be touched by god.

I am not sure if the caste system will play a role in this novel, but I feel as though elements of this will appear in the story. If this is taking part in a region in Malyasia, I think this could be true since the caste system is far more pronounced there.