Autobiographical elements in ‘THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS’

Arundhati Roy was the product of 20^th century who wrote a number of fictional pieces which have won fame for her all over the world. She writes in the preface of her famous novel ‘The God of Small Things’;

“My fiction is an inextricable mix of experience and imagination.”

Biography is a term in English Literature which means the true story of the life of someone written by someone else. But Roy’s grand masterpiece is an autobiography in which a writer narrates the actual story of one’s own life though the characters may be named differently. Nevertheless, we find a number of autobiographical elements in Roy’s well reputed novel ‘The God of Small Things’.

Rahel and Estha were twins (brother and sister) who spent their early childhood in Ayemenem House, Kerala, India. Their father (Babu) was an assistant manager at a tea shop in Assam. Roy, the writer, had been living with her real brother ‘Lalit kumar Christopher Roy’ in Ayemenem House which really exists in India and she was born to a tea planter father in Shillong.

Ammu, in this novel, marries out of her own choice and thus brings disgrace to the family’s honour. She could not compromise with her married life and got divorced after the birth of twins. She returned to Ayemenem House where she was disgraced and neglected by almost each and every member of the house. She was humiliated at each and every step of her life but she stood to face the bitter realities of life with hard heart and marble liver.

Roy’s real mother ‘Mary Roy’ had experienced similar situations as Ammu did. After divorcing her husband, she also returned to Ayemenem House where none accepted her with her disgraced stature. Therefore Arundhati Roy writes;

“A married woman has no place in her father’s house.”

This novel has some other events which show resemblance with those of Roy’s actual life. Rahel was a genius girl. She was good at her studies. She was living in Ayemenem House and Mammachi (her grandmother) forced her to do domestic works. In this way, Rahel’s studies got disturbed and thwarted. It is said that Roy, in her childhood, was made to spend most of the time in her grandmother’s pickle factory where she was forced to pack curry powder and stick labels on the pickle bottles. Despite this all, she (like Rahel) had a craze for studies. She had a brilliant mind. She used to go to a school run by her mother ‘Mary Roy’ where she used to surprise her teachers with her intellectual qualities.

Another resemblance is found between Rahel and Roy which helps justify the autobiographical elements of the novel. Rahel was not so attractive and charming yet she knew how to keep herself made up. Larry Mc Casline was fascinated by her dark eyes and superficial beauties. When she meets her future husband ‘Larry Mc Casline’ for the very first time;

“She was in blue jeans and white T - shirt. Part of an old patch of bedspread was buttoned around her neck and tailed behind like a cape. Her wild hair was tied back to look straight, though it was not.”

Larry Mc Casline’s got dazzled by;

“A tiny diamond that gleamed in her nostril. She had absurdly beautiful collar bones.”

Roy herself was not so beautiful and attractive in her youth. She was decorating herself by making use of different cosmetics and priceless ornaments.

It may easily be noted that both Roy and her character Rahel were caught in the ruthless clutches of molars of circumstances and they both were made to suffer endlessly. Larry considered Rahel as an;

“Unbearably precious gift given to him in love.”

But soon divorced Rahel comes back to Ayemenem to strengthen the idea of autobiography of the writer. Similarly, Roy got married to a fellow architect in Goa (India). But their matrimonial life also could not succeed and she was divorced. She was not guided by any of the family members during these years of dejection. There was no one to solace with her;

“In this hubbub of anarchy, there was nobody to tell me what to do and what not to do.”

This is how Roy has concocted a marvelous story of ‘The God of Small Things’ out of her own experiences of life that befell with her in reality.

In conclusion, it can be said that Roy’s own personality finds expression at different places in the novel. Her character delineation, handling of plot construction, use of flash back technique i.e. stream of consciousness and portrayal of persons and places in the novel are closely associated with her own life experiences. Different critics have unanimously asserted;

“‘The God of Small Things’ abounds in writer’s own experiences.”