'THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS' - Significance of the Title

Arundhati Roy was a renowned and well reputed novelist of Modern era. She wrote about sexism, social matters and suppressed sex i.e. women etc. Her novel ‘The God of Small Things’ was published in New Delhi in 1997.

The title of every literary piece of work has its peculiar and specific significance and importance. Every reader knows that total substance of any piece of work is precised and capsuled in a pithy and pulpy title. Simply, we may say that a brief title always reflects what lies in the pages of a book. Therefore, it is generally assumed;

“The title is an index of a book.”

As far as the title of ‘The God of Small Things’ is concerned, it is highly connotated. Readers and critics have to exert their full mind to explore different implications it is filled with. The title may be decoded in different ways. Here ‘god’ implies the provider of either the big things or small things. On the other hand, ‘small things’ symbolize the middle class or lower class of society.

The addition of the word “The” with the word ‘god’ grammatically means ‘This god’. In other words, we may say that the god under discussion has been appointed, in this novel, to provide the people with small things as well as big things.

Nevertheless, the title of the book ‘The God of Small Things’ primarily connotes that every individual (whoever is superior to his fellow beings in any way) acts like a god and but, there exists a hierarchy (a system of grading) behind this type of misconception of godship (which every individual is not aware of) and that is, every so called god (who considers oneself superior in some way) is a small thing in the hands of some other so called god (who is superior to the ibid god in any sense). However, ‘The God of Small Things’ may also be interpreted as a tale of those men and women who have been neglected and they have to pay a heavy price for being born either untouchable (poor) or a woman (poor sex).

Roy’s novel unfolds the issues that are not confined to mere India but their range exceeds to the whole world and thus, contains universal realism. Clarie Scobie read the novel and could not help commenting;

“It is rare to find a book that so effectively cuts through the clothes of nationality, caste and religion to reveal the bare bones of humanity, a sensational novel at the level of title as well.”

There exists a close association between the characteristic features of the main characters and the title of the novel.

Pappachi, who considers himself all in all the god, used to beat Mammachi every night considering her a small thing. She had accepted all these beatings as a part of her fate. To highlight the implication, Roy writes;

“Human beings are the creatures of habit and it was amazing, the kind of things they can get used to.”

Mammachi, who herself is a small thing in the hands of Pappachi, becomes the god of small things i.e. Velutha and his father Vellya Pappen. Both of these men were not allowed to touch the gleaming floor of Mammachi’s house barefooted even just because they were untouchable (poor).

In this novel, all the characters are considered as gods who have the power of deciding or changing the fate of others. But the situation becomes more bitter and poignant when we come to know that they (the so-called gods) themselves are small things caught in the clutches of some other gods.

Baby Kochama also acts like a god who poisons the fate of Velutha by registering a false FIR against him. She treats Rahel and Estha as they were small things which compel the writer say bluntly;

“Small things are shunned; they must find refuge in dark and secret places like rivers and the History House.”

Babu, who was Ammu’s husband, considers himself a god and demands her wife (small thing) to spend a night with his boss. Ammu preferred to break her conjugal bond and gets herself free. The writer says, she writes her own fate like a god;

“She put aside the morality of motherhood and divorce hood.”

There was a time when Ammu neglected her children (small things) and preferred to her own sexual needs. Velutha, on the other hand, enjoys small pleasures of life without paying any attention to the fact that he is untouchable and he should not play with the twins and sleep with their mother. The wandering nature of Velutha from one place to another indicates somewhat godlike quality of being everywhere. Roy’s comments about her character ‘Velutha’ are worth quoting;

“Like the god of small things, he left no foot prints in sand, no ripple in water and no image in the mirrors.”

The brutal behaviour of police towards Velutha (small thing) shows their godlike superiority. Policemen (so called gods) reign over Kerala and show the power of deciding the dooms of its local folk (small things).

To conclude, the title of ‘The God of Small Things’ is rich in meanings which conveys a central idea that every so called god is a small thing in the hands of some other so called god.