The God of Small Things Initial Observations:
How do these three realities function together?
Syrian Christians (in Kerala)
Communism (in Kerala)
Caste
Love Laws
Taboo
Allusions
Conrad (Heart of Darkness)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)
Kipling (The Jungle Book)
Phil Donahue
TV Wrestling
Personal Symbols
Elvis Presley (the puff—how Elvis wore his hair. PERSONAL SYMBOL)
Fountain in a Love in Tokyo (Love in Tokyo was a 1964 movie which featured a
young woman wearing a ponytail held by two beads on a rubber band. Rahel wears her hair with this PERSONAL SYMBOL)
The mythology of both the Mahabaratha and the Ramayana and acted out in Kathakali Dancing
Kunti
Karna
Poothana
Krishna
Bhima
Dushasana
Draupadi
Psychological Motif Freud: The Oedipal relationship between Chacko and Mammachi
Motifs/Symbols
Eggs
Preserves (preservation)
Moth (Pappachi’s)
God of Small Things
The History House
Testicles
Techniques
3rd person omnisicent
Narrative style that jumps around in time and fills in story holes as it goes
Childlike phrases repeated
Capitalization (proper nouns)
Misspellings (purposeful for colloquialisms and such)
Ambassador epithets
Sentence Fragments
Personification
Contrast (oxymoron)
Vulgar (Base) phrasing embedded within eloquent flowing writing
Archetypes
The beginning as fecund and full of life/creation
The river
The flood
Inimical twins (Rahel/Estha) (Ammu/Chacko) (Velutha/Kuttappen)
Teaching Ideas:
Initial Comprehension quiz
Start Bulletin Board with theme and style connections
Thought Pieces on stylistic devices (Jen’s)
Watch Roy interview (Marion’s)
Listen to Roy read the chapter: “The God of Small Things”
Have someone from the south come in to talk about caste and love laws
Assign kids various aspects of the novel to then report on
Provide a couple of Roy essays to demonstrate that she is a political writer (has an agenda beyond art)—discussion of art. Does having an agenda diminish the art? Are you
then expected to interpret the art in a particular way?
Reread parts of Conrad and Freud
Baldwin Essay and the purpose of the artist
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