Essay --

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a multifaceted novel structured in a complex style. Roy has stealthily intertwined and connected her thoughts which require a deeper than surface level analysis from the readers. Creating an unusual yet successful narrative that achieved praise from most literary critics. The novel narrates the story of the Ipe family from Aymenem, India. The numerous members of the household each add to the unraveling series of events and the result of Sophie Mol’s death. The novel uses a wide range of literary devices such as symbolism and themes like the caste system. Roy creates vibrant imagery through the use of colors, more specifically blue, red, and yellow, that aim to stir up precise affect on the readers as well as to convey certain themes such as colonialism and oppression. There are three major colors that show up in The God of Small Things, which consist of blue, red, and yellow. But, the central color throughout the novel is blue. Blue merely symbolizes imperialism. â€Å"Pappachi, Baby Kochamma and Margaret Kochamma are the main representatives of the old social order that is under the threat of losing its grip on the local community" (Sadaf 74). In particular, the characters Pappachi and Baby Kochamma try to spread their love for the English culture in their post-colonial society. Ironically, the characters support Anglophilia instead of trying to salvage whatever is left of their rapidly diminishing Indian heritage and culture. Therefore, Roy might be attempting to portray these characters loyalty to the British culture by constantly associating them with the color blue. As a result, these characters along with the color blue aid in spreading Roy’s warnings about the negative effect... ... readers and created a realistic, nerve-racking mood. It is evident that while writing the novel, Roy laid the foundations of her story and then began to build and enrich the story line, as she would with a building. Roy jumps from present time to flashback each time creating a new puzzle for her audience to piece together. As we peel away the multiple layers of the story, Roy’s surprising talent in writing becomes obvious. She has somehow taken such a simple device like imagery, focused on specific colors and as a result, designed such a memorable story that revolves around colors. Roy instills certain feelings in her audience and depicts the themes of oppression and colonialism through her use of color symbolism and imagery. As we begin to comprehend the meanings of these colors, we successfully start to grasp the multiple messages Roy attempts to pass on.