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Velutha of Small Things
The small, more trivial things in life are more often than not eschewed, and because of this they are left to find a safe haven in furtive localities similar to “History House” or the river. Being the watch keeper of these small things can be good as well as bad, as shown through Velutha’s ultimate fate. In the novel “The God of Small Things”, Arundhati Roy shows the minute details that fill her characters' lives and furnish the dwellings that cannot protect them. Not only does Roy address the importance of small things, but she also does this through giving the title of “The God of Small Things” to Velutha. Although Velutha social status is of nearly no value, the God of Small Things is Velutha as a representation of all the small things that are often times overlooked.
In a society concerned with "Big Things" such as the caste system, political affiliations, and marriage, Roy directs the reader to the small things that often times hold more weight in the overall impact on the lives of the characters in the novel. These can be small creatures, wooden toys, nail polish, whispers, and emotions that are more often than not overlooked. All of these things seem to have no place or substance in the lives of characters like Baby Kochamma and Comrade Pillai; the society they live in is mostly concerned with social standing in regards to the case system, and politics. Roy points out that it is wrong to live according to only these ideas. He gives the example of Velutha, who seems to not care about social standing, and appears to live a better-off life than those around him. Even though he is an Untouchable, he goes into carpentry, a profession that is, according the caste system, only supposed to be filled by...
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...gh regard for the minor things in life.
Velutha is described as dying like an insect—diminutive, trampled and crushed. Although he dies this way, his death is very significant. In this sense, he is truly the “God of Small Things,” representing the importance of the little things in life. He is not invincible. Beaten and bruised even past his fatality, there is still something beautiful about his death; he dies as a result of taking a risk for his passion, and even though his dead bodies’ condition is horrific, Velutha’s nails are still painted red—the handiwork of Rahel and Esthahappen. The significant, most human piece of Velutha subsists. When he dies, the importance of these “Small Things” remains—with his death, the path of Ammu and the twins’ lives are defined.
Works Cited
Roy , Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: Random House, 1997. Print.
To conclude, it is proven during numerous instances found in Harper Lee’s award-winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, that societal pressures and the rigid rules and boundaries that society sets can overwhelm anyone of any class, race or background. It is unjust to assume anyone’s character by their set status but unfortunately, negative after-effects immediately take place as soon as one tries to step out of their preordained place. As Mayella Ewell, Scout and Jem Finch and Atticus Finch were the examples of this bitter truth, there are many other characters affected by the societal impacts on everyday life in the novel.
Throughout the book, Anse is constantly complaining about not having teeth. He wants them so he can look nicer and hopefully find another wife. To get the money, Anse argues with Dewey Dell because she has money that he can use. The argument ends with Dewey Dell narrating, “He took the money and went out” (Faulkner, page 257). Anse took the money so he look fancier with teeth and impress a woman from the city. Dewey Dell also struggles with herself internally for the duration of the novel. She has sex with a man from town, Lafe, and becomes pregnant. The only support he offers her is giving her ten dollars to get an abortion, which Anse eventually takes from her. Dewey Dell is forced to try and hide her pregnancy without any help from Lafe. Vardaman too struggles with the fact of being underprivileged. He wants to purchase a toy train set from a store in town, but the family can’t afford it. He is constantly nagging about it; the train set represents wealth and prosperity, but Vardaman can’t understand why the family can’t purchase it. All of these points show the internal conflicts that the characters face throughout the novel and how their needs and wants exemplify their want to escape this lower class feeling and become more alike the
Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is a novel about how people’s pursuit of their own interests, influenced by the cultural and social contexts in which they live, ultimately determines their behavior. Through utilizing subthemes of self-preservation, the maintenance of social status/the status quo, and power, she portrays Velutha as the only wholly moral character in the story, who, because of his goodness, becomes the target of frequent deception. Roy argues that human nature is such that human beings will do whatever they feel is necessary to serve their own self-interests.
...ferent from their peers has isolated Bernard, Helmholtz, and John, it has also deepened their individuality. This scenario, at a lesser level, often plays out in modern day. People possess a natural desire to fit in and often are willing to forego individuality in order to do so. Though one may gain a facade of happiness as a result of fitting in, being truthful to oneself and expressing one’s free will allows for honest expression of individuality, a concept much greater than such a facade. A society without unique individuals is a society without humanity, and, as demonstrated through these characters’ experience, does not function. Ultimately, people must realize that individuality, knowledge, and raw emotion is more important to society than superficial happiness.
After centuries of oral storytelling, thirty percent of the world’s population now adopts a benevolent god that blesses those who follow him. In these followers’ eyes, this god of Christianity, YHWH, has shown himself graceful and powerful through His miraculous works throughout the Bible and everyday life. While these traits are prominent, parts of the Old Testament shine a negative light on YHWH that may depict him as a temperamental creator that continually seeks justice at any cost, including the destruction of His own creations. The Old Testament develops a character of YHWH that is sometimes parallel but other times contradictory to the “real God” of the Christian belief.
Reading the Odyssey, a reader will marvel at the wonderful feats Odysseus accomplishes. But behind all of these astounding adventures is the presence of the Gods of Olympus who either assist Odysseus in his journey to return to Ithaca or do their best to deter him from his mission. From the powerful gods of Mount Olympus to lesser-known gods, Odysseus seems to attract the attention of many powerful immortal beings. Odysseus is gifted with the ability to recognize the effect the gods have on his journey to get home, and thus, his life. It is said that Odysseus represents all people who live, because they are on their own journeys of life. The impact that the gods have on Odysseus’ life can be related to the effect religion has on people living in today’s world. The gods and goddesses of Odysseus’ time went out of their way to change his life. Whether Odysseus deserved this special attention or not, the truth is that Odysseus’ story would not be the epic it is without the presence of the Greek gods. Athena, Odysseus’ protector, Poseidon, who holds a grudge against Odysseus, and Calypso, who dearly loves Odysseus, each affect Odysseus’ life in such a way that without their presence, the Odyssey would not be the same.
In conclusion, loss of someone proves to be unavoidable and sparks pessimistic and aggressive feelings that damage us, leaving us to fend for ourselves as seen in the double deaths of Kamal and his father, and the murder of Hassan. Death is not always peaceful and does not always bring along an optimistic life- changing moral; it can lead to insanity or guilt that we cannot do anything to save them. It is unpredictable, but lies in front of us, and it truly tells us to cherish others, but ourselves as well. We let our own feelings get in the way of practical thinking, but we must learn to adapt and know how precious life is.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, God is “a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically: one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality.” (“God”). For a philosopher, however, this concept has proven to be more than a little difficult to solve. According to O’Brien in his book An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, “The philosophy of religion is (in part) concerned with whether such a belief is justified.” (177). The belief that O’Brien mentions as being problematic is the belief that the God worshiped by the monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam is the “supernatural” being who is responsible for creating the universe and can control reality in some way (177). This God is intelligent and has the ability to interfere with human affairs if s/he sees fit, and is “omnipotent (able to do anything), omniscient (knows everything), perfectly good, and eternal.” (177). Many philosophers throughout the ages have tried to prove/disprove the existence of God—men such as René Descartes, George Berkeley, David Hume, Thomas Reid, Bertrand Russell, and Immanuel Kant. Each of these philosophers had a different take on the issue of God, some of them believed that they had proved his/her existence, some believed that they had disproved his/her existence, and the others came to the conclusion that we either can’t know that s/he exists or his/her existence essentially doesn’t effect our lives. Overall, the proposition of “God” creates many epistemological problems that are not easily solved, but there is an a priori argument and two empirical arguments that make valiant attempts.
In the construction of the Large Hardon Collider, physicists seek and hope to unlock the mysteries of the universe by analyzing the attributes of the most miniscule particles known to man. In the same way, theologians have argued back and forth over the course of human history with regards to the divine attributes of God, seeking and hoping to unlock the mysteries of the metaphysical universe. Although these many attributes, for example omnipresence, could be debated and dissected ad nauseum, it is within the scope of this research paper to focus but on one of them. Of these many divine attributes of God, nothing strikes me as more intriguing than that of God’s omnipotence. It is intriguing to me because the exploration of this subject not only promises an exhilarating exercise in the human faculties of logic, it also offers an explanation into the practical, such as that of the existence of evil, which we live amidst every day. So with both of these elements in hand, I am going to take on the task of digging deeper into the divine attribute of omnipotence in hopes of revealing more of the glory of God, and simultaneously bringing greater humility to the human thinker. In order to gain a better understanding on the subject of divine omnipotence, I am going to analyze four aspects of it. First, I am going to build a working definition of what we mean when we say that God is omnipotent. Second, I am going to discuss the relationship between divine omnipotence and logic. Third, I am going to discuss the relationship between God’s omnipotence and God’s timelessness. Last, I am going to analyze God’s omnipotence in relation to the existence of evil in the world. Through the analysis of these four topics in relation to om...
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
The World rides through space on the back of a turtle. This is one of the great ancient world myths, found wherever men and turtles were gathered together; the four elephants were an Indo–European sophistication. The idea has been lying in the lumber rooms of legend for centuries. All I had to do was grab it and run away before the alarms went off. Discworld is based on a slew of old myths, which reach their most 'refined' form in Hindu mythology, which in turn of course derived from the original Star Trek episode 'Planet of Wobbly Rocks where the Security Guard Got Shot' (Pratchett, Terry. Equal p 216).
Death is a great wave whose shadow falls upon the lives of all beings below Olympus. Amidst this shadow and its immediacy in war, humans must struggle to combat and metaphysically transcend their transitory natures. If they fail to forge a sense of meaning for themselves and their people in what often seems an inexorably barren world, they are lef...
Poverty on social conditions affects everyone in every part of the world, no matter if they are rich or poor. First of all, everyone is divided into some sort of social class. The most known classes are the economic classes- the lower class, the middle class, and the higher class. The lower class goes through arduous labor all day and night to earn decent amounts of money to provide for themselves and their families. Most likely, they are the only source of income for the entire family. The higher class works hard to keep up or raise their high social status. They also work hard so they don’t loss their social rank, which permits them to hold a higher power over the middle and lower classes. Similarities of decisions made by characters in these two literary works will analyzed to understand the meaning behind the actions and influences of the social classes on each other.
The 1992 Disney film Aladdin represents an analysis of the social inequalities. Society ranks individuals consciously into certain class statuses such as being rich or poor. The class status acts as a barrier or a wall, preventing the individuals from escaping the social norms of what class they were placed in. Every individual is placed into one of the classes through appearances, skills and wealth. The individual is given a title and they must then comply with the norms according to the class they have been assigned to. There is a clear distinction between the two class status that separates one from another. The owning class and the working class. The film demonstrates an understanding of how each class are represented in the eyes of society.
Indian Writing in English has a special status in English Literature owing to its treatment of women characters. Short stories help the writers to project select characters in an impressive way to the readers. In Indian context the status of woman in a society and her treatment is very different from those of her European or American counterparts. Women are depicted both as a good and evil in literature by various writers. However, in no literature is a women stereotyped as was done in Indian literature. Away from the mythical stereotyping of women, Ruskin Bond portrayed his women in a different way. The female characters of his short stories range from a small child to a grandmother. These characters are as powerful as men and have left a strong impression on the readers. I have chosen following eight short stories for the critical analysis of Ruskin Bond’s Women in this paper.