Why would an author put an entire chapter in a book, knowing the plot would not be affected? Arguably chapter 12, “Kochu Thomban”, in the God of Small Things does not affect the plot, yet it adds a new theme in the book. Chapter 12 delves into the life of the Kathakali Man, who is supposed to be a traditional Indian storyteller. Unfortiuanlly for the Kathakali Man he is forced to work inside a Resort. In the text it is learned that nobody respects him because of his job and that even, “his children deride him”( 219). In the God of Small Things, Chapter 12, Kochu Thomban, was added to the book in order to present the negative affects of Western society on Indian culture through the Kathakali Man because India is too focused on preserving themselves rather than their culture, disrespecting their gods, and they are changing to fit to western ideals of capitalism.
The Kathakali Man is supposed to preserve Indian culture though dance, but in chapter 12 it is suggested that he would rather preserve himself rather than his culture. They are many stories in Indian culture. Each story has a specific dance, with intricate moves that each have their own significance. According to the book the Kathakali Man is described by being able to, “handle it(the story) as he would a child of his own”( 219). Yet, similar to how the Kathakali Man gave up his first-born child, he gave up the art of storytelling. Instead of taking care of each story and preserving every small detail he uses, “this story is the safety net above which he swoops and dives like a brilliant clown in a bankrupt circus. It is all he has to keep him from crashing through the world like a falling stone ”( 220). The Kathakali Man uses his story to as a “safety net” against pove...
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...These ideas reflect on the ideals of Arundhati Roy that American capitalism is destroying Indian culture. In the God of Small Things, Chapter 12, Kochu Thomban, was added to the novel to shows the negative affects of Western capitalism on Indian culture via the Kathakali Man because India is too focused self-preservation rather than their culture’s preservation, they are disrespecting their gods, and Indians are changing to appeal to western ideals of capitalism. At the end of the chapter when Rahel and Estha are asked by Comrade Pillai if they, “are still interested in their Indian culture”, the two, “not rude, not polite, said nothing. They walked home together. He and She. We and Us”(225). They walked away because they knew it the Kathakali Man did not teach them “Their Indian culture”, instead it taught them, “a bog of a story that was and wasn’t theirs”(224).
In conclusion, all three stories are unique in their use of culture. Each uses clashes in culture or a unique cultural setting to convey a message. In each story, this culture gives us a unique perspective into other people's lives and the conflicts they face. The way the conflict is handled is a decision left to the individual, who is guided by his cultural upbringing. Each culture handles the problem differently giving us a multitude of different points of view. Three of such perspectives are examined by Everyday Use, A & P, and Blue Winds Dancing.
She has criticized the caste system, the Indian government, and now, the United States, which threatens to become the newest world hegemon. Though her opinions are not indicative of those held by the greater Indian population, she serves the useful function of pushing rhetoric to the left, and, in doing so, raises many of the crucial issues that India must address in today’s world. “Not again” is an article criticizing the leaders of America and their foreign policy, which she sees as full of reductionist dichotomies and a thinly veiled attempt to propagate corporate capitalism. As she says in “Not again,” “Wars are never fought for altruistic reasons” (3). Though Roy is clearly denouncing the United States government in her article, the hidden message is the implication that this rhetoric—and action—by the United States can have for developing countries, among them
... was not present to see. Through poetics and story telling, authors give a more emotional feeling to important events that must be witnessed and remembered. Although resurrecting the past can be a struggle and cause emotional pain, it can also help to soothe people’s spirits. In The House on Mango Street, Ceremony, “Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe,” and Zoot Suit each tell a unique story that offers a new perspective and understanding of a culture. Texts that offer a look into the multicultural world we all live in, enables us to reconfigure our understanding of diversity and allows us to revaluate the importance and the presence of race and culture in daily life. Through writing and storytelling, we can also extend our knowledge about parallel cultures by exposing ourselves to the differences and similarities between our own culture and that of other groups.
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.
Storytelling has a special importance in culture throughout the African continent; Anansi the spider in Ghana, is one great example of an African fable that teaches children important lessons including respect for elders, the importance of wisdom, and the importance of culture. These stories have been retained and perpetuated by oral tradition, despite the western emphasis on written records; African tribes have preserved history and culture well thorough oral historians. The translator, D.T. Niane, explains the validity of oral history well by stating that written text can contain inaccuracies as well (xv). The importance of the oral aspect of djelis method relays the information in a personal manner, as Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate states, “writing lacks the warmth of the human voice,” therefore by creating a written text of an oral story it “does violence” to it (xvi). I was raised in an African community, here in DC and was lucky enough to attend Djeli performances by family friend, Djimo Kouyate, and later his son Amadou. Although I do not speak Manding, Djeli Djimo Koyate, performed the music in such a way that I was able to relate and...
In Lahiri’s story the attention and the plot of the story both stayed in one same direction that was the cultural clash. Lahiri’s story “Imperator of Maladies” revolves around people who are Indian’s living in India, Indian’s living in America or people Americans with an Indian decent. As her being a second generation immigrant in America, she realized at a very young age that her family is settled here but she was still not sure about the fact which place she could call her real home because of the different cultural she was witnessing in her everyday family life. In the story when the Das’s family did decided to visit India they did witness the same exact feeling. As the story progresses Lahiri gives us a brief background about Mr. and Mrs. Das as they both were born and raised in America but after sometime their retired parents decided to move back and spe...
In “The Truth about Stories”, Thomas King, demonstrate connection between the Native storytelling and the authentic world. He examines various themes in the stories such as; oppression, racism, identity and discrimination. He uses the creational stories and implies in to the world today and points out the racism and identity issues the Native people went through and are going through. The surroundings shape individuals’ life and a story plays vital roles. How one tells a story has huge impact on the listeners and readers. King uses sarcastic tone as he tells the current stories of Native people and his experiences. He points out to the events and incidents such as the government apologizing for the colonialism, however, words remains as they are and are not exchanged for actions. King continuously alerts the reader about taking actions towards change as people tend to be ignorant of what is going around them. At the end people give a simple reason that they were not aware of it. Thus, the author constantly reminds the readers that now they are aware of the issue so they do not have any reason to be ignorant.
Every dance that is created by a choreographer has a meaning and or purpose behind it. The dance choreographed could be used to send a political, emotional, or a social message. Regardless of the message being sent, each dance created possesses a unique cultural and human significance. This essay will examine and analyze two dance works from history and give an insight into what each dance work provided to the society of its time.
Bollywood film has opened the gates to Bollywood dance, creating a popular style that spread throughout the world. This style would not have been able to spread so quickly if it not had been for the familiar themes and culture found in the genre. Because of this diverse make-up, Bollywood dance is being questioned, for it cannot be seen as traditional Indian dance if it is made up of so many different cultures and styles. Due to the creation from a wide assortment of cultures and practices, Bollywood dance has been the subject of a controversy focusing on its authenticity. Although it is not pure Indian movements, it has become the face of Indian dance due to accessibility and familiarity.
The peaceful coexistence with nature is one of a great desire of human being throughout the centuries. The author of the novel “God of Small Things” Arundhati Roy presents two of major objects in the work. First, nature in the work is referred to as the “Small Things”, also society and all that governs are presented as the “Big Things”. During the passages of the work, nature which is the “Small Things” seems to consider as triumph the “Big Things”. The idea by Arundhati Roy sounds quite odd at first thought, because usually nature is consider as bigger than human. In general, nature embraces every human being as a mother nature even if they are not interested to taking care of nature. Even though the title does putting further questions on a table, there are attempts to correct imperfect issues of the “Big Things” by nature in Ayemenem.
From beginning to end, the novel, “The God of Small Things”, authored by Arundhati Roy, makes you very aware of a class system (caste) that separates people of India in many ways. This separation among each other is surprisingly so indoctrinated in everyone that many who are even disadvantaged by this way of thinking uphold its traditions, perhaps for fear of losing even more than they already have, or simply because they do not know any other way. What’s worse, people seen as the lowest of the low in a caste system are literally called “untouchable”, as described in Roy’s novel, allowing, according to Human Rights Watch:
The movie reflects lots of culture shocks between West and East countries. These culture shocks all because people have diverse norms, attitudes and behaviors. Indian do not eat beef as cow is sacred in India. In Indian, the slaughter of cows is illegal. For example, Tod can not be brought Cheese burger with money. Cow is threated sacred and thus beef is not eaten. Meanwhile, we can see that America and India have different attitude in marriage. In America, people has freedom to choose their way to live and love is basis of marriage. In India, get marriage without love is usual. For
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy tells the story of the communist state of Kerala and the forbidden love between two castes, which changes the lives of everyone. In the novel an ‘Untouchable’, Velutha is a carpenter and works at Paradise Pickles and Preserves for much less than he deserves because of his status as an Untouchable in the caste system. Velutha falls into a forbidden love with a divorced woman, Ammu who is associated with an upper caste Syrian Christian Ipe family. Marriage was the only way that Ammu could have escaped this life, but she lost the chance when marrying the wrong man, as he was an alcoholic and this resulted in them getting a divorce. Ammu breaks the laws that state ‘who should be loved, and how and how much’, as their affair threatens the ‘caste system’ in India, which is a hierarchal structure and social practice in India in which your position in society is determined and can’t be changed. Arhundati Roy portrays the theme of forbidden love within the caste systems and shows how they are t...
Another example equally as potent and yet sadly overlooked by many particularly those outside India is that of Kathak. A classical Indian dance, today held in great esteem among the 6 great classical dances of India, 21st century Kathak combines incredibly complex technique and elegant, slow abhinaya (or story telling) and owes almost the entirety of its current day form to the Mughals. The transformation that Kathak underwent from its original form to how we see it today that occurred during Mughal Era is perhaps the most underestimated and truest remaining symbol of the vibrant Indo-Islamic cultural melding that occurred under the patronage of the Mughals, and to...
The big things are no doubt powerful and able to control small things yet small things are no less important. The overall personality of a person is the results of various small things jointed together. The novel also talks about rules (big thing) and transgression (by small things), love laws and love, decisions and destructions. The novel clearly expresses that the world of decision-making is not a plain world where results tally with one’s assumptions. The result is an outcome of a number of inter-related factors and is always influenced by the meta-narrative of the society. The main characters of the novel i.e. Ammu, Velutha, Estha, Rahel, Chacko, Margaret Kochamma, Baby Kochamma, Pappachi, Mammachi and Sophie Mol are left in the novel (a miniature of the world) to create an identity of their own by accepting or denying the big things of life. “Neither is they chosen from the common rung of the society nor are their problems related to food, clothing and shelter. They are rebels and their rebellion is not so much directed against society as against individuals. Their problems are neither physical nor social. They are psychical and emotional” (Kunhambu 277). Of course in a society, knit with power relations, their places promise different level of freedom and consequences. The novel is important in displaying that in a universe of big things an individual can hardly find oneself