God of Small Things to p. 147

ideas for your posts - read them all: most questions can be used by more than one student, as they refer to a range of events: 1. in class we discussed connections between Roy's style and modernism? Firstly, what makes it quasi-modernist? 2. Secondly, how are modernist techniques to be understood differently in the post-colonial context? 3. As we see the past and the future in chapters 1-5, Ayemenem, the Kochammas' chidhood home, remains a constant, although it changes over time. Comment on this landmark as a symbol. 4. Find examples of some of Roy's characteristic stylistic flourishes - capital letters, lists, quoted language - and discuss when they are used and what effect or meaning they have. 5. The story contains many instances of interrelatedness between the characters living in Kerala, India, and European influences: Christianity, Christian figures like Father Mulligan, the former owner of the History House, the "Anglophile" family itself... Pick one or more instances of these relations to the colonizers and comment on it. Does it show a struggle for identity? A kind of endurance of Indian culture? Or the complicatedness of all these things? (Point to specific passages.) 6. The story, like Rushdie's book, makes liberal use of foreshadowing. There is a suggestion of a motive for Rahel and Estha's involvement in Sophie Mol's death. Comment on this suggestion and its possible meaning or reason for inclusion. 7. Forbidden love appears in many different forms in the book. Find some instances of this and comment on them. Be specific. 8. Also, hopeless love (Baby-Mulligan, Chacko-Margaret) appears repeatedly. Comment on instances. 9. Ammu, the twins' mother, is in some ways a different type of female character from the ones we've seen. Expand on this idea - try pp 42-43 for examples. 10. Discuss the arrival of Sophie Mol as a scene and as a disruptive influence on the family. 11. How is Communism presented? Unlike in other books we've read, it is a dominant political force in the beginning of the story. Is it seen as bad or just not perfect?