Rachel, Roy - 3/29

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.


Here it goes!  Here's a chunky excerpt from page 108:




"The sticky neon night rushed past the taxi window.  It was hot inside the taxi, and quiet.  Baby Kochamma looked flushed and excited.  She loved not being the cause of ill-feeling.  Every time a pye-dog strayed onto the road, the driver made a sincere effort to kill it.
The moth on Rahel's heart spread its velvet wings, and the chill crept into her bones.
In the Hotel Sea Queen car park, the skyblue Plymouth gossiped with other, smaller cars.  Hslip Hslip Hsnooh-snah.  A big lady at a small ladies' party.  Tailfins aflutter."




Its this rhetorically-packed language that makes me appreciate Roy so much.  (As Robin pointed out...I can't really discuss her without sounding like a positive book review, haha.)


Some things that jump out at me right away:


1.) "the sticky neon night" = some alliteration, but how can night be sticky, or even neon?  Not sure what highbrow Greek term you'd use to describe this.


2.)  "Every time a pye-dog strayed onto the road, the driver made a sincere effort to kill it."  Did anyone else laugh at this line?  I thought it was funny, even though animal cruelty is totally not funny.  Didn't Freud do studies on that?  I think most jokes are supposed to be a way of tricking the superego into releasing the id, if only for a split second.  Whatever.  Freud was amazing, but in 2011, his theories are outdated.


3.)  Personification of the cars.  (And even using a neologism to describe how they talk!)  The brand name (Plymouth) and color of the car suggests the socioeconomic status of the people inside it.  Obviously, they are well off, and it shows, as their car is the fanciest in the lot - or, in Roy's metaphor, "at the party."  "Tailfins aflutter" almost implies that the vehicles are taking on the form of fish-like creatures...huh.  Not sure why that is, but it's interesting.


4.) Rahel's moth, I think, it the most beautiful image in The God of Small Things.  Although it is a delicate insect, it becomes a haunting motif that symbolizes failure.  (Her grandfather - I think it was the grandfather - tried to have the moth named after him, and failed.  This is Roy "setting her audience up" to comprehend the moth's meaning.)  Later, Ammu tells Rahel that when she is mean to people, they "love her a little less," which causes her pain.  After this scene, every time Rahel experiences failure - especially in her personal relationships - the white moth inside her appears, chilling everything it touches.  Personally, I would have put a white moth on front cover of this book.  Thematically, I think it is one of the most important motifs Roy offers.


Gotta love a wordsmith who knows what she's doing.