Key Facts

• Title: The God of Small Things
• Author: Arundhati Roy
• Published: 1997
• Genre: Fiction / Political Novel / Family Saga / Postcolonial Literature
• Setting: Ayemenem, Kerala, India - mainly during the 1960s, with shifts between past and present.
• Narrative Style: Non-linear; poetic and fragmented storytelling blending memory, time, and emotion.
• Themes:
  • Caste discrimination and social injustice
  • Forbidden love and family tragedy
  • Colonial and postcolonial identity
  • Gender inequality and repression
  • Childhood innocence and loss
• Symbolism:
  • “Small Things” – signify unnoticed emotions and minor events shaping destiny
  • River Meenachal – symbolizes purity, danger, and fate
  • History House – represents memory, guilt, and forbidden truth
• Language: English, interwoven with Malayalam words and rhythms
• Significance: The novel portrays how love, politics, and caste laws destroy a family, exposing how society dictates “who should be loved, and how, and how much.”