The God of Small Things

1484 Words6 Pages
Compare and contrast the roles and characterisations of Chacko and Velutha in the novel. Throughout the novelThe God of Small Things Arundhati Roy uses two of the main characters, Chacko and Velutha to explore two conflicting themes in the novel, the ‘big things’ and the ‘small things’ in life. Throughout the novel, Roy describes how most people only care about the big things in life, such as ambition, marriage, politics and the caste system, all themes that are represented by Chacko. At the same time, she emphasises the beautiful nature of the small things, such as gestures of kindness and appreciation which are represented by Velutha. Velutha is the god of small things, ‘he left no footprints in sand, no ripples in water and no images in mirrors’. He is labelled an outcast by society because he is an untouchable. Because of their social status, untouchables are discriminated from access to ‘touchable’ medical and educational facilities and are restricted on where they can live, what type of jobs they can do and who they can love. Velutha could not be part of the ‘big things’ in life which may be a reason why he is the god of small things. Chacko is the main god of big things in the novel. He tends to ignore and undervalue those who represent the smallness of things. He was an Oxford Rhodes scholar, a title which he refers to with excessive pride. He is the favourite child (by far) of Mamachi who loves him obsessively (which is rather unrequited), as opposed to Ammu who she neglects. This allows Chacko to treat Mammachi poorly by disregarding her position as the owner of her pickle company and head of house because he has delusions of grandeur. This is demonstrated when Chacko states ‘whats mine is mine and whats yours is also mine.’ These chauvinist qualities have perhaps developed as a result of how females are treated in Indian society, more specifically,
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