At the 2003 Porto Alegre meeting of the World Social Forum, Arundhati Roy said: "Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe." How does this message relate to The God of Small Things ? What idea about colonialism does Roy argue? How does the context of "Men's Needs" change throughout the novel? Even though the context changes, does the definition change? What is the significance of the Heart of Darkness? Why does Roy constantly allude to Conrad's novel while describing Ayemenem? Is there any irony in this description? How does the meaning of sex change throughout the novel? How are the relations between Chacko and stra...
“Over the din Kochu Maria shouted Vellya Paapen’s story to Baby Kochamma. Baby Kochamma recognized at once the immense potential of the situation, but immediately anointed her thoughts with unctuous oils. She bloomed. She saw it as God’s Way of punishing Ammu for her sins and simultaneously avenging her (Baby Kochamma’s) humiliation at the hands of Velutha and the men in the march–the Modalali Mariakutty taunts, the forced flagwaving. She set sail at once. A ship of goodness ploughing through a sea of sin” (243). Baby Kochamma emerges as the villain of The God of Small Things. Throughout the novel, Roy notes how Baby Kochamma is constantly judgmental of both Ammu and the twins and how she seems to think they are plotting against her. Baby Kochamma uses Ammu’s sexual relationship with Velutha to her own advantage and gains a sense of satisfaction from ruining Ammu’s life. In this pa...