The God of Small Things: Female Transgression and Patriarchal Oppression

     Arundhati Roy’s postcolonial novel The God Of Small Things explores the crude picture of the social, cultural and political reality of the nation of India. In Roy’s story, the acts of moral and social transgressions result in the ruin and death of various characters. Roy resorts to social transgressions in an attempt to shock readers about boundaries and the caste system within Indian culture, which are manifested through “small things”. The novel presents  transgressive female characters who suffer the consequences of defying the status quo. The purpose of this essay is to reflect upon how the author of this novel shows the dangers that Indian women might face when transgressing those norms established by the strict patriarchal society they live in. This will be done by exploring the realities of Ammu, Mammachi and Baby Kochamma. These are three female characters who dared to defy social norms, who could not escape their destiny and who were faithful to their wishes and yet accepted and respected social and cultural norms.  

      The novel revolves primarily around its main transgressor: Ammu. As a woman who is a helpless victim of this patriarchal society, she transgresses the fate imposed upon her by her family and community, and it is through her character that Roy gives us a critique of patriarchal traditions embedded in an elite and educated Indian family. Ammu’s desperation to escape her life in her parents’ house compels her to marry the first man who proposes to her for she believes that “anything, anyone at all, would be better than returning to Ayemenem”(Roy, 1997, p.39). Being the daughter of an abusive and violent father and a bitter, long suffering mother, she has no means of achieving freedom as she lacks college education.  Later she discovers to her utmost shock that her husband is an alcoholic who beats her and even attempts to prostitute her to his employer so that he can keep his job. The worst transgression she could ever commit stems from loving an Untouchable man, Velutha, who belongs to the bottom of the caste system. In a way, her transgressions can also denote strength and can be a medium of protest against the taboos and “the laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.” (Roy, 1997, p.33). Even though Ammu is despised by her elitist family due to her transgressions, she is feared as well. As she is considered  “a woman that they had already damned, [who] now had little left to lose, and could therefore be dangerous” (Roy, 1997, p.44). Though she finds a way to act on her own desires, her small acts of rebellion, or "small things", in the end the much heavier burden of society, the "big things", end up consuming and destroying her life.

      Baby Kochamma, Ammu's aunt, can be considered to be the character who resents her the most for her behaviour. Out of all the female characters in the novel, she appears to be the most functional to the patriarchal system. She refuses to cross into forbidden territory but consistently manipulates every situation to her advantage. She presents herself as an extremely conservative and religious woman, as well as an anglophile. Taking care of her social status and public image, the "big things", determines her views regarding Ammu's transgressions, which to her, represent a danger to their family's reputation. In the words of the narrator: 

“[Baby Kochamma] subscribed wholeheartedly to the commonly held view that a married daughter had no position in her parents' home. As for a divorced daughter – according to Baby Kochamma, she had no position anywhere at all. And as for a divorced daughter from a love marriage, well, words could not describe Baby Kochamma's outrage. As for a divorced daughter from an intercommunity love marriage – Baby Kochamma chose to remain quiveringly silent on the subject.” (Roy, 1997, p.45)

However, another reason for her resentment towards Ammu is her defiance of a fate that she, Baby Kochamma herself, feels she has no other choice but to accept. The fate of a woman who wants a man beyond her reach and who must accommodate to her parents’ desires. The woman who does not succeed in getting the love of Father Mulligan. Yet, in her own way, she manages to achieve a small moment of transgression the moment she joins a convent, in a desperate attempt to win Father Mullingan’s affection, to no avail. From then on, she forever tries to convince herself that her own restraints, in order to do the rightful thing, keep them apart. After all, she is incapable of making something of herself or choosing her own path and remains bitter throughout the rest of her life.

      Mammachi, Ammu’s mother, could possibly be one of the most complex characters in the novel. She puts up with years and years of incessant beating, marginalization and humiliation from Pappachi, her husband. Yet, she accepts social and cultural impositions as she is able to thrive on them with her fair share of limitations. Pappachi, who believes in the subjugation of women, resents his wife’s business and success with the factory, but it is there that she finds her own “small thing” to disregard the status quo. The only way she can grasp a fragment of freedom. As a consequence, she endures domestic abuse until her son Chacko intervenes, which leads her to focus the entirety of her love for men into him. From this, Mammachi plays a part in the double standardness of society, as she encourages Chacko to flirt with the poor women of the factory to satisfy his “Men’s Needs”, while Ammu, who commits a similar mistake, receives severe and relentless punishment. Mammachi shows discontent with her rebellious and newly divorced daughter. Her social class, the “big thing”, plays an essential part in her life: She dislikes her son’s former wife, for the sole reason of marrying her son, only to abandon him, and for belonging to the English working class. “Shopkeeper's daughter was how Margaret Kochamma was filed away in Mammachi's mind. Mammachi's world was arranged that way.” (Roy, 1997, p.167) Pigeonholing people is of utmost importance to Mammachi - not only to give her world order, but to show how important she is in comparison, as she belongs to a Touchable family from a higher social class. She’s supercilious in order to make her superior status clear. Although a worker herself, a transgressor of her social circle, she benefits by taking advantage of the patriarchal structure.

          In conclusion, every single woman in the novel is unable to escape or defeat the deep patriarcal and classist embedded society. In Ammu’s case, her refusal to abide to the norms is what eventually triggers her downfall. Whereas Baby Kochamma walks away from her own desires which are, in fact, shaped by her upbringing and cultural impositions;  Mammachi- being the most complex of the three characters- has a life full of contradictions and double standards. Their transgressions or "small things" are ultimately unable to succeed against the weight of the caste system and the severe patriarchal structure, the "big things" they have no choice but to obey or suffer horrific consequences.

Reference:

Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. Fourth State: London.