Class Forum: THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Towards the end of the chapter Abhilash Talkies it discusses Comrade Pillai's political ambitions in the communist party, as well as his relations to the workers. On page 115 Roy tells us that Velutha is in fact a "card-holding member of the Party". It also depicts why this allegiance is actually harmful to Comrade Pillai's ambitions of beginning a revolution with the factory. Velutha's untouchability is still remembered by many of the workers, and he is of course resented, therefore the subliminal connection that is made between Velutha's untouchableness as well as his communistness will undoubtably be made. But that is not what find most interesting, as I've previously said communism seems to be much more of a rich boys ideal. Those people who can afford to give up, believe themselves willing to do so, in order to make themselves feel saintly or to achieve some sort of fantasy. (Karl Marx, the "father" of communism, lived in a rich part of London and had four servants, during the time he was writing the Communist Manifesto) So Velutha someone who was born into extreme poverty and through the kindness of wealthy patrons managed to drag himself out of complete torment. So why would he find a classless system, where this sort of thing would be close to impossible without the state's concession, to be so much more appealing?
"As lonely as a wolf. The God of Loss. The God Small Things." (Roy 274). So, I think it's become evident to everyone now that Velutha is the God of Small Things. He seemed like a not-so-important character at first, but eventually evolved into the most pivotal character in the entire novel. I guess it serves, then, to delve into what 'The God of Small Things' really means. It's my understanding that it has to do with all the chaos that came from the small things within the big things. It's like all the secrets from the History House and such, small things in this case, suddenly came out and just wrecked everything. In trying to preserve a little sanctity and order in their big world, characters like Baby Kochamma and Comrade Pillai have created more havoc, and have therefore made this book much more tragic with occurrences like Velutha's brutal murder. They can all be traced back to these "small things" though, and, henceforth, to Velutha, their deity.