Sensibility of the Novel “The God of Small Things” Personifies Realities where Meaning Plays the Protagonist

Abstract

The novel, “The God of Small Things”, is a Booker Prize winner fiction. It is obviously a thought-provoking novel with an apparent viewpoint. It is a novel by Arundhati Roy, an Indian writer. The novel is a story of stories where conflicting ideas of various subjects play vital roles. The subjects appear to be really striking. The style is marvelous. The plot construction is excellent, and the characterization is superb. Language is unique. It’s a worldwide acclaimed novel. The novel speaks on subjects like love, madness, joy, cast-discrimination, women’s exploitation and most importantly the conflict between the Laltain (lantern), the big people, and Mombatti (candles), the small people, which represent the class antagonism. All these antagonisms transform into a meaning. The novelist projects so many meanings together and tries to weave a story on Ammu, the protagonist of the novel. She has created a world where the readers feel the conflict between the social antagonisms and emotional meanings. The novelist, Arundhati Roy, has tried her best to evolve a literal as well as a figurative meaning of emotions. The readers feel spellbound emotions when they start reading the novel and pass through the strong throng until they finish the novel. The novelist succeeds in making her readers feel a trance. They emotionally find themselves in a pang of emotions which remains until the end of the novel. Though the novel is full of many obscurities where the readers fail to understand the obscure images and local languages in the novel, yet they feel satisfaction at the end as it discusses sensibility of the society. The reality apparently transforms itself into a crystal clear meaning of life which is very vital to the novelist as well as to the readers. The meaning of life, reality, appears like a protagonist. Hence, the novel under research is under scrutiny about the idea of reality appearing like protagonist. It is undoubtedly a very successful novel. Readers have liked it very much. The critics have found it interesting. It has been the best seller, too. Thus, this research is trying to find out the answer of the question, Is the novel really successful in arousing a sensibility? Is the meaning of life appears life-like? Does it personify reality of life? Consequently, this research paper has tried to find out the answers for the posted queries. Moreover, the obvious answer is, yes it does. It personifies the realities of the tragedies of the protagonists: Ammu and Velutha.