2022 IB Diploma Extended Essays

How does Arundhati Roy explore the impacts of cultural values on the lives of individuals in ‘The God of Small Things’?

Part 3: Collective Trauma and Colonisation

A state of trauma is represented as normalised in Indian society, meaning that individuals can only heal from traumatic experiences through defiance of societal values. Roy depicts Estha and Rahel’s incestuous relationship as a positive act, as it assists the twins in recovering from their collective suffering. When Estha and Rahel have sex, “no one [stares] out of a window at the seas. Or a boat in the river” (328). Here, Roy is referencing Sophie Mol’s death, as she drowned in a river after falling out of a boat, implying that, by having sex, the twins can ignore the source of their grief. This is further evidenced by Roy’s purposeful description of ‘staring’, as this indicates that the twins are normally unable see anything other than the cause of their distress. After the twins have sex, it is explicitly stated that “they broke the Love Laws” (328). Therefore, as the Love Laws are established to represent traditional Indian values, this indicates that the twins heal from their trauma by defying cultural customs. While Roy’s use of the Love Laws outside of the context of inter-caste love may diminish the epithet’s meaning in providing specific commentary on caste issues, this simply implies that Roy uses specific political and cultural issues within Keralan society to provide a broader commentary on the restrictive nature of societal values as a whole. Despite the abnormality of the twins’ incestuous relationship, right before the twins have sex, the narrator believes, “there is very little that anyone could say to clarify what happened next. Nothing that… would separate Sex from Love. Or Needs from Feelings” (328). The capitalisation of ‘Needs’ and ‘Feelings’ emphasises the dichotomy of these two concepts, suggesting to the reader that Estha and Rahel need sex, and therefore need to defy societal values, not because they are in love with each other, but because sex metaphorically represents salvation from trauma. Overall, Roy implies that cultural values prevent individuals, namely the twins, from escaping their shared traumatic experience, as they are only able to reconcile their trauma by defying cultural values.

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