The God Of Small Things Character Analysis

In the novel, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy one of the protagonists, Rahel, explores different relationships involving love to discover who she wants to become as a person. Rahel grows up in a household with her twin brother Estha and mother Ammu. Throughout Rahel’s childhood, she suffers a great deal of trauma mainly caused from the multiple deaths in her family. Rahel and the rest of her relatives break each other down and use love as a weapon against each other. The household she lives in never provides Rahel with the love and support she needs to grow as a person. As a major effect, she never learns to love the right people and way. The ongoing absence of support and love Rahel’s family has for her and each other in her childhood, lead to empty and broken relationships later on in her life because she never learns what it’s like to be loved or how to love.

As a child Rahel undertakes a joyful and playful personality and does not have much to worry about until one day when her life changes forever. Ammu says some hurtful words that stay with her for the rest of her life. Baby Kochamma, Chacko, Ammu, and the twins are driving down to see The Sound of Music, but an incident occurs with Estha and the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man during the film. Rahel blurts out the sentence, “so why don’t you marry him then?” (106), while referring to the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man. She immediately regrets what she says but it instantly makes Ammu angry and causes her to say, “when