Arundhati Roy and Chi Li Slays the Serpent

This paper attempts to examine the fictional projections of Indian girls, to see how they emerge in ideological terms. Their journeys from self-alienation to self-adjustment, their childhood struggles against the hypocrisies and monstrosities of the grown-up world, eventually demolishing the unjust male constructed citadels of power that hinder their progress- are the highlighted issues. The point of comparison between the two novels focused on here is the journey of Rahel in The God of Small Things and Sai in The Inheritance from a lonely childhood to a tragic adulthood passing through a struggle with the complex forces of patriarchal society. Both the novels portray the imaginativeness, inventiveness, independence, rebelliousness, wide-eyed wonder and innocence associated with these young girls.

An analogy has been drawn about how she was in the past and how is she now. She was a carefree person, demanding love in her life, wanting to take care of her children and become a house wife and now she works as a schoolteacher, has become a responsible person concerned about her husband and child, struggling for her son’s life, bearing tantrums of her sister-in-law and living in a small house in a small city. On the other hand, Komal, sister-in-law of Anjali is a character shown who seems to be frustrated from her life from the time she has lost her husband. The book has depicted another face of an Indian woman, who lives her entire life following the customs that the society has decided for a widow. Anjali tried to make her first marriage successful by taking care of small things like making her husband, his favorite cardamom chai and best of meals while Prakash’s second wife Indu was never concerned about any of his likings and gave priority to her own personal

Many times in literature women and the roles of women are portrayed in a certain light. Today, women are supposed to be viewed as powerful and independent women who do not need to rely on a man. Characters such as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and Tris Prior from Divergent emerged to portray powerful women. Unfortunately, this was not always the case and characters in pieces such as The Odyssey by Homer and The Aeneid by Virgil were viewed as women who needed help from men.

A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.

After going through this novel, “The hero’s walk” Nandana, the young girl has no other option than to live with her grandparents. In passing days, she may be adapted to Indian culture. Her grandfather Sripathi as usual writer letter to the editor of the News paper starting, “early this morning, at Toturpuram beach, I saw the most amazing sight....”

In colonial America, amounts the wilderness, lived a puritan women by the name of Anne Bradstreet. She is a wife, mother, and a poet. Throughout her life she has written many poems about her experiences. She struggles with many fears and worries. Anne faced many hardships and criticisms in her time because of her pursuit in writing, sometimes these things get her down while other times they inspire her. Anne toils back and forth between her more confident side and her more humble side, we can see this in her writings.

In “Holding Your Breath in India”, Gardiner Harris presents his views on a particular situation to his readers with techniques to enhance his viewpoint. His article’s message is that wanting to be successful and provide for his family ultimately acted as a hindrance in their lives, until a crucial decision was made. The happiness of his family and how they feel should come first over a job that can be replaced. Harris intricately weaves this message into the mind of the reader as he writes about his experience in India, after three years.

One very important theme that emerged from Sonia’s relationship to her mother is Sonia’s appreciate and unassuming gratitude for her education. Sonia’s mother taught her not to take education for granted, as shown by her mother’s dedication to get her nursing degree. Sonia used education to rise above the odds and accomplish great things in her life, like becoming a Supreme Court judge.

I chose The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It’s easy how people, places, and things are perceived as something they are not only because of a single story. One story is sometimes all it takes to either destroy something or create something great. It’s truth that people only look at one side of the story, even I am guilty of that crime. Ms. Adichie story inspired me to look beyond a single story because there is always another side. What you hear is not always the truth. Do not always take what you hear and run with it without exploring. If we reject a single story we will have a different outlook on things.

How would you feel if you were repeatedly beaten, had to fend for yourself in 1945, and you never gave up on life even though you have thought about it. In my opinion, the story of Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah, is very inspirational, because a young girl is beaten and gets back up, she has to fend for herself, and she never gave up on life. She had three brothers, a step brother, one sister, and a stepsister. Adeline was born just before WWII. She had hardly any love in the family.

In an attempt to defy her parents’ as well as society’s expectations, Jayanthi decided to find her ideal sense of reality by searching for her personal identity. Bell writes, “Jayanthi worked hard to give herself a history that differed from her family’s expectations …prior to her crazy time, she felt herself to be meeting all her parents’ expectations of a good Indian girl” (34).

One of my favorite books we read in class was Fun Home written by Alison Bechdel. This was one of my favorites because of her writing style and the way she showed her women’s and gender issues. She uses a lot of detail as she writes which is one thing I like about her writing style. Another thing I like about her writing style is the way she describes the issues that she has encountered. For example, she uses the pictures to help the reader better understand how she has struggled. I find that this helps me better understand the plot of the story. This story has greatly changed how I feel about women’s and gender issues. Before reading this story, I did not realize how many issues women suffer from regarding who they are. Bechdel shows her struggle with her father and being a lesbian.

This essay focuses on the theme of forbidden love, The God of Small Things written by Arundhati Roy. This novel explores love and how love can’t be ignored when confronted with social boundaries. The novel examines how conventional society seeks to destroy true love as this novel is constantly connected to loss, death and sadness. This essay will explore the theme of forbidden love, by discussing and analysing Ammu and Velutha's love that is forbidden because of the ‘Love Laws’ in relation to the caste system which results in Velutha’s death. It is evident that forbidden love negatively impacts and influences other characters, such as Estha and Rahel, which results in Estha and Rahel’s incestuous encounter.

His mother’s silence meant different for Mohan and he regarded it as virtuous and symbol of strength but for Jaya her silence means suffering and despair. The silent suffering of Mohan’s sister, Vimala because of ovarian tumour gives a different meaning to silence. More than her husband her mother-in-law exploited her for this. She has to bear all and at last died.

Unlike other writers such as Mulk Raj Anand, Arundhati Roy presents politics as a very complex force. It is operative at different levels. This politics begins with home. This is manipulated by different people for different ends. The novel portrays the forces of power working in alliance in the novel.