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Literary Devices In The God Of Small Things

Decent Essays

Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, a twisting tale seemingly centered on a case of family tragedy, unravels to form a critique on rigid social structures. This renders Iser’s quote significant to a huge extent, as proven by the novel’s fragmented narrative. By building the narrative around a crucial lack of information, readers are pushed to engage thoroughly with the text, as they have to piece together the jigsaw pieces that make up the story, so as to make complete sense of it, henceforth enabling a better understanding of the ‘explicit’ when the ‘implicit’ comes to light. In doing so, “the meaning of the text comes alive in the reader’s imagination” (Bennett 1682) - through the readers’ realization that the seemingly irrelevant, …show more content…

The lengthy narration of this ancient tale, while initially seeming irrelevant, serves to depict the timelessness of the destruction that can be brought about by these ‘Love Laws’. Along with the clearest example of the refusal to adhere to these ‘Love Laws’ as captured in Ammu’s love affair with Untouchable Velutha which had led to the massive literal and figurative destruction of many lives, Roy argues how both obedience and disobedience of these laws will lead to destruction as human’s passion can never be contained by them. As such, by inviting the reader to piece together the puzzle pieces of this critique, the boundaries between the writer and reader is blurred as the reader ‘writes’ the text as well. Hence, the reader becomes more receptive to the sensitive, painful questions that Roy pushes, not only about India’s caste prejudice but social structures that are adhered to globally , as he has become more involved in the world of the

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