Book Moments: The God of Small Things - AKA A Brief Change of Perspective
“He watched the trains come and go. He counted his keys.
He watched government rise and fall. He counted his keys”
The book that affected me and what I’ve gone on to read will always have to be The God of Small Things. There is so much to say about this book that I love, but mainly the fact that it terrified (schooled) me at the age of 20 about the impact of inherited trauma and class/caste systems. But much has been written on this and so much can be found out from Arundhati Roy’s talks and political writings around all of these subjects, so I thought I’d focus that is really deft in her technique of finding multiple ways of having us experience India.
In this section of the book the family’s journey to the cinema to see The Sound of Music becomes a bit of an odyssey of events. That completely overshadow what would have been (in any other kind of story maybe) how a family emotionally interacts and collides with each other. Whereas in this little jaunt it becomes how this family interacts and collides with so many elements of their country and privilege. Much of the book is from the perspective of the children Estha and Rahel, this scene is an amazing mix of multiple perspectives including that of a homeless man Murlidharan and his probably not so unique existence as a voiceless, powerless (caste-less) observer. The pathos of his day to day routine is set against the comic fixation on his body hair from Estha’s perspective (also note how he observes the only thing out of the ordinary about Murlidharan is his hair), Rahel’s daydreaming about romantic kissing and their Uncle Chako’s decision to take them a route he knew would make them encounter a protest. As if he thought his family needed a lesson in the real world and also he could egotistically show off is worldliness.
I’ve decided it’s reading stories like this at like 20, that has made me think about how the political context of stories matter highly to me. Without that element of social realism even often in fantasy and sci-fi a lacking sensation really starts to stand out. At some point I’ll speak about the masterpiece of the The Wire but also speak about the fictional political system of something like The Expanse. The inspirational aspect of all of these is how they deviate from narratives that utilise tools like destiny but really in our desperate attempt to be individuals our ‘destiny’ can often be created from the social construct we are born into. There’s an ambition to hold up a mirror to such things, as the more you stray into realism the less you can’t get your characters out of a difficult situation using a deus ex machina.
Emotional Moment: This book is notably one that I’ve had to pause reading so regularly as my heart was breaking and for me thats the best recommendation of art I can give. In a very surprising way, this trip to the cinema ends in a moment like this. No spoilers!
