Chacko told the twins that though they hated to admit it, they were all Anglophiles. They were a family of Anglophiles.
(Roy 1996: 52)
In establishing the two-egg twins Rahel and Esthapen (Estha) as main characters in her 1996 masterpiece “The God of Small Things”, Arundhati Roy has set up postcolonial prototypes in the area of conflict between British and Indian identity and culture. The body of the story focuses on the childhood of the twins, playing in the late 1960s; they are born to an upper middle class family in Kerala, South-Western India, and grow up fatherless.
Their family to a large extent cultivates a British attitude – mainly due to grandfather Pappachi alias John Ipe, an Entomologist and former government official under the British colonial administration, his sister Baby Kochamma, and his son Chacko, who used to be an Oxford Rhodes Scholar. Until his death in the first part of the book, John Ipe drives a big Plymouth, he wears stiff English suits and it is inconceivable to him that any Englishman could misbehave; Chacko assumes the air of a British intellectual, he almost exclusively speaks English and often indulges in citing from English and American classics. The family has a high reputation in their home town Ayemenem, most members of the family profit from their Anglophile air in one way or other. The rest of the family more or less adapts to their way of life or finds a way to deal with the situation.
The plot of the novel is balanced along cultural and social areas of friction within the Indian society, such as caste, class, religion, culture, clout, customs and traditions. It is one of the main tasks for the characters in the novel to find their place in this complex social structure. Though the twins are educated in English, their situation is particularly difficult and they receive some degree of alienation also from within the family. Of course, the twins mostly do not articulate these sorts of feelings and assessments explicitly; it has to be considered that they are children of the age of seven - but they are given a much more subtle means of communication by the author: language. Not the content of their sentences, but the way they apply the English language in various situations. It conveys a lot about how they assess their position and how they engage themselves in certain situations the novel fronts.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- General Introduction
- Introduction and problem identification
- Approach of this term paper
- English and other languages in India
- General facts and figures
- Indians in blood, English in taste and intellect
- Enmeshment between religion and language
- English as social indicator
- Constellation in Roy: The God of Small Things
- Social position and arrangement of the family
- Anglophile Tradition
- The twins and their communications system
- Rahel and Estha – two egg misfits
- Their way of using English
- English as everyday language
- English as a means of joking
- language as a means of rebellion
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This term paper focuses on the use of English language by the twin protagonists, Rahel and Estha, in Arundhati Roy's "The God of Small Things." The paper explores the twins' communication system in the context of postcolonial India, examining how they utilize English as a tool to express their identities, navigate social complexities, and negotiate their position within a family steeped in Anglophile tradition. The paper aims to shed light on the complexities of language and identity in a postcolonial setting.
- The impact of colonialism on language and identity in postcolonial India
- The twins' unique communication system and its significance within the novel
- The role of English language as a tool for navigating social hierarchies and expressing individual identities
- The influence of the Anglophile tradition within the family on the twins' relationship with English
- The interplay between language, culture, and social dynamics in the novel's setting.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The first chapter introduces the twins, Rahel and Estha, and the family dynamics within which they exist. The family's Anglophile traditions and the twins' unique communication system are established as central themes. The second chapter delves into the linguistic landscape of India, highlighting the diverse languages spoken and the role of English as a dominant language in postcolonial society. The chapter further examines the complexities of language identity in a multicultural nation. The third chapter focuses on the family's social position and the family's relationship with British culture. It explores how the family's Anglophile tendencies impact their interactions and relationships. Finally, the fourth chapter examines the twins' communication system in detail, focusing on their use of English as a means of expressing their identities, negotiating social complexities, and rebelling against the established norms.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The primary focus of the paper revolves around the complexities of language and identity within a postcolonial context. It explores the relationship between English and Indian languages, particularly Malayalam, in the context of the Anglophile family. The paper investigates the interplay between language, culture, and social dynamics as depicted in the novel's narrative. The twins' communication system and the ways in which they utilize language as a tool for expressing their identities and navigating social hierarchies are key themes. The paper also emphasizes the impact of colonialism on language and identity in postcolonial India.
- Quote paper
- Lars Dittmer (Author), 2005, The communications system of the twins in Arundhati Roy's "The God of small things": How they apply the English language in a postcolonial Indian setting, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/49289
