IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 21, Issue 2, Ver. VII (Feb. 2016) PP 21-26 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0837-21272126 www.iosrjournals.org 21 | Page The God of Small Things: Speaking Subalterns Israt Jahan Nimni Lecturer, Department of English, Noakhali Science & Technology University, Sonapur, Noakhali-3814, Bangladesh Abstract: The Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy is one of the contemporary intrepid Indo-Anglian writers who dream to change the world by raising voice against the existing injustice, discrimination and convention of the society which try to marginalize human being into nothingness, suppress and control individual’s identity in a boundary. Her outstanding novel The God of Small Things (1997) is a tragic resonance of “The subaltern”. This term is defined by many critics such as Gramsci and Spivak who limit it only to proletariat and women respectively. This paper attempts to study the novel reflecting Ranajit Guha’s definition of “The subaltern” which suggests the subordinated and marginalized condition of a person due to his/her belonging to the periphery of the society. The novel unfolds the tragic story of each subaltern in the context of national, political, cultural issues which appears to be bound in a ribbon of togetherness. Roy depicts an extremely traditional Keralite society, which as the God decides every individual’s (small things’) fate; gives punishment through death and silences if anyone tries to transcend its laws, customs, and conventions. All the major characters of the novel ─both oppressor and oppressed are victims of these grand narratives. Moreover, it can be called a saga of sadness, where love is connected to loss, death, unfulfillment and silence. Key Words: caste, patriarchy, Subaltern, silence, tradition, women. Suzanna Arundhati Roy, one of the harbingers of the Renaissance (1980s-1990s) of Indo-Anglian Literature, is best known for her masterpiece The God of Small Things. The novel was published in 1997, the year when India celebrated its 50 th (1947-1997) anniversary of independence. How much liberty and freedom does an individual enjoy in post-independent India? What is the meaning of independence? Roy raises these thought provoking questions in the novel. The setting of this “semi-autobiographical” [1] novel is at Ayemenem, Kerala. In an interview Roy says, “Kerala is the home to four of the world’s great religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Marxism” [2] . Patriarchy, religion, culture, colonialism and even Marxism─ all these gra nd narratives are introduced to ‘the emancipation and the betterment’ of human civilization. But ironically, these are also the agencies that have deprived the individuals for the centuries. All the major characters of the novel are fully or partially deprived by these grand narratives. In her novel, Roy criticizes the traditional values of the caste- ridden, gender biased Keralite community, where “Small man the Mombatti” (p.88) is under the control of “Big Man the Laltain” (p.88). The God of Small Things speaks for the subalterns. The term has been adapted to post- colonial studies from the work of the Subaltern Studies group to histories, who aimed to promote a systematic discussion of subaltern themes in South Asian Studies. It is used in Subaltern Studies “as a name for the general attribute of subordination in South Asian society whether this is expressed in terms of class, caste, age, and office or in any other way” (Guha 1982; vii) [3] . Marginalized by the class, caste, race, gender, religion, age, economic condition, the major characters are subalterns in more than one way. The novel vividly delineates the condition of the untouchable in India, especially in Kerala. In Kerala, untouchability is practised more meticulously than elsewhere in India and it is not restricted to Hindus only but Christians, the established Syrian Christian, practise the rules and customs also. Technically, in Christianity, there is no stratum in human being on the basis of caste; but in India caste is a reality in Christianity. “In the colonial period, many lower castes were converted to Christians by the European Missionaries but the new converts were not allowed to join the Syrian Christian community and they continued to be considered as untouchables even by the Syrian Christians [4] . The Indian Government appointed many Commissions to study the real situation of the Untouchable Christians in India. According to the commissions the change of religion to Christianity had not significantly changed the life of these untouchables. The Mandal commission Report, under the chairmanship of B.P.Mandal (1980), has accepted the reality of caste among Indian Christians. According to the Report, “ ….Christians in Kerala are divided … into various ethnic groups on the basis of caste background … even after the lower caste converts continue to be treated as Harijans [the untouchables] by all sections of society including the Syrian Christians” [5] . Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the father of the Indian constitution raises the question, “Has Christianity been able to save the converts from the sufferings and ignominy which is the misfortune of everyone who is born an Untouchable?” [5] We find the answer in Roy’s novel: