Post Independent india in The God of Small Things
Post-independent India is portrayed exceptionally well in Arundhati Roy’s Booker Prize winning literary accomplishment, The God of Small of Things.
The author closely and accurately examines and critiques the paradoxes that were brought to India by the colonial rule and attempts to redefine the religious, economical, political and social implications of Indianness in the post-independent scenario. Here, the question of what Indianness means is posed at all the readers. After reading the novel, the reader feels that being Indian, as we understand it today, is radically different from the historical definition of Indianness.
In The God of Small Things, we see Chacko, a member of the socially mobile upper middle class, setting off to England for pursuing his higher studies and later migrating to Canada. From one point of view, it is safe to say that such a tendency- to migrate to the West- especially among the affluent, educated population group in the country is essentially a stark reminder of India’s colonial past. For better or worse, the modern Indian, haunted by the colonoial notions of Western supremacy, often finds it convenient to bask in the glory of Western civilization rather than do anything for the betterment of his/her own country. There is also one particular instance in the text where the character Ammu brags to a lemonade man about her British sister-in-law. Also, the reference to the Ghost of Kari Sayipu, an expired British administrator, could be the reference to a similar line of thought. All these instances point towards the fact that the post-independent/post-colonial India is far from the clutches of Western, in particular, British supremacy.
Partha Chatterjee has pointed out (1982: 9-38 passim) that There are numerous instances in Indian history, recent and not so recent, of peasant communities acting autonomously against the formally organised state, its agents, or functionaries ... The language of organised politics often characterises
The author closely and accurately examines and critiques the paradoxes that were brought to India by the colonial rule and attempts to redefine the religious, economical, political and social implications of Indianness in the post-independent scenario. Here, the question of what Indianness means is posed at all the readers. After reading the novel, the reader feels that being Indian, as we understand it today, is radically different from the historical definition of Indianness.
In The God of Small Things, we see Chacko, a member of the socially mobile upper middle class, setting off to England for pursuing his higher studies and later migrating to Canada. From one point of view, it is safe to say that such a tendency- to migrate to the West- especially among the affluent, educated population group in the country is essentially a stark reminder of India’s colonial past. For better or worse, the modern Indian, haunted by the colonoial notions of Western supremacy, often finds it convenient to bask in the glory of Western civilization rather than do anything for the betterment of his/her own country. There is also one particular instance in the text where the character Ammu brags to a lemonade man about her British sister-in-law. Also, the reference to the Ghost of Kari Sayipu, an expired British administrator, could be the reference to a similar line of thought. All these instances point towards the fact that the post-independent/post-colonial India is far from the clutches of Western, in particular, British supremacy.
Partha Chatterjee has pointed out (1982: 9-38 passim) that There are numerous instances in Indian history, recent and not so recent, of peasant communities acting autonomously against the formally organised state, its agents, or functionaries ... The language of organised politics often characterises