PLEASURE AND PAIN IN THE FORBIDDEN RELATIONSHIPS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.3957Keywords:
The God of Small Things, Love, Sexuality, Social Laws, Pleasure, Pain, ConsequencesAbstract [English]
The present paper is a sincere attempt to examine how various characters in The God of Small Things suffers as a consequence of breaking the social norms of sexuality, in light of Jeremy Bentham’s pleasure and pain theory which emphasizes that an action is a right action when it creates or its consequence is the greatest happiness of the greatest number. The central character of the novel, Ammu, and her copulation with Velutha is implicitly an attempt to break the artificial social norms of love and sexuality. A critical analysis of the novel reveals that Arundhati Roy, through her protagonists, vividly portrays that acting against social norms is not something easy. However, she highlights, that Ammu and Velutha get punished for breaking ‘the love laws’ does not mean that they deserve it. Roy just shows how the real world works. Pursuing your heart does not guarantee a perfect life because social norms are so deep-rooted in people’s minds that one does not even look if they are good or bad.
References
Burns, J. H. and Hart, H.L.A. (eds.). An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970.
Prakash, Nirmala C. “Man-Woman Relationship in The God of Small Things.” Arundhati Roy: The Novelist Extraordinary, edited by R. K. Dhawan, Prestige Books, 1999.
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things, Flamingo, 1997.
Ray, Mohit Kumar. “Locusts Stand I”: Some Feminine Aspects of The God of Small Things. Arundhati Roy: The Novelist Extraordinary, edited by R. K. Dhawan, Prestige Books, 1999.
Swami, Indu. “The Alienated Self in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.” El-Tawassol Journal-Revue des Sciences Sociales et Humaines, University of Annaba, Algeria, No. 18, June 2007, pp. 100-117.
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