The God of Small Things

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• In the first sentence of today’s reading, who is the “she”? What is the time period? p. 5

• What is the significance of using the word “Them” on p. 5 rather than “We” on p. 4 in this context? How are the capital letters significant?

• What other diction and literary techniques does the author use in these first few paragraphs to convey the same message? What is the message?

• The poetic and playful tone continues on p. 5 with the narrator’s description of the twins’ current age. What is the impact of this tone? How is the tone juxtaposed against the topic it is discussing? Track the author’s development of this almost childlike tone throughout today’s reading.

• Label the shift in setting on p. 5.

• What is the point of view of the narrator thus far in the novel? How does this perspective shape the way the reader hears about the events of this chapter? Trace examples. (third person omniscient from the perspective of mostly Rahel. This contributes to the childlike perspective the reader gets on very serious events.)

• What do we learn about Estha and Rahel’s birth and about their parents on pp. 5–6? Why might the author include this anecdote here?

• Who is Sophie Mol? What do we learn about her on p. 6? Why might the author tell us this about her right when we meet her? (Her death is more important to the novel than her life.)

• Track the new characters we meet on pp. 6–7, including how they are related and any characterization of them.

• What can we infer about how Sophie Mol died?

• Why might the author include the detail that nobody looked at Ammu, Estha, and Rahel and that they stood during the funeral? (p. 7)

• Rahel sometimes seems to create her own reality. Note the examples of this on pp. 7–9. How do these examples help to characterize Rahel? 

• What does it mean that the twins had already realized that “the world had other ways of breaking men?” Which man in particular do they seem to be discussing?

• Where does Ammu take the twins after the funeral? What does this make you wonder?

• How is she treated by the police on pp. 9–10? Why? How does the author contrast her treatment with how one might be expected to be treated by police? 

• Who does Ammu think she has killed?

• On p. 7, how do the twins react to Ammu’s crying? 

• What do Estha’s actions convey about his character? Contrast this with what we have learned about Rahel.

• What does it mean that “Estha was Returned” on pp. 10–11? According to the text, when did the twins see each other again after Estha was “returned”?