Novel as counter-narrative of the nation: Arundhati Roy's the God of Small Things

In her novel The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy offers a deeply critical perspective on modern India while riveting the reader's attention on the microcosm that constitutes the story. She unobtrusively works her commentary on issues confronting the nation into the narrative, which readily invites the discerning reader's honest reflection on them. This paper discusses The God of Small Things in terms of its engagement with three major issues-degradation of environment, commodification of culture, and degeneration of Indian democracy-and demonstrates how in the process the novel challenges the prevailing paradigms and dominant narratives of the nation that are based on a romantic concept of the nation, inadequate understanding of ground realities, and lopsided priorities. The paper then focuses on how the novel suggests alternative scenarios foregrounding the experiences of the voiceless, the underprivileged, and the disenfranchised. It further establishes how Roy's commentary underlying The God of Small Things deeply impacts imagination and how in the final analysis the novel emerges as an authentic counter-narrative of the nation.