A Study into the Strained Love Relationships: The Issues of Caste and Gender in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things

Abstract

The aim of this study is to unfold the factors influencing the strained love relationships with the effects of such relationships as reflected in The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Every relationship depends on love, affection, respect, compromise, sacrifice, mutual understanding, needs and communication. Love is an intense feeling of deep affection by one for another. So, the idea of love or love relationship is not limited within conjugal relationship. The term “strained” indicates an atmosphere or situation or relationship which is not relaxed or comfortable. In this novel, the relationships between siblings, between parents and children, between the lovers, and the society and the individuals are somehow strained. Somehow the misconceptions of society, age old prejudices, discriminatory attitudes towards the children, deprivation of equal human rights, miscellaneous political practice, and social taboo are responsible for the distortion of relationships. Papachi, Mammachi, Chacko, Ammu, Estha, Rahel, Baby Kocchamma and Velutha suffer from strained relationships, especially love relationship. The long term effect of disordered relationship can be observed in the characters of Estha and Rahel. The Ipe family is broken for the chaotic connection among the family members. The study has used the theories of psychoanalysis, feminism, Marxism etcetera.