The God of Small Things

God of small things, essay questions. 11. Describe the character Baby Kochamma. Why does she act the way she does? 12. Throughout the book “the love laws” are referred to. What are they and how are they broken? 13. Discuss the title. What are “sma

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11. Baby Kochamma was a manipulative, vindictive, selfish woman. The family social status mattered more than anything to her, that is why she tries to salvage their "reputation" when it is found that Ammu and Velutha are having an affair. She wants to be seen as important and smart, that is why she speaks english and uses a british accent when she first meets Sophie Mol and Margaret. She dupes the children into thinking that they might have had a hand in Sophie Mol's death, she even calls them murderers. She spends most of her life regretting not winning Father Mulligan's heart - she sort of gets obssessed with him after he dies, keeping a diary where she writes "I Love You" in every entry. one can also argue that she is saying "I Love You" to herself because she is self absorbed or/and does not have a man to show her love.

 

12. The love laws are the laws that are set down by the society; they determine 'who should be loved? how? and how much?' These love laws inhibit people of different classes to love each other as it is considered a taboo. For example, an untouchable person can not date a person in the higher caste because they are believed to be "unclean" and "unloveable" (so to say). These laws are broken when Rahel and Estha get close to Velutha - they consider him as their father figure, they love him regardless of what Baby Kachamma tells them about social classes. The biggest transgressors of them all might have been Ammu and Velutha who were in a love affair - this was considered to be a taboo as intercaste intimate relations were not allowed. We also see Baby Kochamma breaking these love laws by falling inlove with a priest who is of a different religion as her. Chacko marries outside of his community, so does Ammu and Rahel - this is also breaking the love laws as it was put down that they should marry within their communities.