Question 2. "Incest"

It is both intriguing and a little disturbing that in two of our Asian novels, incest between siblings has figured prominently. While in Kafka on the Shore the reader never knows if Kafka and Sakura are actually brother and sister, the idea of it is certainly in Kafka's mind. If he thinks that Sakura is indeed so, then it is incest- perhaps not biologically (or even actually, since it occurs in a dream sequence) but nevertheless the mental and moral implications are the same as an actual act. I don't usually quote the Bible, but in Matthew 5:28 Jesus says "...whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart". Ergo if one fantasizes about incest then they are guilty of it? Maybe or maybe not, but an interesting theory.

Similarly, in The God of Small Things, the sexual act between Rahel and Estha is very dreamlike, but there's enough there to assume that Arundhati Roy intends this to be taken literally. The description is haunting and bittersweet. "...Quietness and Emptiness fitted together liked stacked spoons... a hard honey-colored shoulder had a semicircle of teethmarks on it... what they shared that night was not happiness, but hideous grief". (Roy 311). The use of "Quiteness" to represent Estha and "Emptiness" for Rahel is very on-point; the siblings are elevated metaphorically to almost a Yin-Yang concept. I see their act of lovemaking as a way for them to come full circle from what began in their mother's womb. An unusual reproductive result (dizygotic twins) and the bond between the two offspring brings them to another unusual "reproductive" act, incestual sex. But it's not a matter of lust for them- more like a metaphorical reunion in the womb.

Question 3. "Non-chronological Narrative"

The sequence of events throughout the novel do not occur in a linear way. On the most basic level, this technique employed by Roy is a reflection of how life is actually experienced by most of us. We are not always "in the moment" as we lead our lives; memories spring up often and influence our behavior. This can be life-enhancing or it can be very detrimental, depending on the individual. It works mostly in a negative way in this novel, such as Estha's gradual descent into silence.

The characterization and plot line in The God of Small Things are very complex; [forgive a rather mundane analogy but] it is similar to a TV soap opera with all the characters and storylines. By necessity, the storyline has to jump around, with flashbacks to remind us of what has happened earlier. (Ammu and Kochu Maria watch The Bold and the Beautiful in the novel). There are nine characters in the Ipe family whom the reader has to keep up with, and another eight or more incidental characters that figure prominently. Confusing and challenging as it is, it's the only way this story, full of the past's and present's interweaving, could be accomplished. To keep the reader's interest, Roy puts some mystery (as in what really happened to Sophie Mol) into the novel early. The flashbacks to earlier events in the character's lives, especially the twins', serve to explain why they behave as they do in the present.

Question 6. "Two-egg twins"

The "two-egg twins" is just one example of several repetitive techniques that Arundhati Roy uses throughout her story. There are many instances where she combines two words into one: thunderdarkness, fishswimming, sourmetal, shrillwhistle, etc.) Also there are abundant examples of non-conventional capitalization of words ("We or Us", "the June Rain", "the Hotel People", and so on). One of my favorite little asides in the novel was the passage about palindromes (words that read the same forward or backward- "Malayalam"). Roy is obviously a serious WordNerd, an attribute I'm proud to share. (here's one I came up with myself years ago: "and time is all i fill as i emit DNA"). nerd...

"Two-egg twins" specifically is, in my opinion, Roy's constant reminder of how close Rahel and Estha are. In a second quick-scan browse through the novel, that exact phrasing is only used maybe a half-dozen times, but the fact that they are twins comes up in almost all of the passages concerning them. Very early we learn that they "thought of themselves together as Me, and separately, individually, as We or Us. As though they were a rare breed of Siamese twins... (4-5). Later, a Twin Expert advises Ammu that it is okay to separate two-egg twins (as opposed to "one-egg" identical twins). There's an excellent bit of foreshadowing (of the later incestual act) in the passage where Rahel watches Estha undress in his room, and their sharing of a womb is referenced. "He was a naked stranger met in a chance encounter... the one she had known before Life began... who had once led her (swimming) through [their mother]" (89).