Ecological Concerns and Arundhati Roy: A Special Reference

Abstract

The God of Small Things’, set in 1960s, reflects the mentality and socio-cultural environment of Ayemenem, an actual town in Kerala, an Indian state which is full of natural grandeur and opulence. Roy herself spent a greater part of her childhood days in this village, in the harmonious relationship with nature. Arundhati Roy’s ecological concerns find expression in The God of Small Things, a novel for which she won Booker prize. She picks up the Meenachal river from her childhood days and entwines all the big and small characters of the novel in its encircling heart. River Meenachal narrates the story of Ayemenem, the people living on its bank and their lives revolving around its abundant water. Arundhati Roy clearly shows the river as an inseparable component in the lives of the characters Velutha, Ammu, Chako, Pappachi, Rahel, Estha and others where they learnt the invaluable lessons of life. Velutha, a born Paravan- an untouchable, is ‘The God of Small Things’ in the novel. He is a man of ecology who makes small pretty things from the materials gained from nature. River is more than an amenity; it is a treasure. It offers a necessity of life that must be rationed among those who have power over it. The image of life as a flowing river abounds in literature and philosophy. Rivers serve as symbols of identity not only of one’s self but also of a nation too. As the river suffers, we hear the echoes of the socially committed, eco-conscious, ecofeminist’s anger in the dreary depiction of the fouled river Meenachal.