Someone asked the other day what "Locust Stand I" meant in the novel. Well, I couldn't remember, but I thought it was a legal term. It is. In Latin. Locus standi translated means "place of standing" When we think about this in relation to the caste system, and the standing of a young woman who is divorced, and living in an Indian culture, basically it meant that she had no legal standing. She was like an untouchable in the way that her footprints were not left behind. She was a nobody. Not untouchable, but touchable and forgettable because of her station in life. Such a strong character to have no place, like Velutha.
Have you been reading? I have and I am enthralled with the beauty of the language, but disturbed by the ugliness of this story. Such a strange combination.
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What a concept!
What is the god of small things?
"To me the god of small things is the inversion of God. God's a big thing and God's in control. The god of small things...whether it's the way the children see things or whether it's the insect life in the book, or the fish or the stars - there is a not accepting of what we think of as adult boundaries. This small activity that goes on is the under life of the book. All sorts of boundaries are transgressed upon. At the end of the first chapter I say little events and ordinary things are just smashed and reconstituted, imbued with new meaning to become the bleached bones of the story. It's a story that examines things very closely but also from a very, very distant point, almost from geological time and you look at it and see a pattern there. A pattern...of how in these small events and in these small lives the world intrudes. And because of this, because of people being unprotected.. the world and the social machine intrudes into the smallest, deepest core of their being and changes their life." - Arundhati Roy
What a concept!
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- dianefeole
- I love to read and I love to write, and always have so I first decided to become a jounalist. I graduated from URI with a degree in journalism in 1988. I worked in the field for about two years and then returned to school to become certified in teaching English and English as a Second Language. I have a MEd from RIC, and have been working in the Cranston Public School system for the past 21 years. I have taught WRT104 to high school students for about 20 of those years and started at URI's Kingston campus eight years ago.
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What is the god of small things?
"To me the god of small things is the inversion of God. God's a big thing and God's in control. The god of small things...whether it's the way the children see things or whether it's the insect life in the book, or the fish or the stars - there is a not accepting of what we think of as adult boundaries. This small activity that goes on is the under life of the book. All sorts of boundaries are transgressed upon. At the end of the first chapter I say little events and ordinary things are just smashed and reconstituted, imbued with new meaning to become the bleached bones of the story. It's a story that examines things very closely but also from a very, very distant point, almost from geological time and you look at it and see a pattern there. A pattern...of how in these small events and in these small lives the world intrudes. And because of this, because of people being unprotected.. the world and the social machine intrudes into the smallest, deepest core of their being and changes their life." - Arundhati Roy
2 comments:
All the references to "Locust Stand I" make a lot more sense now!
thanks ms. feole!! I also thought i might mention that "The Pessamist and the Optimist" has been my favorite chapter so far! I just loved Margaret Kochamma's life-story about how she fell in love with Chacko...It's sad that the love faded away
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