choice of dress, and actions are controlled by a set of regulation due to the ideals of each categories. For example, if a person is born female, she is expected to act lady-
like, speak polite language, and dress prettily. In this case, Ammu’s choices of identity markers somehow deviate from the ideals of her categories. For example, her
act of having a love affair with Velutha is considered an extreme violation of these ideal codes. In addition to that, she has gone through an identity change due to the
change of relationship status. Her choice to divorce her husband and back to her parents’ house leads the society to stigmatize her. Her action violates the codes of her
social class, religion, and gender regulation. In this case, she is seen to transgress the restrictions that come along with her identity.
C. Research Questions
The research is done according to the following questions as its basis: 1. How are Ammu’s identity categories and the Love Law elaborated in the
story? 2. How are Ammu’s identity markers and transgression explained?
D. Research Objectives
The analysis of this thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, Ammu’s identity category and the Love Law is examined. In elaborating Ammu’s identity
categories, references on identity, Indian caste system, Syrian Christianity, Anglophilia in post-independence India, and gender in India are used. In this part,
Ammu is seen as a female member of a privilege caste in the post-independence
India. In the same time, she is also seen as a female member of Syrian Christian church in Keralla. Using Althusser’s concept of ISA, the occurrence of Love Law as
the consequence of her identity categories and its significance to her relationship with others are examined. In this part of the thesis, it is elaborated how Ammu supposedly
acts within the society. A review on how the caste system and Syrian Christianity norms are effective in 1960s Keralla is also elaborated.
In the second part of the thesis, theories on identity are used to elaborate Ammu’s identity markers and how they transgress the Love Law. After
understanding these matters, it can be seen why it is the Love Law that transgresses Ammu’s biology, instead of her transgressing the Love Law.
The research enriches the knowledge regarding notorious caste system as the class division in post-independence India, the position of Syrian Christianity within
the contemporary Indian society, and the circumstances encountered by Indian women who live within such system. This thesis gives a glimpse on how the society
responds to the complication and how it shapes their relationship to each other.
E. Object of the Study
The object of the study is Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things 1997. Known better as an activist, Arundhati Roy uses The God of Small Things as the
medium to voice her concerns and activism instead of her artistic achievement Barsamian, The Progressive.
The story focuses on the life of an old, well-known family in a rural village in India whose members’ lives are stained with scandal and trauma. The Ipe family, an
upper-class family who runs a famous pickles factory, is also known as the descendants of a prominent Syrian-Christian priest in Ayemenem, Keralla. The
gloom in their history peaked when Sophie, a little girl from London, was killed in an accident. The accident is only a scene from a chain of happenings in the world of the
adults that are not understandable by the little children. The important context that builds the universe of The God of Small Things
resembles that of Arundhati Roy’s childhood. She wrote My father was a Hindu, a Brahmo. I never met him until I was
an adult. I grew up with my mother in a Syrian Christian family in Ayemenem, a small village in communist-ruled Kerala. And
yet all around me were the fissures and cracks of caste Roy, “The Doctor” 3.
The debut novel sent Roy to the list of prominent Indian writers as it won The Man Booker Prize in 1997. Though highly praised, the book causes controversy
among The Man Booker Prize judges, as well as a public displeasure in India. In the technical side, Roy’s verbose style in writing is also criticized by some readers.
However, the book continues to be one of the most bestselling books in international bookshops as well as being discussed as a topic of study in the global academic
scene.
F. Method of the Study
