Roy`s criticisms towards the caste system as reflected through the main characters and their conflicts in Arundhati Roy`s the gold of small things - USD Repository
ROY’S CRITICISMS TOWARDS THE CASTE SYSTEM AS
REFLECTED THROUGH THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND
THEIR CONFLICTS IN ARUNDHATI ROY’S
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters By
IRINE CAHYANING TYAS
Student Number: 044214019
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
God is in every tommorow, Therefore I life for today. Certain of finding at sunrise, Guidance and strength for the way. Power for each moment of weakness, Hope for each moment of pain, Comfort for every sorrow, Sunshine and joy after the rain... Anonymous
I dedicate this thesis for My Beloved Parents, My Little Brothers, and Edo Baskoro who
always support me in accomplishing this thesis.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my biggest gratitude to Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary for the blessings, strength and miracles They have been giving in my life, so that I am finally able to accomplish this undergraduate thesis. Thank God for answering my prayers.
My gratitude is also directed to my advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S, M.Hum. I am also grateful for her guidance, patience, and especially for the time she has spent for reading and correcting my thesis. I also thank to my co- advisor Elisa Dwi Wardani S.S., M.Hum. for your guidance in finishing this thesis. I really appreciate all things she has done in process of writing my thesis
Furthermore, I deeply express my gratitude to my beloved parents for their love, prayers, support, both financial and spiritual and good advices. I am so proud to be their daughter. It is wonderful to have both of them as my parents. For my little brothers; Dhani and Bayu, thanks for the love, support and help. I am so proud of them. I would like to thank them for encouraging and motivating me in finishing my thesis.
Next, my sincere gratitude belongs to Edo Baskoro. Thanks for the love, support, patience, help and guidance. It is very helpful and means a lot for me. It is nice to spend my time with you.
I would not forget to say thanks to my best friends in Yogyakarta (Corry, Dede, Mbak Feb, Anna, Enchil, Mbak Ayu, Mbak Mei and KKN Kuliner).
Yogyakarta would not be much wonderful without you guys.
I would like to express my gratitude to my friends in class A (Siska, Deasy, Martha, Indri, Dita ndut, Sheila, Tini, Jati, Soni, Edward, Nofi, Lutfi, Bara, Ucok, Disti, Eka, Astrid, Amel, Elin, Caca, Rani, Dita, Intan, Lisis, Nanang, Siswanto, Ison, Feme, Rizki, Patrik). It is nice to have nice friends like them.
There are many wonderful and exciting moments that we have shared together, “Thanks for the memories friends!” I would not forget to thank all the staffs in English Letters Department. I thank them for their help.
Irine Cahyaning Tyas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................ i APPROVAL PAGE ...................................................................................... ii MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................. iii DEDICATION PAGE ................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. vi ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... ix ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................... xCHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1 A. Background of the Study ............................................................. 1 B. Problem Formulation .................................................................... 4 C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................. 5 D. Definition of Term ........................................................................ 5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ............................................... 9 A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................ 9 B. Review of Related Theories .......................................................... 11 1. Theories of Character and Characterization ............................. 11
2. Theories of Conflict ................................................................ 14 a. Theories of Caste.......................................................................
16
4. Relation between Literature and Society .................................... 17 E. Review on the Historical Background of Kerala state, India ....... 19 F.
Theoretical Framework ................................................................. 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 23 A. Object of the Study ....................................................................... 23 B. Approach of the Study .................................................................. 24 C. Method of the Study ...................................................................... 25 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 28 A. The Main Characters’ Characteristics ........................................... 28
1. Ammu’s Characteristics .......................................................... 28 2. Rahel’s Characteristics .............................................................
33 3. Estha’s Characteristics .............................................................. 36 B.
The Main Characters’ Conflicts .................................................... 38 1.
Ammu’s Conflicts .................................................................... 39 2. Rahel’s Conflicts ......................................................................
45
C. Roy’s Criticisms toward the Caste System .................................... 51
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .................................................................... 60
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 66APPENDIX .................................................................................................... 68
ABSTRACT
IRINE CAHYANING TYAS (2009). ROY’S Criticisms toward the Caste System as Reflected through the Main Characters and Their Conflicts in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This undergraduate thesis examines one of Arundhati Roy’s novel entitled
The God of Small Things . It presents Ammu and her twin children Rahel and
Estha as the central characters who live in conservative Syrian Christian and Touchable family that obey the caste system. It is recited in the story that Ammu and her twin children have to face problems happening to her and her children.
Roy shows her criticisms toward the rigid caste system that makes the innocent people have to be sacrificed.
There are three problems to be discussed in this study. The first is the description of the main characters: Ammu, Rahel and Estha. The second is the description of conflicts that are undergone by the main characters. The third is Roy’s criticisms toward the rigid caste system by revealing the main characters’ conflicts.
The writer used the library research in collecting the data. This analysis used the socio-cultural historical approach. This approach is suitable for the analysis because it concerned with the criticism toward the caste system in India.
As a result of the study, the writer concludes, first; there are three main characters in the novel. They are Ammu, who struggled for her and her children’s life around the people who oppress and underestimate her, Rahel who experienced injustice and made her become a trouble maker and broken home child who lacks of love and affection from her family, and Estha, Ammu’s son, can be described as an introverted man. Second, the conflicts which are undergone by the main characters, both external and internal conflicts. Third, Roy’s criticisms toward the caste system. The conflicts which are undergone by the main charaters are the criticisms toward the caste system in India because the caste system limits the characters’ life. It can be seen that her criticism is absolutely meant to nudge the caste system directly through her realistic portrayal of the life of the Untouchables.
ABSTRAK
IRINE CAHYANING TYAS (2009). ROY’S Criticisms toward the Caste System as Reflected through the Main Characters and Their Conflicts in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Tesis ini berhubungan dengan salah satu novel Arundhati Roy yang berjudul The God of Small Things. Novel ini menyajikan Ammu dan anak kembarnya Rahel dan Estha sebagai tokoh utama yang hidup di antara keluarga Kristen Siria yang konservatif dan kaum “Tersentuh” (Touchable) yang sangat menjunjung tinggi sistem kasta. Dikisahkan di dalam cerita tersebut Ammu dan anak kembarnya harus menghadapi masalah-masalah yang terjadi pada mereka. arundhati Roy sebagai penulis menyatakan kritik-kritiknya pada sistem kasta yang kaku sehingga membuat orang-orang yang tidak berdosa menjadi korban.
Ada tiga rumusan masalah yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini yaitu yang pertama gambaran tentang karakter tokoh-tokoh utama: Ammu, Rahel dan Estha. Kedua, gambaran tentang konflik-konflik yang dialami oleh para tokoh utama. Ketiga, kritik yang diberikan oleh Roy mengenai sistem kasta yang kaku dengan melihat konflik-konflik para tokoh utama.
Penulis menggunakan penelitian pustaka dalam pengumpulan data. Pendekatan yang dipakai dalam analisis ini yaitu pendekatan sosio-kultural historikal. Pendekatan ini tepat digunakan dalam analisis karena tesis ini menitikberatkan pada kritik yang terjadi pada sistem kasta di India.
Sebagai hasil dalam penelitian, penulis menyimpulkan, pertama; ada tiga tokoh utama dalam novel ini. Mereka adalah Ammu, yang berjuang untuk hidupnya dan kedua anak kembarnya yang hidup di sekeliling orang yang menekan dan menganggap rendah dirinya, Rahel yang mengalami ketidakadilan dalam hidupnya sehingga membuatnya menjadi anak yang suka membuat masalah dan anak yang kurang kasih sayang dari keluarganya, Estha, anak laki-laki Ammu, dapat digambarkan sebagai anak yang tertutup. Kedua, konflik-konflik yang yang diterima oleh para tokoh utama., baik konflik eksternal maupun internal. Ketiga, kritik-kritik yang disampaikan oleh Roy mengenai sistem kasta di India. Konflik-konflik yang diterima oleh para tokoh utama dapat menjadi kritikan terhadap sistem kasta di India karena sistem kasta membatasi hidup para tokoh utama. Hal ini dapat terlihat bahwa kritiknya secara langsung menyinggung sistem kasta dengan gambaran hidup kaum “Tak tersentuh” atau “Untouchable” yang sangat jelas.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study After reading the work of literature, we find that literary work and reality
have one similarity. Both of them convey the story of human life. In real life, we live to learn how to develop, to solve problems and to experience the gloomy side of life. It becomes a place for us to struggle for a better condition and to survive from harsh life. Here, we often deal with conflicts or problems, which are the result of our relationship and interaction with others. The more problems we find, the more experiences of problem solving we get. However, we are also able to become maturer by knowing other people’s problems and their solutions. There are many kinds of problem in our daily life, such as problem on love, social class distinction and education.
We can learn many things in literature, such as the conflict of human life, the ideas, or the criticism the author wants to say. Literature, actually, gives us a picture of life from the author’s view. Besides, this picture is performed to us in a vivid and moving form (Brooks, Purser and Warren, 1952: 8)
A conflict has a very close relationship with problems. In many facts, the cause of conflict is not the same among many people. Not only the attitude of an individual, but also the setting where she or he lives influences the appearance of conflict. Therefore the background of the conflict is interesting to learn. In the novel, The God of Small Things, the main characters face conflicts from their surroundings. Basically, the conflict emerges because of the social class differences among them.
In literature, the authors of literary works write the work of literature because of their experience and vision about the situation of the place or time they live in. They will respond whether they admire or criticize the condition of the situation by expressing their ideas, feeling and vision in their own style into meaningful and beautiful work which cannot be expressed by common people.
In the literary works, many authors compose their stories based on what they have seen and experienced in real life. The inspiration of composition is based on their significant life experience that has a big contribution to the author’s personality development. Thus, the theme of their books reveal stories of how people overcome and solve their conflicts or problems in their life. Rene Wellek and Austin Warren in their book Theory of Literature (1956) also suggest that the work of literature portrays life as reality. They also mention that literarature looks like a real-life portrait. It is an illustration of human lives because literary works present the reality of human situations, problems, feelings, and relationships (1956: 96). From the explanation above, we can say that both reality of the life and the literary work consist of stories on how people struggle to overcome their conflicts or problems with others.
Suzanna Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist who won The Booker Prize in 1997 in her first novel, The God of Small Things, and The Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize in 2002. The novel is semi-autobiographical and the major part of it, captures her childhood experiences in Ayemenem (http://website.lineone.net/~jon.simmons/roy/tgost.htm)
Roy’s first novel, The God of Small Things, is a controversial novel, because many praises of some critics, said that the novel is remarkable for its quality of innocence and originality. Besides, it also raises many controversies from her homeland (India) itself, and from Syrian Christian Community. India communist criticism from E.M.S. Namboodiripad said “Anybody who attacks Communists anywhere in the world will be welcomed by the captains of the industry of bourgeois literature in the world.” And Syrian Christian Community said that the novel hurts the community in India. Kerala Chief Minister E.K Nayanar’s claimed that The God of Small Things had won acclaim in the West only because of its anti-Communist venom. It is also called as an obscene novel and some people want its final chapter removed ( http://indiastar.com/roy.hlm )
We cannot deny that literature is a good device to depict the reality from the author’s point of view which cannot be presented by other means with intensity and meaning. It means that literature is effectively and frankly showing us the truth of the fact which is unseen for some people. Of course, we realize how useful, meaningful, and beautiful literature is if we pay a scrupulous attention to literature.
In this study, the writer intends to analyze The God of Small Things. The
God of Small Things is the spirit of powerlessness and social exclusion that
pervades the lives of the unfortunate of the world. In the novel, the laws of India's caste system are broken by the characters of Ammu and Velutha, an Untouchable or Paravan. When Velutha has an affair with Ammu, he breaks an ancient taboo and incurs the anger of Ammu's family and the Kerala police. He breaks the rigid social rules of the caste system and therefore, the authorities must punish him. Ammu tries to live in a patriarchal society, and Ammu, the biggest victim of the system, is a typical image of a daughter being marginalized in a patriarchal society. Roy has given voice and expression to the sufferings of these people; their oppression at the hands of those who wield power and the machinery that dispenses injustice. Based on the description of how the small things in life build up, translate into people’s behavior and affect their lives and the conflicts among the main characters, the writer wants to analyze the author’s criticisms toward caste system as reflected through the main characters and their conflicts, because those conflicts which appear are the author’s criticism towards the Indian society in the novel.
B. Problem Formulation
For further understanding, here, the writer formulated questions based on the background mentioned above:
1. How are the main characters in the novel characterized? 2.
What conflicts are undergone by the main characters? 3. What are Roy’s criticisms toward the caste system in the novel?
C. Objectives of the Study
Below are the objectives of this study that are drawn by considering the background and the problem formulation mentioned in the previous part. First is to describe the main characters’ physical characteristics and personalities, to reveal the main characters’ conflicts, both the inner conflicts and the external conflicts. And the last is to convey and explain the author’s criticisms towards the caste system that can be drawn from the previous analysis about the main characters and their conflicts.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to provide a clear and accurate analysis and to avoid any misunderstanding, there are some terms that need to be defined.
1. Criticism According to Baldick in his book The Concise Oxford Dictionary Literary
Terms , criticism is concerned with revealing the author’s true motive or intention,
in terms of its relationship to some fields, such us history, gender, and social class (1990: 48). Criticism in this study means the author’s motive or intention as presented in her writing. In the relation with history of a group of people, a novel may be used by the author to defend or to criticize people.
Criticism in this thesis means judgements about the social condition of a society especially in relation with the unfair treatments toward minorities through artistic works as the intention or the motive of the author.
2. Character
In general, character may be defined as a descriptive analyzes of a human virtue or vice or of a general type of human character. Related to the literature, Abrams in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms specifies this definition. He says:
“Characters are persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say- the dialogue- and by what they do- the action (1985: 23).” According to Stanton, the term “character” can be used in two ways. First, character refers to the individuals who appear in the story. Second, character also refers to moral principles that make up each of the individuals (1965: 17). Hence, major or minor character refers to those who become the main focus in the story from the beginning to the end (Milligan, 1983: 55).
3. Conflict The first definition of conflict is taken from Literature for composition:
Essay, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama by Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William
E. Cain. It is mentioned there that conflict is a struggle between a character and some obstacle (for example, another character or fate) or between internal forces, such as divided loyalties (2005: 1375).
Another definition is given by Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter in their book New Worlds of Literature. There, they define conflict as the struggle between opposing forces- characters, families, nations, ideas, or ideological sistems- that provides the central action and interest in any literary plot (1989:
4. Caste System Based on Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, the term caste was first used by Portuguese travelers who came to India in the 16th Century. Caste came from
Spanish and Portuguese word “casta” which means “race”, “breed” or “lineage” (http://www.eb.com:180cgibin.html) 5.
Syrian Christian Syrian Christian is also known as Saint Thomas Christians who are ethnoreligious group from Kerala, India, adhering to the various churches of the
Saint Thomas Christian tradition. The Syrian Christian people follow a unique Hebrew-Syrian Christian tradition which includes several Jewish elements although they have absorbed some Hindu customs. It is believed that actually the Syrian Christian people are the Brahmins caste who obtained special caste status in the prevailing caste system in India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Christian_of_Kerala.htm)
6. Untouchability Based on Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, Untouchability is a social system in which people belonging to a particular group restrict people in other groups from interacting with them socially. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untouchable_(social_system) .
7. Untouchable Untouchable is known as a member of the excluded group from the caste system ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untouchable_(social_system) .
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies The God of Small Things was written by Arundhati Roy in 1997. Roy was the first Indian novelist who won the prestigious Britain’s Booker Prize in 1997. Her novel was first published in United States by Random House and in Great Britain by Flamingo, both were in 1997. In this novel, the author’s socio-cultural historical background plays the
significant role in shaping the story because the important details in this novel like the characters and the setting are influenced by the historical background of the author. Some of the characters and events in this novel are much similar with her life and her family, no wonder that this novel is presumed as her autobiographical novel.
The God of Small Things is Arundhati Roy’s first literary work that
describes a real condition of the Indian society which applies the caste system strictly. This work portrays the oppression of the caste system toward the people inside the system. People from the lower class of the caste system are treated badly almost in all aspects of life. Caste system for the Indian people is likely their way of life that should be obeyed and maintained.
All of the oppositions to The God of Small Things were not due to the obscenity but rather to the explicit description of the role of the Untouchables in India, and in particular the intimate relationship between an Untouchable handyman and a factory owner’s daughter. In other words an intimate relationship between an Untouchable man and a higher caste woman was forbidden in India caste system. This was also a proof that fifty years after Mahatma Gandhi claimed the equality for the Untouchables by naming them as Harijans (Children of God), the Hindu caste system remained applied and “Untouchability” was still an important issue in the society ( http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/caste.html )
Besides the criticism above, the writer found the related studies about The
God of Small Things in two undergraduate theses. The first was about A Study of the Influence of Childhood Traumatic Experiences of Fraternal Twins Rahel on Their Adulthood Personalities, as Revealed in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things by Ida Yudiarini, this undergraduate thesis is about the influence of
childhood traumatic syndrome, focusing on characterization. She stated that unpleasant experiences in childhood can traumatize a person and influence his or her adult personality. Then, the second undergraduate thesis is The Influence of
Socio-cultural Aspects on Gender Discrimination as Revealed in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things by Eny Haryani, which focuses on gender discrimination
problem that occurs in Kerala, India. She stated that women have lower position in society and thus they are considered as the passive object by their husbands.
They do not have the same opportunity as men to develop all their talent and potential, and get their rights as God’s creature.
Different with the two theses above, the writer will go deeper to the author’s criticism toward the caste system as reflected through the main characters and their conflicts. Then, the writer will analyze what conflicts are undergone by the main characters, and the writer will also analyze on how the conflicts that are being undergone by the main characters appear to be the the author’s criticisms towards the caste system in the novel. The practices of Untouchability in Indian caste system bounded and discriminated every aspect of life of the Untouchables. It makes them cannot improve their life and there are rules which obviously deep rooted in Indian caste system. Nothing is able to bring changes for these rigid social laws.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theories of Character and Characterization
Characters are usually the key to a writing and become the simplest place to start a story. It should be noticed at first that characters are fiction. However, characters are very ‘life-like’ so that when you read about them, you will feel that you know them like a person in life (Grenville: 1998: 35-36).
There are two classifications of fictional characters according to Milligan (1983: 155). They are: a.
Major characters Major character is the most important character in a literary work. He plays very important role because everything he does become the content of the story. His experience from the beginning till the end of the story composes the whole story, so that his appearance is more often than the other characters. From his action, the theme of the story is conveyed. Major characters become the center of the story because they endure problems, conflict, happiness, sorrow, etc. From their action, the reader knows the author’s messages of the story.
b.
Minor characters Minor characters are characters who play less important role than major characters. Their appearance support the main character to develop the story so that they appear only in a certain setting. They do not endure the problem of the story. Minor characters do not have experiences as the major characters have.
Authors use many different ways to convey information about characters in fiction through the methods of characterizing which is often called characterization. Grenville states:
“Characterization is all the things writers do to build up the characters they want. Characterization is the process that transforms real-life people into characters in fiction (1998: 36).”
M. J. Murphy’s Understanding Unseens (1972: 161-173) included the theory of characterization and he proposed nine methods to disclose the characters. Below are those nine methods: a.
Personal description The character is personally described by the author through his or her appearance (skin color, hair, eyes, nose, hands, and other part of the body) and clothes (how she or he wears the cloth and what kind of cloth she or he wears).
b.
Character as seen by another Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe the character through the other’s character opinion, view, attitudes, and comments.
The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through what that person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he is in conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving us some clue to his character.
d. Past life This methodes invites the readers to describe the characters through their past life of experiences. By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life, the author can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character.
e.
Conversation of others The author describes the character through the conversations of the other people and the things they say about him or her.
f.
Reactions The readers are able to obtained information about the character by analyzing his or her reactions while facing some events, incidents, or cases. Person reacts to various situations and events can also give the reader a clue to a person’s character.
g.
Direct comment The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly. This method is easier than the other since the author gives the description about the characters directly.
h.
Thoughts The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. It is something that we cannot do in our real life. The author also can tell us what different people are thinking. i.
Mannerism The author can describe a person’s mannerisms, habits or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character.
2. Theories of Conflict
Laurence Perrine (1974: 44) defined conflict as a clash of action, ideas, desires or wills between two individuals or among people in the society. Conflict can include external and internal. In the real life, people try to avoid conflict, they prefer to live without any clash or quarrel. Although people try to avoid conflict, they will soon get conflict, even without wars or large scale of disagreement.
Characters in a literary work have important roles in building a good story. The story can be achieved by revealing conflict (Danziger and Johnson, 1961:20). Conflict in the literature seems to be very important because a good conflict will lead readers to the enjoyment of reading a literary work.
In their book A Handbook to Literature (1986: 107) Holman and Harmon stated the conflict is the “the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing focus in a plot. Conflict provides interest, suspense and tension.” They also stated that the struggles that occur may be the struggle against nature, against another person, against society, and struggle for mastery.
Pooley (1968: 9) also said that conflict may be an argument between opposing forces like man against man, man against nature, man against fate or perhaps an internal one between the two opposing parts of man’s personality.
Redman also stated that to find out the conflict in the literature, readers have to indicate the problem including how the characters face the problem. If readers already sign the problem, they will clearly get the conflict that occurs. Therefore, the most important thing is that readers will know the end of the conflict. The solutions of the conflict is reached if the opposing forces relent or the main character faces the opposing forces successfully or he or she fails in facing the forces. Redman divides conflict into 2 kinds: a.
The inner conflict : a struggle between the heart and mind of the protagonist and the conflict between oneself.
b.
The external conflict : a struggle between the protagonist and an outside force, for example conflict between two or more people.
Further Redman also suggests the way to find out the conflict is by signing the problems in the story including the characters’ attitude toward the problems.
In this way, the conflicts between the characters will be clearly identified and then the end of conflict can be obtained (1964: 363).
According to Perrine (1974: 44) conflict in a literary work may consist of one conflict that is stated clearly and the readers can easily identify the conflict. It may also consist of multi conflicts or more than one conflict that are difficult to be understood by readers. To understand multi conflicts the reader should analyze the conflict one by one.
As people in the real world, characters in the imaginary world may also face conflict. The conflict, that is the clash of two opposing forces, may occur within the characters themselves or with the characters’ surrounding such as the other characters and their society. Alike the living person they should solve the conflict they have. The way the characters solve the conflict will give readers interesting circumstances. It will give suspense toward readers which make the story more interesting.
3. Theories of Caste
The word caste comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word “casta” which means race, breed, or lineage. Many Indians use the term “jati”. Caste as religious concept is recognized by Oxford Dictionary as “each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status and as any exclusive social class”. Anthropologists use the term more generally, to refer to a social group that is endogamous and occupationally specialized; such groups are common in highly stratified societies with a very low degree of social mobility that is to say, a caste system is one in which an individual's occupation and marriage prospects are determined by his or her birth, thus preventing an individual from either getting a better job or from marrying upward.
Caste system differentiates the society into many classes; The Brahmins (scholar caste), the Kshatryas (warriors caste), the Vaishyas (trader and agriculturist caste), the Sudras (worker and the cultivator caste). The division between the Touchables and Untouchables is so ingrained in Kerala society. In his book India- a World of Transition, Lamb stated that outside the fourfold social order Wasa despised fourth group of still lower persons, often called “outcastes” or “Untouchables”. They have suffered from number of civil and religious disabilities, which have now prohibited by laws but have not entirely vanished in practice. They are not allowed to enter certain part of villages, or drink water from the common village well used by another Hindus. They are required to live in special area or hamlets outside the villages (Lamb, 1963: 144)
Hindus believe that being an Untouchable is a punishment for having been bad in a former life. By being good and obedient, an Untouchable can obtain a higher rebirth. Traditionally, a woman who has had sex with a man from a lower caste would be expelled from her caste. There are many unprinted rules that there is no interaction between the Touchables and the Untouchables. The Untouchables are forbidden to touch the goods of the Touchables. And the Untouchables cannot enter the room with the same door. The whole caste system turns on the prestige of the Brahmans (Hutton, 1963:49).
According to the code of Manu, a marriage between a Brahmin woman and a Sudra man would result in a “Candala”, who is described as “the lowest of men” and shares many of the attributes of the contemporary “Untouchable” (Moffit, 1979: 34). Michael Moffit writes that ancient textual sources from the South suggest the existence of similarly ranked human relations and stresses that many attributes of contemporary South Indian “Untouchables” were apparently present 1500 years ago in the Sangam period. “Untouchables” are generally associated with professions such as leather workers, butchers, launderers, and latrine cleaners (http//www.indiastar/roy.hml).
4. The Relation between Literature and Society
Literature and society are in their nature two interesting aspects that intertwine each other, yet to understand about their relationship, I would like to put some statements from Rene Wellek and Austen Warren in their book Theory
of Literature as follows:
The relation between literature and society is usually discussed by starting with the phrase, derived from the De Bonald, that literature is an expression of society, but what does this axiom mean? It is assumed that literature at any given time mirrors the current social institution ‘correctly’, it is false; it is common place, trite and vague if it means only that literature depicts some aspects of social reality (1956: 95).
Therefore, they offer a specific evaluative criterion stating that the relation between literature and society is that literature mirrors or expresses life because an artist is supposed to express life in his or her work. Yet, it does not mean that an artist expresses or mirrors the whole life of a given time but means his or her time completely; the artist is aware of the specific social, economic, political, and religious condition in his or her era, and he or she should be representative of his or her age and society; it is the artist’s duty to convey historical as well as social truths as a symbol of artistic values in literature. Thus, literature can also be viewed as the essence, the abridgement, and summary at all history. Therefore, the relation between literature and society is very close in which the reader can catch literature as the mirror reflects the society as well as in the author’s era (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 95) Elizabeth Langland in Society in the Novel explained that society in the novels does not depend on points of absolute fidelity in an outside world in details of costume, setting, and locality because a novel’s society does not aim at a mirror of any real thing. The society in the novel is not always resemble or same with the society in the real life. The society in the novel can be an independent aspect in a novel which is not influenced by the outside world. Society in the novel cannot always be found in the real world, but there is a possibility that we can find it in be an absolute realistic mirror of the existent society in the real life, but there is a possibility that it comments on the society in our life (1984: 5). The society in the novel has a possibility to become a social criticism in the real life of society.
Langland also explained that everything which is seen such as norms, conventions, codes, background, places, peoples, institutions are included in society. But its particular manifestations in a novel will be determined by its role within the work (1984: 6-7).
C. Review on the Historical Background of Kerala state, India.
1. Religions
Many religions exist in Kerala. Hinduism is the largest religion, it is about 56,1 %. Kerala, like other states in India, is famous with its caste system. It is an important part in ancient Hindu tradition. The term was first used by Portuguese travellers who came to India in 16th Century. There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub castes in India which is related to a specific job. The castes are grouped into four basic varnas namely Brahmins (priest), Kshatryas (warriors), Vaishyas (traders), and Shudras (labourers). Caste not only dictates one’s occupation, but also dietary habits and interaction with members of other castes as well. Members of a high caste have more wealth and opportunity, while members of low caste do unimportant jobs. Outside of the caste system are the Untouchable jobs, such as toilet cleaning, garbage removal, requiring them to be in contact with bodily fluids. Therefore they are considered polluted and not to be touched. The Untouchables have separate doors to homes and must take water from separate wells. They are considered to be in an unending condition of impurity.
Untouchables were named “Harijans” or Children of God by Mahatma Gandhi. He tried to raise their status with symbolic gestures such as befriending and eating with the Untouchables. Increasing mobility is very rare in the caste system. Most people are still in the same caste in their whole life and marry within their own caste. ( http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/caste.html ).
Islam is the second largest religion (24,7%), Christianity (17%), and small Jewish population. The Moslems of Kerala are divided into two groups: the descendant of Arab and Malayalis. The Moslems have remained the strongest in Malabar, the Northern part of Kerala; around the Calicut they involve almost half of population. On the other hand, the Christians are in the former princely states.
43 % of the population in Cochin are Christian; around Kottayam in Travancore, which is the center of Syrian Christians and the seat of their leader, the Chatolicos of the East, they actually outnumber the Hindus. The Syrian Orthodox church, with its various sects forms the largest and most important group of Christians in Kerala. The Syrian Christian people follow a unique Hebrew-Syrian Christian tradition which includes several Jewish elements although they have absorbed some Hindu customs. It is believed that actually the Syrian Christian people are the Brahmins caste who obtained special caste status in the prevailing caste system in India ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Christian_of_Kerala ).
D. Theoretical Framework
Concerning to the analysis of main characters and their conflicts in revealing the author’s criticism towards the caste system, three theories are illustrated in the previous section, such as the theories of character and characterization, the theories of conflicts, and the theories of caste are going to be the bases to answer the problem formulation. Each theory has its own contributions to this discussion and therefore they will be very helpful.
The theories of character and characterization are very helpful in giving description of the main character in the story. These theories enable the writer to consider the main character’s personal description, speech, thought, manner, and reaction as the method in disclosing figure. Meanwhile, the theories of conflict guide the writer to differentiate any conflicts that undergo by the main characters. By distinguishing the conflicts, the analysis will be well-arranged and will not be confusing. The relation between literature and society is used due to the sociocultural-historical approach that is applied in this study. The last theory is the theories of caste that will help the writer to answer the third question in problem formulations.
The writer also employs the review of religion and political condition in Kerala, India because it enables the writer to understand the life in Keralan society. The theory is needed to give a view of social condition which is experienced by the main characters. It helps readers to understand that the society in the novel cannot be separated from the characters because it gives a strong influence to the characters themselves. It also gives an important information to prove that the work is an author’s criticism towards the Indian caste system.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The writer would like to employ a novel written by Arundhati Roy to be
the object of this study. The title of the novel is The God of Small Things and its first publication was in 1997. This novel was published by Flamingo in Great Britain and by Random House in United States in the same year, 1997. Yet, this study refers to the Random House edition in 1997 that contains 321 pages.
In Roy’s first novel, The God of Small Things, she got the prestigious Britain’s Booker Prize in 1997 and The Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize in 2002.
The book is semi-autobiographical and a major part captures her childhood experiences in Ayemenem.
Set in Kerala in the 1960’s, The God of Small Things is about two-children two-eggs, Rahel and Estha and also about their mother, Ammu. It is about their tragic life in the way that they experienced oppressions by other people in their society. They have to experience the tragic life since Ammu, a Syrian Christian married a Bengali Hindu man which causes their caste degraded automatically, became Untouchable people. By marrying a man who came from the lower caste, she was automatically expelled from her family. The condition became worse when Ammu got divorce with Baba, her husband. She had to come back to Ayemenem house where her family lived.
When she came to the house, everyone was mocking her. Until one day, there is accidental-death by accidentally drowning of visiting English cousin- Sophie Mol. The life of the three becomes worst because they have to face conflicts with others, who have already underestimated them. Rahel and Estha live in unhappiness, uncertainty and complicated adult world. Furthermore, Ammu’s rebellion towards the society (caste system) by loving Velutha, an Untouchable man, made her putting away from her family.
Here, the conflicts which have to be faced by the main characters were also influenced by the religions. The conflicts of the main characters with other characters were also as the reflection of the caste system which laid down in their life. Everyone has to obey its unwritten life law. In this novel, The God of Small
Things is the spirit of powerlessness and social exclusion that pervades the lives