The God of Small Things
The God of Small Things Essay
No one can deny the effect of genes on the development of a child's personality but on the other hand studies of the personalities of twins, who develop different personalities in most cases, have provided clues that there are other factors that are important than the environment the child grows in that directly affects the development of their personality. In the novel The God of Small things Rahel and Estha are fraternal twins who both grew up in Ayemenem, a village in the district in the Kottayam district of Kerala. Rahel as a 31 year old woman she lives in the United States with her husband, Larry McCaslin. Then after her divorce and upon learning of Estha returning home, Rahel goes home as well. Estha the male fraternal twin is sent to live with his father after the death of Sophie mol, his cousin. At the age of 31 Estha heads back home, but as a child he has never spoken a single word ever since. Estha not speaking at all is seen as crazy by the locals and community around him. There are reasons to why each character ended up where they were.
Estha in 1969 is a teenager who adores Elvis Presley, he would dress up just like Elvis and style his hair the way Elvis would too. Estha is a kind hearted character who has a childish view of the world. He loves the sound of music, at one point of the book it shows how much he loves it when he sings it at the top of his lungs and is so loud he has to leave the theatre. He sang so loud that he woke up Orangedrink Lemondrink Man who was behind the counter at the theatre. Orangedrink Lemondrink Man gets Estha to go behind the counter and molests him. After this incident Estha no longer sees the world as a happy innocent place. This is evident when Estha goes into the factory and thinks "Anything can happen to anyone and It's best to be prepared" All of a sudden he comes to realize that the world can be a scary and unpredictable place.
Rahel is what balances out her twin Estha’s personalities as kids. When their cousin Sophie Mol came into town, she was very shy and hid from Sophie behind dirty curtains in the airport. While Estha’s imagination always prepared for the worst scenario possible Rahel’s is very childlike and innocent. With her incredible imagination, Rahel is practically living in her own reality. At Sophie Mol’s funeral she believes that her body turned over inside the coffin, and she convinces herself that Sophie is being buried alive. Rahel has never experienced a traumatizing event like being molested, because of their different experiences in life, they both go their separate ways. Rahel moves to the U.S. and gets married and lives a normal life.
Estha’s childhood in the novel