The God of Small Things: Chapters 1-3

This book is both extremely interesting and extremely confusing. I feel like everyone is laughing at an inside joke that I don't understand. It jumps around so much that I'm having difficulty keeping up. I wish I knew more about Sophie Mol because it definitely had a profound effect on the life of the entire family. I also would like to know more about why Estha and Rahel didn't speak for so long despite the distance between them. I would have thought that such a strong bond would have withstood their separation. I can't imagine being so attuned to someone and then being separated, cut off for years.

There are so many cultural literacy references in this book. Thank you, Mrs. Fox! I understand all of them! I have never read Heart of Darkness, but I understood the reference and the character. I also knew the meaning of "Et tu, Brute." Honestly, I think cultural literacy should be a part of all English classes. It is so useful. It helps you understand so many other books (and win game shows).

I'm a bit confused about some events in the book. I'm really hoping that they get cleared up. Was Sophie Mol truly alive when she was buried or was Rahel just making a really intense analogy/description of her emotions at the burial? How did she die? I know they said her skin was wrinkled from too much time spent in water? Did she drown? There is a river near the house. Where is Chako nowadays? Only the aunt and servant are at the house with Estha. The crazy order that everything is happening in leaves me with a lot of questions. I can't wait to get more insight into the past of the characters. It will make everything much easier to understand.

This book has some clever humor. I enjoyed the free bus ride comment as well as the irony of the woman who criticized their backward-reading being run over by a backward-moving vehicle. It made me laugh. The twins are certainly strange in the way their minds are connected and in the fact that they can read backwards. Who does that?! It's crazy. I can't even say the alphabet backwards.

I was interested by the fact that the family is Christian. It is set in India, and they are natives, but they are not Hindus. Yet, the caste system still applies. I suppose that is an Indian thing, though. Although the book didn't directly state it, I think that Ammu and Velutha have a little something going on. Ammu was obviously never one to follow the rules, but that seems pretty intense. Maybe I'm way off base, but I'm just going off hints that have been dropped. I would imagine that forbidden love is somewhat common in India (for rule breakers, that is). I don't know what I would do if I fell in love with someone society told me I couldn't be with. I'm not sure that their relationship will go far. It was already stated that Ammu died when she was thirty-one. I will feel stupid if I completely misinterpreted everything about Ammu and Velutha. That is just what I am gathering from the text, though.

Even though we learned about the caste system in class, I was a bit shocked by what I read. The fact that the Untouchables had to broom backwards is ridiculous! How degrading! I am so glad that I do not live in a society like that. Although I think the Hindu religion is pretty awesome, I don't understand how the caste system and Hinduism can coexist. They treat cows a billion times better than they treat the Untouchables.

Hopefully the next chapters give some more insight and understanding. At this rate, I will have the book finished by next week. The confusion is enthralling and certainly keeps me reading.