Arundhati Roy’s: The God of Small Things: As a Hybrid Linguistic Text

Abstract

This study focuses Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (TGST). Roy is an Indian writer and activist in women's studies. She published her novel in 1997. It is semi-autobiographical and a major part captures her childhood experiences in Aymanam. The plot of the novel taken place in Ayemenem, in Kerala, an Indian state. Kerala is small India, because it is like India for having a complex and multicultural society. In the novel, Indian situations and characters are models for postcolonial outlook. India is a country which was colonized by British Empire at the end of the sixteenth century. This land had important benefit for Britain. This colonization affected Indian society, culture, and literature. The present researcher tried to analyze some postcolonial concepts. The novel challenged static notions of identity, specifically the construction of postcolonial women too. Roy as a hybrid diasporic woman tried to relate to gender and caste among other social concerns. She tried to express her own experience in her own voice. She used the Western language against colonialism itself. It is a kind of resistance. The present researcher tried to discuss the notion of hybridity and postcolonial resistance in TGST. This notion can be seen in several cases in the novel. Hybridity is a significant issue in the novel. Postcolonial resistance is an important issue in the novel. When Roy uses English language which it is a colonial language, she does a kind of resistance against colonization itself. Roy refers to the children's life and language as a means of resistance.