Another Small Price

“Mommy, Mommy!” the voice yelled. A small, fuzzy figure in the distance was gaining on her.
“Where are we going?” she questioned.
“It’s going to be fine sweetie, don’t worry,” she comforted, “We’ll be safe.” The deep blue eyes gazed up at her and said in a small meek voice, “Okay.” There was a flash and a storm of voices and confusion and then, the screams.
“Mommy where are we going?!? Where are they taking us?!? Don’t let them!!!”
“Lilieeee!!!” she screamed flailing her arms to reach for the little child.
Then another flash, and an abyss of nothingness 1 came into view.
“Corinne, Corinne, wake up!” a distant voice said.
“Corinne, you’re dreaming again!” a slightly closer voice said.
“What, no, where is she?!?” she shouted.
“Calm down, you’re only dreaming again,” soothed Janine. She was a tall, thin woman with short red hair. Her eyes gazed down at Corinne with a sympathetic look.
“I’ll get you some more sleeping medication,” said the nurse as she hurried away from the scene she had witnessed so many times before.
“What’s happening? I want to see her, I want to see Lily!” Corinne demanded with a pounding pulse.
“Honey, we’ve been over this before, there’s no Lily. You don’t have a daughter, you never did. Don’t you remember any of this? No of course you don’t. It was a stupid question,” said Janine apologetically.
“No, I saw her, we were running, something was happening, she looked so pale and weak. I tried to pick her up and run, but I wasn’t strong enough…” she sunk back into her pillow, “But where are we running?” The sound of a pressure lock being broken hissed, and the nurse stepped inside the door.
“Here’s your meds. You poor thing, haven’t been able to get a decent amount of sleep since the Incident. You’re not the only one though. I’m telling you, I must have to medicate half of the survivors every night. Post traumatic stress disorder, hallucinations, and the whole lot. A few of ‘em even feel guilty because they survived! They shouldn’t be ashamed, what they did was nothing short of heroic 2…”
“Thank you nurse, that’ll be enough now,” Janine dismissed her, “Here, take these, they’ll help you sleep.”
“What’s going on? Why am I here? What’s the Incident?” Corinne questioned incessantly.
“You’re here because we’re all that’s left. All that’s left of humanity. The Incident was, is,” she paused, “complex. Now why don’t you take your meds and get some rest. We’ll go get your memory adjusted 3 tomorrow. They finally approved of the new procedure. It has worked wonders for many of the other nightmare sufferers here. I’ll even let you see your G.W.C.F. after the procedure to ensure you that you don’t have a daughter. Give yourself some peace of mind. You’re probably just having hallucinations like most of the other survivors…” Janine continued to rattle off though after thought.
“No, I don’t want my memory adjusted, I know I keep having this dream for a reason,” Corinne insisted.
“I figured you’d say that. It’s what you say every night. Yeah, there’s a whole lot of reason there, try randomly firing neurons under extreme stress and you’ll get your reason. No matter, if you don’t do something about these hallucinations soon, they will4. You’re needed back at work, back at what you loved, back where you belong 5. They’ve become concerned about you. I’ve already sent in the approval forms to them, if all goes well, your life will be back to normal by tomorrow.”
“No, it…” Corinne’s eyelids began to droop as the medication took its effect. Sleep. Darkness 6, quiet, and silent sleep. Warm and peaceful, secure sleep 6. Nothing to interrupt her blissful dreams. No nightmares, no screaming voices, no short brown haired figures with deep river 8 blue eyes. Sleep.
~~~~
“Wakey, wakey!” Janine said cheerily as the curtain in the infirmary was pulled back. The dull overhead lights buzzed and whined. The nurse was standing next to Janine in her pristine white uniform.
“What’s going on?” Corinne asked once again.
“Did you sleep better last night?” Janine inquired as she shrugged off the previous question.
“Yes, but what’s going on?” Corinne asked a little more insistently.
“No need to be rude. You’re going for your M.A. today. Life will be so much better for you now. The others who have had the procedure have eliminated their hallucinations and in most cases, don’t require medication anymore.” Janine replied pleasantly.
“Now dear, roll up your sleeve. This will relax you while you go through the process. It takes awhile, and some people get anxious, so this helps them quite a bit,” comforted the nurse. She sank the sharp silver point into the meat of Corinne’s arm. The pearly thin liquid slid into the needle flowing into her veins. A haze, and then a state of nonchalant feelings overcame Corinne. They walked down the immaculately clean white hallways to a door. Inside there was a complex machine and a man in surgeon scrubs, neither of which Corinne recognized. Cold suction cups9 attached to her forehead and scalp as a gentle voice told her to relax. Then came the flood. Thoughts and memories flew past her eyes until the endless reel came to rest on the dream. The same dream she had been having for years now. The same dream she had last night. Blank. Deleted. Gone. A flash of darkness permeated the nothingness, and now she was back in her chair with electrodes hooked to her head. Voices whispered in the background. Tranquility swept over her. Sleep.
~~~~
“So did you sleep well last night?” Janine pried hopefully, “Here’s the G.W.C.F.10 I promised you. It’s everything you wanted to know about you, I guess.”
“Okay, thanks,” replied Corinne.
“After you’re satisfied, I’ll take you to your quarters. You haven’t been in there in, well, almost three years now. Ever since the dreams started. Anyway, good luck. I’ve got to get to work, which by the way you’ll be starting soon. They said you get another week off, but no more than that. You’re needed badly in the labs.”
“When can I see my room?” Corinne inquired.
“How about tomorrow? I’ll pencil you in for lunch and then we’ll find out about the mysterious life of Corinne. Ooh, scary,” Janine said mockingly as she exited through the pressure lock.
Corinne looked down at the manila file that had been handed to her. It read Sonreir, Corrine at the top.

Government Worker Citizenship File-Official

Last Name: Sonreir First Name: Corinne Middle Name: Marina

DOB: 4/7/29 Sex: F

Date of entry into service: 10/12/45 Criminal record: N/A

Address: 1112 Willowbrook Ln. Zip Code: 59042

City/State: Vista Verde, CA Phone #: 259-5555
Cell phone #: 554-9200

Father’s Name: James Andrew Sonreir Mother’s Name: Robyn Falden-Sonreir

Married: N Children: N

Education:
Stanford University, BA in Biology, 2047
Johns Hopkins Medical School MD/PhD Immunology and
Infectious Disease 2051

Departments of Employment:
CDC New Pathogens Initiative
USAMRIID Bioterrorism Response Unit

Insurance Beneficiaries/ Next of Kin:
James and Robyn Sonreir

There was no mention of a daughter, or even a husband for that matter. Surely she would’ve listed them as her insurance beneficiaries, as her next of kin. Like Janine said, Lily had never existed. Corinne felt sick. She laid down upon her infirmary cot and gazed up at the dark blue ceiling. It had been painted with stars. “Probably to have a calming effect on patients,” Corinne thought. She jerked her head toward the door as the pressure lock hissed open. Janine walked in.
“Did you find out everything? See, I told you there was never a daughter. I’ve known you forever, and you were never married, never had kids…”
“Yeah, I guess so. What exactly happened that landed us here? I mean, there’s no windows, everything is pressurized, what was the Incident?” Corinne asked.
“Well, it’s…complicated. You used to work for the CDC’s New Pathogens Initiative. Do you remember that?” she questioned hopefully.
“No, not really, but I read it in my file. What did I do for a living? Was I some sort of microbiologist or something?”
“Similar. You were an infectious disease specialist in the unit. Actually, the best in the unit. You pretty much ran the show. The team was working on a variant of aerosolized smallpox, trying to find a vaccine for genetically modified strains and treatments to prevent its spread if it ever got out. We planned on another country developing it to use against us. Long story made short, you all had a traitor amongst your team. He stole 12 vials and sold them to some jihadists in Saudi Arabia. Next thing we know, your little experimental bug was popping up all over the globe. Not even the original smallpox vaccines rendered full immunity. It spread like wildfire across the U.S. Quarantines of entire cities were declared, but that wasn’t enough. Chaos ensued, and eventually what was left of the government moved underground. Away from the people. Away from disease and death. They brought their only hope with them: the scientists who created this monster were commissioned to destroy it. Eventually everyone who was in a government office was brought down here. Estimates of death in our country alone had reached fifteen million last month. We haven’t heard from the surface since.”
“My God…” Corinne said as she took a seat.
“Yeah, it’s pretty bad up there, but everything’s fine down here. We’ve got water tapped from aquifers, domed greenhouses with artificial sunlight; it’s almost a whole city underground! But I guess you can see why we need you back at work, don’t you? We need a vaccine. How else are we going to reach the surface without risking exposure and death?” Janine inquired morbidly.
“Okay, well you can show me the lab tomorrow and my room too,” Corinne said optimistically.
“I’ll do that. The sooner life gets back to normal the better for you. Get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow might be a long day,” The sound of Janine’s pager interrupted their conversation, “Okay, well, I’ll see you later, got to run!”
~~~~
Corinne awoke the next morning refreshed. There had been no morbid nightmares, no screaming, and no turmoil in her dreams. No little girl with the river blue eyes.
She ate her breakfast and proceeded to read over her G.W.C.F. again until noon. Nothing unusual, nothing to suggest anything should be missing from her life down here. After all, her work had been her life. There was no mention of a family, of a child. Her parents were most certainly dead by now if the sickness hadn’t gotten them already. She wondered if they had missed her, if they had wondered where she was when the chaos broke out, if they had even cared. The memories of her life before were few and vague. She could recall the memory of coming here. She was escorted in an army jeep with a bunch of other scientists in lab coats with backpacks and duffle bags in their laps. Clinging to the only possessions they were allowed to bring with them. None of them looked happy. The familiar sound of the pressure lock played in the background as a voice said, “Corinne.” She snapped out of her daze and saw that Janine was there.
“Oh, hi,” Corinne responded.
“Are you ready to go?” Janine asked.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
They exited the pressure lock with a swoosh of fresh cold air and entered the white hallway. There were probably fifteen doors on either side of the hall, all with identical keypads and pressure locks. “Here’s your room, it’s 112 on the left. The PIN number is on this piece of paper…” A tone sounded from Janine’s pager, “Sorry, I’ve got to run again, but I’ve got a lab assistant to show you where you’ll be working later. See ya,” Janine scurried down the hall towards her office.
Corinne walked to the door that read 112 in silver numbers above the keypad and entered the PIN number. The pressure lock released and the door slid open to reveal a decently sized room. The past three years of her life lay preserved amongst the cluttered floor. There was a small bed with purple sheets and pillows and a matching silvery-chrome nightstand with a vase of fake flowers11 in it. She entered the room to explore it more deeply. Around the corner there was a closet and sitting room with a couch, chair, and coffee table with a fish bowl on it. Inside, a single, somber goldfish swam in circles12. Someone must have been caring for it while she was gone. A knock at the door announced the arrival of the lab assistant. He was a short and scrawny man in his early thirties.
“Janine said to show you around the lab. We’re so happy to have you back. Progress hasn’t been made in months. My name’s John by the way,” The man said politely.
“Thanks, I’m Corinne, or Dr. Sonreir, or whatever you guys call me,” she replied as she followed him down the hallway.
He went around the lab and showed her rows of vials and virus samples that she had been working on. It jogged part of her memory, the working part. The other part felt dead to her. All the unfamiliar faces asked how she was and when she would be returning. “Soon,” was all she could say.
“John, can I go back to my room now? I’m feeling a bit queasy.”
“Sure, are you okay though, do you want me to take you to the infirmary?” he said, concerned.
“No, I’ll be fine. I just need to rest.” Corinne said calmly. She walked back to room 112 and plopped herself down onto the bed. How could she not remember any of those people? Surely some were her friends. Why couldn’t she remember? She was going to find out somehow. Corinne ambled over to the lonely fish that swam in circles. She stared at his endless loops around the bowl and wondered why he kept swimming. He wasn’t getting anywhere, yet he kept swimming13.
The next day Corinne started back to work. She was happier than she had been in weeks. The work took her mind off things and kept the empty space in her heart from echoing across her soul. She was doing her job and doing it well. They had made more progress within that week than in the past two months. This really was her calling.14
Yet there was still that void, that hole, that itchy wound that longed to be scratched and refused to be ignored, and wanted to be bandaged and mended and taken care of. The itching wouldn’t cease until then.15
As Corinne was walking home that night, she noticed a sign on the wall beside the lab door with a quote on it. It read, “Education is an ornament in prosperity, and a refuge in adversity.”16 She looked at the sign for a second and then quickly glanced away to walk back to her room for dinner.
Later, sitting in her quarters, Corinne was thinking about the sign. She had been taking comfort in her job, in her education, but it couldn’t give her everything. The refuge she was enjoying wouldn’t last forever. It was temporary and with holes in it. There was still a gaping hole at the bottom of her boat, and it was going to sink quickly if not patched soon.17 She gazed at the ceiling and then at the wall. Her eyes followed the shadows to the curtains on the holographic window down to the coffee table with the fish bowl on it. It was almost cruel how confined he was to his bowl, yet he knew nothing else18. He swam in circles, no other fish, and no dreams, isolated and alone. She felt sorry for the poor creature.
~~~~
Life continued for Corinne, but with no purpose. What would she do when the vaccine and cure was found? Would she go search for her family? If she had any family left, and that depended on her memory. Her days became filled with despair and futility. She was going to help saving a multitude of people (if there were any left to save). So why was she so miserable? What had been cut out of her, what fit in that hole that nothing could fill, that nothing seemed to fit in?
She busied herself for the rest of the day cleaning her room. A vaccine had finally been found after 2 weeks of her return to the lab. Coincidentally, it was John who had made the breakthrough after he had reviewed her research. Everyone was saved. They could return. They could save what was left. The government announced that the scientist team would be the first to surface and administer the vaccine to as many as possible. Corinne dropped her copy of the report onto the floor. She watched as it fluttered downward and came to rest under her bed. Corinne sighed and reached her hand down underneath the bed to probe around for the paper. Instead, she grabbed something rough and cloth-like. It was heavy and took considerable effort to heave it out. It soon became apparent that the foreign object was a backpack. Corinne unzipped it and pulled out a pair of moldy socks. “Lovely,” she said sarcastically to herself. The air became dry and suffocating19. “Where had all this come from?” she wondered as she dug through the bag. A pair of socks, a toothbrush, and two white Polos with CDC emblems on them appeared from the bag. Corinne unzipped the next pocket and saw an empty water bottle, a first aid kit and then a silver corner of something at the very bottom of the bag. She plunged her arm down into the depths of the pack to retrieve it. She didn’t hear the pressure lock hiss threateningly behind her.
Corinne’s arm withdrew a small picture frame. She flipped it over and saw her. The little girl with the river blue eyes, the girl called Lily stared back at her. She was her hope, her love, the cause of her four years of madness, and the reason for her infinite joy now20. She had found what had been lost, what had been cut out. The wound had healed. She could jump out of the sinking boat and swim now, swim with freedom and hope.
“What are you doing?!?” Janine appeared behind her.
“I think a better question would be: what are you doing? You lied to me. I did have a daughter. Look, she’s right there!” Corinne jabbed her finger towards the silver frame.
“Perhaps. Where did you find this bag? Who gave it to you?” Janine asked alarmed.
“Stop playing games with me. Where’s my daughter, where’s Lily?” Corinne insisted on an answer.
“Where did you get that bag, and then I’ll answer your question.” Janine said patiently.
“Under the bed. Now, where’s my daughter?” Corinne said intently.
“Hmm…interesting that they missed that. If you really must know, she’s dead, Corinne. Lily is dead. She’s been gone for four years now. The sickness took her,” Janine said coldly.
“What? No, I saw her, in my dreams she’s still alive and she’s being taken from me!21 Explain that!” Corinne was shouting now.
“That may be true, but she was sick. Do you think we could’ve allowed people who were sick in here? Do you know what the close quarters would’ve done? We would have all been dead within two weeks! Besides, we only had enough room for government officials and people like you who could find a solution to the problem. Scientists, architects, engineers, economists, people who could rebuild society once the sickness had taken its course or a cure was found.22”
“So you decided to let everyone else die?!? What about all the other people down here? What about their families, did you kill them too?” Corinne asked hysterically.
“It was a small price to pay for our preservation.23 No, they all had families, but they recognized the need for their expertise. They knew that their country needed them. Their country came first. They were willing to sacrifice everything to save us, to save civilization.” Janine said with a calm voice.
“Did I agree to this sick idea too?” Corinne asked disgustedly.
“Yes, you did. You left your daughter with your parents and came to work here. She died a few months later from smallpox. You made an honorable sacrifice, just like the rest.”
“Lies.” Corinne spat.
“Fine, have it your way, you coward. We had to drag your sorry ass down here. Your daughter had become ill and you wanted to stay on the surface and work on the cure. We made you come down here. The risk of your exposure meant that the cure could be put off for decades. That was a risk we weren’t willing to take. We let you correspond with her via videophone for a few months until her death. That’s when you went into a coma and that hallucinatory amnesia for three years. I was your psychologist. Satisfied? There’s the truth for you.” Janine said with finality.
Pure pandemonium filled the room. The sound of the pressure lock opening hissed through the air as clanking boots crossed the threshold. Janine’s thumb rested on a small red button on her pager.
By the time Corinne had realized what happening it was over. There was nothingness again, but it wasn’t an abyss of nothingness. The air was moist and cool. There was light, and the faint smile of a little girl with river blue eyes. Infinite joy24.
~~~~
Janine ordered for Corinne to be made an example of. Her story of insanity and then disloyalty and treason was to be told to a select few, who Janine knew would spread the news throughout the city. She didn’t care. Corinne’s life was another small price to pay. It was the cost of living.25 After all, they would be out soon. A cure had been found, and there was a world left to revive, a state left to take over, people ready to obey, to put the State’s needs first26.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 This refers to the person shaped hole in the universe that Arundhati Roy uses so many times in The God of Small Things.

2 This is linked to later in the story when Janine is talking about how they all made honorable sacrifices for the state. This follows along the lines of Socrates’ thinking in “Crito.” They were willing to do anything for the state, including sacrificing their families. “Do you not realize that you are bound to respect and placate the anger of your country than your father’s anger? That if you cannot persuade your country you must do whatever it orders…” (Plato 61).

3 This procedure is very similar to how Estha and Rahel bury their bad memories. They can’t function with the constant pain, so they try to push it away to the back of their mind. Estha copes by not talking. “It wasn’t an accusing, protesting silence as much as sort of an estivation, a dormancy, the psychological equivalent of what lung fish do to get through the dry season, except that for Estha, the dry season looked as though it would last forever.” (Roy 12). He gradually stops talking, as there are more bad memories to bury, just as the death of Lily was too much for Corinne, and caused her to slip into the dream-like state for 3 years.

4 “They will” refers to the State’s needs. The government needs her back at work and expects her to make sacrifices in order to ensure the survival of the state, even if they have to force her to make those sacrifices. This is also what Plat o advocates at the end of “The Cave Allegory.” He essentially says that those who are best fitted for the job should be forced to take on that role regardless of their wants or needs.

5 This is another Aristotle function reference. Corinne should be happier at work, doing what she loves and what she is good at. You can link Aristotle’s function ideas to Velutha in The God of Small Things. Velutha is never allowed to reach his highest function, which would probably be that of an engineer. Instead, he is held back because of his class, which might give some credence to Aristotle when he says, “From this definition of happiness it follows that its constituent parts are: good birth, plenty of friends…” (Aristotle 7). Velutha was never really able to achieve his highest form of happiness. I would speculate his highest happiness as being married to Ammu and not being an Untouchable. Aristotle’s mention of good birth comes into play here. The lack of “good birth” is what holds Velutha back from maximum happiness.

6 This is a Cave Allegory reference. The darkness is the lack of light in the cave. Corinne is trying to work her way out, but the other “prisoners” (or I guess you could actually call Janine one of the people walking around the fire) don’t want her to get out. The medication is more for their good than for Corinne’s.

7 Here sleep is being used as the same dormant state that Estha is in. Corinne is shielding herself, like it or not, from her past that she can’t seem to remember. (It is also literal sleep in some cases in the story).

8 This is a river reference to the God of Small Things. Corinne is a fish out of water, or in very shallow water. She’s struggling to breathe, and her daughter is the river. She has to find her or she will “die” not literally, but a piece of her will.

9 This is a reference to Estha’s coping ability again. “It (quietness) sent its stealthy, suckered tentacles inching along the insides of his skull, hovering the knolls and dells of his memory, dislodging old sentences, whisking them off the tip of his tongue. It stripped his thoughts of words that described them and left them pared and naked. Unspeakable.Numb…He grew accustomed to the uneasy octopus that lived inside him and squirted its inky tranquilizer on his past.” (Roy 13). The procedure is basically doing the same thing to Corinne. Her memory is being silenced and numbed because it’s causing her too much pain.

10 A shadow on the Cave wall.

11 In our discussion about Mary Lavin’s “Happiness”, there was a suggestion that flowers represent happiness for Vera. The flowers are fake because Corinne’s new life and new “happiness” is fake. It won’t last and it is nothing compared to real happiness in the same way that fake flowers don’t have a fragrance and their petals aren’t the same.

12 Fish reference from The God of Small Things. Instead of the fish in the river, there’s a fish in the bowl. He is trapped in the same way Corinne is. The fish can’t move on down the river (of life) because it’s in a bowl. Corinne can’t move on either. The fish keeps swimming in circles (and coincidentally, goldfish only have a very short memory that is selective, causing them to be able to remember the general idea of something in the past, but not exactly what happened. Coincidence, I think not!) Corinne’s memory is like that of the goldfish. It is blurry and can’t remember very far into the past, only bits and pieces.

13 The fish keeps swimming just like Ammu in The God of Small Things even though, “in the pit of her stomach she carried the cold knowledge that, for her, life had been lived.” (Roy 39). Ammu knew there was nothing left for her now, but she had to carry on for the other people in her life. Corinne is facing a similar circumstance as she sees how the people at the lab are depending on her, but there’s no motivation left in her.

14 This is yet another Aristotle function reference. Corinne is doing her function well, so she is happy. But it is a temporary happiness. Her life is not whole because she is lacking relationships with people, family, and friends. This is why Aristotle adds at the end of his essay, “”in a complete life.” For one swallow does not make a spring, nor does one sunny day; similarly, one day or a short time does not make a man blessed and happy.” (Aristotle 8). You can also link this to Chacko in The God of Small Things. He eats to fill up the void where Margaret Kochamma and Sophie Mol used to be. He hasn’t reached his highest function either. I would think he’d be disappointed after going to Oxford and then coming back home to live with his mother. He must feel some sense of failure from that and from his divorce. Corinne feels a sense of failure from not being able to save her daughter.

15 We’re back to that hole in the universe again. It’s kind of like a black hole, it sucks everything in, makes happy things seem less significant, it’s always looming there in the background.

16 This is actually another Aristotle quote. (It’s not from our text though. I actually just happened to stumble upon it the day before I started on the paper. I was checking my gmail and I have an Aristotle quote of the day amongst many other things on my iGoogle homepage. That just happened to be the quote of the day. Okay, moving on…) Corinne had an extensive education, which gave her a literal refuge underground as well as a mental refuge. She was able to busy herself in her work, but it wasn’t enough to provide a total shield from her past.

17 The God of Small Things; Estha’s and Rahel’s boat reference. Corinne’s boat is different though. Hers is more of a shield between her and the water, which is reality and life. The boat is sinking, which shouldn’t be a problem for a “fish”, but Corinne is more of a wounded mermaid or lungfish. She can swim, just not yet. The wound has to heal before she can regain control of her flippers and move on with life.

18 This is another Cave Allegory reference. The fish should be unhappy, but isn’t. Now, in literal terms, he’s too dumb to know he’s in a fish bowl, which is similar to how people are in the Cave. Ignorance is bliss. The people in the Cave are in a pitiable condition, but they don’t know that. They think that there’s nothing wrong at all.

19 This is obviously another Fish reference. No water left to breathe, and no air either. Corinne has reached the point where she has to jump in and swim or let part of her die. This is similar to Ammu’s situation. She has to decide if she’s going to take a chance with Velutha or if she’s going to let part of her soul become numb and die.

20 This is a reference to Chacko’s phrase, “Anything is possible in Human Nature…Love. Madness. Hope. Infinite Joy.” (Roy 112). Chacko is elaborating on how complex people’s emotions are, and how a single thing or person can be the cause of an array of emotions.

21 Corinne’s dream was true despite what others tried to tell her. Reality was a sense of perception, her dreams ended up being her reality. Ammu made her dreams her reality, “If you’re happy in a dream, Ammu, does it count? Because the truth is, that only what counts counts. If you eat fish in a dream, does it count? Does it mean you’ve eaten fish?” (Roy 208). She had eaten fish, and even though the fish wasn’t physically in her stomach, her mind thought it was, and that’s what counted. That’s what allowed her to later “eat fish”.

22 This is a “Crito” reference. Janine is saying that the State in itself was more important than the people it was supposed to serve. What is a State without its people though? It is no longer a State.

23 This is a The God of Small Things reference. “Baby Kochamma would say it was a Small Price to pay. Was it? Two lives. Two children’s childhoods.” (Roy 319). Just as baby Kochamma saw the lives of Ammu and Velutha and the childhoods of Estha and Rahel to be a small price to pay for keeping the family name clean, Janine is saying that the families who had to be sacrificed, all the people who died, were just casualties. It was a small price to pay for keeping their society intact. Maybe they valued society and civilization too highly. After all, families make up the backbone of society.

24 This time Infinite Joy is the highest level of the Cave. She is out of the Cave, and free from her limitations. It is basically Heaven.

25 This is reflecting Baby Kochamma’s thoughts again. “And a history lesson for future offenders.” Ammu, Velutha were both used as examples for the rest of the town. Velutha’s death reinforced the limits of the Untouchables and Ammu’s reinforced the cultural laws that women “should abide by.” Corinne’s death was to be used as an example of what happens when you refuse the laws of the State, when you question something you’re not supposed to question.