The God of Small Things

Great Books: The God of Small Things Paper

John Tamplin

Enola Gay

I stepped through the fallout,

I saw the destruction wrought

By my Radioactive arch-enemy,

What did you do?

Did you maintain order in a world gone wrong?

Or was it just a “graveyard without a tombstone standing?”

Did you re-order chaos,

Or did you just make things worse?

And then I saw the headlines,

My dear Enola Gay,

You dropped a Little Boy

On the city of Hiroshima,

And a Magic Mushroom sprouted,

And 140,000 died.

But back home there was a New World Order,

Oh how glorious!

“You can come out now! You need not worry!”

The whole world could step into the radiation,

See the sunlight after a war of darkness.
The Skeleton:

Question: Does keeping order justify wrongdoing?

Answer One: The maintenance of order always justifies wrongdoing. If the wrongdoing is done to maintain order in a state for the well-being of many as opposed to few, the action is justified. The incident where Inspector Thomas Mathew taps Ammu’s breasts (Roy 9, 246) was done as a responsibility to the state. Thomas Mathew is a policeman, whose job is to maintain order within the state. By personally violating Ammu, he saves the town of Ayemenem from uproar about the situation between Ammu and Velutha and salvages the family’s name. If Ammu has accepted the fruits of the state for all of her life, she has a responsibility to obey the state. You should not expect “such license against your country and its laws that if we try to put you to death in belief that it is right to do so, you on your part will try your hardest to destroy your country and us its Laws in return.” (Plato 61). Ammu expects this license. “She developed a lofty sense of injustice and the mulish, reckless streak that develops in Someone Small who has been bullied all their lives by Someone Big. She did exactly nothing to avoid quarrels and confrontations. In fact, it could be argued that she sought them out, perhaps even enjoyed them.” (Roy 172-3). Inspector Thomas Mathew acts out of responsibility, in an “attempt to instill order in a world gone wrong.” (Roy 246). As an agent of the law, Inspector Thomas Mathew’s proper function is to exercise the will of the state and maintain order. According to Socrates, citizens have a responsibility to their state. “Both in war and in the lawcourts and everywhere else you must do whatever your city and your country commands, or else persuade it in accordance with universal justice.” (Plato 61).

Answer Two: Wrongdoing is never justified by maintaining order. If the “the good of man is an activity of the soul in conformity with excellence or virtue,” (Aristotle 8), Inspector Thomas Mathew’s actions toward Ammu are not justified because they are not virtuous (assuming that personally violating a woman is not virtuous). According to Aristotle, “[the tyrant’s] aim is to break the spirit the spirit of their subjects.” (Aristotle 4 from By and About Aristotle) By forcing Estha to accuse Velutha, Baby Kochamma is acting like a tyrant (who is by definition not good). “If you want to save her, all you have to do is go with the Uncle with the big meeshas. He’ll ask you a question. One question. All you have to do is say ‘Yes.’ Then we can all go home. It’s so easy. It’s a small price to pay.” (Roy 302). By forcing Estha to corroborate her story, she directly leads to the breaking of Estha’s spirit when he refuses to speak for the remainder of his life in the book. Her attempt to retain order in and respect for her family by hurting Velutha is not justified. Another situation where wrongdoing in order to maintain order was when Ammu told Rahel, “When you hurt people, they begin to love you a little less. That’s what careless words do. They make you love people a little less.” (Roy 107). Ammu is trying to maintain order (by maintaining the obedience of her children), and in turn hurts them more.

Answer Three: Wrongdoing is never even performed to maintain order. According to Aristotle, “It may be said that every individual man and all men in common aim at a certain end which determines what they choose and what they avoid. This end, to sum it up briefly, is happiness and its constituents.” (Aristotle 6). This is not to say that happiness is the highest good. “To call happiness the highest good is perhaps a little trite.” (Aristotle 7). According to Aristotle, all actions are performed for happiness. Therefore, the incident with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man (Roy 98) was only performed for the happiness of the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man and the incident with Inspector Thomas Mathew was only performed for the happiness of Inspector Thomas Mathew. Accordingly, “when the dust had settled and he had the paperwork organized, inspector Thomas Mathew congratulated himself for the way it had all turned out.” (Roy 246). Just because these characters actions are evil doesn’t mean that they are not trying to be happy. Therefore, actions aren’t judged on the basis of good or bad, just whether or not their goal is happiness. Rahel attempts to find happiness by writing a list of who she loves most. “Rahel’s “list” was an attempt to order chaos. She revised it constantly, torn forever between love and duty. It was by no means a true gauge of her feelings.” (Roy 144). Rahel’s list is just a way for Rahel for Rahel to find some happiness in her horrific world, even though she may be acting cruelly just by having the listen the first place.