How Does Arundhati Roy Use Intertextuality in The God of Small Things?
Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is a profoundly intertextual novel that weaves together cultural, historical, and literary references to construct a layered and polyphonic narrative. Through intertextuality, Roy situates her story within broader discourses of colonialism, religion, politics, and literature, enriching the reader’s understanding of identity and power. The novel borrows from diverse sources—biblical imagery, Western literary allusions, Indian mythology, and colonial history—to expose the complexity of postcolonial India. Intertextuality in The God of Small Things functions not merely as literary ornamentation but as a critical tool through which Roy dismantles social hierarchies and challenges dominant narratives of purity, power, and morality.
Intertextuality as a Framework for Postcolonial Commentary
Arundhati Roy uses intertextuality to engage with postcolonial identity and to critique the lingering effects of colonial influence. References to British literature, particularly The Sound of Music, English nursery rhymes, and Shakespeare, represent the deep-rooted cultural dominance of the West in Indian consciousness. The Ipe family’s fascination with “The Sound of Music” symbolizes how colonial subjects internalize Western ideals of morality and order (Roy, 1997). This imitation, however, is portrayed with irony. Roy juxtaposes these Western texts with the harsh realities of caste and gender inequality, revealing the absurdity of applying colonial ideals to Indian life.
Scholars such as Elleke Boehmer (2005) argue that Roy’s intertextual strategy reflects “a postcolonial resistance to cultural imperialism through ironic mimicry.” By embedding Western cultural elements within a distinctly Indian setting, Roy exposes the fractures between imported values and lived experiences. Thus, intertextuality in the novel becomes a means of cultural subversion—an act of reclaiming narrative authority from the colonial canon.
Biblical Allusions and the Moral Landscape of the Novel
One of the most prominent forms of intertextuality in The God of Small Things is Roy’s use of biblical references. The title itself carries a spiritual resonance that parallels divine justice and human frailty. Throughout the novel, Roy interlaces Christian imagery to expose the hypocrisy of religious morality. For instance, Baby Kochamma and Mammachi use religious justifications to condemn Ammu’s love affair with Velutha, despite their own moral failings (Roy, 1997). This reflects how religious intertextuality is manipulated to reinforce social hierarchies and maintain control over “sinful” bodies.
The biblical echoes serve both to critique and to reimagine sacred texts. As scholar P. K. Rajan (2000) observes, Roy “deploys Christian intertextuality not to affirm faith, but to highlight the corruption of moral ideals under patriarchy and caste.” The “Lamentable Love Laws” in the novel resonate with biblical commandments, yet they are subverted to reveal how love and desire become transgressive acts in a hypocritical society. Through this religious intertextuality, Roy redefines sanctity, positioning love as the ultimate form of spiritual rebellion.
Intertextuality and Western Literary Echoes
Roy’s narrative technique reflects a sophisticated dialogue with Western modernist and postmodernist literature. Her nonlinear structure, fragmented time, and stream-of-consciousness style evoke writers such as William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf. Critics like Meenakshi Mukherjee (2000) have compared the novel’s cyclical narrative and regional focus to Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, emphasizing how Roy localizes Western modernist techniques to depict the disintegration of an Indian family.
Moreover, intertextual references to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and the colonial discourse of civilization versus savagery are subtly reimagined. Roy inverts the colonial trope by presenting the oppressed “Untouchable” Velutha as the most humane and morally pure character in the narrative, contrasting him with the so-called civilized upper class. This inversion of the “heart of darkness” narrative reveals Roy’s postcolonial reworking of canonical Western literature, using intertextuality as a tool of narrative resistance and cultural reclamation.
Mythological and Cultural Intertextuality
Roy’s use of intertextuality also extends into Indian mythology, folklore, and oral traditions, creating a hybrid narrative that merges the sacred and the mundane. The “god of small things” itself can be read as an allusion to Hindu polytheism, where divinity is distributed across myriad forms of life. Velutha—whose name means “white” in Malayalam—embodies this mythological duality, representing both the divine and the human, the sacred and the profane.
By integrating Hindu and Christian imagery, Roy blurs the boundaries between spiritual traditions, creating a syncretic narrative that mirrors India’s cultural complexity. Scholar Rukmini Bhaya Nair (2002) argues that Roy’s intertextual layering “constructs a linguistic and cultural space where Western and Indian mythologies coexist, often in tension but never in isolation.” Through this cultural fusion, Roy challenges the idea of purity in religion, caste, and identity, revealing that hybridity is not a weakness but a defining feature of postcolonial reality.
Political Intertextuality and Historical Context
Intertextuality in The God of Small Things is not limited to religion and literature; it also incorporates historical and political references that anchor the novel in the realities of twentieth-century India. The mention of Marxism, the Naxalite movement, and political figures situates the narrative within Kerala’s sociopolitical upheaval. Comrade Pillai’s opportunism reflects the corruption of leftist ideals, turning revolutionary discourse into another form of social manipulation (Roy, 1997).
Roy’s intertextual references to political ideologies function as a critique of both colonial and postcolonial systems of oppression. According to Anuradha Dingwaney Needham (2002), “Roy employs political intertextuality to demonstrate how power structures, whether colonial, religious, or communist, are complicit in perpetuating human suffering.” The novel’s layered political references transform it from a family saga into a broader commentary on the failures of ideological purity. Through this, Roy demonstrates that intertextuality is not merely aesthetic but an instrument of sociopolitical engagement.
Intertextuality and Language: The Play of Words
Roy’s manipulation of language itself serves as a form of intertextuality. Her playful use of English—capitalization, phonetic spellings, and word inversions—creates a childlike yet subversive narrative voice. Words like “Orangedrink Lemondrink Man” or “The Laws That Lay Down Who Should Be Loved” highlight how language can both reveal and distort meaning. Roy’s deliberate distortion of English reflects the linguistic hybridity of postcolonial India, where the colonizer’s language is reclaimed and reshaped.
Linguistic intertextuality also functions as a commentary on power and voice. Scholar Aijaz Ahmad (2000) notes that Roy’s linguistic experimentation “mimics the fractured consciousness of postcolonial identity, transforming language from a tool of colonization into an act of resistance.” Through this stylistic intertextuality, Roy dismantles the authority of Standard English, democratizing language to reflect the multiplicity of Indian experience. Her linguistic play not only enhances the novel’s poetic rhythm but also affirms the political power of narrative diversity.
The Role of Intertextuality in Shaping Reader Experience
Intertextuality in The God of Small Things demands active participation from the reader, transforming the act of reading into an interpretive process. By drawing on multiple cultural and textual references, Roy invites readers to uncover meaning across layers of time, history, and culture. This narrative strategy mirrors the novel’s central theme—that small things, like subtle references or buried memories, accumulate to reveal larger truths.
The fragmented chronology and recurring motifs compel readers to piece together connections between texts and events, mirroring how memory and history function in real life. As Elleke Boehmer (2005) observes, Roy’s intertextual method “empowers readers to navigate cultural hybridity, compelling them to question dominant narratives.” Thus, intertextuality in The God of Small Things is not only a stylistic choice but a philosophical statement about the interconnectedness of human experience and the necessity of critical reading in a fragmented world.
Conclusion: Intertextuality as a Postcolonial Strategy
Arundhati Roy’s use of intertextuality in The God of Small Things transcends literary reference; it becomes a mode of cultural and political expression. Through her fusion of Western literature, Indian mythology, biblical imagery, and political discourse, Roy constructs a narrative that challenges colonial hierarchies and redefines identity in postcolonial India. Intertextuality allows her to blend global and local traditions, turning the novel into a dialogic space where multiple voices coexist and contest power.
Ultimately, Roy’s intertextual approach reveals that meaning is never singular—it is produced through the intersections of history, culture, and language. By embedding her narrative within a rich intertextual web, Roy not only situates The God of Small Things within global literature but also asserts the value of regional voice and indigenous experience. Her novel teaches that intertextuality, far from being a literary luxury, is a powerful form of storytelling that reclaims history, redefines truth, and restores humanity to those silenced by systems of oppression.
References
Ahmad, A. (2000). Postcolonial Aesthetics and the Politics of Language. New Delhi: Tulika Books.
Boehmer, E. (2005). Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dingwaney Needham, A. (2002). Caste, Gender, and the Politics of Shame in Arundhati Roy’s Fiction. Modern Fiction Studies, 48(4), 857–884.
Mukherjee, M. (2000). Postcolonial Realism in The God of Small Things. Indian Literature, 44(3), 105–116.
Nair, R. B. (2002). Intertextual Hybridity in Roy’s The God of Small Things. Journal of Indian Writing in English, 30(1), 23–39.
Rajan, P. K. (2000). Colonial Shame and the Reproduction of Patriarchy in Roy’s The God of Small Things. Social Scientist, 28(9–10), 23–39.
Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. New Delhi: IndiaInk.