Depiction of Oppressed in God of Small Thing

Abstract

This Paper focuses on the situations of marginalized characters in “The God of Small Things”. How characters experienced in the hands of upper caste people. The protagonist Velutha rather the character of the novel suffers a lot throughout the novel. Dalit Literature aims at creating a counter-culture and a separate identity for the Dalits in the society. Generally, Dalit writes are not against caste or communal groups but against the establishment, the government and the social system which in their view keeps them depressed and deprived. In other words, the search for identity is a basic dynamism, of Dalit culture. That is why, issues related to poverty, powerlessness, untouchability, hypocrisy and several other corrupt social practices have generated a variety of responses among Dalit writers. These responses are basically forms of protest aimed at bringing about social change through a revolution. Social inequality is one of the themes of the novel. In the traditional India, untouchables always face the problem of inequality in the society. The upper caste of society would not allow equality in the society. Velutha is a talented carpenter. Even he could repair radios, water pipes, looked after the plumbing and all the electrical gadgets in the house. However the deep stigma of being a Paravan or untouchable makes him a target of general hostile attitude, behavior and casteist bias.