An Interpretation Of The God Of Small Things From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Arundhati Roy is the most distinguished woman writer in contemporary Indian literature,and the unprecedented glamour of her first novel The God of Small Things not only lies in the fact that it discloses the intercaste love affairs,the inner causes of hybridity,marginalization,the politics of transgression and the betrayal of ethics,but more importantly,Roy imparts to readers a set of systematic and standardized ethical ideas abounding in valuable ethical connotations stipulating what people should do when they are confronted with disparate and complicated ethical relationships like those in this novel.Approaching from the perspective of ethical literary criticism,this thesis aims to break through traditional research methods by looking deeper into living conditions of vulnerable groups represented by women,the untouchable,inveterate restrictions imposed by rotten caste system,and transgressions of social boundaries in the context of rigid social hierarchy,and to demonstrate three forms of ethical relationships,setting out for an exploration into how Roy pays highest tribute to family affection,stable marriage and natural ecology in order to highlight her unquenchable thirst for permanent and benign ethics.First and foremost,the thesis gives a full revelation of fragmentation of family ethics,penetrating into the complexity of family relationships combined with meticulous explications of murder,Oedipus complex and dauntless transgressions of ethical taboos,with a view to highlighting Roy's rational appeals and vigorous advocacies in establishing healthy interpersonal relationships on the basis of rational love,benevolence and mutual understanding.Secondly,the thesis concentrates on sophisticated and unbalanced marriage relationships in the form of the exhibition of three couples to indicate their breach of their bounded obligations.Besides,the thesis places substantial emphasis on antithesis between domination and submission by demonstrating unequal family status and antagonistic or even hostile relations between husband and wife which deviate from fundamental elements of advisable marriage ethics manifested as equality,mutual assistance and honesty in the context of colonialism and transnationalism.Thirdly,the thesis explores relationships between man and nature through the comparison of two different attitudes toward nature and disparate destinies.It not only presents one type of people who are compliant practitioners of ecological ethics considering nature as the most intimate presence where people could search for spiritual consolation and inspiration,but also attaches importance to ethical terminologies such as utilitarianism and egoism combined with descriptions of aggression and encroachment of those venturesome transgressors of ecological ethics.Based on that,combined with the method of close reading and under the guidance of ethical literary criticism,the thesis indicates that this novel essentially reveals Roy's insistence on the primacy of meritorious family ethics,marriage ethics and ecological ethics,which attests to her undisputable sense of mission and expresses her beautiful vision of coordinating family relationships,championing environmental protection and reconstructing harmonious ethics conductive to human development.