Deterritorialization Of Marginalized People In The God Of Small Things

Arundhati Roy(1961-)is a new generation of English writers in the history of Indian literature in the late twentieth century.Her masterpiece,The God of Small Things(1997),reflects the problems and challenges facing Indian society in the midst of significant changes by telling the story of a Syrian Orthodox family in the southern Indian of Kerala.Throughout the research situation at home and abroad,scholars have mainly explored the novel from the perspectives of trauma,post-colonialism,narrative techniques,feminism,etc.There are also scholars who attach importance to the transgression themes in their works,but it is rare to combine the transgression themes and the perspective of deterritorialization.The concept of “deterritorialization” is put forward by Gilles Deleuze(1925-1995),a 20th-century French philosophical giant,and is hailed as the core of ethics and political science.At different times,Deleuze has interpreted“deterritorialization” differently,and its essence relates to the process by which the subject escapes from the dominated territory of residence or the social and ideological institutions of enforced bondage.In the course of this flux,the subject tries to break free from the original environment that imprisoned him or her by exerting the creative power of desire,thus presenting a new state and spirituality that gives a strong impetus to the democratization process in India.This thesis takes a post-structuralist stance,drawing on Deleuze's theory of schizophrenic analysis,to decipher the process of marginalized people in deterritorialization and positive behaviors that deterritorialization presents to drive the development of Indian society.The first chapter discusses the confinement of the social system.The three state machines that exist simultaneously in Indian society comprehensively control and channel the stream of life's desires,leaving people deprived of their subjectivity and creativity and their bodies in a state of exhaustion.The primitive territorial machine,linked by the dual institutions of patriarchy and marriage,effectively restricts women.Ammu of the Ipe family,as a male appendage,is territorialized by family lines and in-laws.The barbarian despotic machine dominated by the caste system strictly regulates the people of Kerala state in India.The Dalit-born Velutha,as the representative of “filth”,is territorialized at the bottom of society.The civilized capitalist machine,dominated by the remnants of British colonialism and globalization,controls the people with a new system of power.The twins with dual Hindu and Syrian orthodox identities,as “bastards” in the eyes of others,are territorialized by the mainstream cultural system.The second chapter examines the breakthrough of social boundaries.Driven by the desire for freedom,equality,and love,Ammu,Velutha,and the twins rebel against the domination and oppression of power such as patriarchy,the caste system,and post-colonial in different ways of deterritorialization.Ammu resists male discourse by choosing her marriage partner autonomously.Velutha revolts class differences by participating in political struggles,becoming a new instrumental intellectual and affirming his emotional strength.The twins oppose the manipulation of imperial power by choosing female lives independently,overstepping gender and spatial boundaries,as well as subverting standard language.The third chapter analyzes the creation of new life forms.By crossing or breaking the conventions and gradually escaping from their past selves,marginal characters create new life experiences,life forms and life possibilities.Ammu constructs a female free living space against the traditional power system,creating conditions for women to live freely and independently in the new era for herself and the next generation.Velutha transforms the stereotypical hierarchical image,whose “divinity” gives more of the Indian underclass the courage and strength to “tell their story”.The twins construct inclusive intersubjectivity that provides a powerful engine for building a unified,diverse collective and nation.Through the analysis of the process of deterritorialization of marginalized people,this thesis exposes the morbid social consciousness of contemporary society in India and calls for the removal of the shackles that imprison personal freedom and inhibit creativity.At the same time,this thesis also echoes the author Roy's concern about India's complicated social situation and the uneven development of all social strata.It puts forward the urgency of paying attention to the underprivileged,unshacklinginternal restraint of backward “doctrine” concept and reshaping national self-confidence.