2025

An Anthropological Reading of Social Structures in The God of Small Things

Author(s): Sima Barman

Abstract

This paper examines The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy from an anthropological perspective, focusing on caste hierarchy, kinship systems, and cultural practices in postcolonial Kerala. The novel is interpreted as a cultural text that reflects the lived realities of Indian society, where social norms and taboos regulate individual identity and behaviour. Through close textual analysis, the study explores how “Love Laws,” caste-based exclusion, and family structures operate as mechanisms of social control. The paper argues that Roy’s narrative functions as an ethnographic representation of society, exposing the deeply embedded power structures that sustain inequality and marginalization.