The God of Small Things
Character : Pappachi
1. Pappachi's Moth
The moth that Pappachi discovers, is named after another entomologist, and Pappachi considers this as his greatest failure and "his life's greatest setback was not having had the moth that he had discovered named after him." The moth inspires his fits of rage later on in his life. The moth is another small thing that symbolizes a larger stream of events, like Pappachi’s abusive nature. Additionally, the moth thereafter haunted his descendants with fear and misfortune. His moth “whispered in his children’s veins” and, “its pernicious ghost—gray, furry and with unusually dense dorsal tufts— haunted every house that he ever lived in. It tormented him and his children and his children’s children.” Pappachi’s moth is a symbol of fear and unhappiness in Rahel. The narrator usually describes Rahel's fear as the icy feeling of Pappachi's moth legs and wings upon her heart. Ammu asks Rahel in chapter four, “D’you know what happens when you hurt people?”
“When you hurt people, they begin to love you
less. That’s what careless words do. They make people
love you a little less.” A cold moth with unusually dense
dorsal tufts lands lightly on Rahel’s heart after these words
are spoken to her. Where its icy legs touched her, she got
goosebumps. Six goosebumps on her careless heart.
A little less her Ammu loved her. Ammu here is trying to
punish Rahel and make her feel bad, but the fear of being
loved less is already terrifying to the twins. Pappachi’s moth
first appears on this instance as a symbol of Rahel’s inner
anxiety, insecurity and fear. After hearing Ammu’s words,
Rahel feels like the moth landed on her her heart and chills
her with the thought of losing Ammu’s love. The
statement is the beginning of that moth tormenting
her the rest of the book. When adult twins Rahel and
Estha are going through things in Pappachi’s study,
they find preserves, “where mounted moths and butterflies
have disintegrated into dust.” The moth is prevalent once
again, and can be seen as something preserved for the twins’ whole lifetime, signifying the fear and bitterness that the two carried throughout, even after leaving Ayemenem and coming back. For instance, in chapter 16 (although this chapter is later on in the book, the series of events as we already know are not in chronological order as per Roy's technique), when the family is trying to impress Sophie Mol, and the first introductions are going on, Estha refuses to speak infuriating Ammu and Rahel hides behind the curtain and “won’t come out, as she is afraid of Ammu’s anger and the moth on her own heart.” The moth as Rahel's anxiety is another case where the twins are afraid of Ammu loving them less. Within this chapter, Sophie Mol’s death occurs, an event of that was foreshadowed from the beginning of the novel by Roy is one of the climaxes, setting the stage for change in events preceding and thereafter. “Sophie Mol?” she whispered to the rushing river.
“We’re here! Here! Near the illimba tree!”
Nothing.
On Rahel’s heart Pappachi’s moth snapped open its somber wings…
There was no storm-music. No whirlpool spun up from the inky depths of the Meenachal. No shark supervised the tragedy. Just a quiet handing-over ceremony. A boat spilling its cargo. A river accepting the offering. One small life. A brief sunbeam. With a silver thimble clenched for luck in its little fist.” The actual moment of Sophie Mol’s death is one of the climaxes of the book because of all the events that precede and follow it representing terror and demise of the whole family, business and system essentially. The actual moment is presented using descriptions of small things, contradictory to how big it actually is, which is a common technique of Roy's to portray a tragic as well as a poignant effect. The “brief sunbeam”, has no drama, her death was a small accident. Pappachi’s moth returns here “on her (Rahel’s) heart as she realizes Sophie is probably drowned." The moth appearing again at the same event also symbolizes Rahel’s realization that everything is about to change as she has lost her cousin.
2. Pappachi's Caste System
Pappachi greatly reflects the ideals of the caste system, which are deeply ingrained in his lifestyle. Pappachi, as an Imperial Entomologist, represents the old upper class. Velutha however, since childhood has worked for Pappachi with his father, Vellya Paapen and belong to the Paravan (lowest level of the hierarchy). The servants were never allowed to enter the Ipe house or touch anything the untouchables had. In fact, in even older times, the touchables had even had to crawl backwards with a broom, sweeping away their “unclean” footprints. “Pappachi would not allow Paravans into the house. Nobody would. They were not allowed to touch anything that Untouchables touched. Caste Hindus and Caste Christians. Mammachi told Estha and Rahel that she could remember a time, in her girlhood, when Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with a broom, sweeping away their footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by accidentally stepping into a Paravan’s footprint.” By Mammachi telling the twins stories of the caste system and their respective place in society, the untouchables remain at a superior level and are expected to also follow the same beliefs as the previous generations. By saying that Syrian Christians can be spoilt by just stepping at the same place that a Paravan like Velutha did, it is heavily implied that the basis of the Indian society at this time was the main foundation.
Although the caste system is highly preserved and very rigid amongst the people of Ayemenem, the nooks and crannies that present themselves as the novel progresses make the, "difficulty that their family had with classification (ran) much deeper than the jam- jelly question," according to Rahel. All of the members of the Ipe family broke the rules, crossing over into forbidden territory and tampering with the rules of the caste system involving intimacy thus breaking the love laws. The laws that Pappachi and Mammachi who are the elders in the story, understand the depth of how good people can be dictated and which kind of people, certain people can associate with and even love. It is sort of ironic that when rules are slowly getting broken more and more, Pappachi dies.
Additionally, Pappachi is very traditionalist and thinks women are still inferior to men and don’t need an education. “Pappachi insisted that a college education was an unnecessary expense for a girl, so Ammu had no choice but to leave Delhi and move with them." By the late 1900’s the belief about women’s education was still traditionalist and deemed as a sin or unnecessary expense as Pappachi claims. It is then explainable why he becomes jealous of Mammachi as she becomes successful because of his businesses.
3. Pappachi's Brutality
We see that after Mammachi becomes successful with her small business of Paradise, Pickles and Preserves, Pappachi starts to take an aggressive stance with her. He beats her with the brass vase nightly until Chacko puts a stop to it. Thereafter, he breaks the rocking chair and stops talking to Mammachi. Pappachi is seen as an antagonistic and negative character, a symbol of the abusive power of patriarchy. He is never punished for his brutal violence, but is instead seen as a model citizen in public. Mammachi never complained, but still she tried to uphold traditional society that condoned such beatings. The fact that Mammachi could live with Pappachi, and even cry when he died, again shows how deeply ingrained such traditions as the male-dominated Indian social system are.
