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Chapters
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Chapters
Chapters at a glance
The God of Small Things has 21 chapters.
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Chapters21 items
Paradise Pickles & Preserves
The novel opens in 1993 as Rahel returns to Ayemenem, the small Kerala town she left years ago, to find her twin brother Ammu still living in the decaying family home.
Pappachi's Moth
This chapter fills in the family's backstory, focusing on Pappachi, the twins' grandfather, an entomologist who discovered a new species of moth but was denied credit for it durin…
Big Man the Laltain, Small Man the Mombatti
This chapter deepens the portrait of Chacko, Ammu's brother, who studied at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and came back to Kerala with an inflated sense of himself and a failed m…
Abhilash Talkies
The chapter follows young Estha at a cinema in Cochin where the family has gone to see The Sound of Music. Estha is sent to wait in the lobby and is sexually molested by the Orang…
Kochu Thomban
The chapter centers on a baby elephant named Kochu Thomban who belongs to the local temple, and on the twins' relationship with Velutha, the Untouchable carpenter who works for th…
Cochin Kangaroos and Marxist Mamus
The family arrives at the airport to pick up Sophie Mol and Margaret Kochamma, and the chapter fills in Chacko's backstory: his time at Oxford, his brief marriage to Margaret, and…
Wisdom Exercise Notebooks
This chapter moves through Rahel's childhood memories, focusing on the small rituals and private language she and Estha shared.
Welcome Home, Our Sophie Mol
Sophie Mol and Margaret arrive, and the family's performance of welcome goes into full effect. The chapter cuts between the present arrival and the later funeral, so the reader al…
Mrs. Pillai, Mrs. Eapen, Mrs. Rajagopalan
The chapter focuses on the community's surveillance of Ammu and the family. Neighbors and acquaintances watch, judge, and gossip.
The River in the Boat
The children spend time near the river, and the chapter establishes the river as a space outside the family's rules. Velutha is associated with this space.
The God of Small Things
This chapter gives the novel its title and centers on the growing emotional and physical closeness between Ammu and Velutha.
Kochu Thomban
This chapter follows the baby elephant Kochu Thomban and uses him to anchor a memory of the twins' childhood at Ayemenem.
The Pessimist and the Optimist
This chapter focuses on Chacko and Margaret Kochamma, tracing the arc of their relationship from Oxford through their marriage and its collapse.
Work is Struggle
This chapter moves into Velutha's political life, showing his involvement with the Communist Party and the suspicion that involvement generates among the Ayemenem family.
The Crossing
This chapter depicts Ammu and Velutha finally crossing into their relationship. They meet at the river at night, and what has been building across the novel becomes physical and r…
A Few Hours Later
This chapter moves through the immediate aftermath of Sophie Mol's death. The police arrive, and the family scrambles to manage the fallout.
Cochin Kangaroos and Marxist Mamus
The chapter moves back in time to show Chacko's years in England, his marriage to Margaret, and the birth of Sophie Mol.
The History House
This chapter brings Velutha and Ammu's relationship into full view. They meet secretly at the old house across the river, a place the children call the History House, and their af…
Saving Ammu
Baby Kochamma pressures Estha into giving a false statement to the police, telling him it is the only way to save Ammu from arrest.
The Madras Mail
This chapter covers Estha being sent away to live with his father in Calcutta, a decision made after the events surrounding Sophie Mol's death and Velutha's fate.
The Cost of Living
The final chapter circles back to the night Ammu and Velutha spend together by the river, told now with full knowledge of what follows.
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