Genre
Historical fiction
Setting and Context
Set in Kerala, India, between 1900 and 1970s, spanning three generations.
Narrator and Point of View
Narrated by Abraham Verghese in the third-person narrative from Mariamma’s perspective
Tone and Mood
The tone is candid, and the tone is lighthearted.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The central character in the novel is Mariamma, and the antagonist is Digby Kilgour.
Major Conflict
The conflict is between Mariamma and her family when they sell her to travel to a foreign place to meet a 43-year-old stranger to marry her.
Climax
The climax comes when Mariamma is named Big Ammachi and becomes the family's matriarch in her new home.
Foreshadowing
The death of Jojo’s biological mother foreshadowed the marriage of Mariamma to Big Appachen.
Understatement
Digby underestimates the influence of Catholicism on his career in Scotland.
Allusions
n/a
Imagery
The description of Mariamma's house, where she lives with her mother, depicts a sense of sight to show readers that she comes from a low-income family. The narrator says, "She imagines the bird looking down at the clearing where the rectangular thatched roof squats over their house. It sees the lagoon in front of the creek and the paddy field behind.”
Paradox
The main irony is that Mariamma becomes the matriarch who manages the expansive 500-acre farm in Parambil. When Marianna is married at 12, she never imagines she would become the voice of command in her new family.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between the wishes of Mariamma's father and Big Appachen's decision to raise her until she attains the age of marriage.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
n/a
Personification
Water is personified in the novel. The narrator says water is the greatest enemy, yet the Parambil locals cannot do without him. The narrator says that every year, the water comes to claim one life from Big Appachen's family.
