How the Structure of the Novel and the Characters Form a Siege Against the Empire Anonymous College

Hardt and Negri outline the definition of the word “empire” in their book entitled Empire (2001: xiv) as being a “phenomenon arising from the increasing globalization of the world, transcending the power of even the strongest sovereign nations [United States, Russia, China and France, to name but a few]”. In many countries, Empire has sprouted other subsidiary heads, some dangerous by-products – nationalism, religious bigotry, fascism and, of course, terrorism. India, like most former colonies, particularly British ones, is in a perpetual nationalism ideological war with itself. All these march arm in arm with the project of corporate globalization.

The fictional, postcolonial narrative of The God of Small Things by Indian novelist Arundhati Joy from India, has with it some geopolitical and socio-cultural historical contexts embedded in it, although not necessarily a true historical account of India and its caste system fact-for-fact, but is still a worthwhile contribution as an art and literary work against the Empire as it centers the “minorities” of the so-called Untouchables and their point-of-view, perspective and lived experiences. Joy humanizes the said marginalized group by narrating their everyday lives, in the...