The Love Laws Anonymous 12th Grade

Roy’s “God of Small Things” is a work of literary genius that commentates on the difficulties and divisions created by Colonialism and, more broadly, the impact of western influence on the entirety of eastern culture. In the narrative, the idea of “love laws” that govern how the act of loving should be practiced is discussed and exemplified throughout personal character events along the narrative. The stories of characters including Ammu, Velutha, Estha, and Rahel often find difficulty in following the “love laws” as they seem unnatural. The characters are portrayed in a manner that supports civil disobedience in moderation for the purpose of challenging arbitrary rules set by humans in power that silence the powerless.

Roy lays down the love laws at the end of chapter one in the novel, explaining that these set of rules determine “who should be loved, and how. And how much.” (Roy 17) These laws control the intimacies of social behavior, controlling who should be talked to, who should be allowed into one’s home, who should be touched and more. The phrase quoted above is repeated essentially word-for-word in three times within the book. Each time, the repetition is used to further signify the extent at which these regulations...