The God of Small Things: Imagery

Using Nature and Animals to Convey Emotions

“The cool, faintly tangy darkness of the Ayemenem house was like a balm on an old wound.” This metaphor uses natural imagery to depict how the familiar environment soothes Rahel.
“He left no footprints in sand, no ripples in water, no image in mirrors.” This quote effectively presents Velutha as an invisible, almost ghost-like figure, using images from nature to highlight his societal invisibility.
Roy recurrently compares Estha to animals to emphasize his sense of alienation: “Estha stood alone on the riverbank. A flat, stone dog. Waiting.”

“‘Tomorrow,’ she’d say to his back, ‘you’ll tie me a river.’ She left it lightly there, in the food-laundered air that he left behind, a breathless little promise. A little boat floated on its hope.” This passage drenches itself in metaphor, often using water motifs that perfectly symbolize love, time, loss, and regret.
“The Orangedrink Lemondrink Man’s sticky sugar smile peeling away from his yellow teeth” forms a grotesque simile, encapsulating the harrowing experience Estha went through.

“The hills wore fedoras of white cloud. Trees with exhaust dark leaves breathed out a rain-freshened scent.” Here, nature’s beauty becomes a contrast for the tragedy that unfolds, presenting a sense of irony.
Roy uses positive imagery even to describe tragic events, like Ammu’s death: “Naked and warm, drifting on an inflatable banana in the Kerala Sea, she looked out at the luminous world and felt touched by her own ludicrous luck.”

“Tomorrow.” is described as a “feathery, hopeful word”, providing a delicate analogy of time and expectation.
“Like old roses on a breeze.” Roy uses such metaphors to evoke the nostalgia and lingering presence of the past.
“Years later the skyblue Plymouth winked through the trees and […] the sky was red behind the jet-black hills and the whole day was tied into a neat, tight knot.” This metaphor represents time and memory as entangled, inseparable entities.

“The silence was lurid, like a slide at a children’s Magic Lantern show that had been left too long on the screen and had begun to burn.” Here, visual and tactile sensations are invoked to establish a sense of eerie silence.
“Her small, brown, heart-shaped face was coated in the gentle, faintly luminous sheen of a chicken’s inchoate egg.” This describes Rahel with a unique sensory appeal that enhances her innocence and child-like grace.