Discourse of Violence in Roy’s The God of Small Things

Abstract

The objective of this research is to expose the platforms explored by the aboriginal hierarchies of power to exercise violence and to locate the positioning of the victim on these platforms. This research explores the cultural platform that is used by those in power to keep their authority intact in the context of Roy’s The God of Small Things. The hypothesis developed is that when lesser god tries to intervene the discourse of bigger god he gets subjected to severest forms of violence for attempting to manipulate the discourse of the powerful. Methodology is qualitative in nature, theoretical framework is constructed from Foucault’s theory of Power and Discourse. He states that power must be understood from the context of force relations and their trajectory with state apparatus. The conclusion drawn is that discourse should be interpreted as a subjective will to truth. Foucault states that four principles which will carry the debate of discourse forward which are Principle of Reversal, Discontinuity, Specificity, and Exteriority.