Postcolonial Gothic and The God of Small Things: The Haunting of India's Past

Abstract

The article interprets The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy as postcolonial Gothic literature. Roy skillfully employs Gothic tropes to challenge historical narratives of India and convey the anxieties of India's struggle with its postcolonial identity. Roy utilizes traditional Gothic conventions, yet at the same time, she challenges these conventions to effectively illustrate the haunting of India's colonial past upon its present. By creating her own Gothic hybrid, Roy establishes a form of empowerment for postcolonial India and its people. Roy creates a world of ghosts that promise to continue haunting, forever reminding that for India, its culture cannot be erased, its past cannot be forgotten, and its people will not be silenced.