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Language is a Skin on Arundhati Roy’s Thought
Authors: Amita Raj Gargey

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Arundhati Roy short into fame on the merit of her very first novel, The God of Small Things. The joy of
The God of Small Things is that it appeals equally to the head and the heart. From its mesmerizing opening sequence, it is
clear that we are in the grip of a delicious new voice a voice of breathtaking beauty which is unique in its freshness and
beauty. Arundhati Roy has proved herself as a skilled Wordsmith. She appropriates the English language by bringing it
under the influence of vernacular.
In The God of Small Things with her lively original language, sensitive poetical style, sharp honesty of emotions,
Roy keeps the reader absorbed and engaged from first to last. Allegory, symbols, fantasy, magical realism, fluctuating
narrative, rapid time-shifts, compelling use of narration and conversational story telling are the tools of her writing. Roy’s
uses language which is very fresh. The description of events involves the visual, aural, and imaginative seizing of
the emotions of the people and she does it with a penchant. Words chosen are from the spoken medium.
Most of the language is stark, bereft of musical phrases.
Another recurring linguistic device in the novel is the interpolation of words from Malayalam. These are inducted
into the text to revoke regional flavors, the locale of the novel being a village in Kerala. With her lively original language
rhetorical devices, linguistic inventiveness, sparkling symbolism, ever fresh similes connotations, intonations, deliberate
distortions of diction, magical realism and sensitive poetic style, she keeps the reader glued to her writing from first to last.
Her linguistic as it goes through the impressionable, inventive and even mischievous minds and creative imagination of
the children. Arundhati’s style has been lavishly praised for linguistic innovation