03. Home
I have claimed that the process of migrating requires a space that the migrant calls home, first as the origin of the migration and then as a space that he tries to establish at his destination. I will now apply this idea to The God of Small Things, beginning with a quote from the prologue of Rosemary Marangoly George’s The politics of home:
What then, is home? [...] One distinguishing feature of places called home is that they are built on select inclusions. The inclusions are grounded in a learned (or taught) sense of a kinship that is extended to those who are perceived as sharing the same blood, race, class, gender, or religion. Membership is maintained by bonds of love, fear, power, desire and control. Homes are manifest on geographical, psychological and material levels. They are places that are recognized as such by those within and those without. They are places of violence and nurturing. [...] Home is a place to escape to and a place to escape from. Its importance lies in the fact that it is not equally available to all. Home is a desired place that is fought for and established as the exclusive domain of a few. It is not a neutral place. (1996, 9)
Against the background of this definition there remains only one place that is home to the protagonists, and that is Ayemenem and the Ayemenem House. The residents there share the things that George is asking for: race, class, or, in this case, caste, and religion. They are tied together by love in the case of Ammu, Estha and Rahel, or by control in the case of Baby Kochamma, who wields her power over all the other family members after Sophie Mol’s death. We can also find violence, starting from Pappachi, who beats his wife, to Chacko, who drives his sister away from their home, but also nurturing, when we consider that the twins certainly had a happy childhood in Ayemenem before Sophie Mol’s arrival.
Sophie Mol’s and Margaret’s visit in India is another aspect of home. For the Ipe Family, especially for the elder and more traditionally thinking members like Mammachi, it is not a visit, but a returning home. In her understanding, a wife always moves to her husband and not the other way round, like Chacko has done in England at first. When Sophie Mol comes to India, “Mammachi play[s] a Welcome Home, Our Sophie Mol melody on her violin.” (Roy 1997, 183). So for her, Sophie’s home is Ayemenem, after all corresponding to George’s criterion of sharing the same blood and for this reason being part of the same home.
And then there is escaping, of course. On the one hand it is an escape to Ayemenem when the migrating characters have nowhere else to go, namely Chacko and Ammu after their divorces, and Estha when he is returned by his father. But on the other hand it is an escape from Ayemenem that is more significant, because it sets off several disastrous events that change the lives of the involved persons forever. That escape is Estha’s, Rahel’s and Sophie Mol’s running away.
I think there is more meaning behind this escape and behind the fact that it is an attempt to get away from Ayemenem. It shows that Ayemenem is a good home to the children only as long as nothing too serious happens. But when Estha is abused by the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, he does not feel safe anymore because the man knows where Estha lives. Not to feel safe in his own home with his own family is a very serious circumstance for a little child. Estha realizes that his home can not offer him the protection that a home is supposed to offer: “I’m going Akkara, [...] To the History House. [...] Because Anything can Happen to Aynone, [...] It’s Best to be Prepared.” (Roy 1997, 198). So he sets out for a new home in the History House, across the Ayemenem river.
By the time Ammu has died and Rahel is left with Chacko, Mammachi and Baby Kochamma in Ayemenem, basically being an orphan, Ayemenem is no home for Rahel anymore. “In matters related to the raising of Rahel, Chacko and Mammachi tried, but couldn’t. They provided the care (food, clothes, fees), but withdrew the concern.” (Roy 1997, 15). Rahel changes schools frequently and later emigrates to the United States, always looking for a new home, but she essentially remains homeless.
“Then Baby Kochamma wrote to say that Estha had been re-Returned. Rahel gave up her job at the gas station and left America gladly. To return to Ayemenem. To Estha in the rain.” (Roy 1997, 20). Only after she hears from Estha’s return does she get attracted to Ayemenem again because that is where her closest relative lives, which gives the place back an important aspect of home.