06. ‘The point of no return’
I do not only want to discuss returns that actually take place in The God of Small Things, but also returns that are prevented, or returns and reversals that are not possible for the protagonists. The English language calls this idea the ‘point of no return’, and the Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘point of no return’ as “the position in a journey (esp. by air) beyond which it becomes impossible or impractical to return to the starting point, due to lack of fuel, etc.; (hence fig.) the point at which one becomes irrevocably committed to a course of action.”
Baby Kochamma is at various points the motor that drives the plot towards the desastrous events at the end. She accuses Velutha of abducting the children, only to get caught up in her intrigues herself. Baby Kochamma is filled with hate towards Velutha from her encounter with one of the protesters in the communists’ march, who has forced her to wave a red flag. “In the days that followed, Baby Kochamma focused all her fury at her public humiliation on Velutha. [...] She began to hate him.” (Roy 1997, 82). Two weeks later she gets an opportunity for revenge, when she hears of Velutha’s and Ammu’s affair:
Baby Kochamma recognized at once the immense potential of the situation, but immediately anointed her thoughts with unctuous oils. She bloomed. She saw it as God’s Way of punishing Ammu for her sins and simultaneously avenging her (Baby Kochamma’s) humiliation at the hands of Velutha and the men in the march – the Modalali Mariakutty taunts, the forced flag-waving. She set sail at once. A ship of goodness ploughing through a sea of sin. (Roy 1997, 257)
In my opinion, now follows the point of no return. “They did what they had to do, the two old ladies. Mammachi provided the passion. Baby Kochamma the Plan.” (Roy 1997, 258). Baby Kochamma goes to the police station and makes up the story about Velutha raping Ammu and kidnapping the children. What she does not think of is that the twins would testify “that they had gone of their own volition” (Roy 1997, 314).
But a turning around is no longer possible, instead it now even seems as if Baby Kochamma herself could get in trouble for “lodging a false FIR” (Roy 1997, 315), and together with her Inspector Thomas Mathew, because he could be made responsible for Velutha’s death. So he forces her to frighten the twins and to make them identify Velutha as their kidnapper. But there is still something left that they did not consider, and that is Ammu’s love for Velutha. When she visits the police station, Inspector Thomas Mathew manages to silence her, but for Baby Kochamma, this is not enough: “Baby Kochamma knew she had to get Ammu out of Ayemenem as soon as possible.” (Roy 1997, 321). She arranges for Ammu to be expelled and for Estha to be returned to his father.
The question is, how could the author have saved the protagonists? If Baby Kochamma had not been so malicious, the twins would not have been separated and maybe would not have become traumatized. If Estha had not been abused by the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, he would not have tried to run away. If Sophie had not come to India, she would not have drowned.
But these theories stop when it comes to Ammu and Velutha. Their love is illegitimate because of these ‘big things’ that the author herself is unable to change. And therefore the real point of no return is to be settled much earlier and mentioned in the text itself:
Still, to say that it all began when Sophie Mol came to Ayemenem is only one way of looking at it. Equally, it could be argued that it actually began thousands of years ago. Long before the Marxists came. [...] That it really began in the days when the Love Laws were made. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much. (Roy 1997, 33)