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The novel The God of Small Things and the movie Antonia s Line explore the freedoms that women posses, both in their own sexuality and in the eyes of men. These two stories examine these issues in the women s world and point of view through the progression of each generation of women. The women in Antonia s Line are quite the opposite of those portrayed in the The God Of Small Things. In the former they are strong and independent of men, taking their lives and sexuality into their own hands.
Whilst in The God of Small Things the women are subject to the men, unfortunately this fact changes very little from the first generation of women to the last. The reader sees a progression in the secret private sexual lives of the women, but never in the public. The women in Antonia s Line change the entire attitude of the village. In the beginning the movie says that mens loud voices ran roughshod over the womens silence That all changes when the women of Antonia s family take over and bring happiness and balance to the village, in a magical sort of way. Each woman is very much in touch and in control of their own sexuality.
When Danielle wants to have a child, she has one with just the necessary help from a man, nothing else. Antonia to fill her own desires tells the farmer who proposed to her that he cannot have her hand but may have everything else, and strikes an agreement of sex once a week. Ammu's affair with Velutha breaks the love laws by crossing caste boundaries, but their affair is meant to be kept secret. The characters of Mammachi and Antonia are completely opposite in every sense of the word. Mammachi is a woman who lets herself be controlled by the men in her life. From her husband to her son, every aspect is is in the hands of someones else.
When Roy describes the relationship of Mammachi and her husband she tells of him beating her with a lamp. Mammachi cannot save herself from this, but her son comes to the rescue and stops the father. Though it seems like Chacko is being a hero, it is actually a transference from father to son of control. From then on Chacko controls his mother, the most prominent example being when the mothers Pickle factory starts to do well, Chacko comes in and takes control from his mother, and in the end burying the business. Mammachi exemplifies the typical male controlled old world woman. She does not see herself then more then her husband lets her.
She is a mother and that is all, and after Chacko stops the father from beating her, she is no longer even a wife in the eyes of her husband. Because she tried to control one thing on her life, the pickle factory, she is cast aside like she never existed. Her husband beats her because he feels that a woman should not have so much control and it is shaming his manhood. Mammachi is confined to the spaces of the house, always looking out half a door, as half a person.
Antonia on the other hand is the model of a modern woman in a patriarchal setting. After the death of her mother she comes back to the town in which she grew up in to claim her mother s farm. The town does not accept her and her daughter at first, but as a strong woman she changes them to fit her standards of living, making the entire village a part of her extended family. While Mammachi relied on the men in her life to live, Antonia makes a living for herself. She takes on tasks that are typically male oriented things, like running a farm by herself. Antonia is always in charge of her own sexuality.
Instead of marrying the farmer who proposes to her, she does not allow him to own her, but reverses the role and owns him with her sexuality. The farmer and his sons all work on Antonia s farm and when Antonia s feels like it, she sleeps with the farmer. She never does this on his terms, but always on hers. Antonia has him build her a house for their sexual activity, the farmer never takes from Antonia, only gives. Their sexual activities are always on her terms, when she desires.
Antonia maintains control at all times, and when she feels like she has lost control, as when her granddaughter is raped, she takes matters into her owns hands, instead of telling the male authorities. Antonia takes the role of the man in her family, never relying on someone else for what she has. That is why her and her family are always outside, whether they are working or playing. They are not confined by the bounds that males have made for them, they are free. Antonia does not follow the typical models of women, she is not punished as in The God of Small Things, but rewarded with a happy family, and a long life. Even though there were many hardships, they are never viewed as a punishment by men, but as an intrigue part of life as a member of the human race.
The two characters that should be focused on next are the daughters of the above. In The God of Small Things Ammu is the daughter of Mammachi. The life of Mammachi is barely existent, but through the life of her daughter she feels that she can live. Like her mother she is punished for breaking the bounds of what is deemed right in her society. Ammu does not break the same taboos as her mother, but instead breaks the rule of the caste and Love Laws by loving and making love to someone who is considered to be an untouchable. The death of Ammu s niece, Sophie Mol serves as her punishment for her unclean actions.
The man whom she is having an affair with is also savagely beaten by the police and killed. In the first attempt she makes to find love again after she leaves her drunk, wife beating first husband, it is quickly extinguished by the rules of caste and love set forth hundreds of years ago. When Velutha has an affair with Ammu, he breaks an ancient taboo and incurs the wrath of Ammu's family and the Kerala police. He breaks the rigid social rules of the caste system and therefore, the authorities must punish him.
Roy describes the policemen's violent actions as being done out of fear, civilizations fear of nature, mens fear of women, powers fear of powerlessness (292). In the end Ammu acts out her sexuality with Velutha outside the house, not inside where the traditional woman would be. Ammu differs from her mother in the way that she is conscious of her rebellion against society s rules. Mammachi does not wish, or perhaps hides it, to rebel but instead to succumb to the rules of men, by obeying to the controls of her husband and son. Ammu defies her brother and goes against her father s wishes by marrying someone below their family in society, then getting divorced an coming back to live in the father s house.
In the end Ammu dies alone in a hotel room, the ultimate end to her tragic life. Like her mother, Ammu also breaks the traditional silent woman of Indian society, but unlike her mother she breaks these rules sexually and is punished for it but the men who rule that society. In Antonia s Line the daughter of Antonia, Danielle breaks ever rule about the normality of love. Not only does she have a child out of wedlock, but she is also a lesbian. Like in The God of Small Things Danielle is at first shunned by the Priest because she is pregnant without a husband.
But unlike The God of Small Things, the mother takes matters into her own hands and frames the Priest, showing her dominance over men and control that she has over her family s actions. Danielle breaks the norms of society in a very volatile period in history, right after World War II. She is strong and determined. When she is young she witnesses a rape and instead of sitting back and letting it happen, she throws a pitch fork into him. She is not controlled by what men dictate to her. Later in the movie she is punished for this act by having her daughter raped by the same man, but he no sooner gets his revenge, then Antonia gets hers.
In every situation and argument, the women triumph in the end. The rape of Danielle s daughter might also be seen as punishment for her lesbianism. Despite the action though the women still rage against the men and win and the fact that Danielle is a lesbian is never directly citizen by the village. In the town that Antonia s line live in, they are the ones to dictate what the model of a woman should be, if according to the men they are wrong, the women are the ones to set them straight. Rahel is the daughter of Ammu in The God of Small Things. She is closely linked to her twin brother Estha who as an adult has not seen for the past twenty-five years.
In the end of the novel the two siblings, who are described as a single Siamese soul, break perhaps the ultimate taboo of the all, incest. Yet their union is not shocking, but relieving and sensual. Unlike the other characters in the novel the union of Rahel and Estha is not punished by society. It is a secret between the two twins and is more about their needs and feelings, then love and sex. But also unlike the other characters, theirs is but one night together.
Rahel is punished in other ways before the affair with Estha. She is exiled to America and like her mother returns home to live after a failed marriage to someone outside of Indian society. The life of Rahel is mainly there to tell the story of her mother though, and the intertwined events of Sophie Mol s death. In Antonia s Line the next daughter is Therese.
It is discovered that she is a child prodigy and so she is home tutored by her teacher, whom her mother falls in love with, and Crooked Finger. Therese is the most modern of all of the women of Antonia s Line. She takes charge of her education and graduates from college at a very young age. Therese is raped as a little girl and perhaps this is reflected on her sexual exploits while teaching at the university.
Therese sleeps with man after man, throwing them all out of her bedroom because she deems them sexually inadequate. Therese is the one to set the standards of her own sexual satisfaction. She always leaves the men asking her for more, she is always in control. In the beginning of her college life she tries to find someone on her intellectual level.
Not until the end does she realize that the old friend, the farmer s son, who is at home is in love with her and though he may not be on her education level, he is hard working and loves her deeply. In the end, she chooses him and not the other way around. Even though Therese breaks all the models of what a traditional woman should be she is not punished for it. But the birth of her daughter seems to trigger the death of Crooked Finger. He feels that Therese should not bring a child into the world just to live a futile life. In the end Therese has her daughter, Sarah, and Crooked Finger kills himself, he was her best friend.
Each line of women in the film and the novel are very different. In The God of Small Things, the women are afraid of the men in their lives. This fear hides their sexuality and self in the confines of Ayemmenen House. When these women try to break the models of what is expected of them, they are punished.
The women of Antonia s Line however are free in every way. They are women not confined by the house, but are always outside doing men s work. Their sexuality is their own. The women choose when they want to have sex and when they want to have children.
They are strong models of what a modern woman should be. They live for each day. While in The God of Small Things, the women live for Tomorrow (321). 388
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