TStimmler 19- Velutha

Taylor Stimmler

Mrs. Hume

English II- G Period

12 April 2017

Velutha

“Hey, Ammu I made you a gift.” I hid the little wooden car behind my back. This wasn’t the first time I made Ammu something. I hope she likes it as much as I like her.

“What is it Velutha?” Ammu said her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Here” I handed over the car I made the previous night to Ammu.

‘O Velutha it is amazing, thank you!” Her hand meets mine to take the car. She grasps it for a second. Her palm like a warm, smooth rock untouched by anyone. She looked at me, not as an untouchable, but as an equal. My heart swooned with a new longing for someone I wish I could have for the rest of my life.

“Ammu, I-

I regain consciousness.

I thought for a moment I was a child again, transported to the world that maybe everything was ok. Then I look around and know nothing is ok. I am laying in a pool of my own blood, and I just had a dream after being knocked out.  

Even though I am coming in and out of conscious, I have never had such a clear head. I am nothing more than Vellya Paapen’s son. Why did Ammu like me? An Untouchable. Look where I am at right now. I thought I could become someone after becoming a carpenter. I had a good life working in the factory, seeing Ammu almost every day in the distance. My skilled hands gave me opportunities. It didn’t bother me that my co-workers didn’t want to work with me. I was just happy to be given the opportunity to work where most Untouchables haven’t worked. I will never be able to work at Paradise Pickles and Preserves again. The Touchable Boots have destroyed that with every blow to my body, my once skilled hands broke under the heavy and destructive blow of the Touchables. More importantly, with every blow, they have somehow taken my social standing to something below an Untouchable, if there is even a class below who I already was.

I have to be strong. Ammu and I can figure a way out of this situation. I just need to stay awake. I need to have hope. Our love can get us through anything. All I can think about is those thirteen nights. Her lips, so smooth and assertive. Our little pleasures. Lord Rubbish, the little spider who might outlive me. Those ants crawling around us. Most beloved, the escape from daily life and all focus and attention on Ammu. I wish I could have at least one more night with Ammu. I wish there were a way to have a happy ending.

I wish I could say goodbye to the few I loved. Rahel and Estha, the children I never had but cared for more than anything. I hope they are strong and resilient. Together they can do great things. We all should've run away together. Escaped to a utopia just us four. Ammu and I could have started a new life together.

Why am I in this position? Who knew about Ammu and me? Who broke this once in a lifetime love just because an Untouchable was with someone of a higher class?

I feel my clearness fading. I am dying, The reality has set in. I am not going to get out of this. I am good as dead. In a few minutes I think I will actually be dead. If only I realized my love for Ammu earlier. I guess I always had a small feeling, but now my love for her is like a large and mighty river that makes my heart beat. I love you Ammu. The Touchable Boot lifts up his foot and I know my impending doom.

“Naaley.”

Reflection

Velutha’s murder is the most important event that shook up the lives of all the characters in God of Small Things. For the creative project, I wanted to go more into depth about what was going through his head throughout the book, especially during his beating and eventual death.  In the book, we hear from several characters’ point of views, but we do not ever hear of what is going on in Velutha’s head. Through this project, I have gone back and read passages that involve Velutha and/or talk about him. I went back and forth when I was trying to decide what format I would do this project in. I finally decided that to best talk or share about my new understanding of Velutha was to write. My favorite project up to a point was the Illustrated Historical Fiction Story, so I based my format on that. This time I had less information about what was going on in the character’s head during the scene, so I had a lot more creative freedom. I formatted my story, so it started with a memory to introduce Velutha’s memory with Ammu. I tried to write it, so it was a dream scenario that he wakes up from to realize his situation. He then goes on to talk about Ammu and his thirteen nights together and his love for Estha and Rahel. I wanted to write the story, not as a man’s feelings as he is being beaten but rather his perspective on his love story ending and his life ending too. Velutha to me sounds like a man who would not be consumed in thoughts of pain but rather the reflection on his life.

The God of Small Things Creative Project also gave me a better understanding of the story as a whole. Velutha’s murder was the pivot point of the story. Rahel, Estha, and Ammu are separated due to the events leading up to Velutha’s death. If Velutha and Ammu were never discovered or reported, none of their family relationships would be strained, and they would most likely stay together as a family. Through the examination of Velutha as a character I found that at the beginning of the story, Roy wrote it, so Velutha did not seem like a pivotal character or someone to actually pay attention to. I overlooked some critical details the first time I read some of Velutha’s scenes because I did not think this Untouchable character was going to play a significant role. Through reexamination, I found the original memory that I wrote about, Velutha and Ammu’s relationship as children. I completely overlooked this crucial part of their relationship that I found when I took the time to really understand some of the characters in God of Small Things.

Reflecting on my performance on this project, I am quite proud of the time and effort spent on it. I originally was going to incorporate art and the characters Estha and Rahel in my project, but I discovered I understood these characters pretty well and wanted to focus on a character I don’t know well. This has been one of my easiest projects because I did not procrastinate and split up the work over a series of three weeks. For the future projects, I am going to try to focus on characters I don’t understand as well and ease into the unknown. I am very pleased how my project worked out and am so happy to have a better understanding of Velutha, the god of small things.