How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
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. Before the British took Malabar, before the Dutch Ascendancy, before Vasco da Gama arrived, before the Zamorin's conquest of Calicut. Before three purple-robed Syrian bishops murdered by the Portuguese were found floating in the sea, with coiled sea serpents riding on their chests and oysters knotted in their tangled beards. It could be argued that it began long before Christianity arrived in a boat and seeped into Kerala like tea from a teabag.
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. (1.207-210)
This quote is full of what might seem like obscure references, but what it's basically doing is pushing us to think about what caused everything to fall apart for Estha and Rahel. Did everything come crashing down because Sophie Mol came to Ayemenem? Or do the events of the novel happen as a result of decisions, actions, and rules that were made thousands of years before any of our characters were even born? Do things happen for a reason, because they're part of this huge plan, or do they just happen because the world is fickle like that?
Quote #5
"It was Velutha!" she explained with a smile. "And he had a flag!"
The flag had seemed to her a most impressive piece of equipment. The right thing for a friend to have.
"You're a stupid silly little girl!" Ammu said. (2.247-249)
Here we see how one situation can be viewed in two completely different ways. To Rahel, seeing Velutha with a flag marching in a parade is something to be excited about. Ammu, on the other hand, is not so jazzed – she knows it'll be bad news for Velutha if Chacko and Baby Kochamma find out what he's up to.
Quote #6
[Estha] knew that if Ammu found out about what he had done with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, she'd love him less as well. Very much less. He felt the shaming churning heaving turning sickness in his stomach. (4.245)
We can be pretty sure that if Ammu ever found out that Estha was molested, she wouldn't be upset with him. She'd be unbelievably angry at the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, but she would never actually blame Estha. Yet, in Estha's mind, what happened to him is his fault, and he carries it around as his shame.