full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Laura Wright: Why should you read "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the novel, Rahel and Estha have a close riltasoehinp with Velutha, a wokerr in their family’s pcklie factory and member of the so-called “untouchable” caste. When Velutha and the twins’ mother, Ammu, emarbk on an affair, they violate what Roy describes as the “love laws” forbidding intimacy between different castes. Roy warns that the tragic consequences of their relationship “would lurk forever in oirrdany things,” like “coat hangers,” “the tar on roads,” and “the absence of words.”

Roy’s writing makes cotsnant use of these ordinary things, bringing lush detail to even the most tgriac moments. The book opens at the funeral of the twins’ half-British cousin Sophie after her drowning. As the flaimy mourns, lieils curl and csrip in the hot church. A baby bat crawls up a funeral sari. Tears drip from a chin like raindrops from a roof.

Open Cloze


In the novel, Rahel and Estha have a close ____________ with Velutha, a ______ in their family’s ______ factory and member of the so-called “untouchable” caste. When Velutha and the twins’ mother, Ammu, ______ on an affair, they violate what Roy describes as the “love laws” forbidding intimacy between different castes. Roy warns that the tragic consequences of their relationship “would lurk forever in ________ things,” like “coat hangers,” “the tar on roads,” and “the absence of words.”

Roy’s writing makes ________ use of these ordinary things, bringing lush detail to even the most ______ moments. The book opens at the funeral of the twins’ half-British cousin Sophie after her drowning. As the ______ mourns, ______ curl and _____ in the hot church. A baby bat crawls up a funeral sari. Tears drip from a chin like raindrops from a roof.

Solution


  1. worker
  2. pickle
  3. constant
  4. embark
  5. relationship
  6. ordinary
  7. family
  8. lilies
  9. tragic
  10. crisp

Original Text


In the novel, Rahel and Estha have a close relationship with Velutha, a worker in their family’s pickle factory and member of the so-called “untouchable” caste. When Velutha and the twins’ mother, Ammu, embark on an affair, they violate what Roy describes as the “love laws” forbidding intimacy between different castes. Roy warns that the tragic consequences of their relationship “would lurk forever in ordinary things,” like “coat hangers,” “the tar on roads,” and “the absence of words.”

Roy’s writing makes constant use of these ordinary things, bringing lush detail to even the most tragic moments. The book opens at the funeral of the twins’ half-British cousin Sophie after her drowning. As the family mourns, lilies curl and crisp in the hot church. A baby bat crawls up a funeral sari. Tears drip from a chin like raindrops from a roof.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
dozen hours 2


Important Words


  1. absence
  2. affair
  3. ammu
  4. baby
  5. bat
  6. book
  7. bringing
  8. caste
  9. castes
  10. chin
  11. church
  12. close
  13. consequences
  14. constant
  15. cousin
  16. crawls
  17. crisp
  18. curl
  19. describes
  20. detail
  21. drip
  22. drowning
  23. embark
  24. estha
  25. factory
  26. family
  27. forbidding
  28. funeral
  29. hangers
  30. hot
  31. intimacy
  32. lilies
  33. lurk
  34. lush
  35. member
  36. moments
  37. mother
  38. mourns
  39. opens
  40. ordinary
  41. pickle
  42. rahel
  43. raindrops
  44. relationship
  45. roads
  46. roof
  47. roy
  48. sari
  49. sophie
  50. tar
  51. tears
  52. tragic
  53. velutha
  54. violate
  55. warns
  56. words
  57. worker
  58. writing