Summary

In Chapter 11, “The God of Small Things,” Ammu is dreaming during her nap, dreaming of an unnamed dark-skinned lover with one arm. He is holding her close, and they are being watched by an audience of people wearing Mammachi’s sunglasses and playing violins. Outside the circle of the audience, there is a beach of broken blue glass bottles, and beyond that, the chair that Pappachi broke apart when he was no longer allowed to beat his wife. They don’t try to escape. She senses her children watching over her, worried, but doesn’t wake immediately. She wonders who the man is, and whether he is the “God of Small Things.”

Rays of sun fall on Ammu’s transistor radio. It is noted that Estha’s “soiled” hand carries his fear in a tangerine shape as well. The children try to wake...