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| 5674847293 | Time | Theban plays: The prophecy-based time structure of Oedipus Rex shows how vulnerable even the most powerful of humans are to the gods' wills. The jumps in time within Oedipus Rex and in between plays makes chronology less important and emphasizes character's motives/actions GoST: The non-linear structure paints time as an unstoppable Western Construct which the characters attempt to overcome (as they attempt to overcome the patterns/significance of History) - significant as post-colonial literature. Also a pattern of time "freezing" emphasizes important moments in the book (Ammu and Velutha's love scene). The preserved pickels are a symbol of moments in time being preserved. CoDF: The book uses time to make a statement about how stories can be told (non-linearly and from multiple less-than-reliable sources), and also to further the notion of communal responsibility by drawing out the causes of a single event. Also the fact that the story is written many years after the murder and that many details are now inconsistent and blurry shows how the passage of time can change things that have already happened. Time is also an element of magical realism (slept for 11 months) | 0 | |
| 5674987079 | Fate | Theban plays: Oedipus Rex uses prophecies to illustrate of fatalism and the gods' ultimate power over humans. Antigone plays with fate in that the events are already largely set, but it is still desirable to maintain honor in anything that is still controllable (shown in Antigone fighting to bury Polyneices honorably, rather than resigning to his death.) Also the tragic nature of the plays feeds in to the idea that fate is a set thing and humans only maintain control over their honor and their acceptance of their fate. GoST: The events and character relationships (Ammu and Velutha, the twins and Sophie Mol) are dictated by a fate created by social norms such as caste, race, and colonialism - 'Big Gods'. The character's efforts (particularly the women in the book) are largely an attempt to control their own fate and History, and transcend these social norms, but they are eventually overcome (and face the consequences of their attempts) by the powers of imperialism, caste, and gender (the patriarchy.) CoDF: paints the events and Santiago's murder as fated, not by a higher power, but because of the priorities of the society (blind obedience to organized religion, marriage, and the patriarchy) - contributes to Márquez's social critique, "foretold" part of title also indicates this fatalism. In other words, the town decided Santiago's fate with their inaction, and conversely Angela decides his fate when she accuses him of taking her honor, essentially writing his sentence for him. | 1 | |
| 5675073999 | Secrets | Theban plays: Oedipus discovers the prophecy was true and keeps it secret from everyone for a long time; Antigone keeps her brother's burial secret to preserve his honor in a humble way. Secrets concerning humans do not have extreme moral consequences, but secrets from/against the gods result in loss and destruction (Oedipus hiding the prophecy and Creon stopping the secret burial) GoST: Secrets between family members creates tension and divides that influence the ways in which the love laws apply to the family. The secrets present in essentially every character relationship compile until ultimately the entire family is punished with Sophie Mol's death. CoDF: The whole town keeps the impending death of Santiago a secret from him and his mother. Rather than sparing the family from bad news, this actually makes the entire town responsible for his death, and serves as a social critique of the systems of power which prevent communication and honesty between people (marriage, the church, the patriarchy) | 2 | |
| 5675077842 | Shame/Guilt | Theban plays: Guilt is most important when it goes against the will of the gods (Creon's actions in Antigone); more excusable in the audience's eyes when it is dictated by fate (Oedipus as a tragic hero, Antigone disobeying Creon but obeying the gods); suicides and self-blindness caused by guilt in both plays GoST: guilt of children vs. adults who raised them; shame from disobeying the love laws; guilt felt by the most powerless, while the more powerful people (Baby Kochamma and Chacko) feel less guilt; shame surrounding love/sex/incest; shame of killing "pure" and Westernized Sophie Mol; Estha's silence caused from shame of being molested - The abundance of social constraints forces shame upon the most powerless, hindering their ability to live fully CoDF: The shame seen is related to gender roles, honor, and marriage, but the true blame for events can be traced to the entire community and their values - the townspeople ignore any guilt they may have for the murder, which only promotes the negative effects of their society (lack of responsibility, ineffective shaming of the weakest people) | 3 | |
| 5674848134 | Love | Theban plays: Love of the gods should come above all, and the fatalism (in prophesies) of destroying human relationships shows their inferiority. However, the most noble part of human love is of family and family duty (Antigone and Polyneices) GoST: The love laws outline who should be loved, how, and how much - these define many of the relationships in the novel. Ammu's children are always afraid their mother will love them less which causes them to act out, many of the characters lose lovers/spouses, and the love between Ammu/Velutha and Rahel/Estha is forbidden. The Greater the love, the Greater the loss. Roy also largely criticizes the society for restricting love through the social structure (caste/gender/religion/nationality roles with Velutha, women in the family, Western spouses, and Father Mulligan) as well as the tradition of abuse that leads to broken families CoDF: Love only exists for Angela after her and Bayardo break up and a man is killed in the process, yet she still overcomes and redeems her life. However, Bayardo's love for Angela destroys his life and confidence. Love is also like Falconry because there is tension and risk and danger - the risk comes from unrequited love (Bayardo and Angela) and retaliation by the social systems of class and gender (Santiago and Angela) | 4 | |
| 5674974817 | Marriage | Theban plays: problems caused over Oedipus's unknowingly incestuous marriage to Jocasta - wrong in the eyes of the gods and resulting in Thebes's sickness; and also over Antigone's marriage to Haemon - wrong in the eyes of Creon, but superseded by the gods' moral power GoST: marriage as a harmful construct unrelated to love - used to control women in a relationship, and shame them if they are not in one; history of domestic violence and divorce; Marriage in GoST is ruined by a post-colonial type of powerless-ness, which makes all relationships centered around obtaining some small amount of power, rather than love. CoDF: Marriage is shown as a contract, without love (Angela Vicario); used as a tool for male dominance, shaming and confining women; harmful to both genders in the end (in Bayardo's lonely future and Santiago's death) not because of a lack of love, but rather because of the strains of so many social requirements in one relationship (Angela and Bayardo ending up together) | 5 | |
| 5674987080 | Responsibility/Duty | Theban plays: Duty to obey the gods (their fate - failed by Oedipus and then Creon) and familial responsibility (failed by Ismene, but followed by Antigone). The result of disobeying gods and betraying family is either death or loss. GoST: The duties these characters hold are according to gender/race/caste (for example, the women are responsible for the men and kids, and the men like Chacko are only responsible for themselves usually). The novel shows responsibilities that are limiting, rather than empowering - the oppressed are overcome with a responsibility to obey the more powerful (ex: women to men and lower-caste to upper-caste) CoDF: The characters have a duty to social "honor" but not to morality- people are responsible for maintaining their family reputation, but the townspeople feel no duty to warn Santiago or his mother of his impending death. This is a social critique of town because they are collectively responsible for his death, but refuse to fully take the blame even years after the fact. | 6 | |
| 5674987081 | Gender | Theban plays: Antigone = female empowerment, supported by the gods and antithesis shown in her subordinate sister Ismene; Oedipus's mother/wife Jocasta commits suicide because she is unable to stand the shame of incest, but Oedipus remains alive. The plays' ultimate point on gender is that morality and obedience to the gods determines the quality of a person, rather than their sex. GoST: family of powerful women; pattern of abuse and divorce; double standards shown in the consequences of having an affair (for Ammu) or getting a divorce (Ammu, Mammachi, and Rahel compared to Chacko); gender shown to be partially transgressed in the twins and how they both disobey roles set for them. The book uses a storyline centered around women's lives to show the non-central role they are forced into by society, despite any high levels of skill or education (shown in Ammu and Rahel's education and Mammachi's pickle factory resented by the men in their lives) CoDF: importance of machismo and male dominance to preserve female "honor"; Angela Vicario's immediate future because of her broken marriage vs. her long-term success compared to Bayardo; role of mothers in the drama; role of female cooks in permitting the murder. The male power dynamic over women in society is the true reason for Santiago's death, making the point that gender roles are harmful for both men and women (also seen in how the Vicario twins do not want to kill him, but feel pressured to), and that disempowered women face the need to manipulate, lie to, and hold back information from the men in their life (seen in Divina Flor and Angela) | 7 | |
| 5674978988 | Death/Loss | Theban plays: Death is usually caused by fate in these plays (Oedipus killing his dad etc) or is a result of characters trying to escape their fate (cause of the suicide of Jocasta, Antigone, Haimen). Partly, this shows how humans over-emphasize their own problems and losses, when really they are pawns of the gods. However, the dead also need to be honored. GoST: Death is predominantly a consequence for disobeying societal constraints (Velutha with and Sophie Mol as a Western person and product of a dysfunctional family). The book also aligns the 'God of Loss' with the 'God of Small Things' (in Ammu's dream and with Velutha), making the point that loss/death is so common and so personal that it builds up inside people and changes how they live their own life CoDF: The entire novel revolves around the death of Santiago Nasar. However, it describes the cause of the murder to go beyond the twins, spread amongst the entire society (his death was fated by the social constructs of the town). Overall, the book de-emphasizes death itself, and is a critique of how people fail to live a positive life | 8 | |
| 5675103699 | Nature/Environment/Weather | Theban plays: The storms during Antigone and when Thebes is sick under Oedipus represent the natural powers of t.he gods, and how far above humans they are GoST: Baby Kochamma's Western garden (surrendered in favor of the television); symbol of the river (escape from reality, powerful, destroys Western Sophie Mol); Velutha connected to nature. The environment is a Big God in that it can overcome Western powers and the local social hierarchy (in Velutha) CoDF: bird/trees in dreams and the falconry motif; inconsistency in raining and weather on the day of the murder. The book brings nature into the very unnatural and improbable murder story to show a basic incorrectness in the way that the town is conducting itself (selfishly), and to make human actions seem less reliable in general. Also magical realism the happening of unatural events so its presence in the novel indicate the how unnatural the restrictions and societal constrainsts are and therfore how corrupt the society and people are. | 9 | |
| 5675103700 | Religion | Theban plays: The gods are the highest power in O/A, and problems arise when people question their prophecies or don't bend to their will. While the Theban plays promote a democratic life amongst people, their ultimate goal is also to encourage acceptance of the Greek religion. GoST: Religion is subordinate to caste (because the constraints or advantages of a caste are applicable to both Hindus and Christians), and is mostly seen in Christianity's connection to imperialism and race (seen as the Western/whiter side of the family, and in Father Mulligan's indifference to Baby Kochamma). However, no one in the text is religious for moral reasons. This implies that the social constraints have prevented the characters from believing in a higher power - the only God they can believe in is the God of Small Things. CoDF: Religion is an important part of the structure of the town (power of the church in government, Father Amador, and the Bishop) but is not actually connected to moral value or the practice of religion. Father Amador lacks morality, and serves as an important symbol of the moral and social failings of the Church | 10 | |
| 5675112281 | Dreams/Visions | Theban plays: The prophesies from Tiresias are not obeyed or believed by Oedipus and Creon, which shows their hubris and plays a role in their negative fate GoST: unspoken communication and knowledge between the twins, Ammu's dream of one-armed man/God of Small Things - these show hope in the characters for relationships without the social constraints of caste and gender (and incest?) CODF: Santiago Nasar's dream of trees/birds & his mother's interpretation, confusing visions and testimonies of people on the night of the murder (making personal stories less reliable), foreshadowing throughout the book - these create inconsistencies in the conception of reality and make the reader consider the characters' intentions rather than the events themselves (dreams and interpretations are more important to the story than the actual murder) | 11 | |
| 5675115563 | Class/Caste | Theban plays: The major characters in Oedipus and Antigone are all part of a selective upper class, but events are nearly always out of their control and in the hands of the gods (the prophecy is also fulfilled, in part, by the lower-class shepherd who saves baby Oedipus). Choragos is the voice of the lower-class, and it is essential to the story GoST: Caste creates social boundary between touchables and untouchables, seen most prominently in the relationship between Velutha (Paravan and the GoST/GoLoss) and Ammu (upper-caste "respectable" woman) and their forbidden love affair, which ultimately leads to Velutha's death, serving as a history lesson on caste and also relating to the underlying influence of colonialism and the western mindset that led them to believe they could transcend these social boundaries. CoDF: Class is seen in CoDF predominately through the upper-class "desirable" character Bayardo who essentially buys Angela's love, and how she is in a way forced to marry him just because of his social status. This also ties in to the fact that many upper-class male citizens of the town have power over even upper-class women, showing that the patriarchy can overpower class structures. Also, Divina Flor is molested by Santiago Nasar mostly because she is lower-class. | 12 | |
| 5675172255 | Authority/Power/Government | Theban plays: In O/A the governmental power structure holds great authority in their society. But, the most prominent source of power is the gods, and this authority connects to the theme of fate as a major inescapable force within their lives. GoST: In GoST, power is seen not only through gender and class, but through colonialism and western influence on India. Men and upper-caste citizens definitely hold the majority of the authority and power throughout the novel, but christianty, marxism, and other western ideals have managed to take authority over their entire culture/society which is a "big-god" power structure compared to the "smaller" issues of caste and the patriarchy power stuggles seen in everyday life CoDF: The main authorities in CoDF are the church and the patriarchy. These two sources overpower the unseen form of goventment existing in the town and create social constraints (like marriage, the qualifications to be "honorable" etc) that affect the members of the town | 13 | |
| 5719221266 | Point of view | Theban plays: The most important POV is that of the audience - who see the dramatic irony of the prophesies. The Choragos, who represents the average person in the plays, offers a critique on the righteousness of each character, encouraging the audience to do the same in real life (encouraging a more democratic way of life) GoST: mainly shows the POV of women (Rahel, Ammu, other women in family) and children (the twins) to show how they struggle to maintain normal lives. The children are manipulated by adults and attempt to seek refuge in fiction (across the river) to retain their lost innocence. The women are repeated victims of double standards and biases, so much that it appears to consume their entire life - and thus the entire story CoDF: The story is told from the POV of a narrator who was partially involved, and his discovery of different testimonies from people years after the event. The confusing inconsistencies between these POVs form a twisted concept of reality (similar to effect of magical realism), and they echo how inconsistent the townspeople are of actually supporting each other | 14 |
