Hinduism: 78.

9% of India
● 6,000 years old from Indus Valley region
● 1500 BCE:
○ Aryans from the north combine
● No one leader (no primary person at the point)
● Values:
● Eternal Truth
● Brahman ➡️ whole world soul
○ Brahma (created)
○ Vishnu (protector)
○ Shiva (destroyer)
● Vedas (4)
○ Samhitas
○ Brahmanas
○ Aranyakas
○ Upanishads
● Dharma: your path in life (it's your duty), the soul's journey
○ Influenced by karma
○ Reincarnation stems from Dharma
● Atman: one’s connection to the universe
○ Soul is immortal
● Caste system: social hierarchy
○ Brahmins: priests/scholars (mouth)
○ Kshatriyas: warriors and kings (arms)
○ Vaishyas: merchants/landowners (legs)
○ Sudras: commoners/working class (feet)
○ Untouchable: sweepers
● Moksha: search for eternal truth
○ Samsara - cage of existence
○ Only way to escape reincarnation is the attainment of eternal truth

Characters:
Rahel: female, twin of Esta
She has a very active imagination and in one chapter believes that her cousin Sophie Mol is
being buried alive as she thinks she sees her rolling around in her coffin. She was also distant
from her family while moving from school to school because she was constantly causing trouble
and whenever she went to visit she would be ignored. She has gone through a lot and never
had any friends because she didn't have any passion to do anything, regardless of what it was.

Esta: male (twin of Rahel); 18 minutes older

He was known to be a quiet little boy and even at one point he stopped talking all together.
Instead of going to college after finishing school he decided to take up the work in his father’s
home.
Baby Kochamma: great aunt to the twins

Ammu: mother of the twins

Baba: father of the twins

Mammachi and Reverend E. John: grandparents for the twins, parents for Ammu

Sophie Mol: cousin to the twins

Margaret Kochamma: mother of Sophie, aunt of the twins

Chacko: ex-husband of M.K., father of Sophie

Comrade Pillaï: wife died of cancer

Father Mulligan: love interest of Baby Kochamma

Timeline
● Intentionally blurred timeline
● Not chronological
● A different way of revealing past events -> small glimpses
○ 1993 (present)
○ 1969 (past)
● Imitation and piecing together of memory
● The death of Sophie Mol is the center
○ Rahel’s perspective shows her still being alive
○ Coping mechanism, shows a dark life

Rahel and Esta

● Shared memory and thoughts
● Refer themselves as…
○ “Me” together
 ○ “We” or “Us” when separate

Bourgeoisie - the middle class

Proletariat - the working class

How does Esta perceive Baron von Trapp?

- B.v.T is a captain and father (Western) in S.o.M
- Esta sees similarities in discipline between Ammu and B.v.T
- Esta’s internal Q&A with B.v.T
- Seeking whether or not he could be loved
- Event with the drink man makes him feel impure, unlovable
- Compared himself to Sophie Mol, pale-skinned
- Sophie Mol has a father, they don't

Esta’s Abuse
- seven years old, can't fully process the event
- Keeps the experience to himself
- Understands the threat
- Comprehends the pressure being applied by the man
- Feels powerless
- Understands internal,y the wrongness of the situation
- Rahel senses what Esta experienced

Why portray the abuse so graphically?

- abuse of the powerless
- Graphic memory from Esta says something about his future
- Maybe tied into his reserved nature

Comrate Pillai: prints labels for the pickle jars

Rahel and Esta’s Sexual Relationship

- still have this connection after so long
- It was bound to happen because of their childhood and what was happening around
them
- Negative effects occurred when people tried to break social boundaries throughout the
book

Protagonist: the twins

Antagonist: Baby Kochamma, caste system

Surface Conflict: the struggle between protagonist and antagonist within the story’s context
- a conflict that only takes place in this story
 - Will always have character names
- The twins trying to live a loved life despite being boxed in and put down by the love laws
of India

Universal Conflict: the struggle between protagonist and antagonist that can be applied to any
setting
- One’s attempt to love and be loved despite social constraints