Self-Interest as a Driving Force in The God of Small Things by Arundhati RoyThe God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a novel about how people pursue their interests Interests, influenced by the cultural and social contexts in which they live, ultimately determine their behavior. Using the subthemes of self-preservation, maintaining social status/status quo, and power, he portrays Velutha as the only entirely moral character in the story, who, due to his goodness, becomes the target of frequent deception. Roy argues that human nature is such that humans do whatever they deem necessary to serve their own self-interests. Roy states that people's fears of upsetting the balance of power based on the caste system often lead to a blind acceptance of the status quo and a continued sense of self-deprecation on the part of individuals at the bottom of the hierarchy. When Velutha's father fears that his son's relationship with a Touchable will have potentially disastrous consequences for him, he serves his own self-interest and is willing to put his son in danger. She exposes the affair to the grandmother of the woman with whom her son is having an affair, revealing the extreme degree to which caste and conformity to social norms drive the behaviors of individuals in Indian society; “So Vellya Paapen had come to tell Mamamachi himself. As a Paravan and a man with mortgaged body parts, he considered it his duty... they had made the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible actually happen... By offering to kill his son. To tear him to pieces” (242). His fear of upsetting the status quo (i.e. the Indian social hierarchy) is so great that he is willing to sacrifice his son's life to protect his own. Rather than consider the true… middle of paper… such that individuals ignore the desires of others, even those who are supposedly close to them, in order to advance their own goals. The combination of subthemes allows her to easily juxtapose Velutha with those who aim to ruin his life. Roy also highlights the importance of caste and maintaining social status through his depiction of Velutha's father's reaction to his son's relationship with a woman of a higher social class. Roy's political beliefs can be seen interspersed throughout the story and she repeatedly comments on the postcolonial situation in India through the actions of her characters. Roy's fusion of views on the moral quality of human beings and the political character of 20th century India come together to support his claim that those who are overly altruistic and do not spend time trying to get ahead in life eventually long-term forgiveness..