The God of Small Things

Lesson 26
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ELA

Unit 3

12th Grade

Lesson 26 of 37

Objective


Analyze Ammu’s dream and the significance of her decisions to the plot and themes of the play.

Readings and Materials


  • Book: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy  pp. 205 – 216 — Chapter 11 "How to Analyze Your Dreams"

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Target Task


Multiple Choice

The one-armed man and the people in chairs in the dream most likely represent

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It can be reasonably inferred from the chapter that her attraction to Velutha has caused Ammu to

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Which of the following quotations from the chapter best supports the answer to number 2?

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Writing Prompt

The narrator implies that Ammu’s decision in today’s chapter will set a series of events in motion that will forever alter many lives. What decision is this and how will it impact their lives? Explain using evidence from the text.

Key Questions


  • Track the major steps to analyzing a dream as you read the article.
  • Note the setting of the chapter.
  • What “day residue” does Ammu’s dream have? What is Ammu’s emotion in the dream? What does Ammu associate with the major people and symbols in her dream? (the people in the circle, the color blue, the feeling of being watched and judged)
  • What could Ammu’s dream be trying to tell her? Tell us?
  • Who is the one-armed man? What does he represent? Why does Ammu call him the “God of Small Things”?
  • Note the twins’ perception of Ammu’s experience of the dream versus the reality of her emotion.
  • How does she feel about the twins when she awakens?
  • What is significant about the song that comes on the radio on pp. 208–209? How does it help to build suspense and foreshadow events to come?
  • Where does Ammu realize the twins have been? How does she react to this? Why?
  • It can be reasonably inferred from the narrator’s explanation of Ammu’s decision to not mention Velutha’s name, that Ammu has made what decision?
  • How does the sentence “It was a kiss that demanded no kiss back,” on p. 211, help to develop the theme of love? What is it implying about children’s love vs. lovers’ love?
  • How does the phrase “fumes that wrinkled youth and pickled futures” help to develop Ammu’s mood on p. 214? How is she feeling? Why?
  • Pages 214–216 focus on Ammu’s bedroom and events that are happening on this particular day and events that will happen there in the future. Track these events and consider the author’s purpose for detailing these future events at this moment.
  • What do we learn about how Chacko will treat Ammu in the future?
  • Ammu is caught between her desire to continue to experience and live life and her family’s expectations of her as a “disgraced” and divorced mother of twins. How does the author develop this tension in this chapter? 
  • Where do you think Ammu’s obligation lies? To herself? To her twins? To her family’s honor? Why?
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Lesson 25

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Lesson 27

Lesson Map

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