Theme of Sexuality in The God of Small Things and Antonia's Line

A detailed Summary of Theme of Sexuality in The God of Small Things and Antonia's Line

The novel The God of Small Things and the movie Antonia's Line explore the freedoms that women posses, both in their own sexuality and in the eyes of men. These two stories examine these issues in the women's world and point of view through the progression of each generation of women. The women in Antonia's Line are quite the opposite of those portrayed in the The God Of Small Things. In the former they are strong and independent of men, taking their lives and sexuality into their own hands. Whilst in The God of Small Things the women are subject to the men, unfortunately this fact changes very little from the first generation of women to the last. The reader sees a progression in the secret private sexual lives of the women, but never in the public.

The women in Antonia's Line change the entire attitude of the village. In the beginning the movie says that "men's loud voices ran roughshod over the women's silence" That all changes when the women of Antonia's family take over and bring happiness and balance to the village, in a magical sort of way. Each woman is very much in touch and in control of their own sexuality. When Danielle wants to have a child, she has one with just the necessary help from a man, nothing else

In Antonia's Line the next daughter is Therese. It is discovered that she is a child prodigy and so she is home tutored by her teacher, whom her mother falls in love with, and Crooked Finger. Therese is the most modern of all of the women of Antonia's Line. She takes charge of her education and graduates from college at a very young age. Therese is raped as a little girl and perhaps this is reflected on her sexual exploits while teaching at the university. Therese sleeps with man after man, throwing them all out of her bedroom because she deems them sexually inadequate. Therese is the one to set the standards of her own sexual satisfaction. She always leaves the men asking her for more, she is always in control. In the beginning of her college life she tries to find someone on her intellectual level. Not until the end does she realize that the old friend, the farmer's son, who is at home is in love with her and though he may not be on her education level, he is hard working and loves her deeply. In the end, she chooses him and not the other way around. Even though Therese breaks all the models of what a traditional woman should be she is not punished for it. But the birth of her daughter seems to trigger the death of Crooked Finger. He feels that Therese should not bring a child into the world just to live a futile life. In the end Therese has her daughter, Sarah, and Crooked Finger kills himself, he was her best friend.

Antonia on the other hand is the model of a modern woman in a patriarchal setting. After the death of her mother she comes back to the town in which she grew up in to claim her mother's farm. The town does not accept her and her daughter at first, but as a strong woman she changes them to fit her standards of living, making the entire village a part of her extended family. While Mammachi relied on the men in her life to live, Antonia makes a living for herself. She takes on tasks that are typically male oriented things, like running a farm by herself. Antonia is always in charge of her own sexuality. Instead of marrying the farmer who proposes to her, she does not allow him to own her, but reverses the role and owns him with her sexuality. The farmer and his sons all work on Antonia's farm and when Antonia's feels like it, she sleeps with the farmer. She never does this on his terms, but always on hers. Antonia has him build her a house for their sexual activity, the farmer never takes from Antonia, only gives. Their sexual activities are always on her terms, when she desires.

In Antonia's Line the daughter of Antonia, Danielle breaks ever rule about the normality of love. Not only does she have a child out of wedlock, but she is also a lesbian. Like in The God of Small Things Danielle is at first shunned by the Priest because she is pregnant without a husband. But unlike The God of Small Things, the mother takes matters into her own hands and frames the Priest, showing her dominance over men and control that she has over her family's actions. Danielle breaks the norms of society in a very volatile period in history, right after World War II. She is strong and determined. When she is young she witnesses a rape and instead of sitting back and letting it happen, she throws a pitch fork into

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Approximate Word count = 2202
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English