Ian Koll IB SL American Literature IOP- Time in the God of Small Things 9/1/09 Before I begin my IOP, Id like

you all to briefly consider the concept of time. What is time? Why is time important? Picture this- a commuter wakes up at 5:30 AM to make it to his office by 6:45, where he, throughout the day, attends several different meetings, gives a lecture to a group of interns on the importance of synergy, infrastructure and other assorted buzzwords, attends the retirement party of the companys former CFO and still makes it home in time for dinner. Elsewhere, during the very same day, this businessmans estranged brother wakes up at 11 oclock in the morning after a night of convivial drinking with college friends, and proceeds to squander his day away by watching television, surfing the Internet, and bar hopping. Two people, two different lifestyles, two different attitudes, each allotted 24 hours. In these two scenarios, time behaves very normally- it constantly flows, and defines the two mens days. Does time ever behave in a manner unlike this, though? When does the notion of time break away from this idea of normal, and become something else? Can time really be anything more than the indefinite progress of existence and events? Some say time is irrelevant. Some say time doesnt exist. Though despite the skeptics viewstime, WHATEVER it is, seems to govern just about everything in the world around us- from the hustle and bustle of the city, to the ebb and flow of nature. And in the case of The God of Small things by Arundhati Roy, these time laws, as well call them, are no different- except for the fact that time, within the novel, is treated as an almost anthropomorphic entity- a bendable, interpretable phenomenon with an almost humanlike aura, used to sew together the events and lives of the characters while additionally acting a reoccurring theme over the course of the book.