Paper 2 Exemplar – May 2014 – Question 6

“Looking closely at how weakness and strength are represented in at least two works you have studied, discuss the significance of the relationship between the two.” 

Power dynamics can be represented physically, emotionally, and socially.  A struggle for power could be shown simply through a brawl between people or through the words they use to portray themselves as powerful, or powerless.  Power can also be represented through societal norms – the rules dictated in an unwritten rulebook of society – as shown in both Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader.

The God of Small Things largely shows power struggles in its characters through the societal emphasis on the gap between social class, as well as gender roles.  The book is set in India, where a caste system dictates the lives of it citizens based entirely on their caste – which of course they did not choose.  The caste system is a form of political social hierarchy based on one’s wealth that dictates most aspects of one’s life, down to their job and who they are permitted to fraternize with.  One of the characters, Velutha, is a prime example of a person who has been marginalized due to the caste system.  Velutha is a Paravan, an “untouchable” the lowest caste system and subjected to social weakness because of it.  The untouchables were once forced to “crawl backwards with a broomstick in order to sweep away their footprints so that a Syrian Christian would not be defiled by stepping into it.”  These days were referred to as the “Walking Backwards Days” by Velutha’s father, Vellya Pappen, who is considered an “old world Paravan” accepting of his social status and conforming to social norms.  However, Velutha is considered a “new world Paravan” in the way he is not afraid to stand up for himself and bring himself away from the “weakness” set out for him.  Velutha is the carpenter of the Ipe household, “a carpenter that could be an engineer if her weren’t a Paravan,” who engages in an affair with the character of Ammu – a touchable, which is heavily forbidden solely due to the caste system, which Roy has created into a neologism – “The love laws, the laws that lay down who should be loved, how, and how much.”  Roy’s creation of the “Love Laws” highlights the absurdity of being restricted in engaging in one of the world’s most natural feats – love.  The caste system can be used as a symbol of dictating who can be strong, or who is to be weak, even if those who are considered weak have potential to be strong.  By having an affair with Ammu, Velutha is able to find mental strength in the assurance that he does not have to succumb to his label of an “untouchable.”  However, Velutha and Ammu’s affair is discovered, and Velutha is beaten to a pulp in the “History House,” bringing him back to a state of weakness.  This is an example of a true struggle, as Velutha tries to break the social mold only to be further victimized.

Another example of strength and weakness in The God of Small Things can be shown through the double standard of gender roles.  The novel was written in two times periods – 1969 and 1993.  In 1969 women were still viewed as inferior and repressed.  Velutha was severely punished when it was discovered that he had been having an affair with Ammu, however when Chacko (Ammu’s brother) engages in lustful relations with untouchables from his mother’s factory, no questions were raised.  And in fact he had built a dedicated entrance for these women so that they need not “traipse through the house.”  Chacko’s actions are justified as “a man’s needs,” whereas Ammu was no so easily forgiven for hers.  The use of gender roles to represent strength and weakness allows to text to be put into a historical context, understanding the way in which the world worked in the given place and time.  These examples of relationships between Ammu and Velutha, or the double standard between Ammu and Chacko can be used as examples in the grand scheme of things, or a “small thing from a big thing.”

Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader is set in post World War Two Germany, telling the story of the protagonist-narrator Michael Berg and his relationship with Hanna Schmitz.  Their love affair was laden with power shifts and can be used as an allegory to Hitler’s relationship with Germany.  Michael and Hanna’s relationship begins when he is 15 and she is 36.  The 21-year age gap is atypical to most modern relationships and can be considered as “taboo.”  Michael originates from a wealthy family, whereas Hanna is an uneducated, illiterate tram ticket collector.  This immediately makes Hanna feel inferior to Michael – a display of weakness.  However, as their relationship progresses, Hanna asks Michael to read aloud to her before they have sex, essentially controlling him by his hormonal teenage tendencies.  Her manipulation eventually leads to physical abuse where Hanna whips Michael until he bleeds.  Hanna’s illiteracy unknown to Michael, she fled and left without a word upon the fear of being discovered as illiterate.  This was emotionally traumatizing, combined with the way Hanna physically abuses him, becomes an allegory for Hitler’s relationship with Germany in the parallels between the initial infatuation and positive reception to the pain and abuse caused to young Germany from someone they grew to love.  Hanna’s departure was her way of maintaining a position of strength and control amidst her innate weakness of illiteracy.

Seven years later, Michael is working to become a lawyer when he encounters Hanna being tried for her involvement in a Nazi war crime.  This brings on feelings of guilt in Michael as he “tried to point the finger at her, but it just pointed back at me.  Because I had loved her.”  Where Michael experiences guild and shame for being associated with a person involved in such crimes.  Michael’s experience is not uncommon to “The Second Generation” wherein children who have parents or relatives experience the cognitive dissonance of wanting to dissociate themselves from an otherwise loved family member after learning of their involvement in Nazi crimes.  In an interview Schlink revealed that writing The Reader was his coping mechanism against the shame he had felt from being a child of “The Second Generation.”  Therefore, by showing Michael’s further descent to weakness, it illustrates the feelings many children in Germany would have experienced, shedding light on a story otherwise commonly untold.  When one things of victims of Nazi cries they do not usually consider the friends and family of those perpetrating the crimes, therefore highlighting the significance of this course of action within Michael and Hanna’s relationship.

Hanna considers her illiteracy a weakness, however after being imprisoned for her crimes she makes use of her time in prison by teaching herself how to read with Michael’s aid through recorded tapes.  With her newfound literacy skills she begins to read newspaper clippings describing the nature of crimes being committed which leads to her eventual suicide from guilt.  From this it can be suggested that Hanna’s illiteracy also served as a symbol for her ignorance, doubling the weakness she faces through her inability to read.  Through gaining literacy and therefore strength, she found weakness in her heart but strength in her actions and motivations to commit suicide.  This idea, although by no means justifies the actions of Nazi criminals, suggest that weakness is found even in the apparent stronger people of society. 

In conclusion, both texts convey stories of relationships that illustrate strength and weakness through social boundaries and events.  These relationships instill a further contextual understanding of the context of the novels in their readers, and tell the stories of those who may be considered weak in our societies.  Both authors implement the use of social context relevant to the time settings of their respective novels to create a sense of realism and relevance to their stories.