This selection of excerpts from Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things provides a glimpse into the complex relationships and events that shape the lives of the novel’s central characters, Rahel and Estha. The excerpts introduce the twins’ family, their close-knit community in Ayemenem, and the tragic events that ultimately lead to their separation. The text also introduces themes of social injustice, class disparity, and the enduring impact of colonialism, which serve as a backdrop to the story’s personal and emotional conflicts. The excerpts also foreshadow the pivotal role of the family’s “History House,” an abandoned house that represents the unresolved tensions of the past, which will come to shape the twins’ lives in profound and lasting ways.