Coming to a Close

As I finish reading this book, I am still convinced that it is simply a horrible tragedy rather than a beautiful tying up of all of the events. The strange notes of incest simply seem to me like the remnants of a deranged past and an inescapable helplessness that the twins must inevitably feel, rather than a beautiful union of two people who have a lot in common. The fact that "the Paradise Pickles & Preserves signboard rotted and fell inward like a collapsed crown" seems to be, for me, a good explanation of the entire conclusion of the story (280). A sad ending to something that had the potential to be something so colorful and successful; the preserves company could have been this if it weren't for the scandals that went on in its most fertile moment for growth, and the twins could have been this for that same exact reason.

I look back on Arundhati Roy's writing style as beautiful and elegant; but at the same time, I have found it difficult to explain a lot of the things she repeats throughout the entire course of the novel. So many phrases were repeated dozens of times, and some of them seem to have no significant origin or meaning (for example, "dun dun dun"). The more I think about it, the more it seems that these seemingly random sayings do serve a purpose. I think they are there to provide a sort of echo of previous disturbing events. They are originally there in some graphic or disturbing parts of the novel, and then they are constantly repeated so that the readers get a sense of how these scars will never go away for the characters; they will keep coming back to haunt them as they try to move on with their lives. I admire Roy's ability to convey this feeling/message without explicitly saying it and I think it is a very creative and unique device to use in doing so. Here is another example of "The Echo Technique" used in Cormac McCarthy's work.