The God of Small Things Q&A

Velutha is described to be the God of Small Things, and this christening occurs first during a dream that Ammu has after she watches Velutha play with her daughter. Velutha is described to be an extremely jovial and kind personality by the twins, who play with him often and they recognize his understanding of their world. He plays along with them without allowing his rational adult presence to disturb the fragile confines of their created world and thus becomes the God of Small Things to both Ammu and her children.

Baby Kochamma harbors secret resentment against Ammu and her children because she has faced disgrace her whole life for being an unmarried woman, and she believes that Ammu and her children occupy a lower rung of the social order. She dislikes that the children and Ammu can find happiness even though they are social pariahs. She manipulates Estha into testifying against Velutha to save herself because the police had beaten Velutha to the brink of death due to a false complaint that she had lodged against him.

Baby is responsible for separating the twins as she poisons Chacko against the twins and Ammu after she becomes worried that Ammu will discover how she used Estha to implicate Velutha. The family decides that they are no longer capable of supporting both children and that they would be less troublesome if they were separated. Ammu has no means to earn a living that is sufficient to provide for her children, and so she is forced to abandon them when she is thrown out of the Ipe house. 

The local communist party head, Mr. Pillai, uses the death of Velutha to win political points for himself. He leads the people in condemning the Ipe family for having Velutha killed because he had been having an affair with Ammu. The protestors storm the factory, destroy it, and it eventually closes down after Chacko emigrates to Canada.