Casteism and Caste Intolerance: A Study of Arundhati Roy�s The God of Small Things and Rohinton Mistry�s A Fine Balance

Informed by the postcolonial theory this paper examines casteism and caste intolerance in India as reflected in Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things” and Rohinton Mistry’s “A Fine Balance” and equally mirrors the different facets through which the lower-castes have been victimized by the upper-castes as illustrated in the novels mentioned. In this light, the paper discusses how the subalterns living in the postcolonial societies of India have been segregated not only in the public and the political sphere but also through capitalistic tendencies by the upper-castes as reflected in Roy and Misty’s novels. The paper argues that, although in present-day India, casteism has been officially abolished by the law since the constitution of India in its preamble advocates justice, liberty, equality and fraternity shared among its entire people, casteism and caste intolerance is still highly implanted in the postcolonial setup visible in the novels of Roy and Mistry.