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They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much. The laws that make grandmothers grandmothers, uncles uncles, mothers mothers, cousins cousins, jam jam, and jelly jelly. It was a time when uncles became fathers, mothers lovers, and cousins died and had funerals. It was a time when the unthinkable became thinkable and the impossible really happened.
Arundhati Roy
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote explores the complexities of human relationships and challenges societal norms regarding love and family roles.

Arundhati Roy reflects on a time when societal norms and roles within families were transcended, leading to an upheaval of traditional love and relationships. This quote suggests that during significant moments in life, the boundaries of love and familial connection blur, allowing for new and unexpected forms of relationships to emerge, highlighting the fluidity of human emotions and the sometimes chaotic nature of love.

Themes

RelationshipsLoveSocietyFamilyBoundaries

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the importance of accepting diverse relationships.

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Caste is about dividing people up in ways that preclude every form of solidarity, because even in the lowest castes, there are divisions and sub-castes, and everyone's co-opted into the business of this hierarchical, silo-ised society.
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When I decided to write 'The God of Small Things', I had been working in cinema. It was almost a decision to downshift from there. I thought that 300 people would read it. But it created a platform of trust.
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In California, there are huge problems because of dams. I'm against big dams, per se, because I think that they are economically unfeasible. They're ecologically unsustainable. And they're hugely undemocratic.
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To call someone 'anti-American', indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination.
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