阿蘭達蒂•洛伊的「微物之神」旨在傳達人性中永無止盡的衝突。種姓制度長期禁錮印度人身心，以輪迴之說限制人們追求自我、僭越種姓之隔，在層層社會習氣的制約下，人的慾望被壓抑、自我被扭曲。洛伊於是藉著「微物之神」來傳達她對人性的觀察。「愛的律法」是洛伊用以闡釋人在社會中面對愛與法律兩極的拉力下，更進一步窺看這看似相異但實為相依相生的觀念。在律法強勢掌控、規範個人行為時，追本溯源其實卻是為愛所驅使。這互相矛盾、似是而非的「愛的律法」正是推動整個社會，乃至於導致在生活中各層面無止盡的衝突的最佳例證。這樣的衝突更具體的表現在個人的身體，它是大我及小我相衝突的競技場。在個人的自我實現以及社會規範透過各式管道銘刻在身體上的禮教習俗間，充滿著紛亂與不安。而身體所傳達出相吸引卻又互不相容的訊息，卻是人們透過身體的各項知覺，以最感官的方式讓每個人時時體會感受著。「愛的律法」所欲傳達的人性衝突更擴大體現於自然環境中。人與自然環境的親近性在人們極力追求物質上的享受及精神上的安穩中被硬生生地斬斷。透過對大自然受人們短視近利破壞的哀悼，洛伊提出她對愛、個體及自然的見解。唯有透過超越律法的愛、充分自我實現的個體以及對大自然的尊崇，或許這人性間恆久的衝突可被化解，而「明天」也能因而更加耀眼。

Arundhati Roy’s first novel The God of Small Things focuses on the incessant confrontation permeating in divergent layers of the Indian society. With the prevalence of the caste system, which stabilizes the society by eliminating individuals’ social mobility, Roy reveals that the essential conflicts individuals face in their daily interactions are repressed by their social consciousness and accordingly distort their subjectivities. “Love Laws,” an oxymoronic term that Roy intriguingly combines, points out the generally-believed opposing position of love and laws but simultaneously reveals their interrelated relationship that blurs their division. Based on “Love Laws,” body serves as another battlefield for the social norms and individuality to compete against each other. Individual bodies are trapped between their desire for bodily contacts and their inscription of various social codes. Such confrontation even subtly seeps into individuals’ daily lives through visual, olfactory and tactile senses and provides them with numerous ways to sense their unquenched desire in the severely guarded society. The natural environment, vulnerable to human abuses, is also encoded with “Love Laws.” The monsoon and the river, closely related to the prosperity of the Indian people, bear human beings’ love, fear, and impulses to control. In human beings’ pursuit of happiness, the Nature “witnesses” and suffers their brutality that leads to the destruction of both the Nature and human beings. Thus, ecology functions as a broader scope to demonstrate the power of “Love Laws” and expresses Roy’s utmost concern for human beings’ unruly abuse of the Nature. In The God of Small Things, it is through the discussion of “Love Laws,” body and ecology that Roy presents the incessant confrontation in human nature. Instead of being pessimistic about such confrontation, Roy transmits the message that only by celebrating individuals’ love that transcends laws, only by paying homage to their bodies that perform their subjectivities as well as their positive relationship that bridges the gap with nature, can the ever-lasting conflicts within human nature be ceased and a new prospect of a better tomorrow will emerge.

I.Introduction: The God of Small Things: A Book about Human Nature?…………………………1

II.Chapter One: Love Laws: Blessing or Curse?……………12

III.Chapter Two: The Making and Marking of the Caste(d) Bodies in The God of Small Things………………………35

IV.Chapter Three: Water Image: “Love Laws” Hidden in the Natural Environment…………………………………64

V.Conclusion………………………………………81

VI.Works Cited……………………………86

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