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Susanna Arundhati Roy was born on November 24, 1961 in Kerala, India. Her father, Rajib Roy, was a tea plantation manager of Bengali Hindu decent. Her mother, Mary Roy, is a Syrian Christian who worked as a teacher and later a social activist. Roy’s parents divorced when she and her brother Lalith were children. Roy does not know her father and claims to have only seen him a couple of times. (Rao 1)

The success of Arundhati Roy’s mother, Mary, and the fight she made to prove to the world that men and women can stand shoulder to shoulder influenced Arunhdati Roy to do the same. “Mary Roy became well-known in Kerala in 1986 after winning a public interest litigation case challenging the Syrian Christian inheritance law that said a woman can inherit one-fourth of her father’s property or 5,000 rupees, whichever is less. The Supreme Court actually handed down a verdict that gave women equal inheritance retroactive to 1956” (progressive.org). [To take on a battle against tradition, against the norms of society and against the Supreme Court was Mary’s way to leave a mark of womanhood. -- I think this is "original research"/original thinking.]

Mary Roy started a school called Corpus Christi. (Rao 1) Arundhati Roy was educated at this school and was the only person in the class at one point. (Frumkes 1) [Roy presents her childhood with limitless boundaries. Even though her childhood dealt with pressurizing influences of nearby families, society’s gossip and criticisms of having no man in the house, her actions conveyed more of a liberal attitude.-- Can you cite this sentence? If not, I would cut it because again I think it will fall into "original research"/original thinking.] Roy describes her mother's achievements by stating, “She runs a school and it’s phenomenally successful—people book their children in it before they are born—they don’t’ know what to do with her, or with me” (Progessive.org). Roy eventually continued her education in a boarding school in Kerala. (Frumkes 1) [from what age to what age?]

Arundhati Roy “demonstrated her independence at the early age of sixteen, leaving her home to live on her own in a small hut with a tin roof. [cite?] She survived for seven years by selling empty beer bottles for income. [cite?] Arundhati Roy’s experiences growing up in Kerala forced her to break the traditional Indian rules set out for women for as she states, “I grew up in a little village in Kerala. It was a nightmare for me. All I wanted to do was to escape, to get out, to never have to marry somebody there…I was the worst thing a girl could be: thin, black, and clever.” (Progressive.org, Interview) In April 2001, in an interview with David Barasmiam, Arundhati Roy states, “As a woman who grew up in a village in India, I’ve spent my whole life fighting tradition. There’s no way that I want to be a traditional Indian housewife” (Progessive.org). [Fighting the tradition and rejecting the Indian house wife role was her way to keep moving forward in life. Her determination to be a woman of courage and to push away the suppression that so many women in her village experienced derived through the footsteps of her mother. -- Cut all this ... original research/original thinking] Arundhati Roy responds to her mother being characterized as an “unconventional woman” by stating, “She was a Bengali Hindu and what’s worse, then divorced him, which meant that everyone was confirmed in their option that it was such a terrible thing to do in the first place…I sometimes think I was perhaps the only girl in India whose mother said, “Whatever you do, don’t get married” [laughs]. For me, When I see a bride, it gives me a rash. ( Progressive.org).

Roy’s motive to stray away from the mind set like the women she knew grew up with allowed her to accept a new challenge. Roy’s challenge was to live a strong life like her mother, Mary Roy. [Maybe move this next sentence/sentences up to the top w/info about her mother and father?] Her mother was her role model, as Roy states she had, “No father, no presence of this man telling us that he would look after us and beat us occasionally in exchange. I didn’t have a caste, and I didn’t have a class, and I had no religion, no traditional blinkers, no traditional lenses on my spectacles, which are very hard to shrug off” (progressive. org). Mary Roy’s powerful decisions to change her surroundings influenced Arundhati Roy to do the same. She observed the effects of Christianity, Marxism, Hinduism, and Islam in India, which shaped her attitudes and beliefs.

However, she eventually she grew tired of a poverty-stricken life and decided to enter the Delhi School of Architecture” (Gale Online Encyclopedia) While attending school, Roy lived with a group of young people.[cite] They lived in slum colony within the walls of a monument. [cite] Because Roy was living on her own, her life was very unique. She was not bound by the ideals of the traditional Indian woman. [original research/original thinking] In an interview with Lewis Burkes Frumkes of the The Writer, Roy describes this as a pivotal point of her life: “we had no money but we had a lot of fun. When you’re that young, somehow the future doesn’t scare you. You just live day to clay” (Frumkes 2) Through her study of architecture, Roy learned to appreciate the structure, design, and minute details of things other than buildings.[cite?] Roy considers her experience at The School of Architecture invaluable.[cite?/quote?] Along with her interest in arts and designs, she also speaks three languages: Hindi, Malayalam, and English.[cite?] After graduating, Roy labeled herself as a flower child and began to live a new and different life.[cite?]

It was at The School of Architecture where she met her first husband, Gerard D Cunha. [cite?] While they were married the couple decided to put their degrees aside and do something simple. The two embarked to Goa on the coast of India where they made and sold cakes to tourists for seven months. [Gale Encyclopedia] However, Arundhati Roy soon lost interest in this lifestyle, ending their marriage within four years. (Gale online Encyclopedia) Roy found a job with the National Institute of Urban Affairs where she met her second husband, a film director Pradeep Krishen. [cite?] At the beginning of their relationship, Arundhati received a scholarship to study the restoration of monuments in Italy. (Gale Databases) She began to realize her unique writing abilities in Italy. [cite?] Upon her return to India, Roy teamed up with her husband to write a screenplay for a television series. [Gale] Unfortunately, the idea failed, but she continued to write more screenplays which resulted in several films including "In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones" and "Electric Moon."(Gale Databases) The government of India awarded “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” two awards, one being Best Screenplay. (Rao 3)

Becoming persistent with her writing was one of the ways Arundhati Roy was able to stray away from the typical status of women in Kerala, when she states, “Women from Kerala work throughout India and the world earning money to send back home. And yet they’ll pay a dowry to get married, and they’ll have the most bizarrely subservient relationships with their husbands” (Progressive. Org, Interview). [The intro to the quote is not related enough to the quote to not be considered original research/interpretation]

In 2005, Arundhati Roy rejected an award from India’s academy of letters because she opposes the government’s policies.[NY times,1] According to the press trust of India her one page fax to the Sahitya Akademi said she did not want to accept a prize from a body linked to the government, said K. Sachidanandian, an academy official. [cite?] The official added: “we are trying to persuade her to reconsider her decision. We are telling her that the Akademi is intellectually and culturally purely autonomous although it is funded by the government”. [New York Times 1] Roy has learned to live and think independently because of her experiences.

[when does she publish God of Small Things?]

To this day, she continues to voice her opinion as a social activist. Her Roy's focus has shifted from novel-writing to the current global political condition. As a result, she has published two more essay collections: Power Politics in 2001 and War Talk in 2003.

In May, 2004 Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize for her work in social campaigns and the advocacy of non-violence. (cite? 3) Roy’s dedication to social and political causes in her native India encouraged her to become a member of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and to donate the award money from her Booker Prize (1997), around 30,000, to promote their cause. (cite? 1) Her most recent essay collection An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire is a critique of current affairs, was released in 2004.

Her personal fame has drawn social awareness as well as controversy, with some criticism from all ranges of the political spectrum. (2) [Not sure what this sentence adds though you have it cited...] In 1998 she was named to People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” list. (5) Her recent celebrity status has helped to generate media publicity of India’s anti- dam movement, which protests to the way New Delhi’s water projects have displaced millions of impoverished people. Roy has also opposed India’s nuclear weapons capabilities and connection with capitalism. Arundhati Roy is also notably against globalization. (6) These issues have connected her with international human rights organizations such as the World Social Forum. Roy’s name has become synonymous with other celebrated activists and liberal figures, including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Michael Moore. In a 2004 interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, Roy says of herself “I wouldn’t feel I was doing anything right if everyone stood up and applauded.”(5)

Comments

[nice final quote]

[I would look at the organization of some of the information about her mother/father. Some of that seems out of order. Also, when I look at the page, it seems you'll have to integrate your writing into the sections that are on the page or adjust the sections some and integrate some of what's there into what you have. Let me know what help you need with this.]

[There are some citations missing here... and you should add your articles to the references on the page -- in the same format as the articles that are there, so your citations will be findable]