Velutha is a member of the Paravan, or Untouchable, caste. He works in the Kochamma family pickle factory and is employed by Mammachi to do additional chores around the Ayemenem home because of his exceptional skills. Velutha is the “God of Small Things” that Roy references several times in the novel. He is cast out by all of society’s conventions, an “Untouchable” who cannot even contact members of the “Touchable” caste. Mammachi’s welcoming of him into the family home is even a huge transgression, and angers some of the other workers at the pickle factory. When Velutha and Ammu develop an attraction, and later engage in an affair, he senses his impending doom. 

Velutha develops a close relationship with the twins, who love him for letting them “be themselves” and for being a father figure to them. For a moment, Velutha allows himself to fantasize that they’re his kids as well. Velutha becomes the target of Baby Kochamma’s anger since he is a Communist and she was forced to repeat a Communist slogan as she was passing by a rally. When his affair with Ammu is revealed, Velutha goes to Comrade Pillai’s home to seek protection, but even the Communist Party spurns him. Velutha is truly “homeless” and a person who can only relish in the “Small Things” of life, like he does with Ammu on the banks of the river.