gamesattwilightexercises


 * __Games at Twilight, by Anita Desai__**


 * Background**

Anita Desai was born Anita Mazumdar to an Indian father and German mother near New Delhi, India in 1937 and spoke German at home, Hindi with her friends, and English at school. Her first story was published when she was only seven years old. She graduated from Delhi University in 1957 with an English Literature degree and married businessman Ashvin Desai in 1958. She had four children and began writing seriously while they were still very young. Her novels ad stories often explore the tensions within family life and many have been written for children. She has also taught in England and the USA. She received the Guardian Award for children’s fiction for the novel, //The village by the Sea// (1982) and the 1978 National Academy of Letters Award for the novel, //Fire on the Mountain// (1977).


 * NB:**
 * bougainvillea (line 20):** a brightly coloured climbing plant which only grows in hot climates.
 * croton (line 90):** tropical shrub.
 * jamun (line 167):** fruit from the “rose-apple” tree, which originated in India and now grows throughout Asia.
 * Laurels (line 187):** a wreath of laurel leaves was traditionally worn as a symbol of victory and honour.


 * What’s the story?**


 * 1.** Think about the range of feelings Ravi experiences in the course of this afternoon. Describe how he is feeling at each of the following points in the story, e.g.: when his mother keeps him indoors, Ravi feels trapped, confined, frustrated.

a) He is not allowed out. b) He is not chosen to be It. c) He hears Raghu whistling. d) He looks for a hiding place. e) He can’t reach the garage key. f) He enters the shed and avoids capture. g) he takes in his surroundings. h) The spider tickles his neck. i) He thinks about winning the game. j) he flings himself at the pillar and bawls, “Den!” k) he charges the other children and bawls, “I won”. l) Mira puts him “at the end of the line.” m) He lies down on the damp grass.


 * Characters-what are they like?**

2. There are a lot of children in this story-brothers, sisters and cousins-and, as in many families, there appears to be a clear hierarchy (or pecking order) as the children compete for attention. Concentrate on Ravi, Mira, and Manu.

a) Who do you think is the eldest? b) Who do you think is the youngest? c) What do you learn about their size and appearance? d) What do you learn about their characters and relationships with other children?


 * The plot-conflicts and twists**

3. Re-read the story and find the key points where conflict and suspense are built up. What builds the tension in the following moments?

a) “The children, too, felt released. They too began mumbling, shoving, pushing against each other...” (lines 36-7)...”The shoves became harder. Some kicked out. The motherly Mira intervened. She pulled the boys roughly apart. There was a tearing sound of cloth but it lost it the heavy panting and angry grumbling... (lines 45-8)

b) Raghu’s counting (line71), “blood-curdling yell” (line 75); whistling (lines 81, 115-6); crashing around (line 116); and stick-whacking (lines 124-5).

c) Ravi’s glimpse of Raghu’s legs (lines 89-90).

d) The growing dark (line 193) and the growing silence (line 176).

4. The central //narrative// question in this story is **Will Ravi win the game?**

b) What is the cruel twist at the ends of the game? c) How does the ending of the story (from line 256) represent a complete reversal for Ravi and all his hopes?
 * a)** Why is winning the game so important to Ravi?


 * Themes-what is it really about?**

5. Choose **two** ideas from the following list which you feel are the most central to the story. Support your selections with details and quotations from the story.

a) Childhood is not always a happy and innocent time. b) Childhood play is a serious business. c) It’s very difficult being the youngest or the smallest in a family. d) Sibling rivalry can be fierce and competitive. e) Young children are always desperate to be older and bigger. f) life is very short and death awaits us all. g) The most important thing in life (and death) is to be remembered. h) Individuals don’t really matter in the great scheme of things.

6. Arthur Miller, the American playwright, once wrote about the image in his mind as he sat down to write //Death of a Salesman//, one of his best-known plays:


 * ...the image of a need greater than hunger or sex or thirst, a need to leave thumbprint somewhere on the world; a need for immortality, and by admitting it, the knowing that one has carefully inscribed one’s name on a cake of ice on a hot July day. ||

Can you see the connection between Miller’s ideas and the sad lesson which Ravi learns?


 * The writer and the writing-Desai at work**


 * Characterisation**

7. Much of the story concentrates on Ravi. Look again at the paragraph beginning “Ravi heard the whistling...” (line 83). Why does Desai:

· Make us share Ravi’s //point of view// (“he heard...he felt...had a frightening glimpse...looked about him”.) · Contrast Ravi’s legs with Raghu’s · Ask us the question “Where could he burrow?” · Refer to nose-picking and snot?


 * A closer look at some language choices**

This is a very descriptive story, but Desai’s descriptions (of the weather, of the garden, of the shed) are not just there to “set the scene2, As you look at the following sections of writing, think about how Desai might be choosing language and descriptive detail to underline key ideas in the story.


 * Images of life, time and death**

8. Why does Desai describe the children bursting out from the house at the start of the story as “like seeds from a cracking, over-ripe pod” (lines 14-15)?

9. How are the ideas of death and lifelessness emphasised in lines 24-31?

10. Why does Desai have Raghu say to Manu, “You’re dead”?

11. Why does Desai describe Ravi's hiding place as

12. Why does Desai emphasise the growing darkness, coolness, and colourlessness of the “twilight” in lines 193-202 and throughout the final section?

13. Why is the chant in line 228 introduced and then given in full in lines 252-5?

14. Desai emphasise the final game as “funeral” (line 259). What descriptive details give the impression of a funeral in the final section (lines 249 to the end)?


 * Images of violence**

15. Why does Desai write of Manu’s reappearance that it is “as if he had dropped out of an invisible cloud or from a bird’s claws...” (lines 67-68)?

16. Why does Desai write that Raghu “stalked off in search of worthier prey”? (lines 80-81) and repeat the idea in line 125?