redballexercises


 * __The Red Ball by Ismith Khan__**


 * Background**

Ismith Khan was born in Trinidad in 1925 to an East Indian Muslim family. He grew up in a home overlooking Woodford Square in Port of Spain, which became famous for its hugely political rallies during the Trinidad independence campaign. Trinidad was a Spanish, then a British colony for centuries and only achieved full independence in 1962. Both Khan’s father and grandfather were strong and determined personalities, and his grandfather had been active in the anti-colonial protests against British rule in India in the 1880s, before the family moved to the West Indies along with thousands of other East Indians. Ismith Khan was educated in Trinidad and then trained in journalism, eventually writing for the //Trinidad// //Guardian.// He is internationally recognised as the author of three classic novels set in the Caribbean, although he has spent the last thirty years of his life studying, teaching, and writing in America, eventually setting in New York.


 * NB:**
 * Woodford Square** **(line 13):** A famous square in the centre of Port of Spain, the capital city of Trinidad, named after Sir Ralph Woodford, a British Governor of Trinidad in the early 19th century. The statue is probably that of triton, a Greek sea god believed to cause island to rise out of the sea.
 * Tunapuna (line 25):** a small seaside village eight miles outside port of Spain.
 * Ajoupa hut (line 49):** a small hut made by weaving branches together.


 * What’s the story?**

1. List the ten main events in Bolan’s life, starting with the move from Tunapuna. The first three have been done for you.

1. Bolan and his mother and father move to the city, Port of Spain. 2. He goes to the market school and is beaten. 3. He watches the boys play cricket in Woodford Square every evening.

2. What period of time does the story cover in total and how many evening does the story describe in detail?


 * Characters-what are they like?**

3. The story revolves around Bolan and his attempts to come to terms with a new way of life in the city. Why do you think Bolan:

· watches the boys playing cricket every night? · refuses to answer to the names the boys give him? · touches the powerful-looking statue? · refuses free black pudding from the vendor? · takes the money to buy the red ball? · pays for the black pudding for all the boys?

4. Re-read the paragraph beginning “The same feeling flooded across his heart...” (lines 177-82)

a) What is the “same feeling” that Bolan is experiencing, do you think? b) What has triggered this feeling again? c) What has “released” him from the feeling earlier in the evening?

5. The questions about Bolan above suggest his inner conflict. This leads him to take the money and brings him into conflict with his father. Think about the reasons for this conflict and the way it develops in the following extracts.

a) “The boy saw him only late in the evenings now, and each evening he brought home a nip of Black Cat rum.” (lines 130-2) b) “You beginning to play big shot! You could talk better than you moomah and poopah. Boy! You don’t know how lucky you is to be goin’ to school. When I was your age...” (lines 138-40) c) he looked like an old man. He let his hair grow on his head and face unless they were going to Tunapuna. (lines 152-4) d) “As soon as we did have a li’l money save we have to go and get a...” (lines 172-3) e) “Is true,” she mumbled, “that we ain’t save much, that you believe you work hard for nothing, but don’t forget how much we had to borrow to move to port of Spain. (line 220-2) f) “It ain’t have no thief in my family...we never rob nobody a black cent.”

6. Think about the “twist in the tail” in the final two paragraphs (from line 292).

a) What happens in Bolan’s “dream”?

b) What does Bolan realise about his “dream” the following morning?


 * Themes-what is it really about?**

7. Which of the following ideas seem to you to be most central to the story? Choose **two** and select details from the story to demonstrate how these themes are explored: · the suffering which poverty brings · the need to be loved and appreciated · the differences between fathers and mothers · crime and punishment · the skill of fast bowling · the difficulty of adapting to a new home.


 * Characterisation**

8. Ismith Khan presents his story almost wholly from Bolan’s //point of view.// However, the paragraph beginning “She took the boy to the standpipe...” (line 286) shows us his mother’s point of view. What is revealed here about her character and her understanding of her son?

9. We also see Bolan’s father largely from Bolan’s point of view, but he is not just characterised as a drunken, violent bully. How does Ismith Khan provoke sympathy for the father and suggest that there is more to him than this? Find evidence in the story for the following statements:

a) He is just as miserable as Bolan about the move from Tunapuna. b) He has made the move for the sake of the family. c) he is embarrassed by his poverty and lack of education. d) he takes great pride in the honest reputation of his family. e) He works hard but is worried about money and feels a sense of failure. f) he loves his son deeply bit finds it difficult to show his feelings.


 * A closer look at some language choices**

10. Ismith Khan suggests the extreme poverty of Bolan’s family through the dialogue in which money problems are discussed. How does he suggest this poverty at other points in the story, for example:

a) the names which the boys call Bolan at the start of the story b) Bolan’s admiration for the cricket set. c) the “pipe in the centre of the yard” (line 168) and Bolan’s “mat in the corner” (line 204)

11. re-read the paragraph beginning “It was turning that salmon and orange light...” (line 116) What is suggested about Bolan's new home and his feelings about it in this description? Look closely at words like “tunnelled...deep backyard...last barrack-room...high wall...” as you consider your response.

12. As a contrast with the grimness and unhappiness, Ismith Khan describes moments of real joy for Bolan. Look at the description of his bowling (lines 89-100).

a) Which words and //similes// suggest the grace and power of his bowling? b) Why does Khan use the word 2sang” in the final sentence of the story?

13. Finally, Ismith Khan describes the giant green statue at the start of the story, then reminds us of it at the end, as if it is an important //symbol// of something. Re-read the description of the statue (lines 17-22) and then decide:

· why you think the statue is important to Bolan · why the statue merges with his father at the end.