Games at Twilight

Games at Twilight
At a glance:
· Author: Anita Desai
· First Published: 1978
· Type of Plot: Psychological
· Time of Work: The 1970's
· Setting: A large city in India
· Principal Characters: Ravi, Raghu
· Genres: Short fiction
· Subjects: 1970’s, Children, Twentieth century, Alienation, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Asia or Asians, Brothers, Reality, Fantasy, India or East Indian people, Boys, Games, Summer, Heat
The Story
This title story in Anita Desai's acclaimed collection Games at Twilight, and Other Stories (1978) deals with a universal theme of children at play and their fantasies and disillusionment. Desai begins the story objectively from the third-person vantage, but as the action progresses and the tension mounts, she skillfully shifts the narrative focus to the consciousness of the central character, Ravi. The story is remarkable for its insights into child psychology, powerful evocation of atmosphere, vivid imagery, and symbolic use of setting.

'Games at Twilight' is a book of short stories by Anita Desai (an Indian writer who is well respected in Western literary circles - not quite of Salman Rushdie's calibre though): 'Games at Twilight' is also the name of one of the stories within it: if you haven't read the story, then a lot of the discussion below won't be of much use to you. If you have, however, then there are some interesting ideas.
'Games at Twilight' is, as I see it, a story of contrasting emotions, with the protagonist Ravi, entering a phase in his growth that involves learning through experience, and the realisation of some bleak facts of life.
Desai opens the story with imagery that mirrors the contrasting sentiments. Elements of *pathetic fallacy are used, with the humid, hot climate reflecting the simultaneous captivity and latency of the children. We are told, 'Their faces were red and bloated with the effort, but their mother would not open the door ... their lungs were stuffed with cotton wool.' Immediately we realise their actions are controlled, and they have very little freedom at this stage. Through the dulled metallic colours Anita Desai uses, the enforced captivity does not appear as malign as it normally would, since there are always underlying images of energy and growth: 'the birds still drooped, like dead fruit ... a band of parrots suddenly fell out of the eucalyptus tree, tumbled frantically in the still, sizzling air.'
The images of stasis are broken by the streak of colours, and this mirrors the moment afterwards, as the children are released; yet the morbid imagery – 'The outdoor dog lay stretched as if dead ... some squirrels lay limp.' – runs throughout the story, perhaps as a pre-echo to Ravi's metaphorical death at the end. This adds a distinctly malign streak in the story. Furthermore, as Ravi enters the garage we are told, 'It had a muffled smell, as of graves,' and, 'Except for the white-hot cracks along the floor, there was no light.' The reference to the cracks appears to be a reference to hell, and the continuing morbid imagers leads me to believe that the garage functions as a memento mori; the death occurring metaphorically, of course. In addition to this, Desai uses the game of hide-and-seek to compare the children to predatory animals hunting for prey that raises a sinister aspect to these games. She's almost tring to signify that all childhood games have an underlying motive, and represent a part of human instinct. In the case of hide-and-seek, the game reveals humans' natural desire for survival.
All this contrasts sharply with the transformation of the garden into an idyllic scene, with the use of Edenic imagery: 'It would be evening soon ... water would fall lavishly through the air to the ground, soaking the dry yellow grass and the red gravel and arousing the sweet, intoxicating scent of water on dry earth.' This imagery also has a nostalgic tint to it, and perhaps this is designed to show the manner in which many look at heir own childhood; regardless of low-points, it seems like a peaceful, enjoyable time, when one is free from responsibilities. However, we see the same situation from the children's point of view, and they see the very opposite, feeling cooped up and trapped. However, even while this scene is being describes, we are told, 'Ravi wondered if it would not be better to be captured by Raghu and be returned to the milling crowd as long as he could be in the sun, the light ... and the familiarity of his brothers, sisters and cousins.' - he's always drawn back. It's like Freud's death-drive and life-drive - always torn to the opposite side.
Here is where the emotional conflict begins in earnest, with Ravi questioning the value of exerting his own identity, something he later decides outweighs being part of a group. He willingly undergoes the isolation in expectation of lone victory, and the suffering he takes illustrates the degree to which humans will suffer in return for glory. However, the imagery turns far bleaker as the evening progresses. 'It grew darker in the shed,' we are told, 'as the light grew softer.' Desai again using pathetic fallacy shows us this as the moment when the truth begins to set in for Ravi, and I find the situation very bleak; the underlying malign streak in the story finally rises, and ironically Ravi has indeed singled himself out, yet discovers the truth that the world moves on without him.
*Pathetic fallacy:The tendency to attribute human characteristics to nature, inanimate objects, or animals, but not quite as formally giving the thing a human identity as in personification. Also called the emotional fallacy.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1440845
By
Philippe Horak
Anita Desai's short stories reflect the kaleidoscope of modern Indian life. They are set in contemporary Bombay and other cities and they evoke the colours, sounds, smells and white-hot heat of Indian cities. The stories are peopled with intensely individual characters: there is a painter living in a slum who fills his paintings with landscapes, birds and flowers he has never seen. There is an American woman who turns to the hippies in the Indian hills because she is unhappy with her life in the verdant countryside of Vermont. There is a man spiritually transformed by the surface texture of a melon. And many more. It is a finely written, atmospheric, memorable collection of short stories. As always with Anita Desai, her work is warm, perceptive, both funny and touched with sadness.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1CVZD6KRF4VMG/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R1CVZD6KRF4VMG
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/cgibin/splitwindow.cgi?top=http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/top2.html&link=http://www.gameskidsplay.net/frame_alphabetical_listing.htm games
Making Meanings Games at Twilight First Thoughts
1. How much empathy for Ravi did you feel at the end of the story? Did his experience remind you of any of your childhood experiences? Shaping Interpretations
2. What specific words and images in this story are most vivid to you? If you had to draw one picture to illustrate the story, what would you draw?
3. Which images suggest loss and death to you? How do these images make you feel?
4. Why is everyone so surprised to see Ravi when he finally comes out of his hiding place?
5. What kind of game are the children playing at twilight?
6. What has Ravi discovered by the end of the story? Find a passage of the text that supports your answer.
7. How would you state the theme of this story—what revelation about human life does it make to you? As you think about the theme, think also about how the story’s title reinforces its theme. (Think of the layers of meanings you can give to the word games.)
8. How do Ravi’s experiences in the shed contribute to the mood of the story? Extending the Text
9. Are the children in this story (and childhood itself) more realistically portrayed than the children in television situation comedies, or less so? Give examples to support your view.
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