Games at Twilight is a short story by Anita Desai which shows children playing in the evening with a lot of use of imagery and vivid descriptions.


1.	Explore the range of feelings that a young boy (Ravi) has during the course of an afternoon/evening.

Agitated – “strained to get out” “stifled”  “their lungs were stuffed with cotton wool”
Relief – “released”
Excited – “frantic to start”
Frightened – “picked his nose in a panic” 
Astonished – “chuckled aloud with astonishment at his own temerity” (audacity)
Delighted – “shivered with delight, with self-congratulation”
Afraid – “smelt of rats, anthills…and of less definable, less recognizable horrors”
Protected – “felt almost relieved to hear Raghu”
Paranoia – “shivered all over”
Reminiscing – remembering what happened at the evenings
Wonder and Disbelief – “smiled to himself almost shyly at the thought of so much victory, such laurels”
Disbelief – “with a whimper he burst through the crack, fell on his knees, got up and stumbled”
Rage – “his voice broke with rage and pity at the disgrace of it all”
Feeling of insignificance – “the ignominy of being forgotten” (public disgrace) “silenced by a terrible sense of his insignificance”

2.	How does the story reflect the strength of the extended family within Indian culture?

•	There are a lot of children in this story – brothers, sisters and cousins 
•	When he is reminiscising he describes the parents that would come out and “sit on their cane-basket chairs”
•	even the gardener and the driver seem to be a part of their family from the way they are included in their evening activities – “helped the driver wash the car” “helped the gardener water the beds till he roared at them and swore he would complain to their parents”

3.	Is there an undefined hierarchy in the story? If yes bring out the instances where it is evident?

Mom, Mira, Raghu, Anu, Rest of the children, Ravi, Manu
•	In the beginning the mother is shown in control of the children and she comes to settle their fight over who would be It next and came to see what was wrong when Ravi came rushing hysterically.
•	Then when they start fighting then Mira is shown in command and in the end when she tells him to get in line if he wants to play. – “The motherly Mira intervened…firmly pulling and pushing till a kind of vague circle was formed.”
•	Raghu is shown as the older, tougher boy “long, hefty, hairy, footballer legs” and is shown to be pushing and shoving the younger boys
•	Rest of the children are shown to be like Ravi, the invisible, unimportant middle children
•	Manu is shown to be the weaker, most likely spoiled, younger children – his inability to make a decision and a crybaby “…he bawled, shaking his head so that the big tears flew.”
•	Mira seems to possess the most authority, with Raghu following and then Ravi and little Manu. The competitiveness is extreme and the children’s world that they live in can be unpleasant. Raghu seems particularly rough and aggressive, whilst Mira’s motherliness is in actual fact bossiness. There are key points in this story where conflict and suspense are built up.

4.	How does Anita Desai use a number of images of LIFE, TIME and DEATH

•	Before the children came out, the setting is described to be dead – the garden “like a tray of beaten brass”, “birds drooped like dead fruit”, dog, “stretched as if dead on the veranda mat”
•	When children come they cause the parrots to tumble out and then “sort themselves into battle formation and streaked away” showing that their arrival has brought life to the place
•	The shed where he takes refuge is described as a ‘mortuary’ which has the smell of ‘graves’ along with the growing darkness and the repetition of ‘dead’ in the children’s chant all reinforce the idea that death is never far away
•	The passage of time from the children leaving the house: ‘’like seeds from a crackling, over-ripe pod’ through to the ‘funereal’ feel of the final game represent one afternoon/evening but they also support the idea of a lifetime passing.  Maybe Desai is trying to remind us that life is a precious gift and is over all too quickly.   
•	support the idea that this episode in some way marks the end of childhood for Ravi – it is the first of the many bitter lessons that life will throw at him.  

5.	How does the author use humour in the story? Is it easy to use humour of this type with children as characters?
•	Uses humor by showing Ravi as “he picked his nose in a panic, trying to find comfort by burrowing the finger deep-deep into the soft tunnel” and when he swallowed “a small ball of snot in his fear”
•	And describing the driver and the hair on his chest and “the hair in his nosec shaking with the vibrations of his phlegm-obstructed snores”
•	This kind of humor can be easy with children as the characters because when we are young we often do not not care about the basic manners society expects, making it normal for the children – especially when you look at the time the story is written on and the setting of the village – but is hilarious for us

6.	Comment on the use of graphic description, vivid imagery and other stylistic devices and do they enrich the story?
•	The setting of the story is not only descriptive but also evocative and symbolic. Desai uses many details of the setting to evoke an atmosphere of intense and oppressive heat, which serves as a symbolic background to rising human conflict. The setting also forms an integral part of the action. The garden, the shed, the veranda, and the lawn, all play an important part in shaping the action of the story.
•	The story contains a number of memorable descriptions. The opening paragraph describes the oppressive and suffocating environment in the house. The second and the third paragraphs dramatize the impact of searing heat outside by painting a verbal picture of listless life in the garden through a series of visual images and vivid similes.
•	Her microscopic description of the dark shed is meticulous in concrete details. Finally, her evocative and poetic description of twilight is characterized by soft and sensuous imagery appealing to all the bodily senses.
•	diction is highly formalized and sophisticated
7.	How does the story  derives its strength from an imaginative application of two postulates of Sigmund Freud's well-known theory that a child's play is motivated by a single wish to be “big and grown up” and that every dream or fantasy is a wish-fulfillment, generated essentially by the desire to correct unsatisfying reality.
•	Because “Games at Twilight” deals primarily with children at play, its main theme is fantasy versus reality. This theme is symbolically reflected in the title, as the word “twilight” suggests an interplay of light and shadow, blurring the distinction between reality and fantasy. Dealing with a crucial stage in the psychological development of a self-conscious young boy, the story derives its strength from an imaginative application of two postulates of Sigmund Freud's well-known theory that a child's play is motivated by a single wish to be “big and grown up” and that every dream or fantasy is a wish-fulfillment, generated essentially by the desire to correct unsatisfying reality.
8.	There are many ideas that may be central to the story – it is up to you to decide what you think are the most important ideas and to find quotes and details from the story that support your selections.  Following are some suggestions:

•	Childhood is not always a happy and innocent time. – The use of violent imagery such as Manu appearing as if ‘he had dropped out of an invisible cloud or from a bird’s claws’ and Raghu stalking off ‘in search of worthier prey’ remind us that childhood can be as cruel as adulthood and that human nature is often destructive and violent.

•	Childhood play is a serious business. – Raghu’s counting increases the tension and the fact that his pursuit of the others is accompanied by a ‘blood-curdling yell’ gives the game a genuine sense of being a hunt.  This hunting imagery is supported by Raghu’s whistling, his crashing around and his stick whacking.  Ravi’s glimpse of Raghu’s legs as he hides gives you the feel that he is being hunted.

•	It’s very difficult to be the youngest or smallest in a family. – pushed around by Raghu and bossed by Mira and patronised by adults

•	Sibling rivalry can be fierce and competitive. – “…he hadn’t much faith in his short legs when matched against Raghu’s long, hefty, hairy footballer’s legs.” The amount of elation and happiness he feels at the chance of him being better than Raghu, beating Raghu.

•	Young children are always desperate to be older and bigger. – “Ravi had wished he were tall enough, big enough to reach the key on the nail, but it was impossible, beyond his reach for years to come.” 
Ravi is clearly unsatisfied with the reality of his present circumstances. A sensitive and imaginative child, he feels acutely the inferiority of his status as reflected in the rude and aggressive behavior of his older siblings. On more than one occasion, they remind him that he is nothing but a baby. At the onset of the game, when he proposes that Raghu, being the eldest, become the seeker, a scuffle ensues between them, and Raghu tears his shirt sleeve. He is tired of being kicked and shoved around by his big brother. When he cannot reach the garage key hanging on the nail, he wishes he were big and tall, but he is helplessly aware of the reality that it will be years before he can reach that stage. Similarly, when he thinks of running around the garage if pursued by Raghu, he painfully realizes that his short legs are no match for Raghu's “long, hefty, footballer legs.” It is with this frame of mind that he crawls into the shed.
•	Life is very short and death awaits us all. – the repetition of ‘dead’ in the children’s chant all reinforce the idea that death is never far away

•	The most important thing in life (and death) is to be remembered. 
•	Individuals don’t really matter in the great scheme of things. – Another theme in the story, as in many of Desai's other fictional works, is alienation of the individual. This theme stems from Ravi's feelings of insecurity and inferiority. He believes that no one takes him seriously or treats him with respect. What hurts him the most is his painful discovery that he has been completely forgotten and left out by his own family. At the end of the story, he feels as if the children are singing his requiem in their mournful chant at the funeral game. His final decision to withdraw completely from children's games is strongly indicative of his acute sense of alienation.