Games at Twilight

Caterina Galafassi and Maite Abelleira

PlotO The story starts on a hot summer on India, the children, who

have been indoors all day want to go out to play hide and seek.When they go out Raghu, the oldest, is chosen to be It. Ravi, the youngest, hides behind a  garage. When he hears that his brother has been caught by Raghu, Ravi looks for a better place to hide, a dark shed which is opened just once a year.After hours, when he comes out thinking that he would win, he realizes that everyone had forgotten him and the kids are playing another game. As they are singing a song about death he fells like he has "died“

“The grass is green, The rose is red; Remember me When i am dead, dead, dead, dead…”

Anita Desai -O Born 24 June 1937O indian novelistO Professor of

Humanities at the Massachussets Institute of Technology

O Published her first story at the age of 9

Description of main characters

O Ravi: He never win “hide and seek”, he wished to defeat Raghu in that game because Raghu always win. Ravi was the youngest brother in his family.

“To defeat Raghu, - that hirsute, hoarse-vioced footbal champion-and to be winner of a circle of older, bigger, lickier children”

Description of main character

O Raghu: He is a typical overbearing adolescent because he has a bad and a violent attitude with his brothers and when he wins a game, he bother his young brothers.

“-I won’t be it- you have to find them all-all-all!-“I know i have to, idiot-Raghu said, superciliously kicking him with his toe – You’re dead”

The importance of coloursO In the beginning the

colours play an important role in the description of the setting because they transmit how hot the place was.

“Their faces were red and bloated with the effort”

The importance of coloursO When Ravi was inside the shed,

the darkness of the shed represents the feeling and emotions that Ravi was experiencing in that moment.

“Ravi stood frozen inside the shed”

The importance of coloursO At the end, when Ravi get out

of the shed and sees the pale faces of other children and the darkness from the shadows of the trees it seems that the children are ghost and the place or surrounding look like a cementary. This is connected to how Ravi felt in that moment when he had the feeling that he was “dead” to the other people who never noticed that he wasn’t there.

“the heads were bowed so sadly, and their feet tramped to that melancholy refrain so mournfully, so helplessly, that Ravi could not bear it”

How is death shown in the story?The connection between the story and death is

seen in two moments:o When Ravi is inside the shed and it is

described as a tombo When Ravi reappears and the other children

are singing a funeral song because Ravi experiences some type of death as he realizes he is not important for the other children

This games happened at twilight which is the end of the day, so it can be connected to death

“The would not follow them, he would not be included in this funeral game”

Feeling of empathyWe feel empathy for Ravi because:We can understand that for Ravi is more

than just a gameThe author takes us into Ravi’s mind.

“Ravi shook, then shivered with delight, with self-congratulation

We can know what Ravi had to endure to win the game

The moment when we feel the most empathy is at the end of the story when he realizes that everyone had forgotten him“But he had been, forgotten, left out, he wouldn’t join them now…”

TonesBeginning:• Desperate: The kids wanted to play outside

although their mother didn’t let them go out, and Ravi it’s desperate to find a new place to hide from Raghu.

• Playful: The kids really wanted to go outside to play hide-and-seek.

“please, ma, please”, they begged. “We’ll play in the veranda and porche- we eon’s go a step out of the porch”

TonesIn side the shed:• Frightening/scary: The shed where Ravi was

hiding was sary, it looked like a tomb, he felt insects and heard noises.

• Triumphant: While he is there the only thing he thought about was to be the winner. He beared the insects only to be the winner.

“Something had tickled the back of his neek. It took him a while to pick up the courage to lift his hand and explore. It was an insect – perhaps a spider – exploring him.”

TonesRavi is outside of the shed:• Embarassing\Humiliating: Because

when he gets out of the shed everyone forgot him and where playing another game.

• Melancholic: Because Ravi felt sad when he went out as everybody had forgotten him, everything that he had imagined was crashed and he felt isolated from the rest.

“’Don’t be a fool,’ Raghu said roughly, pushing him aside, and even Mira said, ‘Stop howling, Ravi. If you want to play, you can stand at the end of the line,’ and she put him very firmly.