Games at Twilight

Although several characters are featured in the story, the author chooses to focus the most attention on Ravi’s thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. How does Ravi’s perspective shape the story?

What techniques does Desai use to reveal Ravi’s character? How does his character change over the course of the story?

Explain the meaning of the final line: “He lay down full length on the damp grass, crushing his face into it, no longer crying, silenced by a terrible sense of his insignificance.” How does it apply to a context outside of this story?

In the 1970s, when Desai wrote “Games at Twilight,” India was undergoing a period of rapid urbanization and cultural change. How does the story comment on the tension between notions of progress and tradition? What position does the family occupy in this changing cultural landscape?

The mother in the story is only mentioned at three key points, and always in relation to a conflict with or among the children. What do you think the mother’s relationship is with her children? How do you think the mother views her role in the family?

This story could have featured any childhood game. What is the symbolic significance of hide-and-seek? How does the structure of the game inform the story’s themes as well as its plot?

The children’s father is completely absent from the text. He is mentioned only once in Paragraph 33 as having returned home from work earlier in the evening. What does his absence suggest about the role of men in traditional Indian society, or within their own families?

What does the story reveal about the family’s socioeconomic status, and what details convey this information? How does class inform how the children see themselves and how they relate to the world around them?