Sketch the character of Ravi from your reading of the “Games at Twilight.”

        Ans. “Games at Twilight.”, written by Anita Desai as Indian writer who is well respected in Western literary circles, is about a young boy’s despair generated from a realization of his insignificance. The story depicts Ravi fear but feeling of joy in the beginning and the sense of frustration and disillusionment at the end. We also find typical childish characteristics in him. He was a fearful, insecure boy who at the same time was ambitious, resolute, sensitive and emotional.

Ravi was a typical young boy. He loved playing games. He was excited. He braved the scary and dark garage in order to show his bravery and increase his odds of winning. He had a good nose-picking while hiding and thinking and also got distracted with daydreaming like many little boys do. Then at the end when he realizes that his playmates had moved on with their games and completely forgotten him, he showed a very dramatic reaction: he lay down full length on the damp grass, crushing his face into it, on longer crying, silenced by a terrible sense of his insignificance.”

          However, Ravi displayed an unusual sensibility and introversion here. Instead of lashing out and bragging about his potential conquest in the garage, he quietly lies down and lets the weight of his own insignificance crush him.

          Self-satisfaction is found in Ravi’s character. He took shelter in a dark, spooky shed of slimy creatures and fearful insect. It was a matter of delight for him to avoid the detection of Raghu. He shook and shivered with delight. He congratulated himself for doing a trick and escapes the attention of Raghu.

          On the other hand, frustration is another aspect of his character. When he came out of the shed and claimed victory, he found that he was forgotten by his playmates. It was a terrible shook and he felt cheated. His heart became heavy with an ache of  intolerable pain. It was terrible sense of insignificance which made him dump.

          All the features make the character of Ravi memorable. The authoress has thrown the main focus on his character. It is a full-length character of a child. It is not only a revelation of the external traits of the character, but exploration of inner recesses of the child’s mind.