Discuss various characters in Games at Twilight.

Ans.

Ravi

Ravi is the protagonist of Games at Twilight. Ravi is one of the younger members of his family, illustrated by the fact that when Desai introduces him he is nervously picking his nose in fear of being caught by the older Raghu in a game of hide and seek. Ravi also laments the fact that he isn’t very tall and knows that in comparison to Raghu’s athleticism. he doesn’t stand a chance at escaping him if he had to run from Raghu. Thus, Desai quickly establishes a distinct social hierarchy between Ravi and Raghu and illustrates Ravi’s hope of gaining greater status. When Ravi figures out that he can hide in the locked shed, he prides himself on his quick thinking and begins to dream of the glory that will come with his beating all of the other ‘older, bigger, luckier children’. He is so rapt by this vision of victory that he both overcomes the fear he feels in the dark, creepy shed, and also forgets that he needs to reach the family’s veranda in order to win the game. Ravi remains in the shed for what feels like hours, until he realizes that he could have run to the den much earlier. When he does so, tears streaming down his face at having waited so long, he realizes that his victory has been rendered hollow because the other children have completely forgotten about him and had finished the game of hide and seek a long time ago. Thus, Ravi is confronted with the reality of his own insignificance. His understanding is further heightened by the fact that the children are playing a game in which they are chanting about being dead. Ravi recognizes the irony in this and gains as understanding of how insignificance is connected to death. Desai implies that Ravi could be (or could have been) dead and no one would notice-a thought that contributes to his maturation and a loss of innocence at the end of the story.

Ravi quotes in Games at Twilight: Games at Twilight quotes below are all either spoken by Ravi or refer to Ravi. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one :). Note all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Cambridge University Press edition of Games at Twilight published in 2018.

Raghu

Raghu is the oldest child in Ravi’s family and the ‘It’ in the game of hide and seek Raghu is described as being a ‘hirsute, hoarse-voiced football champion’ and as having “long, hefty, hairy footballer legs’. Thus, Raghu is established early on as a dominant force in the family-a sense which is only reinforced by the fact that he quickly takes down many of the other children in the game. He chases down Manu immediately after reaching his count of 100 and then walks around whistling to intimidate the other children, like Ravi. Ravi dreams of being able to win against Raghu because it would be so unusual an occurrence. Yet at the end of the game, Desai illustrates how the dynamics haven’t shifted at all: as Ravi gushes over and over again that he won, Raghu tells him not to be a “fool’ and pushes him aside. Thus, even though Ravi does actually win the game. his accomplishments are diminished by Raghu and by the fact that the other children had all completely forgotten about him while he was hiding. Thus, Raghu becomes another character who demonstrates how the game simply reinforces the existing social hierarchy in the group of children.

Raghu quotes in Games at Twilight: Games at Twilight quotes below are all either spoken by Raghu or refer to Raghu. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one :). Note all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Cambridge University Press edition of Games at Twilight published in 2018.