acceptance of being part of one’s culture. Shyam Selvadurai and Marjane Satrapi, use this theme within their respective novels, Funny Boy and Persepolis to demonstrate the transcendence from innocence to experience. Both main characters are introduced as children that go through an evolution to reach adulthood. Culture challenges the characters
Social contrasts and gender boundaries create oppression and injustice amongst the characters in Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy. This injustice affects the composure and behaviour of the characters throughout the novel and it appears in every aspect throughout Funny Boy. Oppression emerges within the Chelvaratnam family, who are displeased by Arjie's "tendencies", and the likelihood that he will grow up "funny." Oppression also surfaces between the Sinhalese and Tamils with ethnic riots in Sri Lanka's
Shyam Salvadurai’s Pigs can't fly is the account of a young man who is torn by reality and his family's endeavors to smother his actual sexuality. His interior clash inevitably drives him to implosion, when his adored sari is attacked pieces. Considering the sex social standards of his family, he is compelled to progress shape the lovely, cherishing universe of the young ladies to the cruel, unforgiving universe of the young men. In Shyam Selvadurai's Pigs can't fly, the sexual orientation social
later, which seems realistic as opposed to Amrith and Niresh magically falling in love during the last chapter. Quick Summary: The last chapter was almost subtle to the point where it felt like a cliff hanger. The conclusion made it seem as if Selvadurai plans on publishing a sequel, but that is not the case. Regardless, the last few chapters revealed background knowledge on the mysterious death of Amrith’s parents. It explained how his mother was forced into giving up Amrith, in attempt to “cure”
reinforced by Arjie parents, more harshly by his mother. She feels the most pressured to reinforce and police gender norms onto her son because she believes that “if the child turns out wrong, it’s the mother they always blame, never the father” (Selvadurai 19). Arjie’s parents deeply fear that they will be the laughing-stock of Colombo. This shows how the broader community of Colombo, consisting of people they have surely never met before, has the abilities to police and reinforce gender norms onto
Some of these effects can be seen in the Africa’s neighbor Sri Lanka, south of India, as seen through the eyes of a young boy in the novel Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai. As the life of Arjie unfolds in his home of Sri Lanka, we are driven down many winding roads. The internal struggle of a young boy trying to come of age in a Tamil family hardened by life after colonization and the racial tension between the
The author, Shyam Selvadurai receives this story to the reader in the first person narrative mode from the perspective of the main character, Arje. The child narrator of this book helps readers to recognize conflicts that any family can have. Also, Arje’s point of view offers a simple writing style and it helps readers to understand the novel very well. When the readers identifies the author’s writing style, they can recognize the author’s personalities by his writing styles, and how he apperceive
Arjie’s Journey in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy Growing up during a time of violent political upheaval in Sri Lanka, Arjie travels an especially bittersweet journey into maturation in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy. The adults in Arjie’s extended family mostly belong to an older, more conservative generation that attempts to fit Arjie into society’s norms. The adults that Arjie meets in the community through his family are individuals who prompt him to see past the confines of his
Over the past five weeks, my group and I read the novel, When Morning Comes written by Arushi Raina. This story takes place in 1976 during the Soweto Uprising in South Africa; a student-lead protest against the Baas Laws, which required subjects to be taught in Afrikaans. The protagonists: Jack, Zanele, Meena, and Thabo start out as strangers with different racial identities, but through a series of chance meetings, each of their lives change significantly. During our Booktalk meetings, I was able