Funny Boy

by

Shyam Selvadurai

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Chithra Aunty’s husband and a family friend of Amma and Appa; all four go out together for formal dinners, shows, and parties in Colombo when Appa buys the Paradise Beach Resort. During the riots, Sena and Chithra (who are Sinhalese) shelter Arjie’s family, although Sena frequently becomes the bearer of bad news. Initially, he gets stuck after a mob steals the petrol from his van to set a Tamil family and their car on fire. After the family makes it to Sena and Chithra’s house, Sena gets a threatening phone call—which is followed by the arrival of another mob—and ends up having to hide Arjie’s family away again, this time in his mother’s house. Later, he reports to the family that Ammachi and Appachi, too, have been burned alive in their car.

Sena Uncle Quotes in Funny Boy

The Funny Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Sena Uncle or refer to Sena Uncle. 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:
Masculinity and Queerness Theme Icon
).
6. Riot Journal: An Epilogue Quotes

Chithra Aunty began to cry. Amma went to her and tried to comfort her. There was something ironic about that. Amma comforting Chithra Aunty. Yet I understood it. Chithra Aunty was free to cry. We couldn’t, for if we started we would never stop.

Related Characters: Arjie (speaker), Amma, Appa, Sena Uncle, Chithra Aunty
Related Symbols: Arjie’s Burned-Down House
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis:

He was trying to cheer me up, and as I listened to him talk, something occurred to me that I had never really been conscious of before—Shehan was Sinhalese and I was not. This awareness did not change my feelings for him, it was simply there, like a thin translucent screen through which I watched him.

Related Characters: Arjie (speaker), Shehan Soyza, Sena Uncle, Chithra Aunty
Related Symbols: Arjie’s Burned-Down House
Page Number: 296-297
Explanation and Analysis:
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Funny Boy PDF

Sena Uncle Quotes in Funny Boy

The Funny Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Sena Uncle or refer to Sena Uncle. 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:
Masculinity and Queerness Theme Icon
).
6. Riot Journal: An Epilogue Quotes

Chithra Aunty began to cry. Amma went to her and tried to comfort her. There was something ironic about that. Amma comforting Chithra Aunty. Yet I understood it. Chithra Aunty was free to cry. We couldn’t, for if we started we would never stop.

Related Characters: Arjie (speaker), Amma, Appa, Sena Uncle, Chithra Aunty
Related Symbols: Arjie’s Burned-Down House
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis:

He was trying to cheer me up, and as I listened to him talk, something occurred to me that I had never really been conscious of before—Shehan was Sinhalese and I was not. This awareness did not change my feelings for him, it was simply there, like a thin translucent screen through which I watched him.

Related Characters: Arjie (speaker), Shehan Soyza, Sena Uncle, Chithra Aunty
Related Symbols: Arjie’s Burned-Down House
Page Number: 296-297
Explanation and Analysis: