“Games at Twilight” focuses on a young Indian boy named Ravi who is playing hide and seek one afternoon with his siblings and cousins. When Ravi finds an ingenious hiding spot in a shed that only he is small enough to get into, he begins to dream of the glory that will come with winning the game, and he remains in the spot for what seems like hours. However, Ravi finally emerges from the shed to find that the other children have completely forgotten about him and have moved on to play other games, leaving Ravi overwhelmed by feelings of irrelevance. Ravi’s experience with the game thus marks an aspect of his coming of age: Desai argues for the idea that childhood is characterized by fantasies of being special and achieving glory, while growing up forces children to accept the reality of their own insignificance.
Initially, when Ravi is hiding, he dreams of the acclaim that he will garner when he wins the game, illustrating how children tend to conjure grand fantasies of glory even in something as simple as a single game of hide and seek. As the game begins, Ravi escapes from Raghu (an older boy in Ravi’s family who is the seeker) by ducking into a locked shed just before Raghu sees him. Desai writes how Ravi “shivered with delight, with self-congratulation.” To be able to outsmart Raghu fills Ravi with a deep sense of accomplishment, one that he had never known before as one of the youngest in the family. He fantasizes about having beaten Raghu, which he describes as “thrilling beyond imagination.” With these reflections, Desai reveals the desire in children to have this glory, to dream about being the most special in a group. Ravi’s fantasies grow as he hears more and more of the other children getting caught by Raghu. He thinks that “nothing more wonderful had ever happened” to him than to be the last one standing. Desai describes how he “smile[s] to himself almost shyly at the thought of so much victory, such laurels.” He is merely playing a game of hide and seek, but the desire for glory leads him to exaggerate what that achievement means, as it takes on the proportions of a grand dream. Here, Ravi still has the innocence of believing that a simple achievement will make him lauded by the others.
Ravi’s dreams are quashed, however, when he finally emerges and touches the pillar in on the veranda (which serves as home base) what seems like hours later, only to discover that the other children have completely forgotten that he was still hiding. He is thus confronted not with glory but with a sense of insignificance which serves as a key point of maturation in Ravi’s young life. When Ravi finally runs out to get to home base, the children are completely surprised to see him. As he shouts out over and over again that he won the game, Desai writes that “It took them a minute to grasp what he was saying, even who he was. They had quite forgotten him.” Ravi is restored to reality in understanding that he has not earned glory. He took the game too seriously, and as a result, the children care very little about his winning a game from which they had moved on hours earlier. Ravi is deeply affected by this sense of being forgotten: the fact that he describes how the other kids forgot who he was is another exaggeration, one which illustrates the pain of the experience for Ravi as he fears not only being forgotten in the game but forgotten from the lives of his family members. Ravi’s sense of insignificance is heightened by the fact that when he emerges, the children are playing a game and singing about being remembered when one is dead. Ravi remarks on the tragedy of this, saying that “he had wanted victory and triumph—not a funeral.” Ravi feels “his heart go heavy and ache inside him unbearably.” Through this, Desai equates insignificance with a kind of death. Ravi’s maturation thus involves this comprehension that one day he will die and be completely forgotten, and this implies a loss of innocence as he moves past the fantasies of childhood and comprehends reality.
At the beginning of the story, Ravi is a child who dreams of adulation from the other children; at the end of the story, Ravi lies face down on the grass, “silenced by a terrible sense of his insignificance.” Desai illustrates how this journey mirrors a loss of innocence or a coming of age, as Ravi’s childhood fantasies are curtailed by the mature recognition of the reality of a person’s insignificance in the world.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Coming of Age, Glory, and Insignificance ThemeTracker
Coming of Age, Glory, and Insignificance Quotes in Games at Twilight
Ravi heard the whistling and picked his nose in a panic, trying to find comfort by burrowing the finger deep-deep into that soft tunnel. He felt himself too exposed, sitting on an upturned flower pot behind the garage. Where could he burrow? He could run around the garage if he heard Raghu come—around and around and around—but he hadn’t much faith in his short legs when matched against Raghu’s long, hefty, hairy footballer legs.
Ravi sat back on the harsh edge of the tub, deciding to hold out a bit longer. What fun it they were all found and caught—he alone left unconquered! He had never known that sensation. Nothing more wonderful had ever happened to him than being taken out by an uncle and bought a whole slab of chocolate all to himself, or being flung into the soda-man’s pony cart and driven up to the gate by the friendly driver with the red beard and pointed ears. To defeat Raghu—that hirsute, hoarse-voiced football champion—and to be the winner in a circle of older, bigger, luckier children—that would be thrilling beyond imagination. He hugged his knees together and smiled to himself almost shyly at the thought of so much victory, such laurels.
With a whimper he burst through the crack, fell on his knees, got up and stumbled on stiff, benumbed legs across the shadowy yard, crying heartily by the time he reached the veranda so that when he flung himself at the white pillar and bawled, “Den! Den! Den!” his voice broke with rage and pity at the disgrace of it all and he felt himself flooded with tears and misery.
It took them a minute to grasp what he was saying, even who he was. They had quite forgotten him. Raghu had found all the others long ago.
He had wanted victory and triumph—not a funeral. But he had been forgotten, left out and he would not join them now. The ignominy of being forgotten—how could he face it? He felt his heart go heavy and ache inside him unbearably. 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.
