Analyzing “Games at Twilight” This activity will help you meet these educational goals: You will offer textual evidence to support arguments related to inferences about the text; determine the theme or central idea of a text; provide an objective summary of the text; analyze how complex characters develop and impact other characters, the plot, and the theme of the text; and analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience in a text from outside the United States. Directions Read the instructions for this self-checked activity. Type in your response to each question, and check your answers. At the end of the activity, write a brief evaluation of your work. Activity You will analyze the story “Games at Twilight” and see how narrative style and technique affect the story, its development of characters, and it’s pacing. Part A Describe the narrative point of view (first person, second person, third-person omniscient, or third -person limited) in this story. How does this point of view influence your understanding of the main character, Ravi, and his development in the story? Part B-Authors use various narrative techniques to manipulate time in a work of fiction. Cite examples of how the narrator influences time and pacing within the story. What effect does the pacing have on how the reader interprets the story? Part C-Consider how Desai orders the events within this story. Does she use instances of flash-forward or flashback?
Part D-Evaluate the culture presented in the story. What details do you notice that show this story is not taking place in the United States? Is Ravi’s experience unique to his culture?
Part E-What do you think is meant by the last line of the story? How does it relate to one of the themes in “Games of Twilight”? 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.
Part F-Consider this line from the story: They wailed so horrendously that she actually let down the bolt of the front door so that they burst out like seeds from a crackling, overripe pod into the veranda. What does Desai mean when she says the children “burst like seeds” into the veranda? What does this description convey? Self-Evaluation- How did you do? Rate your work on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 as the highest score. Then write a brief evaluation of your work below. Note what you learned and what challenged you.