Funny Boy Sparknotes
Kabisha Thanarajah
Mr. Braga
ENG 2D0
Jun 1 2017 Arjie’s Self Discovery Growing up during a time of violent political upheaval in Sri Lanka, Arjie Chelvaratnam finds himself on an unexpected journey towards discovering his inner person. In Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy, the author shows us the struggles and understanding the protagonist, Arjie, goes through, being homosexual, Tamil, and breaking gender roles/ stereotypes and not fitting society’s norms to discover his identity through isolation.
Gender roles are something Arjie has spent fighting against his whole life. Arjie spent most of his days at his grandparents’ house with his cousins. At his grandparents’ house, his male cousins would take over the field for playing cricket and his female cousins would be in the rooms and kitchen playing imagination games. Arjie preferred playing games like bride-bride …show more content…
Tanuja, one of Arjie’s cousin, or Her Fatness as Arjie calls her, was jealous that Arjie got along with his other female cousins more than she did. Realizing how much Arjie loved playing the role of the bride, Her Fatness calls him a “’pansy, a faggot, and a sissy’, her voice rising against our uncomprehending stares” (Selvadurai 11). Arjie finally understood later that Tanuja were using the words as insults to make fun of his unstereotypical actions as a boy. Another way Arjie found out about his gender boundries, was when he was caught wearing a sari by his Kanathi Aunty. "Looks like you have a funny one here" (14). The reaction from his family members was something Arjie’s father was not proud of. After the humiliating reaction from his siblings, Appa refused to let Arjie play with the girls and ripped the sari Arjie wore. Soon after the sari was torn, Arjie realized that he can no longer belong in the girls’ world, and he is not
Mr. Braga
ENG 2D0
Jun 1 2017 Arjie’s Self Discovery Growing up during a time of violent political upheaval in Sri Lanka, Arjie Chelvaratnam finds himself on an unexpected journey towards discovering his inner person. In Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy, the author shows us the struggles and understanding the protagonist, Arjie, goes through, being homosexual, Tamil, and breaking gender roles/ stereotypes and not fitting society’s norms to discover his identity through isolation.
Gender roles are something Arjie has spent fighting against his whole life. Arjie spent most of his days at his grandparents’ house with his cousins. At his grandparents’ house, his male cousins would take over the field for playing cricket and his female cousins would be in the rooms and kitchen playing imagination games. Arjie preferred playing games like bride-bride …show more content…
Tanuja, one of Arjie’s cousin, or Her Fatness as Arjie calls her, was jealous that Arjie got along with his other female cousins more than she did. Realizing how much Arjie loved playing the role of the bride, Her Fatness calls him a “’pansy, a faggot, and a sissy’, her voice rising against our uncomprehending stares” (Selvadurai 11). Arjie finally understood later that Tanuja were using the words as insults to make fun of his unstereotypical actions as a boy. Another way Arjie found out about his gender boundries, was when he was caught wearing a sari by his Kanathi Aunty. "Looks like you have a funny one here" (14). The reaction from his family members was something Arjie’s father was not proud of. After the humiliating reaction from his siblings, Appa refused to let Arjie play with the girls and ripped the sari Arjie wore. Soon after the sari was torn, Arjie realized that he can no longer belong in the girls’ world, and he is not