Thursday, November 14, 2013

How do the colours play important role in the story of "Games at Twilight"?

One of the notable aspects of this excellent short story
is the way that imagery is used so excellently to create a real sense of place and
setting. Thus it is that colours are part of this vibrant and riotous description of
vegetation and the surrounding landscape towards the beginning of the story. Consider
the following description and note how the use of colours appeals to the
senses:



The
white walls of the verands glared stridently in the sun. The bougainvillea hung about
it, purple and magenta, in living balloons. The garden outside was like a tray made of
beaten brass, flattened out on the red gravel and the stony soil in all shades of
metal--aluminium, tin, copper and
brass.



Note how the colours
play an important part in painting the scene and evoking the kind of oppressive heat and
images that the author uses to describe the setting.


If we
have a look later on in the story, we can also see that colours are used to suggest the
various conflicts and emotions that characters experience as well. Consider the
following description that we are given of the other children when Ravi finally comes
out of his hiding place and "wins" the game:


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Out on the lawn, the children stopped chanting.
They all turned to stare at him in amazement. Their faces were pale and triangular in
the dusk. The trees and bushes around them stood inky and sepulchral, spilling long
shadows across them.



Note how
the paleness of the children and the darkness of the shadows help present the children
as ghosts and the surroundings as being tomblike. This of course reinforces the fact
that the children are "dead" to Ravi, just as he has been forgotten by
them.

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