Question

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”?

Answer 1

The intense summer heat and the trees filled with parrots are clues that the story is taking place in India. Also, Ravi’s mother wears a sari, a traditional Indian garment. The reader can guess that the Indian author is perhaps drawing on childhood memories.

Most of the story, however, touches on themes and feelings that are not specific to one culture. All children can relate to the idea of not wanting to be bullied by another child, just as Ravi wants to avoid the wrath of Raghu. Ravi’s desire to triumph in the game as well as his sense of insignificance at the end, are universal feelings and emotions:

He would not follow them, he would not be included in this funeral game. 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.

Answer 2

The entire story of "Games of Twilight" is about being irrelevant to the society around you and the world in general. The protagonist, Ravi, is playing with other kids, but is afraid and starts hiding until the nighttime. However, by the time he joins the kids and declares he has won the game, they have already forgotten about him. He becomes depressed and realizes that he is completely insignificant and starts accepting that fact in the end.