Background
The novel presents vivid sketches of family members, friends, school teachers, shown co-operating, arguing, loving, and living. The large Tamil family, and its arguments and discussions reflect a specific culture, while in many aspects the problems are universal. Tension mounts as the riots come closer to home, and the whole family sleeps in their shoes so they can quickly escape should the Sinhalese mobs descend. When Selvadurai's ''Funny Boy'' was published in 1994, it was hailed as one of the most powerful renditions of the trauma of the prevailing ethnic tensions in contemporary Sri Lanka. Selvadurai brings together the struggles of sexuality, ethnicity and class. These issues arise during the development of the protagonist, Arjie, whose maturation is framed against the backdrop of ethnic politics. In 2006,Plot
Pigs Can't Fly
The first part of the novel begins with the spend-the-days, in which the grandchildren congregate at Ammachi and Appachi's home. Arjie and his female cousins, as usual, play their game of "bride-bride", which is interrupted when their cousin Tanuja (Her Fatness) refuses to indulge Arjie's desire to be bride. The adults ultimately discover their game, and one uncle tells Arjie's father "you have a funny one here" (14). Arjie is no longer allowed to play with the girls. When he questions his mother, she responds with "because the sky is so high and pigs can't fly, that's why" (19).Radha Aunty
The second chapter focuses on the return of Radha Aunty from America. Radha Aunty and Arjie develop a special relationship, immediately, and both become involved in a performance of ''See No Evil, Hear No Evil
In the third story, while Arjie's father is in Europe on a business trip, Daryl Uncle returns to Sri Lanka from Australia to investigate allegations of government torture. Arjie is cognizant of a long history between Amma and Daryl Uncle but is unsure of the cause of the tensions until he has an eventual realization of their affair. When Arjie becomes very ill, Amma decides to take Arjie fromSmall Choices
In a plot shift, Appa's school friend's son Jegan comes to the family looking for a job and begins to work with Appa at his hotel and also lives with the Chelvaratnam family at their home. Jegan previously associated with theThe Best School of All
Appa decides to transfer Arjie to Victoria Academy, a school he says "will force you to become a man" (210). Arjie catches the eye of a boy named Shehan as well as the notorious school principal. Diggy hints that Shehan is gay and urges Arjie to stay away from him. Arjie notices in himself a growing attraction towards Shehan as the two spend more time together. The principal, nicknamed "Black Tie" ropes in Arjie to recite two poems at an upcoming school function. The function and specific poems are especially important to "Black Tie" as they are his final plea to prevent the government from reorganizing the school. Arjie gets nervous reciting the poems and forgets his lines, and the principal beats Arjie as well as Shehan for failing to help him memorize the poems. One day, Shehan kisses Arjie on the lips and he recoils, but it is after the kiss Arjie begins to comprehend his own sexuality. "I now knew that kiss was somehow connected to what we had in common, and Shehan had known this all along" (250), he says. Later, Arjie and Shehan have their first sexual encounter together in his parents' garage. Afterwards, Arjie feels ashamed of himself and believes he has failed his family and their trust. During the school function, Arjie purposely jumbles up his poem after he witnesses Shehan emotionally break down from Black Tie's beatings.Riot Journal: An Epilogue
In the final chapter of the novel, rioters start to burn down the Tamil houses and establishments in Colombo. The family escapes to a neighbor's house and goes into hiding after a mob comes to burn down their home. After their own hotel is attacked and Ammachi and Appachi are killed, Appa decides it is time for the family to leave the country. After making love to Shehan for the last time, Arjie leaves Sri Lanka and moves to Canada with his family.Important characters
* Arjie Chelvaratnam – The novel's protagonist, the story follows his journey of coming to terms with his sexuality as a homosexual boy growing up in Sri Lanka. * Tanuja/Her Fatness – Arjie's snobbish cousin who dresses up as the groom during their game of "Bride-bride". A jealous cousin who gets Arjie into an embarrassing situation just to gain her superiority in the game of "bride-bride". * Sonali – Arjie's younger sister. She supports him and understands him when others are harsh on him. * Diggy – Arjie's brother. A stereotypical character representing what boys should be like. Named Diggy-nose or Diggy due to his habit of poking his nose in all affairs. * Amma/Nalini – Arjie's mother, and first exposure to femininity. Arjie is fascinated with how she would get ready for special occasions and liked to watch the process. * Appa – Arjie's father. The head of the family. He makes decisions on behalf of the entire family. * Ammachi, Appachi – Arjie's grandparents. Well educated and belonging to the upper-middle-class strata of the society. They are killed during a riot when their car is set on fire with Ammachi and Appachi still in it. * Radha Aunty – Arjie's aunt, and his father's youngest sibling. She returns from school in America and lives with Ammachi and Appachi. Arjie and Radha Aunty have a special bond. * Anil Jayasinghe – Radha Aunty's romantic interest. Radha's relationship with Anil causes turmoil in the family due to the Sinhalese/Tamil conflict. * Daryl Uncle – Daryl, aThemes
Gender and sexuality
Interplay between sexuality and gender is an important underlying theme in the novel, and it is most apparent in the spend-the-day events at the start of the story. Here, Arjie and his cousins enact a marriage scene in their "bride-bride" game. As the leader of the group, Arjie plays the bride, and the children are blissfully unaware of the disjunction between Arjie's male gender and the traditionally feminine role until the arrival of their cousin "Her Fatness". She states, "A boy cannot be the bride. A girl must be the bride" (11). The rest of the family finds out about Arjie's activities and are horrified at the notion of him dressing up in bridal attire. "Her Fatness" is described as large and booming with masculine traits (10) throughout the scene. It is almost as if her masculinity is innocuous, whereas his femininity is a point of contention. Sexuality and gender play an important role in defining the relationships between the characters and their perceptions of one another.Marriage
Marriage appears several times throughout the course of the novel, as it is something Arjie is fascinated with. In "Pigs Can't Fly", Arjie and his female cousins reenact a Sri Lankan marriage in the game of "bride-bride". Arjie assumes the most coveted role, that of the bride. The most exciting part of the game is the transformation into the bride. The draping of the white sari, allows him to "leave the constraints of isself and ascend into another, more brilliant, more beautiful self, a self to whom this day was dedicated" (5). Marriage serves as a source of bonding with Radha Aunty, who is due to marry Rajan Nagendra.Identity
Ethnic identity
As the novel is set during and at the start of the Sri Lankan civil war, the characters are impacted, and constrained, on an individual level by the tensions between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority, which includes Arjie and his family. For example, the relationship between Radha Aunty and Anil cannot progress because Anil is Sinhalese. Arjie's father foresees the difficulties of being a minority Tamil and enrolls his sons in Sinhalese language classes at school, so that future opportunities are not limited to them. Arjie's father is optimistic and is eager to see the tensions between the two ethnic groups end, and is reluctant to see that the best option for his family is to immigrate to Canada.Sexual identity
Stripped to its most fundamental form, the novel documents Arjie's journey to his own sexual identity. His sexuality, while a topic of discussion for his family, is not confronted directly. Instead, he is always referred to as "funny". He recognizes that this term carries a negative connotation, but doesn't understand its complexity, stating that "It was clear to me that I had done something wrong, but what it was I couldn't comprehend" (17). Throughout the novel, Arjie is also increasingly aware of his feelings towards the boys in his school, accepting that he thinks of the shorts they wear and longs to be with them (208). However, he only fully grasps his sexual identity and its familial implications after a sexual encounter with one of his male classmates. Arjie then understands his father's concern and "why there had been such worry in his voice whenever he talked about me. He had been right to try and protect me from what he feared was inside me, but he had failed" (256).Tamil diaspora and Sri Lankan Civil War
The origin of many important themes in ''Funny Boy'' is the increasingly serious tensions between Tamils and Sinhalese while Arjie is growing up in Sri Lanka. This underlying conflict leads to many of the novel's elements of diaspora, identity, and ethnicity found in several sections of ''Funny Boy''. The broader ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka are addressed and manifest themselves through various instances and interactions in Arjie's life. The relationship between Radha Aunty and Anil is one such example. In this chapter, Arjie begins to learn about the history of the ethnic conflict and begins to realize the magnitude of the impact it may have on his life. Additionally, in "The Best School of All" chapter, Arjie experiences this tension firsthand in many interactions at school. These themes continue throughout the novel, and their importance in Arjie's life continues to increase until his family is forced into diaspora due to the instability in Sri Lanka and the start of the Civil War, as chronicled by "Riot Journal: An Epilogue".Reception
The book has found strong positive reception both in scholarly reviews and online reading communities. Edward Hower reviewing the book for ''Adaptation
In 2018, it was announced that Deepa Mehta would adapt the novel into a film.Further reading
* * Rao, R. Raj (1997): "Because Most People Marry Their Own Kind: A Reading of Selvadurai's 'Funny Boy'". In: ''ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature'' Vol. 28 (1), 1997. * * Selvadurai, Shyam (2013)References
{{Reflist Novels by Shyam Selvadurai 1994 Canadian novels Novels set in Sri Lanka Canadian bildungsromans Sri Lankan Civil War books Lambda Literary Award-winning works Novels with gay themes McClelland & Stewart books 1990s LGBT novels Canadian LGBT novels 1994 debut novels Canadian novels adapted into films