Question

Consider this quote from the video: I don't think Ravi felt isolated. I think he was bored, and he didn't think the game was very interesting. Like he wanted to hide so that he didn't have to play, and he could just chill and wait it out. Do you agree or disagree with this point of view? Find evidence from the story to support or refute the student's claim. In your response, clarify why you agree or disagree with the student's thoughts.

Answer 1

Answer and explanation:

Ravi is a character in the short story "Games at Twilight" by author Anita Desai. In the narrative, Ravi and his siblings are playing hide-and-seek in the yard and garden around their house. Being one of the smaller kids, Ravi realizes his chances of hiding from Raghu by running from him are not very good. He chooses to hide in a shed, a small place full of rats and spiders where old furniture and broken things are kept. Ravi slips through a gap between the door and the wall and stays there for hours.

Unlike what is stated in the quote from the video, Ravi did not hide so that he could "just chill and wait [the game] out." When he thinks of the possibility of winning, Ravi is thrilled. He imagines himself being admired, especially because his siblings are mostly older and stronger than he is. The idea of beating them at something excites him so much, he is able to stay still inside that uncomfortable shed until the evening comes:

Ravi sat back on the harsh edge of the tub, deciding to hold out a bit longer. What fun if they  were all found and caught—he alone left unconquered! He had never known that sensation.  Nothing more wonderful had ever happened to him than being taken out by an uncle and  bought a whole slab of chocolate all to himself, or being flung into the soda man’s pony cart  and driven up to the gate by the friendly driver with the red beard and pointed ears. To defeat  Raghu—that hirsute, hoarse-voiced football champion—and to be the winner in a circle of  older, bigger, luckier children—that would be thrilling beyond imagination. He hugged his  knees together and smiled to himself almost shyly at the thought of so much victory, such  laurels.

There he sat smiling, knocking his heels against the bathtub, now and then getting up and  going to the door to put his ear to the broad crack and listening for sounds of the game, the  pursuer and the pursued, and then returning to his seat with the dogged determination of the  true winner, a breaker of records, a champion.

Unfortunately, Ravi ends up being completely forgotten by the other children. At the end of the story, a feeling of insignificance washes away the picture of victory he had made up in his mind.

Answer 2

Answer:I disagree with the student's point of view. Here's an example from the story that directly refutes the claim:

To defeat Raghu—that hirsute, hoarse-voiced football champion—and to be the winner in a circle of older, bigger, luckier children—that would be thrilling beyond imagination. He hugged his knees together and smiled to himself almost shyly at the thought of so much victory, such laurels.

Explanation: