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Funny Boy

Funny Boy is a coming-of-age novel by Shyam Selvadurai about a Tamil boy named Arjie growing up in Sri Lanka during ethnic riots. As a sensitive 7-year-old, Arjie enjoys playing dress up and admiring himself, but is embarrassed when called "funny". He finds comfort in nature, away from judgment. The story follows Arjie's moral development and acceptance of his true self as he matures, from fearing masculine boys to finding comfort in a classmate of the same sex. By the end, clues suggest the novel is autobiographical, portraying the difficulties of being homosexual when LGBTQ rights were absent and amid community conflict in Sri Lanka

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Shubhi Moti
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8K views1 page

Funny Boy

Funny Boy is a coming-of-age novel by Shyam Selvadurai about a Tamil boy named Arjie growing up in Sri Lanka during ethnic riots. As a sensitive 7-year-old, Arjie enjoys playing dress up and admiring himself, but is embarrassed when called "funny". He finds comfort in nature, away from judgment. The story follows Arjie's moral development and acceptance of his true self as he matures, from fearing masculine boys to finding comfort in a classmate of the same sex. By the end, clues suggest the novel is autobiographical, portraying the difficulties of being homosexual when LGBTQ rights were absent and amid community conflict in Sri Lanka

Uploaded by

Shubhi Moti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Funny boy is a 'coming of age' novel written by Shyam Selvadurai discovering the maturities

and vulnerabilities of a homosexual boy 'Arjie'. He belongs to an upper middle class Tamil family
in Sri Lanka - a land which is experiencing riots between Tamils and Sinhalas.

This novel intricately brings out the themes of territoriality and leadership, that how a house can
be divided into maculine and feminine areas. Arjie was always the other one. Being a 7year old
child it shouldn't really matter whether one wants to play with girls or boys ? Right . He was
always the one who wanted to play 'bride-bride' as being dressed up as a bride was an innocent
satisfaction for him. When all the rituals were enacted by his female cousins, he always felt like
the center of the world. Admiring himself in the mirror, with saree and makeup he felt like a
Tamil actress but the satisfaction crumpled when the father and mother were embarrassed as
he was being referred to as "funny".

This novel dealt with the realities of the image of marriage formed in the mind of Arjie. He was a
highly imaginative child but there was always a bitter truth far greater than his ideology of love.
Whenever the walls of those big houses failed to give him comfort, he always runs towards the
nature - back lawn or the beaches heard his heartbeats without being judgemental. This was
where he didn't need to explain himself.

This story is basically a 'bildungsroman' (where the main character experiences moral
development). Arjie goes from the embarrassment to the confidence of accepting his true self.
From the fear of those boys 'wearing pants' and looking like 'men' to when he found a small
comfort zone in a classmate. 'Shehan' was the one who took him closer to his reality. It tells how
hard those 'small choices' are which forces us to ' see no evil, hear no evil'.

By the end of this novel you will get certain hints of 'funny boy' being an autobiographical text as
how hard was it to be a homosexual at the time when there was no mention of lgbtq rights. Not
only the internal war but the war between communities cause irreparable damage. It is a perfect
example of those texts which are quick to read but always hold a special place in our hearts.

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