面積 :65,610 平方公里 是台灣的 :1.82 倍

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Children’s Experiences in a postcolonial society

Street kids in a city – Betrayal and Survival

From Bride-Bride game to raising a child

From friends in a garden to loss, betrayal and sense of fragmentation

Salaam Bombay

Gainda

Earth

Introduction: the author, the book and Sri Lanka

“Pigs Can’t Fly” › I. Childhood Games and Social System› II. Battle for Power and Gender Boundaries› III. Ending

Born: Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1963› Father Tamil, mother Sinhalese › Immigrated to Canada, 1984. -- his

family forced into exile after the 1983 racial riot against the Tamil in Colombo.

Education: York University, Toronto. Funny Boy: A Novel in Six Stories

--read by the Sri Lankan President and prompted a national debate on the need to repeal the antisodomy law in the country (Salgado 100)

Funny Boy – set against the increasing violence between a between Sinhalese and Tamil in Sri Lank, culminating in the civil war which lasted for almost a decade(1983-1991). The protagonist, "Arjie" Chelvaratnam, is

the second-son of a privileged middle-class Tamil family in Colombo.

Connected stories of how Arjie is continually isolated from his family and then exiled from his society because of his gender orientation and the society’s racial tensions and despite attempts at breaking boundaries and rebellion.

› "Pigs Can't Fly-- Arjie's early childhood and his gravitation towards the imaginative games his female cousins play as opposed to his male cousins' beloved game of cricket.

› "Radha Aunty" --Arjie's Aunt Radha, and her doomed affair with a Sinhalese man.

› "See No Evil, Hear No Evil“-- his mother's extra-marital affair with a childhood sweetheart.

› "Small Choices" --chronicles one of Arjie's first crushes a puppy love obsession with a young man employed by his Father

› “The Best School of All” – Arjie’s experience of the conflicts between colonial education and Sinhalese nativism, between his need to conform and his love for Shehan.

› "Riot Journal" -- first hand accounts of anti-Tamil violence.

Sinhalese （僧伽羅人） migrated from Northern India to Sri Lanka since 5th-6th century BCE, while Tamil ( 坦米爾人 ) came from Southern India around since 2th BCE.

Sinhalese -- Buddhism Tamil -- Hinduism, more sent to Sri Lanka by

the British government and supported by the latter.

Since its independence as Ceylon, the Sinhalese (80% majority) put forth “Sinhala Only Law” in support of their political power, which causes discontent among the Tamil people (20%).

1. 3:00 – Tamil imported to Sri Lanka by the British

2. Sinhalese rise to power after Independence 3. Civil War: 4:00 the burning of the library

5:19 1983 retalion of Tamils 4. History updated:

1983-2006 -- civil war (4 peace talks, 100,000 people dead)

2004 – striken by South Asian tsunami –about 35,000 dead

2009 -- LTTE defeated

Funny --either humorous or strange (17); disgust

But Meena also crosses gender boundaries in playing the cricket game.

The other girls do, too, in the bride-bride game.

Arjie’s view of being a bride (5) and jewel and sari (15)

the story is about the ideological system (the sky), and the power struggles within it.

What does "spend-the-day" mean for both the adults and the kids, maybe excepting the servant cook who cannot have a break? (pp. 1-2)

How are the boys' game and girls' game divided up and located? (p. 3)

What are the rules of the boys' cricket game and the girls' Bride-Bride?   Do these rules make sense?   Do these groups' structure reflect that of adults, or not? 

Avoid Mamachi (2) and Janaki The dark corridor (2) Territoriality and leadership (3) Girls’ territory potential for free play

of fantasy (4)

Arjie as the leader because of “the force of his imagination”(p. 4)

His imagination– allows him to "leave the constraints of [his] self and ascend into another, more brilliant, more beautiful self" (5).

Still conditioned by the goddesses of the Sinhalese and Tamil cinema (breaking the racial boundary).

A world for girls – the groom the most useless (p. 6)

Competition -- with winning as the goal;

trading players › less powerful ones: e.g. Sanjay› girlie-boy: Arjie

the batting order – p. 26 › Numbers marked in the sand for the

players to step on; › The older and better ones play first

Why does Her Fatness want to be the bride?

What gender roles do Arjie and Her Fatness take respectively in their power struggle? 

How does Arjie cross gender boundaries? Who else does so, too?

What does the ending mean?  

Her Fatness – in need of attention › An outsider pp. 6-› Kanthi Aunt – her anger (pp. 7-8)

Wins attention › by lying about not having a friend (7) › by showing off the dolls (p. 8) –which is

less powerful than the bride-bride game; › by playing a loud groom (9) › by appealing to traditional gender

boundaries (11) “A girl must be the bride.”

Insisting on the rule to be the first one to play so that he becomes offensive and can run away

the sari in the bag as a weapon Agrees to play the groom, and then

attracts the other girls’ attention. Sari gone – so is his power.

Amachi and her cane p. 38 The seaside and the tall building as a

mirage p. 38 Exiled

Salgado, minoli. Writing Sri Lanka: Literature, Resistance & the Politics of Place. NY: Routledge, 2007.1. BBC: Sri Lanka+Tamil Tigers: Evolution of the Ethnic War (1)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1UnhPq8Pio (2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArqcfDhHg9o