Summary
Arjie becomes aware of his family’s new wealth and status through his parents’ schedule of regular dances, cocktail/dinner parties, and friends/business partners (Sena Uncle and Chithra Aunty). Through overheard conversation, Arjie learns that the “free economy” and “the end of socialism” are responsible for their new status. On one family outing to the beach, his parents inform him that their “picnic basket” days are over and show the children the new hotel they own called “Paradise Beach Resort.” Amma’s older unmarried sister Neliya Aunty has also moved in with the family.
Because of his new business ventures, Arjie’s father announces he must travel to Europe for a few months to promote the hotel. Despite Arjie’s reservations over his father’s reaction, Arjie asks his father to bring back the sequels in the Little Women series as he is unable to find any copies locally. He is unsure if his father will comply because when his father had seen Arjie reading the first one, he commented that it was a novel for girls. The family is generally unaffected by their father’s departure and Amma continues to enjoy the family’s new status by going to fashion shows, dances, and parties with Chithra Aunty.
One day, Arjie develops a fever and must stay home from school. Daryl Uncle, a seemingly white man who is actually a Burgher of Dutch descent like Aunty Doris, comes to visit. Daryl is Amma and Neliya Aunty’s childhood friend who has returned to Sri Lanka from Australia as a journalist to cover the conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils.
Arjie slowly picks up on the underlying nature of Amma and Daryl Uncle’s relationship—for example, while Neliya excitedly greets Daryl as an old friend, Amma reacts with more shock and consternation. Arjie deduces that Amma and Daryl fought at one point, creating a rift between them. Arjie’s sickness worsens and as he continues to stay home, he observes the developing relationship between Amma and Daryl.
Amma and Daryl often argue over politics. Daryl reveals that he came to investigate claims of torture; he defends the Tamil Tigers and argues against the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Despite the vigor of their arguments, Amma continues her friendship with Daryl, often inviting him for lunch. Amma summarizes their differences by saying “he thinks things are getting worse in Sri Lanka and I think things are getting better.” Neliya Aunty begins to grow wary of the relationship and worries that people will talk. To his delight, Daryl Uncle comes to visit Arjie with the sequels of the Little Women books, telling him they are some of his favorites, and Amma looks at him with an expression Arjie has never seen before.
Mala Aunty diagnoses Arjie with infectious hepatitis and he spends more time in his room. Daryl Uncle spends even more time at their home and his relationship with Amma grows so that they speak with “fewer words and more gestures” (110) and Arjie observes that his mother starts dressing up more and her energy seems happy but nervous. As Amma and Daryl’s relationship progresses, Diggy and Neliya Aunty become increasingly more hostile to Amma and Daryl until he stops visiting as frequently.
Amma decides to take Arjie to the hill country to convalesce, as the heat in Colombo has grown unbearable. The bungalow they stay at is idyllic. They are surrounded by nature, delighting in the sounds of crickets and nightjar. Arjie is excited that he has Amma to himself. But when Uncle Daryl comes to visit, Arjie resents that his bliss has been disturbed. During a discussion, Daryl reveals to Arjie that many Burghers left after the government made Sinhala the national language because many only spoke English and were treated as though they were English. Arjie asks whether if Burghers intermarried they would be considered more Sri Lankan and Daryl replies that because of prejudice, intermarriage on both sides was difficult. Daryl visits daily and Amma is the happiest Arjie has ever seen her.
Before they return to Colombo, Daryl and Amma fight because Daryl reveals his plan to go to Jaffna to investigate the conflict. Amma argues, “If you care for me, you’ll stay” (114) to which he replies, “I love you but I have to go” (114). Arjie realizes his mother’s ulterior motive in taking Arjie away to convalesce allowed her to have uninterrupted time with Daryl without the gaze of Neliya, Diggy, or the neighbors. Arjie feels nervous about the implications of their affair.
Arjie and Amma return to Colombo and he returns to school. Daryl leaves for Jaffna and Amma is upset and eventually returns to her routines and friendship with Chithra Aunty, but without much enthusiasm.
Soon Amma hears of trouble in Jaffna with the Tamil Tigers and takes Arjie to visit Daryl’s house. She only finds Daryl’s servant boy and no answers. Amma tries to appeal to the police for more information but they are unhelpful. When Amma and Arjie return to Daryl’s house, they find that the home is in disarray and the police accuse the servant boy of ransacking the home and stealing Daryl’s things despite Amma’s protests that the servant boy is innocent.
The A.S.P. police officer learns of Amma’s real identity and reveals his friendship with Arjie’s father. He uses it as leverage to keep Amma in check against pushing too hard with the police. Amma receives a call in the middle of the night that Daryl has died by drowning and she and Neliya go to identify the body. Arjie feels something has changed as he now knows someone who has died. Amma says Daryl was killed and tossed to sea despite the official report that he died by drowning.
Amma has a hard time with the injustice of Daryl’s murder and her own guilt of allowing him to go. Amma wonders, “where does one turn when the police and government are the offenders” (135). Amma begins to question authority and the political climate. Amma takes Arjie to visit Q.C. Uncle to get legal counsel. When Q.C. realizes who she is talking about, Q.C. asks “Daryl? Wasn’t that the boy you wanted to marry at one time?” (137). Q.C. offers little legal help to Amma and advises her to “be like the three wise monkeys. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” (138) and instead think of her family.
Amma is upset by the lack of help she receives and decides to try to get more information from Daryl’s servant boy, Somarartne. Amma finds that he has been sent back home to his village. Amma decides she will go to visit him in his village and Arjie insists that he join. When they reach the village, they are met with hostility: Somarartne’s mother complains of her suffering and does not want to put her son in more danger because his arm is already paralyzed from the police. The village starts to throw stones to chase them away. When they return home, they learn that a journalist came to visit Amma. Neliya advises against Amma pursuing Daryl’s murder further. When the reporter returns, Amma lies to him about there being nothing suspicious with Daryl’s body.
Arjie thought he would feel relieved that Amma stopped pursuing Daryl’s murder, but instead feels sad thinking of Daryl’s fate and questions how he will return to his family’s old way of living when his father returns.
His father announces his arrival is imminent and insists Amma throw a party for his birthday. At the party, Arjie notices his mother’s fatigue behind her facade of levity. Despite it being a “grand affair” (150), Arjie looks at the party as seeming insubstantial. After learning more about the true state of the country, his family’s newfound wealth feels shallow and superficial in comparison to the injustices taking place.
Analysis
Daryl Uncle and Arjie’s father serve as foils for each other. While Appa has rigid ideas of masculinity and concerns over Arjie’s interests, Daryl Uncle accepts and encourages Arjie by even obtaining the books Arjie wants to read. And while Amma enjoys material luxuries with Appa, Arjie observes her truly happy in her relationship with Daryl Uncle. As a businessman, Appa is primarily focused on the family’s wealth and how to benefit from the state, while Daryl Uncle as a journalist delves deeper and primarily concerns himself with the cost of the new political climate—namely the injustices suffered at the hands of the government.
Throughout the chapter, Arjie’s escalating sickness parallels his mother’s escalating affair. As Arjie’s fever and hold on reality worsens, Amma’s feelings for Daryl also lead her away from her normal routine. Finally, Arjie’s sickness and the circumstances around him (the heat in Colombo) escalate as the judgment from Diggy, Neliya, and the neighbors heighten around Amma’s affair. When they travel to the hill country to convalesce, Arjie finds peace from his sickness and Amma is able to enjoy her affair with Daryl away from the reality of her everyday life. Eventually, Arjie returns to his prior good health and Amma’s relationship with Daryl reaches its first break in the chapter as he informs her he is leaving for Jaffna.
This chapter explores the theme of the danger of knowledge. Because Daryl seeks the truth around the torture claims in the country, he is murdered in Jaffna. When Amma pursues the truth of Daryl’s death, she and Arjie also face physical threats when the villagers throw stones at them. Amma ultimately decides to drop her quest for truth when she sees that it could out her affair and bring danger to her and her family.
Through Amma’s surreptitious relationship with Daryl, Arjie gains more of an understanding about the political climate in the country. He had a first inkling of the difficulties between the Tamils and the Sinhalese in the first section when he tried to understand why Radha Aunty and Anil could not marry, but the situation with Daryl, his death, the police, and the villagers solidifies Arjie’s awareness that something is deeply problematic.
Selvadurai yokes Arjie’s growing awareness of what is going on in Sri Lanka with the boy’s growing awareness of his sexual desires. Both paths are, at times, complicated, painful, and confusing. Ayendy Bonifacio speaks of ruptures, writing, “First, there is social and political rupture leading to civil war. Second, there is rupture in Arjie’s identity, that is, in his inability to reconcile his queer self with the roles that society prescribes him, which precludes Arjie from identifying with a social group and from being completely accepted by his family.” He also alludes to the bildungsroman when he notes that the novel “chronicles the development of a young male protagonist who attempts to forge a mature identity in the midst of social and political turmoil.” In the analysis for the next section, “Small Choices,” we will chart the further development of Arjie’s political and sexual consciousness.
