Funny Boy

“She smelt of stale coconut oil, and the diamond mukkuthi in her nose always pressed painfully against my cheek.” 

Arjie’s description of Ammachi concisely summarizes the author’s unique ability to summarize characters and their relationships through physical description. We get a sense through this short sentence that Arjie is uncomfortable around Ammachi and does not like her, as evidenced by the way he describes Ammachi through her unpleasant scent and the pain of her diamond nose ring.

“I was able to leave the constraints of my self and ascend into another, more brilliant, more beautiful self, a self to whom this day was dedicated, and around whom the world…seemed to revolve.” 

Arjie thrills in being the bride in the bride-bride game because he gets to wear the bride’s sari. He can unleash a side of himself—his true self—to the world, which he feels is beautiful. He longs to be adored like a beautiful bride. Arjie is not yet aware of how society disapproves of boys who wear feminine clothing, because it means that they might be “funny” or not masculine enough.

“After all, darling, what a thing, forced to work as a servant in a whitey’s house to make ends meet.” 

Here, Amma is pitying Kanthi Aunty, who worked as a servant for a white family overseas. We understand through this dialogue that class matters very much to Arjie’s family, as they are a wealthy family and look down upon people who have to do work blue-collar work to survive.