Gender exploration in Funny Boy Funny Boy is a story of a seven year old innocent Sri Lankan boy. The story is narrated through the eyes of Arjie who is naively experimenting with is gender. The writer portrays Arjie to be little odd and different from the other boys of his age. While other Sri Lankan boys his age like to play cricket, he likes to put on a sari and play bride-bride with his sister and female cousins.
In this essay will analyze the importance of Janaki’s room in Arjie’s identity and his quest to search for his true gender. For Arjie, Janaki’s room was a place of transformation which let him explores his freedom; ascend into a different fantasy world, a world which is beautiful, more brilliant. It is this room which transforms him into who he truly wants to be and to emulate his Amma who was his inspiration through different fantasy games, such as bride-bride.
It is apparent throughout the story that Arjie is innocently exploring his gender and identity and has found strong inclination of comfort towards female gender which author makes reference to subtly as is stated in the text, “it was to this territory of the girls confined to the back garden and the kitchen porch that I seem to have gravitated naturally…. ” (Selvadurai 3) Janaki’s room provided him with the opportunity to be with the girls and feel like one of them.
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He felt in his element playing games of fantasy like Cinderella and Thumbelina and most importantly bride-bride, his favourite, for which the much anticipated and intriguing preparations took place in Janaki’s room. His young, curious and imaginative mind wants to explore what is unknown to him and want to push the boundary by experimenting with fantasies, e. g. “For me the primary attraction of the girls’ territory was the potential for free play of fantasy” (Selvadurai 3).
This enactment of fantasies also led him to a different world in which he could see himself transform into a figure that that was very beautiful and graceful. Janaki’s room, which is under the territory called “the girls” located in back portion of the house plays a pivotal role in Arjie’s fantasy world. It is this room that enabled him to explore his transformation into a personality he fanaticises. It is Janaki’s room that this transformation painstakingly takes place of a young boy into a bride that he aspires to be e. . “and my ultimate moment of joy, was when I put on the clothes of the bride” (Selvadurai 4).
This transformation into a bride subconsciously serves two purposes, one of which was to emulate his Amma who was his inspiration as stated “…. for even though I adored the goddess of the local cinema, Amma was the final statement in female beauty for me. ” (Selvadurai 15) He observes his Amma getting dressed for special occasions with extreme focus and enthusiasm, consuming each detail of the ritual.
Through enacting the central character of bride-bride, he is able to emulate those steps. Secondly this transformation provided him with the ability to be what he really wants to be which is not restricted by his physical being as stated by the author, “I was able to leave the constraints of myself and ascend into another, more brilliant, more beautiful self, a self to whom this day was dedicated, around whom the world, represented by my cousins putting flowers in my hair, draping the palu, seemed to revolve. (Selvadurai 4-5) Apart from his feminine side, Arjie, like the male dominant society he was living in, has a hunger for control and leadership, it is in back garden and Janaki’s room where his huger for leadership, attention seeking tactics are used and put to test, time and time again. It is evident he likes to be a leader to achieve the role which will ultimately let him to fulfill his fantasies, e. g. “The reward of my leadership was that I always got to play the main part in the fantasy” (Selvadurai 4).
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As influential as he was, Arjie is also the attention seeker. This is prominent after losing the power struggle with Tanuja, when he is given the most insignificant role of the groom and was asked to pretend to be at an office. Not giving up on his idea of being central character, he devises a clever methodology and starts a new game of office-office where is assigning different office task to female cousins, proving yet again that he is the leader and central character around which everyone should revolve as they did earlier in all of the other fantasy plays.
Janaki’s room has a very important role in Arji’s young life. It led him to a journey where he could find his identity and to search him true gender. A journey which would let him emulate his aspiration and let him ascend into a world that is more brilliant and beautiful. While doing all this, he was in control of every facet of fantasy games that they played and always remained a central character. Work Cited Selvadurai, Shyam, “Pigs Can’t Fly. ” Funny Boy. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, Inc. , 1994. 1-40. Print.
