Of White Hairs and Cricket

Rohinton Mistry

Class Tasks
In groups teach the rest

of the class about ONE

aspect of the text.
ASPECTS:
1. Plot
2. Structure
3. Narrative point of view
4. Setting
5. Character/s
6. Language techniques
7. Symbolism and Motifs
8. Themes

Describe and explain the aspect you

are studying.
Explain the significance of this

aspect in the story.

Provide plenty of evidence in form of

quotes / page numbers / references

to the text
Discuss what the authors message /

themes are.
How does your aspect relate to the

others?

Symbolism / Motifs
White hairs

symbolise time /
plucking of them
relates to
desperate attempt
to hold back time.
Re-occurence of
cricket longing to
be a child again
Terminal illness of
Virafs father /
death

Themes
Aging
Death
Old world / new

world
Disappointment
Nostalgia

Plot
Recalling all the

events in the story

So, what?
What is the relevance
of these episodes?
They relate to many
readers, typical day to
day experiences of
childhood?
Atypical what is
unusual here closely
bonded family.. Etc?

What does the plot allow readers to

understand?
Family relationships
Friendship
Aging / decay / death

Structure
Process of growing up

and realisation of time /

death is unstoppable
Structure gives readers
idea that narrator
wanted to initially be
able to stop time but
cant in the end.
Begins with white hairs
being picked out /
concludes with death of
Virafs father.

So, what?
What does this structure allow

readers to get about the story?

Themes become apparent to

readers as they become apparent to

the narrator.

Narrative pov
Perspective of narrator,

a young boy, firstperson

After his epiphany he
realises and learns to
appreciate his family
Relationship with
Mamaji looks to her
for guidance, but later
realises the value in his
parents, they too are
aging and wont be
around forever

So, what?
Allows readers to see into narrators

character and this reflects on

ourselves.

Setting
India, house well

passed their time

decay live in an
apartment.
Sunday he used to
play cricket but now he
plucks the white hairs
out of his fathers head.
Bed he eats rice
luxury, but then he
goes to his bed to be
sorrowful.

So, what?
The luxuries of youth are

ephemeral.
Happiness can be found even in a

poor setting

Character
Narrator first

person pov,
readers identify
with him and his
realisations in the
story.
Father growing
older, strong
minded / defiant
person, constantly
looking for
something better,
determined,

Mamajis generation has different

ideas
Virafs life contrasts narrators

somewhat the repulsive act of

plucking out hairs becomes a nice
act in light of his friends fathers
death.

Biography
Rohinton Mistry was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India in

1952. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the

University of Bombay in 1974, and emigrated to Canada with
his wife the following year, settling in Toronto, where he
worked as a bank clerk, studying English and Philosophy parttime at the University of Toronto and completing his second
degree in 1982.
Mistry wrote his first short story, 'One Sunday', in 1983,
winning First Prize in the Canadian Hart House Literary Contest
(an award he also won the following year for his short story
'Auspicious Occasion'). It was followed in 1985 by the Annual
Contributors' Award from the Canadian Fiction Magazine, and
afterwards, with the aid of a Canada Council grant, he left his
job to become a full-time writer.

Biography continued
His early stories were published in a number of Canadian magazines,

and his short-story collection, Tales from Firozsha Baag, was

first published in Canada in 1987 (later published in the UK in 1992).
He is the author of three novels: Such a Long Journey (1991), the
story of a Bombay bank clerk who unwittingly becomes involved in a
fraud committed by the government, which won the Commonwealth
Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book), A Fine Balance (1996),
set during the State of Emergency in India in the 1970s, and

Matters

Family

(2002), which tells the story of an elderly Parsi widower

living in Bombay with his step-children. Such a Long Journey and A
Fine Balance were both shortlisted in previous years for the Booker
Prize for Fiction, and Family Matterswas shortlisted for the 2002 Man
Booker Prize for Fiction.

His latest book is a story, The Scream, illustrated by Tony Urquhart

(2008).

Overview
This storys concern with age and mortality is reflected in the structure,

beginning with the removal of the narrators fathers white hairs and
moving to his friends fathers terminal illness.
In the space of the story the narrator has his own recognition of mortality
and emerges from boyhood into the adult world. He moves from
considering distasteful his task of removing his fathers white hairs to a
full awareness of the process of ageing which he is powerless to stop. He
begs to keep pulling the white hairs in a desperate attempt to hold time
back: p358 last paragraph. He also senses the inevitability of his life
following his parents. The dream of going to America p353/354 will not
happen. He will see his lifes dreams extinguish and the pattern of life
continue see p359.
There are several signs of this awareness of growing up and death
throughout the story: the loss of the childhood cricket matches, p355 One
by one, the things I held dear were leaving my life.; the increasing frailty
of Mamaiji, the fathers vain hope of a new job p353. It is the encounter
with his friend Viraf and Dr Sidhwa p356 and the glimpse of Virafs father
p357 which gives the narrator his epiphanic moment ( epiphany: the
moment in time when a life-changing knowledge or understanding is
gained) of the inevitability of adulthood, routines in life and death.

PLOT
Make a flow diagram of the main events of the
plot.
1. He picks hairs off his Dads head.
2. Child remembers playing cricket.
3. Grandma spinning the thread.
4. His Nan buys him dodgy food.
5. Argument between Dad and Grandma.
6. Talk of getting money / a new job.
7. Thoughts of poverty.
8. Best friend was Viraf.
9. Scene of sick father and reaction to this.

Imagery

Language Techniques
Personification sleeping streets add drama, mood, interest

and helps readers relate to the object. white hair was trapped in
the tweezers, reader imagines white hair as a symbol of aging,
and being trapped reveals we do not have any control over this
process.
guilty conscience uncontrollably
Onomatopoeia rattle rumble creates a harsh tone, caused by
a disturbance, foreshadows the aging process and death of
Virafs father. OO ooo OO ooo like an animal call.
Alliteration spindle spin descended In a thin shaft of
sunlight which had suddenly shrunk wanted to weep
(reveals his urge to cry)
EG sleeping streets what is the effect?
the compound was too cramped for cricket what is the effect?
her silence was surprising what is the effect?
time after time week after week Sunday after Sunday

Narrative Style
Who is the narrator?
14 year old boy perhaps the author? Perhaps inspired by

a boyhood memory?
What is the narrative style? 1st person point of view,

through a childs eyes how does this affect the

perspective of the story? And perspective of aging and
mortality?
What tense is the story written in?
Past tense a memory is the narrator himself old now? Aging

process is inevitable as is death.

Why is it written like this and what effect does this

have?

Emotive, factual, strong sense of being in India Indian

identity, personal. Readers looking in on someone elses memory
sense of isolation from the narrators experience.

Characters
Describe the characters of..
a) Boy
b) Dad
c) Mum
d) Mamaji

This storys concern with age and mortality is reflected in the

structure, beginning with the removal of the narrators fathers

white hairs and moving to his friends fathers terminal illness.
In the space of the story the narrator has his own recognition of
mortality and emerges from boyhood into the adult world. He
moves from considering distasteful his task of removing his fathers
white hairs to a full awareness of the process of ageing which he is
powerless to stop. He begs to keep pulling the white hairs in a
desperate attempt to hold time back: p358 last paragraph. He also
senses the inevitability of his life following his parents. The dream
of going to America p353/354 will not happen. He will see his lifes
dreams extinguish and the pattern of life continue see p359.
There are several signs of this awareness of growing up and death
throughout the story: the loss of the childhood cricket matches,
p355 One by one, the things I held dear were leaving my life.; the
increasing frailty of Mamaiji, the fathers vain hope of a new job
p353. It is the encounter with his friend Viraf and Dr Sidhwa p356
and the glimpse of Virafs father p357 which gives the narrator his
epiphanic moment ( epiphany: the moment in time when a lifechanging knowledge or understanding is gained) of the inevitability
of adulthood, routines in life and death.

SUMMARY
This storys concern with age and mortality is reflected in
the structure, beginning with the removal of the narrators
fathers white hairs and moving to what seems to be his
friends fathers terminal illness. In the space of the story
the narrator has his own recognition of mortality and
emerges from boyhood into the adult world. He moves
from considering distasteful his task of removing his
fathers white hairs to a full awareness of the process of
ageing which he is powerless to stop. There are other
signs of this process throughout the story: the loss of the
childhood cricket matches, the increasing frailty of
Mamaiji, the fathers vain hope of a new job. It is the
encounter with the friend Viraf, Dr Sidhwa and the glimpse
of Virafs father which gives the narrator his epiphanic
moment.

EXTENSION
Wider reading
This story is taken from the collection Swimming Lessons and Other
Stories. You could also try the novel Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry.
Malgudi Days by RK Narayan
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Compare with
A Horse and Two Goats by RK Narayan
To Da-duh, In Memoriam by Paule Marshall
The Enemy by VS Naipaul
Games at Twilight by Anita Desai

Online
Biographical material is available at:
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth73