The Red Ball

1
The Red Ball

• By Ismith Khan

2
Main Points

1. Bolan - a fish out of water
2. Tunapuna - where he really belonged
3. Woodford Square - a place of safety
4. Cricket - gives him power and success
5. A secret world - Bolans fantasy
6. His father - a broken, depressed man
7. His mother - looks after Bolan
8. Poverty - it all comes down to money

3
Bolan

• A fish out of water
• Tunapuna boy from the sugarcane fields
• Quiet and incommunicative
• jerked his shoulders up and down in an
  indefinite gesture
• In tune with nature
• like a small animal scenting the wind with his
  nostrils

4
Tunapuna

• His mind escapes
• his mind didrun away to the smells and sounds
  of Tunapuna.
• His memory is triggered
• he felt as though he were back in Tunapuna,
  before they moved.
• Happy days (contrast)
• Tunapuna, where a nip of rum meant that it was
  a holiday or a celebration and there was laughter
  all around.
• whereas now his father gargled the rum as though
  he were rinsing out his mouth

5
Woodford Square

• A haven/cocoon of safety
• a strange brooding quiet, not of loneliness
• the only place in the citywhere people were not
  chasing him down.
• The fountain
• he sat in the fountain with his long legs
  dangling in the water, the spray falling on his
  face
• The statues
• he held his cheek close to the small breast of
  one of the smiling womenand she seemed to smile.

6
Cricket

• Success and power
• the touch of this ball, its rough texture
  between his fingers, its very colour, gave him a
  feeling of power
• The boy was to be their star bowler from now.
• Happiness and excitement
• a wide smile on his face such as they had never
  seen before
• He began running towards them, filled with an
  excitement such as he had never felt before.
• Sense of belonging
• The boy was pleased beyond words that they had
  not started the game without him.

7
A Secret World

• School
• the teacher had pierced deep into him and
  discovered a secret he kept from everyone else.
• Fireflies
• he his his phial of fireflies under the straw
  mat on which he slept
• Family Tension
• he had felt suddenly released from that
  feeling, now it was upon him again, clinging to
  his eyebrows and eyelashes likeinvisible
  cobwebs.

8
His Father

• His smell
• cut grasscigarettesand rum
• Exhausted
• he stretched his limbs with a sigh of relief
  and tiredness
• I too tired to argue with you
• Depressed and anxious
• He let his hair grow on his head and face unless
  they were going to Tunapuna
• he would press his jaw together and make a
  terrible grimace, then swallow hard before he
  spoke again.
• his eyeballs were dancing in a frenzy under his
  closed eyelids.

9
His Mother

• Protects Bolan physically
• he felt as if he had held his mother in front of
  him as a sort of shield to save himself from a
  rain of blows.
• Shemixed some salt in a cup of water and made
  him drink it down
• Protects Bolan emotionally
• he is not a thief, he just take the money to
  buy something
• you done and kill the half of this boy that is
  you half
• Understands Bolan (and empathises)
• When she saw the ball, she knew that they had
  finally asked him to play

10
Poverty

• Physical deprivation
• the kerosene lamp and the straw mat on which
  he slept
• the ajoupa hut and two cows they left behind
• the straight pin which kept his shirt front
  closed
• used tennis balls whichhad lost their bounce
  and elasticity
• Fathers loss of dignity
• It look as if everything goin up since we come
  to live in town.
• so I could go and do the white people work
  tomorrow
• Lack of savings
• she too felt that there should be more in the
  cigarette tin