Funny Boy

First published in 1994, Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai won critical acclaim for its portrayal of a young man’s coming of age as a gay Sri Lankan during the civil war crisis. It won a Lambda Literary Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award and tackles navigating sexuality, class partisanship, and emigration.

Plot Summary

Funny Boy narrates the tale of young Arjie (Arjun) Chelvaratnam, a “funny” boy growing up in an upper-middle-class Sri Lankan home at the cusp of the country’s bloody civil war in the 1980s. “Funny” is a coded word that the adults use to describe Arjie, who stands out from his male peers because he likes traditionally feminine activities like playing dress-up and reading books like Little Women; he also scorns stereotypically masculine activities like cricket.

The tension between Arjie as a gay young adult and the conservative society that does not accept him unfolds throughout the course of the book. His sibling, Diggy, and the other boys mock him for being too feminine, and his father forces him into a harsh new school to toughen him up. The school’s principal cruelly metes out punishments for minor infractions, and Arjie must make an impossible choice as a result.

As he grows older, Arjie becomes more aware of his growing attraction to men. Arjie is torn between his desire and the shame fostered by his conservative society. Although Arjie does have mentors and friends who accept him as he is, such as Radha Aunty and Jegan, these people ultimately leave him. The only true friend that Arjie has is his lover, Shehan, through whom Arjie learns to embrace his own sexuality as a gay boy. However, due to the increasing violence of Sri Lanka’s civil war, it is Arjie who must leave Shehan, and Sri Lanka altogether, to flee the country as a refugee with the rest of his family.

Arjie’s personal and familial conflicts unfold against a backdrop of the civil war between two ethnic groups in Sri Lanka: the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamil, whom the Sinhalese have oppressed. The two ethnic groups have different religions and speak different languages. Tension has been brewing between the two groups ever since the government made Sinhala the official national language. Now, some Tamils have formed a group called the Tamil Tigers to call for a separate state, leading to a civil war between the Sinhalese government and the rebel Tamil Tigers.

Ordinary Tamils like Arjie’s family are trapped between these two forces, and the violence gradually escalates, leading to the death of Arjie’s mother’s lover, Daryl Uncle, and the ostracization of Jegen Uncle, who was once associated with the Tigers. The book jockeys back and forth between those like Arjie’s father, who would rather wait out the storm and not upset the delicate balance of power between Tamils and Sinhalese, and those like Jegen Uncle and Arjie’s mother, who would rather confront injustice head-on. Ultimately, the war catches up with the family, and their privilege and wealth can no longer protect them. They are forced to flee, relying on the help of their Sinhalese friends until they can make their way to a new, uncertain life in Canada.