Previous
Daryl Uncle
The cruel, traditionalist principal of Victoria Academy. Universally feared by the students, Black Tie is often seen wearing an old-school British colonial outfit, overlooking Victoria Academy from the balcony next to his office. When a lock of Shehan’s hair falls out of place, Black Tie gives Shehan a rudimentary haircut and punishes him endlessly along with the other students he deems the “future ills and burdens of Sri Lanka.” A proponent of keeping the school multiethnic, Black Tie faces a challenge from Mr. Lokubandara, who wants to take his job. To help keep his power, Black Tie organizes a ceremony for a prominent politician and enlists Arjie to recite two of his favorite poems at this ceremony. When Arjie messes up the poems’ words, Black Tie canes both him and Shehan, and he eventually forces them to kneel outside on the balcony for hours for the same reason. Arjie eventually decides to purposefully botch the poems he is to recite during the ceremony in order to ensure that Black Tie loses his job and Shehan is no longer senselessly punished with the “ills and burdens.”
Black Tie Quotes in Funny Boy
The Funny Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Black Tie or refer to Black Tie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
5. The Best School of All
Quotes
I felt bitter at the thought that the students he punished were probably the least deserving. They were the ones who had broken his rules—no blinking, no licking of lips, no long hair—a code that was unfair. Right and wrong, fair and unfair had nothing to do with how things really were. I thought of Shehan and myself. What had happened between us in the garage was not wrong. For how could loving Shehan be bad? Yet if my parents or anybody else discovered this love, I would be in terrible trouble. I thought of how unfair this was and I was reminded of things I had seen happen to other people, like Jegan, or even Radha Aunty, who, in their own way, had experienced injustice. How was it that some people got to decide what was correct or not, just or unjust? It had to do with who was in charge; everything had to do with who held power and who didn’t.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Black Tie needed me, and because he needed me, power had moved into my hands.
I looked at Black Tie and realized that any fear of him had disappeared.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Funny Boy LitChart as a printable PDF.
Black Tie Quotes in Funny Boy
The Funny Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Black Tie or refer to Black Tie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
5. The Best School of All
Quotes
I felt bitter at the thought that the students he punished were probably the least deserving. They were the ones who had broken his rules—no blinking, no licking of lips, no long hair—a code that was unfair. Right and wrong, fair and unfair had nothing to do with how things really were. I thought of Shehan and myself. What had happened between us in the garage was not wrong. For how could loving Shehan be bad? Yet if my parents or anybody else discovered this love, I would be in terrible trouble. I thought of how unfair this was and I was reminded of things I had seen happen to other people, like Jegan, or even Radha Aunty, who, in their own way, had experienced injustice. How was it that some people got to decide what was correct or not, just or unjust? It had to do with who was in charge; everything had to do with who held power and who didn’t.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Black Tie needed me, and because he needed me, power had moved into my hands.
I looked at Black Tie and realized that any fear of him had disappeared.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
