Social Hierarchy Theme Analysis

While Desai introduces the story’s central group of children as a kind of monolith when they are initially cooped up in their home, as soon as they start to play hide and seek outside and moderate themselves, each child takes on different roles within their group. As the dynamics among them are clarified, Desai illustrates how the group of children exhibit a strict social hierarchy that is difficult to transcend. Desai demonstrates how social politics begin even in childhood, and how the dynamics of children’s games can both reinforce that social hierarchy and reflect how rigid it is.

Desai sets up a social structure that the children follow from small descriptions of the kids, illustrating how size and age are integral to a child’s role within their group. Desai’s description of Raghu, who is the oldest, presents him as a kind of alpha male. Desai writes that other children are no match against “Raghu’s long, hefty, hairy footballer legs.” Raghu is picked as the “It,” or the seeker of the group, and he intimidates and catches the other children. Thus, the game reinforces his role as a predatory top dog. The game also reinforces another child’s role in the social hierarchy: Mira. She is described as “motherly,” and when the boys begin to fight over who will be chosen as “It,” she determines the means by which they will choose the person to become “It.” Thus, the game brings out characteristics in her that reinforce her role as the mother of the group. Mira and Raghu are contrasted with Manu, who is described as “small” and uncertain of where to hide. He is immediately found by Raghu and starts to cry over losing—again, Desai exhibits how the structures in place within their group are reinforced by the game, because older children are shown to be dominant over younger ones.

Ravi, the story’s central figure, also understands his place in the social hierarchy as one of the younger members. Due to this, however, his win is easily dismissed, illustrating how difficult it is to for a younger child like Ravi to gain the kind of status that will allow him to rise above his accepted place in the group. Desai quickly establishes Ravi as one of the younger children. In contrast to Raghu’s athleticism and long legs, Desai writes that Ravi doesn’t have “much faith in his short legs.” When he encounters a locked garage, he laments that he isn’t tall enough to reach the key so that he can unlock it. These descriptions set up Ravi as an underdog and help to emphasize his deep desire to flip the dynamic. Ravi instead finds another place to hide: a locked shed into which only he is small enough to wriggle. This fuels his desire to win against “older, bigger, luckier children,” as he has an opportunity to subvert their rigid social hierarchy. Yet the end of the game does not afford Ravi this chance. After what feels like hours to him, he emerges from the dark shed sobbing over having waited so long. He then declares himself the winner, only to discover that the other children have forgotten about him. Seeing him so upset, Raghu tells him not to be a “fool” and pushes him aside. Mira tells him to stop howling and says that if he wants to play the game they are currently playing, he can go to the end of the line—she places him there “firmly.” Despite the fact Ravi won the game, the roles are exactly as they were prior to the start, emphasizing the insurmountable rigidity of social hierarchies.

Even though Ravi is able to win the game of hide and seek, his victory is hollow because the other children grant him so little credit for it. Thus, Desai illustrates how children’s status within a group is clear and relatively immutable. While games can appear to afford children opportunities to change that status, in reality they mostly end up reinforcing the hierarchy that already existed.