Question

Which two traits can you infer about Mira in this excerpt from “Games at Twilight” by Anita Desai?

The children, too, felt released. They too began tumbling, shoving, pushing against each other, frantic to start. Start what? Start their business. The business of the children’s day which is—play.

“Let’s play hide-and-seek.”
“Who’ll be It?”
“You be It.”
“Why should I? You be——”
“You’re the eldest——”
“That doesn’t mean——”

The shoves became harder. Some kicked out. The motherly Mira intervened. She pulled the boys roughly apart. There was a tearing sound of cloth, but it was lost in the heavy panting and angry grumbling, and no one paid attention to the small sleeve hanging loosely off a shoulder.

“Make a circle, make a circle!” she shouted, firmly pulling and pushing till a kind of vague circle was formed. “Now clap!” she roared, and, clapping, they all chanted in melancholy unison: “Dip, dip, dip—my blue ship——” and every now and then one or the other saw he was safe by the way his hands fell at the crucial moment—palm on palm, or back of hand on palm—and dropped out of the circle with a yell and a jump of relief and jubilation.



Mira is more mature than the other kids in the group.



Mira is acting like a leader for the group of children.



Mira is pushing around the other kids and hoping to win the game.



Mira is arrogant and haughty and tries to disrupt the kids’ games.

Answer 1

Answer: Mira is more mature than the other kids in the group, and she is acting like a leader for the group of children.

You can gather this by seeing no ill reaction from the children when she takes charge of the group. A leader who is a bully would either have indifference or rebellion.

Answer 2

Answer: I would contend that the right answers are A) Mira is more mature than the other kids in the group and B) Mira is acting like a leader for the group of children.

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that the narrator is describing her as "motherly," and he or she relates how, anticipating a fight, Mira intervened timely and helped the children play joyfully and safely, without any complaint from their part. This indicates that she was more mature than the other children and that she acted liked a leader for them—who seemingly accepted her leadership.