LESSON 1/3

OF WHITE HAIRS AND CRICKET (1987)

Rohinton Mistry (1952 - )
Rohinton Mistry was born and educated in Bombay (now Mumbai). After earning a degree in
mathematics, he emigrated with his family to Canada where he completed a degree in English and
Philosophy. He has won numerous prizes and has been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize. Most of
his stories are set in his home city of Mumbai (India) and focus on Indias working classes and diverse
populations, including Hindus, Parsis and Catholics.

Identify setting

Place

Time

Setting
Weather conditions

Mood/atmosphere

1.
Identify elements that contribute to the strong sense of place.
Real places: Bhika Behram Well, Chaupatty Beach
Farsi, Hindi vocabulary: duleendar, kuchrawalli, maidaan

Identify characters

Protagonist
the narrator

2.

Describe the main characters in the story.

The narrator:

The father:

3.

Describe the minor/supporting characters in the story.

Mamaiji:

Viraf:

Analyse plot structure of Of White Hairs and Cricket

4.

Enter the elements of the plot into the appropriate boxes and identify the narrative structure.

5.

What is the nature of the main conflict at the heart of the story?

Climax

Falling action events

Conflict

Rising action events

Resolution/Denouement

Exposition/Introduction

LESSON 2 /3

OF WHITE HAIRS AND CRICKET (1987)

Identify narrative perspective / point of view
1.

What is the narrative perspective of the story?

Analyze the beginning of the story

Read the opening paragraphs of the story.

The white hair was trapped in the tweezers. I pulled it taut to see if it was
gripped tightly, then plucked it.
Aaah! grimaced Daddy. Careful, only one at a time. He continued to read
The Times of India, spreading it on the table.
It is only one, I said, holding out the tweezers, but my annoyance did not
register. Engrossed in the classifieds, he barely looked my way. The naked bulb
overhead glanced off the stainless steel tweezers, making a splotch of light dart across
the Murphy Radio calendar. It danced over the cherubic features of the Murphy
Baby, in step with the tweezers progress on Daddys scalp. He sighed, turned a page,
and went on scrutinizing the columns.
Each Sunday, the elimination of white hairs took longer than last time. Im
sure Daddy noticed it too, but joked bravely that laziness was slowing me down.
Percy was always excused this task. And if I pointed it out, the answer was: your
brothers college studies are more important.

2.

How does the opening paragraph prepare the reader for what is to come?

Comprehension Questions.
3. What activities did the narrator use to enjoy with his father? Why have these activities
stopped?

4. What household appliances does the father dream of buying? Why?

5. Why is the narrator not keen on the idea of a new gas stove?

6. What is the significance of the references to looking at the stars?

7. What quality did the father value and instill in his son? Suggest how this might affect
the fathers own approach to life.

8. What does the detailed description of the neighborhood add to the story?

9. Why does the narrator leave Virafs apartment without playing the games he wanted?

10. When he returns home, why is the narrator unable to start plucking his fathers white
hairs again?

11. Suggest reasons why the father does not ask the narrator to continue plucking the hairs
when he returns to the apartment.

Analyze the ending of the story

Read the final paragraph of the story.
I heard the sound of running water. Daddy was preparing to shave. I wanted to
go and watch him, talk to him, laugh with him at the funny faces he made to get at all
the tricky places with the razor, especially the cleft in his chin.
Instead I threw myself on the bed. I felt like crying, and buried my face in the
pillow. I wanted to cry for the way I had treated Viraf, and for his sick father with the
long, cold needle in his arm and his rasping breath; for Mamaiji and her tired darkened
eyes spinning thread for our kustis, and for Mummy growing old in the dingy kitchen
smelling of kerosene, where the Primus roared and her dreams were extinguished; I
wanted to weep for myself, for not being able to hug Daddy when I wanted to, and for
not ever saying thank you for cricket in the morning, and pigeons and bicycles and
dreams; and for all the white hairs I was powerless to stop.

12.

Comment on the ending of the story.

LESSON 3/3

OF WHITE HAIRS AND CRICKET (1987)

Identify theme
1.
What is the central theme of the story? Justify your answer. Is the theme explicit or
implicit? (Students answers may vary but will likely be similar to the given responses.)

2.

Write a theme statement for the central theme.

3.

Identify other themes presented in this story.

Identify and interpret symbols

4.

5.

Identify symbols in the story and suggest an interpretation.

the fathers white hairs

removing the fathers

white hairs
cricket

rotating objects

the calendars on the

apartment wall

What does the use of symbols add to the story?

Analyze language / diction / figures of speech / tone

6.
Read paragraph 5 on page 350. Select words which show the characters attitude
towards events and explain their effect.
Daddy relied on my nimble fourteen-year-old fingers to uproot the signposts of
mortality sprouting week after week. It was unappetizing work, combing through his hair
greasy with day-old-pomade, isolating the white ones, or the ones just beginning to turn
half black and half white, and somehow more repulsive. It was always difficult to decide
whether to remove those or let them go till next Sunday, when the whiteness would have
spread upward to their tips.

7.

What is the tone of the passage above? What is the overall tone of the story?

Identify techniques
Simile/metaphor
8.

Identify similes and metaphors from the story.

Simile

Metaphor

Extended metaphor

Personification
9.

Identify examples of personification in this sentence and explain their effect.

There was a long needle stuck into his right arm, and it glinted cruelly in a thin shaft of sunlight
that had suddenly slunk inside the darkened room.

Flashback
10

Identify examples of flashback in the story.

Identify genre
11.

What is the genre of the story?