Universality of Children

One of the things I enjoyed most about Swami and Friends was the universal quality that a lot of the characteristics and actions displayed in the novel have with children across the world. For me personally, I found that a lot of the things Swami did or said were things I myself did or said in my own childhood. In fact, I took them to be Narayan's way of pointing out the similarities in children around the world unencompassed by the idea of race or social status. For example, when we see Swami walking past the younger children's classrooms and trying to feel superior, that idea of wanting to have authority/wanting to feel superior is something I think cuts across the book into the realities of childrens' emotions. Similarly, we might see this universal quality in the group tactics, and the way Swami's friends get upset when he starts following Rajam around so closely.