Save Me a Seat

Ravi is one of two main characters in the novel. He is a fifth grader who has just moved from Bangalore, India to Hamilton, New Jersey because of his father’s IT job. Ravi is an only child and lives with his parents and his paternal grandparents in a single house. According to Joe, Ravi is “a shrimpy-looking kid with thick glasses and greased-down black hair parted to the side […] He seems kind of nervous too. He keeps rubbing his nose and looking down at his hands, which are folded in his lap like he’s in church or something” (14-15). Ravi is noticeably different from the other kids at his new school, namely because he is very well-dressed and respectful of adults. This is a cultural difference that is indicative of Ravi’s schooling in India, during which his teachers were much more draconian in their discipline and expected the utmost deference in terms of their pupils’ behaviors. Ravi is also very respectful of his parents, although he has a closer relationship with his mom, who frequently makes his favorite food. Ravi is the shining sun of his parents’ lives, although the pressure to succeed eventually causes him problems.