the bride, and the children are blissfully unaware of the disjunction between Arjie's male gender and the traditionally feminine role until the arrival of their cousin "Her Fatness". She states, "A boy cannot be the bride. A girl must be the bride" (11). The rest of the family finds out about Arjie's activities and are horrified at the notion of him dressing up in bridal attire. "Her Fatness" is described as large and booming with masculine traits (10) throughout the scene. It is almost as if her masculinity is innocuous, whereas his femininity is a point of contention. Sexuality and gender play an important role in defining the relationships between the characters and their perceptions of one another. Marriage Marriage appears several times throughout the course of the novel, as it is something Arjie is fascinated with. In "Pigs Can't Fly", Arjie and his female cousins reenact a Sri Lankan marriage in the game of "bride-bride". Arjie assumes the most coveted role, that of the bride. The most exciting part of the game is the transformation into the bride. The draping of the white sari, allows him to "leave the constraints of [his] self and ascend into another, more brilliant, more beautiful self, a self to whom this day was dedicated" (5). Marriage serves as a source of bonding with Radha Aunty, who is due to marry Rajan Nagendra. Identity Ethnic identity As the novel is set during and at the start of the Sri Lankan civil war, the characters are impacted, and constrained, on an individual level by the tensions between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority, which includes Arjie and his family. For example, the relationship between Radha Aunty and Anil cannot progress because Anil is Sinhalese. Arjie's father foresees the difficulties of being a minority Tamil and enrolls his sons in Sinhalese language classes at school, so that future opportunities are not limited to them. Arjie's father is optimistic and is eager to see the tensions between the two ethnic groups end, and is reluctant to see that the best option for his family is to immigrate to Canada. Sexual identity Stripped to its most fundamental form, the novel documents Arjie's journey to his own sexual identity. His sexuality, while a topic of discussion for his family, is not confronted directly. Instead, he is always referred to as "funny". He recognizes that this term carries a