A face in the dark

- CHANDAN KUMAVAT
A FACE IN THE DARK

Even from an early age he was known for his versatile talents. Over the years, Bond
has gained immense popularity for his literary works and is a much loved writer,
both nationally and internationally. The author had written his first novel, The
Room on the Roof at the tender age of seventeen. It was later published in the year
1956. He received the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards for his contribution
in the field of children’s literature.
Ruskin Bond once made a very quirky statement, saying, “I don’t believe in ghosts,
but I see them all the time.” This witty statement has been widely appreciated and
quoted by his readers. In fact the story, A face in the Dark has a similar outline
where the idea of fear and control over fear gets blurred in the strangeness of one
dark night.

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SCHOOL- CHANDAN KUMAVAT
Mr. Oliver, an Anglo-Indian teacher, was returning to his school
late one night on the outskirts of the hill station of Shimla. From
before Kipling's time, the school had been run on English public
school lines and the boys, most of them from wealthy Indian
families – wore blazers, caps and ties. “Life” magazine, in a
feature on India, had once called this school the Eton of the East.
Mr. Oliver had been teaching in this school for several years. The
Shimla Bazaar, with its cinemas and restaurants, was about three
miles from the school; and Mr. Oliver, a bachelor, usually strolled
into the town in the evening returning after dark, when he would
take short cut through a pine forest.

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When there was a strong wind, the pine trees made sad, eerie
sounds that kept most people to the main road. But Mr. Oliver
was not a nervous or imaginative man. He carried a torch and its
gleam, the batteries were running down – moved fitfully over the
narrow forest path. When its flickering light fell on the figure of a
boy, who was sitting alone on a rock, Mr. Oliver stopped. Boys
were not supposed to be out of school after dark.

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What are you doing out here, boy,? asked Mr. Oliver sharply,
moving closer so that he could recognize the miscreant. ‘But even
as he approached the boy, Mr. Oliver sensed that something was
wrong. The boy appeared to be crying. His head hung down, he
held his face in his hands, and his body shook convulsively. It was
a strange, soundless weeping, and Mr. Oliver felt distinctly
uneasy.

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Well, what’s the matter, he asked, his anger giving way to concern. What are
you crying for? The boy would not answer or look up. His body continued to
be wracked with silent sobbing.
Oh, come on, boy. You shouldn’t be out
here at this hour. Tell me the trouble.
Look up.
The boy looked up. He took his hands from his face and looked up at his
teacher. The light from Mr. Oliver’s torch fell on the boy’s face, if you could
call it a face.

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It had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round smooth
head with a school cap on top of it.
And that’s where the story should end, as indeed it has for several
people who have had similar experiences and dropped dead of
inexplicable heart attacks. But for Mr. Oliver, it did not end there.

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The torch fell from his trembling hand.
He turned and scrambled down the path,
running blindly through the trees.
calling for help. He was still running
towards the school buildings when he saw a lantern swinging in
the middle of the path. Mr. Oliver had never before been so
pleased to see the night watchman. He stumbled up to the
watchman, gasping for breath and speaking incoherently.
What is it, Sahib? Asked the watchman, has there been an
accident? Why are you running?

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‘I saw something- something horrible- a boy weeping in the forest
-and he had no face!’
‘No face, Sahib?’
‘No eyes, no nose, mouth, nothing’.
‘Do you mean it was like this, Sahib?
‘asked the watchman, and raised the lamp to his own face. The
watchman had no eyes, no ears, no features at all, not even an
eyebrow.

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The wind blew the lamp out

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A Face in the Dark Theme
The story ‘A Face in the Dark’ contains elements of mystery, strangeness and
supernaturalism. But the writer makes the supernatural look natural by his
artistic skill. It is set in the pine forest outside Simla, a hill resort of
Himachal Pradesh. It revolves around an Anglo-Indian teacher named Mr
Oliver.
Mr Oliver has a strange experience while he is passing through a pine forest
at night. He sees the figure of a boy in the light of a torch. He stops because
he thinks that boys are not supposed to be out after dark. He moves closer to
the figure in order to recognize him. The boy appears to be crying. It is a
strange soundless weeping. Mr Oliver feels uneasy. He becomes tense and
gets upset. He asks him why he is crying. The boy neither answers nor looks
up.

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Mr Oliver again asks him to look up. When he looks up, Mr Oliver
sees that the boy has no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It is just a
round, smooth head – with a school cap on top of it. He gets
frightened and runs towards the school building. His mind is
gripped with fear. Everything there appears to be strange,
mysterious and supernatural. Mr Oliver stumbles up to the
watchman gasping for breath. He is frightened when he finds that
the watchman has also no eyes, no ears, no features at all – not
even an eyebrow. All this makes the story mysterious, strange
and supernatural. But Ruskin Bond’s supernatural is neither
frightening nor horrifying.

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A Face in the Dark Title
The title of the story ‘A Face in the Dark’ is apt because the story revolves around
Mr Oliver and the face of the boy in the dark. Mr Oliver has a strange experience
while he is passing through a pine forest at night. He sees the figure of a boy sitting
alone on a rock. He goes closer to recognize the face of the boy.
The boy appears to be crying. Mr Oliver asks him to look up. When he looks up, Mr
Oliver is surprised to find that it has no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It is just a round,
smooth head – with a school cap on top of it. He gets frightened and the torch falls
from his trembling hand. He runs towards the school building and cries for help. He
is gripped with fear. So it is the face of the boy in the dark that frightens Mr Oliver.
So the title ‘A Face in the Dark’ is very apt.

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A Face in the Dark Message
In this story ‘A Face in the Dark’, the writer creates an atmosphere of
mystery, strangeness and supematuralism. But the writer makes the
supernatural look natural by his artistic skill. The story is set in a pine
forest outside Simla. Mr Oliver, an Anglo-Indian teacher, dares to
walk through the pine forest on his way back to the school after an
evening at Simla Bazaar. He carries a torch with him. While walking
through the narrow forest path, he comes across a weeping boy who
lifts his face which is not a face but a flat something without eyes,
nose or mouth.

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He gets frightened and the torch falls from his hand. He turns
and runs towards the school building. He cries for help. He
stumbles up to the watchman gasping for breath. He tells the
watchman that he has seen something horrible — a boy weeping
in the forest, and he has no face. He has no eyes, no ears, no
features at all. He is gripped with fear when he finds that the
watchman has no eyes, no ears, no features at all — not even an
eyebrow. All this makes the atmosphere supernatural.
The addition of the words, like ‘sad, eerie sounds’, ‘shook
convulsively’, ‘reached with silent sobbing’ creates a strange and
supernatural atmosphere

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A Face in the Dark Character Sketch
MR OLIVER
 an Anglo-Indian teacher near Simla
 a bachelor
 takes a shortcut through the pine forest
 carries a torch with him
 gets frightened
 fancies that the boy has no eyes, ears, nose or mouth
 gripped with fear
 torch falls from his trembling hand
 strange and mysterious atmosphere makes him tense
 perhaps perhaps fancies that the watchman has no eyes, no
ears, no features at all

A face in the dark

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