Critical Appreciation of the Story A Face in the Dark
Introduction
The story entitled A Face in the Dark has been extracted from Ruskin’s short story collection Face in the Dark and Other Hauntings. A Face in the Dark is the opening story of this collection. The anthology of Bond’s paranormal tales written over five decades, was published in August 2009. The title aptly suggests that the stories are not just haunted but haunting.
They do not frighten but often unsettle in a lyrical and quietly touching way. The present story is a supernatural story which depicts the two uncanny experiences of Mr. Oliver, a teacher of an English Public School in Simla. It is the creation of his own mind. His mind is so gripped with fear that he fancies that the watchman whom he meets has no eyes, no ears, no features at all-not even an eye brow.
Plot of the Story
Exposition: The story revolves around Mr. Oliver, an Anglo-Indian teacher. Once he visits the Simla Bazaar and spends an evening there. The Simla Bazaar is about three miles from his school. While returning to his school it grows very dark and he takes a shortcut through the pine trees.
Rising Action: As Oliver moves fitfully down the path, he sees the figure of a boy in the light of the torch. He finds him sitting alone on a rock with his head held between his hands and sobbing silently. He asks the boy why he is sitting there as it is not allowed for the boys to move out of the school. The boy says nothing, still sobbing strangely. Mr. Oliver asks him to lift his face up and when the boy lifts his face, Oliver finds 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.
Climax: Oliver gets frightened and the torch falls down from his trembling hand. He seems to be so much terrified that he begins to run towards his school and calls for help. He stumbles up to the watchman gasping for breath. He tells the watchman that he has seen something horrible i.e., a boy who has no eyes, ears, or any other features on his face. Then, raising the lantern up to his head, the watchman asks him if the boy’s face looks like this. Mr. Oliver sees his face, no eyes, no ears and no featuers. At that moment the wind blows and puts the lamp out.
Falling Action/Denouement:
The story ends with a sense of ambiguity, making the readers ponder over the question whether it were ghosts which Oliver encountered or whether it was a prank played upon him by a mischievous student or he might have fallen a prey to hallucination.
Moral of the Story: On one level, the story can be read as a paranormal one with the faceless boy and watchman as two ghostly figures haunting the protagonist Mr. Oliver. On a deeper level, it can be read as unraveling the mysteries of human experience. Ruskin Bond believes that no matter how rational a person is, there is always an element of superstition in his mental make up. Through the story the author asserts that even people powerful and non-believers of evil spirits go blank or have their attack when confronted by strange and horrible situations.
Setting of the Story :
The setting of the story is simply fantastic. As usual like other Ruskin Bond stories, this story A Face in the Dark’ is also set in the hill station and a small town in the foot hills of the Himalayas, away from the urban setting, on the outskirts of the hill-station of Simla rather three miles away from it to be precise. In accordance with the spirit of the story, the author has skilfully created a spectral atmosphere. It was night time. The wind was blowing strongly. Pine trees were making mysterious sad sounds indicating that something evil was likely to happen. The batteries of Oliver’s torch were running down, creating an atmosphere of fear and suspense.
An Atmosphere of Sypernaturalism and Strangeness :
An atmosphere of mystery, supernaturalism and strangeness is seen pervading the whole story. The story is set in pine wood 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 comes across a weeping boy who lifts his face, which is not a face but a flat something without eyes, nose or mouth. Mr. Oliver runs only to bump into watchman who again has a face like that of the faceless boy. All this makes the story supernatural.
Then there is an atmosphere of strangeness which has been created by the author by using the most appropriate and suggestive words in the story. The words in the line ‘when there was a strong wind, the pine trees made sad, eerie sounds that kept most people to the main road’, create an atmosphere of strangeness.
Appropriateness of the Title :
The title of the story A Face in the Dark is quite appropriate. It revolves around Mr. Oliver and the face of the boy in the dark. Mr. Oliver who goes back to his school at night through the pine wood, sees a boy sitting on a rock, with his head hung down and holding his face in his hands and crying. On Oliver’s request, the boy raises his head. As the light from Oliver’s torch falls on his face, Oliver feels horrified to see that he does not have a face—no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. Calling for help, he runs from there and bumps into watchman. When the watchman asks him the reason of running so fast, Oliver tells him about the faceless boy he has met on the way. Then, the watchman holds the lantern to his own face and asks him if the boy was like him, without a face. Suddenly the wind blows out the lamp, suggesting that something strange might have happened to Oliver.
In this way, we see that the boy and the watchman who appear before Oliver having a face in the dark, do not have a face when seen in light. Hence the title is fully justified.
Ironical Element in the Story:
Though it is said about Oliver that he is not ‘a nervous or imaginative man’, it is possible that out of his fear, anxiety or loneliness he might really be imagining some strange things. It is ironical that Oliver gets to see the ‘face in the dark’, and when the torch light falls on the boy he is rendered faceless without any nose, mouth, eyes or ears. Till the time he is not aware of the reality, he has concern for the boy. A moment later, the strange scene frightens him and he runs to save his life.
Technique of Narration:
The Author follows the style of a third person narration which makes the story even more mysterious. He has created an eerie atmosphere in the story by mentioning the mysterious sad sounds of pine trees, indicating that something evil was to happen. He has focussed on the details which are necessary for creating fear and suspense in the story: like Mr. Oliver was a bachelor and not a nervous or imaginative man and he used to stroll daily through the pine forest at night on his way back from the Simla Bazaar to his school.
The Use of Imagery:
The images used in the story create a mysterious atmosphere which befits a ghost story. The author describes the dark and windy night. With strong wind, the pine trees produce sad, eerie sounds. It is utter darkness in the forest. There is no light except from Mr. Oliver torch, the batteries of which are running down. Then the author describes a lantern swinging in the middle of the path. The torch and lantern which are only source of light in the utter darkness, create horror by bringing to light the ‘featureless faces’ of the boy and the watchman.
The Use of Figures of Speech:
Figures of speech like personification, alliteration and metaphor have been used to make the story ornamental.
- ‘….. the pine-trees made sad, eerie sound ’ (Personification)
(In the story, the pine trees have been endowed with the human quality of making sad, eerie sounds). - ‘head hung down. ’ (Alliteration)
- ‘Silent sobbing’ (Alliteration)
- ‘Life magazine, in a feature on India, had once called it the Eton of the East. ’ (Metaphor)
(The school in which Mr. Oliver was teaching, has been said to be described by Life magazine as ‘Eton of the East’. Here a comparison has been made between Eton College, one of England’s most elite public schools, founded by Henry VI in 1440 and the school in Shimla in which Mr. Oliver was teaching).
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