A FACE IN THE DARK SUMMARY

In the story, Mr. Oliver, the protagonist, is an Anglo Indian teacher in the English
Public School at Shimla, which is three miles distance from the Shimla Bazaar. The
school is often referred as ‘Eton of the East’, because its name is synonymous
with quality elite education. Mr. Oliver is a rational and mentally strong person.
He does not easily give away to nervousness and imagination. He usually goes out
after school to the Shimla market and returns back in the evening.

One day while, Mr. Oliver was returning from Shimla, it got quite late and he
decides to take a short cut through the pine forests. Carrying his torch he moves
on briskly. Suddenly he comes across a weeping boy who was sitting with his
hands covering his face. As per his duty as a teacher, he asked the child the
reason for crying. Getting closer, he repeats the question. The boy lifted his face
and the teacher fills with horror to find that the boy had no features, no eyes, no
mouth. Terror-stricken, Mr. Oliver runs towards his school. On the way he
encounters a watchman swinging a lantern.

On seeing him running, the watchman asks him what the reason was. Mr. Oliver
tells him that he saw a boy with no face. The watchman then asks him if the boy
looked like his and he raises his lantern to his face. To Mr. Oliver’s horror, the
watchman too had no face, no eyes, no ears and no features. That moment the
wind blew and the lamp went out. The story ends with a sense of ambiguity,
leaving the readers to think whether it were actually ghosts or some prank played
upon the teacher by his students.

A Face in the Dark Summary Word Meanings :

1. Outskirts : Border of a city or town

2. Eerie : Strange and mysterious
3. Strolled : To walk slowly and relaxingly
4. Imaginative : Having the ability to think of new and interesting ideas
5. Fitfully : Not regular or steady
6. Flickering : To burn or glow unsteadily
7. Miscreant : A person who does something illegal or morally wrong
8. Convulsively : . Fitfully; causing the entire body to shake
9. Distinctly : Noticeably
10. Scrambled : Moved with urgency or panic
11. Stumbled : To trip in walking or running
12. Gasping : Breathing with difficulty

MORAL OF STORY
It is a philosophical exposition of how often a person gets scared and is consumed
by fear when he meets or encounters someone who is different and unfamiliar.
The horrors of xenophobia, racism etc are examples of such fear manifesting itself
in worst ways.

Bond wants people to develop a sense of patience and calm when dealing with
people of diverse appearances, behaviours, beliefs etc. Such understanding will
help us to look deeper into them and develop a mutual understanding.

Only if we can allow room for understanding we will discover that we are all the
same deep inside, at our core. The story also explains that isolation and
disconnected living is unhealthy WHEN IT COMES TO HUMAN BEINGS AND THEIR SOCIETY.

QUESTION AND ANSWERS

1. Describe Mr. Oliver’s encounter with the boy and his reaction?
In Ruskin Bond’s short story “A Face in the Dark”, Mr. Oliver’s encounter with a boy and
later on with the watchman both of whom had a ’round smooth head’ with no features
at all constitutes the entire plot of the story. Like other days, Mr. Oliver, an Anglo-Indian
teacher at a English public school at Simla was returning back to school from the Simla
Bazaar one night. He was walking down the narrow path through a pine forest all alone
while other people used to avoid this lonely path due to the eerie sounds made by the
pine trees in strong wind. He was carrying a torch but the batteries were running down.
Suddenly, the flickering light of his torch fell on the figure of a boy who was sitting on a
rock all alone.

Mr. Oliver was seemingly angry at the boy as he was not supposed to be out after dark
and it was against the rules of the school. So, Oliver threw a sharp question at him:
What are you doing out here, boy?

When Oliver came closer to the boy to recognize him, he sensed that something was
wrong. The boy was apparently crying. He hung his head down and held his face in his
hands. The boy was weeping, but strangely enough, silently when ‘his body shook
convulsively’.

Mr. Oliver’s anger now turned into concern and he threw more questions at the boy:

Well, what’s the matter?

What are you crying for?

There was no answer from the boy, as he continued his ‘silent sobbing’. Now, Mr. Oliver
asked him to look up and come with him as he should not be out there at that hour. But
the moment the boy looked up to his teacher and removed his hands from his face, it
was a complete horror for Mr. Oliver. He saw in the faint light of his torch that the boy
had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round smooth head.

As for the reaction, Mr. Oliver got so terrified at the sight of this strange face, if it could
be called a face at all, his torch fell from his trembling hand and he started running
towards the school building calling for help, only to encounter another similar
paranormal figure on his way.

2. What happened to the teacher Mr. Oliver in Ruskin Bond’s short story “A Face in the
Dark”?

Ruskin Bond’s story ends when Mr. Oliver sees in the light of the lantern that the
watchman too has no eyes, no ears, no features at all — not even the eyebrows. Then
the wind blew the lamp out.

The author leaves it to the readers to imagine further. Mr. Oliver might have gone
senseless after those horrible scenes he had seen. Again, one may argue that he was a
man with a strong heart, since he used to walk alone through the narrow forest path
and he did not faint after seeing the boy with no eyes and no ears. In that case, Mr.
Oliver would start running again in the opposite direction. The readers have the
freedom to think it the way they like.

It is not only about the ending, but also the essential theme of the story which the
author does not clarify. Readers are caught in the middle of a riddle whether it is just
another horror story, or it has some deeper meaning referring to the psychological
sphere of human beings. And this undecidedness is the characteristic feature of
postmodern literature.

3. In Ruskin Bond’s story “A Face in the Dark”, why was the school called “Eton of the
East”?

Eton College is a prestigious independent English boarding school for boys in Berkshire,
England, established in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is called Eton of the east because the
school is in East as India is in East. The school is in shimla which is in India. This school is
very expensive. That’s why in Life magazine it’s referred as Eton of the East just like the
boarding college of Eton in West.

4. Comment on the appropriateness of the title ‘A Face in the Dark

The title of the story ‘A Face in the Dark’ is appropriate 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 a 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 asked him to look up, and is surprised to find 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 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 that
frightens Mr Oliver. So the title ‘The Face in the Dark’ is appropriate.

5. How has the author created an eerie atmosphere in the story “A Face
in the Dark”?
Some of the words that help him create an atmosphere of eeriness, suspense and
mystery are —

• returning to his school late one night

• strong wind
• sad, eerie sounds that kept most people to the main road
• the batteries were running down
• moved fitfully down the narrow forest path
• flickering light fell in the figure of a boy
• sitting alone on a rock
• sensed that something was wrong
• head hung down
 • body shook convulsively
• strange soundless weeping
• racked with silent sobbing
• a round smooth head
• torch fell from his trembling hand
• running blindly through the trees
• lantern swinging in the middle of the path
• wind blew the lamp out etc.

To come to the clever narrative technique, the author first introduces the boy and even
the watchman as if it was a normal happening and then starts to unfold the mystery by
giving us a hint — ‘Mr. Oliver sensed that something was wrong’ — and finally gives the
jerks bringing forth the faces without features. All these techniques are employed
deliberately by the author to make “A Face in the Dark” a great supernatural story.

Passage 1

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

Mr. Oliver, an Anglo-Indian teacher, was returning to his school late one night on the outskirts
of the hill station of Shimla. The school was conducted on English public school lines and the
boys – most of them from well-to-do 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. He’s no longer there. The Shimla
Bazaar, with its cinemas and restaurants, was about two 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.

Question 1.
Who was Mr Oliver? Where was he working?
Answer:
Mr Oliver was an Anglo Indian teacher. He was a bachelor and worked in a English medium
school located on the outskirts of Simla.

Question 2.
Why was the school where Mr Oliver worked called the Eton of the East?
Answer:
The school where Mr Oliver worked was run on the lines of an English public school. The
students belonged mostly to elite families and were supposed to wear blazers, caps and ties.
Eton is also a school meant for children of the British royalty and elite class. Hence the
comparison.

Question 3.
What did Mr Oliver generally do in the evening?
Answer:
In the evening,Mr Oliver usually strolled into the town to visit the Simla Bazaar with its
restaurants and cinemas. The Bazaar was only about three miles from the school.

Question 4.
When did Mr Oliver return from the town?
Answer:
Mr Oliver usually returned after dark.

Question 5.
Which route did Mr Oliver take on his way back?
Answer:
Mr Oliver took the shortcut through the pine forest.

Passage 2

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

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
on the night I write of, its pale 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 seven P.M. and it was now well past nine.
What are you doing out here, boy, asked Mr. Oliver sharply, moving closer so that he could
recognize the miscreant. ‘

Question 1.
Why did the people keep to the main road instead of taking the shortcut?
Answer:
The shortcut passed through the pine forest and at night the strong wind seemed to howl and
the leaves rustled. All this created an eerie and frightening atmosphere so the people avoided
taking the lonely shortcut and followed the main road.
Question 2.
Why did Mr Oliver take the shortcut? What did he carry with him?
Answer:
Mr Oliver took the shortcut because he was not a nervous or imaginative man who would think
that the forest hid unnatural things. He was not frightened. He carried a torch with him.

Question 3.
Whom did Mr Oliver meet in the forest?
Answer:
Mr Oiver while walking along the shortcut in the forest saw in the flickering light of his torch a
boy, crouched down sitting on a rock and weeping.

Question 4.
What thought ran through Mr Oliver’s mind when he saw the boy?
Answer:
When Mr Oliver saw the boy he immediately thought the boy was a miscreant from his school.
He was sure the boy was absconding from school as boys were not allowed to leave the
premises after dark.

Question 5.
What was Mr Oliver’s reaction?
Answer:
Mr Oliver questioned the boy as to what he was doing out so late and then he approached
closer to the boy in order to recognise the miscreant.

Passage 3

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

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.

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.

Question 1.
When did Mr Oliver sense that there was something wrong?
Answer:
As soon as Mr Oliver walked closer to the boy he sensed that there was something wrong.

Question 2.
What did the boy appear to be doing?
Answer:
The boy appeared to be crying.

Question 3.
Describe the posture of the boy.
Answer:
The boy was sitting with his head hung down, he was holding his face in his hands, and his body
shook convulsively.

Question 4.
Why did Mr Oliver feel uneasy? What was strange?
Answer:
Mr Oliver felt uneasy because the boy was weeping strangely. He was crying silently without
sound but his body was racked with silent sobbing.

Question 5.
Why did Mr Oliver’s anger change to concern?
Answer:
Seeing the boy crying so strangely in the dark all alone in the forest made Mr Oliver concerned
and he asked him to tell him what was troubling him and to look up.

Passage 4

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

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. He 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. The torch fell from his trembling hand. He turned and scrambled down the path, running
blindly through the trees and 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?

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. The wind blew the
lamp out and Mr. Oliver had his heart attack.

Question 1.
Why did the torch fall from Mr Oliver’s hand? Why was his hand trembling?
Answer:
The torch fell from Mr Oliver’s hand when he saw that the boy had no face,ears, eyes or nose.
He was horrified and frightened and the torch fell from his hand.

Question 2.
Why did Mr Oliver tell the boy that he should not be out at that hour?
Answer:
Mr Oliver told the boy that he should not be out at that hour because he thought the boy was a
student from the school where he taught and the boys were not allowed out after dark.

Question 3.
What was Mr Oliver’s reaction when he saw the faceless boy? Whom did he stumble into?
Answer:
When Mr Oliver saw the faceless boy he ran in fear towards the school crying for help. It was
then that he stumbled into the watchman.

Question 4.
What did the watchman ask Mr Oliver? ‘
Answer:
The watchman asked him the reason why he was running and if there had been an accident.

Question 5.
What was strange about the watchman? What happened to Mr Oliver when the watchman
raised the lantern to show his face?
Answer:
When the watchman raised the lantern to his face, Mr Oliver saw that the watchman had no
face, just like the boy. He had no face, no ears, no eyes and no nose. He had no features, not
even an eyebrow. Seeing this strange and weird thing Mr Oliver fainted in fear.
Question 1.
Discuss the art of Ruskin Bond as depicted in the story ‘A face in the Dark.’
Answer:
A Face in the Dark is a short story by Ruskin Bond. It’s the story set on a windy night when 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 a watchman who again had a face like that of the faceless boy.

In this story Ruskin Bond yet again proves he is a master story teller. He draws on his travels,
interactions with people, and his bonding with them gives them the confidence to share their
stories with him which then he presents in the same tone and style bringing his silent listener’s
great talent in it. His writing skill lies in the way he graphically uses his language and
imagination to transport us to the hills and watching the sun setting beautifully and the dark
night enveloping the forest with the wind howling in the trees to create an eerie and strange
atmosphere. The imagery abounds in supernaturalism and paranormal scenes. The image of a
lonely boy in the night in a dark forest amidst the howling wind and rustling leaves, sitting on a
rock ‘racked by silent weeping’ not only evokes a feeling of strangeness, of impending horror
but also of sympathy for a weeping child. Thus a mastery of language helps him to achieve this
effect. Ruskin Bond stories are not horror they are like haunting experiences. The experience is
not dangerous, life threatening or altering -it is just different. It is honest and believable.

The story is eerie, leaving one haunted in a melancholy sort of way, and is beautifully written. In
his stories, ghosts, jinns, witches—and the occasional monster—are as real as the people he
writes about. He makes the supernatural appear entirely natural, and therefore harder to
ignore.

He adroitly uses language to create his mysterious and strange atmosphere. He opens the story
with a everyday, normal occurrence and through the use of words and phrases like ‘sad,’ ‘eerie
sounds,’ ‘racked with silent sobbing,’ ‘shook convulsively’ succeeds in creating an atmosphere
replete with supernatural and fearful connotations. Thus we can rightly say that he is a story
teller par excellence and a master of his craft.

Question 2.
Discuss the theme of supernatural and paranormal as presented in the story?
Answer:
Ruskin Bond graphically uses his language and imagination to transport us to the hills and
watching the sun setting beautifully and the dark night enveloping the forest with the wind
howling in the trees to create an eerie and strange atmosphere. The imagery abounds in super
naturalism and paranormal scenes. The image of a lonely boy in the night in a dark forest
amidst the howling wind and rustling leaves, sitting on a rock ‘racked by silent weeping’ not
only evokes a feeling of strangeness, of impending horror but also of sympathy for a weeping
child. Thus a mastery of language helps him to achieve this effect. Ruskin Bond stories are not
horror they are like haunting experiences. The experience is not dangerous, life threatening or
altering -it is just different. It is honest and believable.

The story a Face in the Dark exhibits Bond’s interest in the supernatural. It deals with the
paranormal depicting the story of a school teacher who while returning from the Simla Bazaar
takes a shortcut through the forest and encounters a faceless weeping boy. The boy has no
nose, ears or eyes. Mr Oliver runs in fear but to his horror meets the watchman who is also
without a face.

Ruskin Bond employs words and phrases like ‘sad,’ ‘eerie sounds,’ ‘racked with silent sobbing,’
‘shook convulsively’ to create an atmosphere replete with supernatural and fearful
connotations. He opens the story with a everyday, normal occurrence and then gradually builds
an atmosphere of strangeness and supernatural events through the use of appropriate imagery
and language. The very title suggests that something is not right, its suggestive of eeriness. The
use of the word dark connotes the paranormal, the supernatural, the weird.

One is transported into the world of paranormal activities without realising but the story is in
no way macabre. Bond builds the atmosphere from the ordinary to the surreal. He opens with
the description of the ordinary school teacher’s routine, then introduces the eerie atmosphere
of the dark forest with the howling wind, then a surprise element of sympathy and anger at the
boy out after dark leading to the horror of the faceless entity, a surreal and weird encounter.
The narrator writes, ‘He carried a torch -on the night I write of, its pale 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 7 p.m. and it was now well past nine.’ This detail about the
torch suggests that something is not right and makes us wait expectantly for the unusual. And
such an effect speaks of the superior writing and storytelling skills of Ruskin Bond.

“Raise the possibility of another layer of life outside our material selves – something of the
soul-force, the aura of a person that lingers on after the body is no more.” And so lingers on
long after it has been read.

Question 3.
What are the techniques used by Ruskin Bond to create an atmosphere of strangeness, mystery
and super naturalism in the story? Can Ruskin Bond be called a visual writer? Why?
Answer:
Ruskin Bond is a “visual writer” because for short stories, he first imagines it like a film and then
notes it down. The story A Face in the Dark is eerie, leaving one haunted in a melancholy sort of
way, and is beautifully written. In his stories, ghosts, jinns, witches— and the occasional
monster—are as real as the people he writes about. He makes the supernatural appear entirely
natural, and therefore harder to ignore.
The story opens with the description of the ordinary school teacher’s routine, then introduces
the eerie atmosphere of the dark forest with the howling wind, then a surprise element of
sympathy and anger at the boy out after dark leading to the horror of the faceless entity, a
surreal and weird encounter. The narrator writes, ‘He carried a torch -on the night I write of, its
pale 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 seven p.m. and it was now well past
nine.’ This detail about the torch suggests that something is not right and makes us wait
expectantly for the unusual. And such an effect speaks of the superior writing and storytelling
skills of Ruskin Bond.

Ruskin Bond employs words and phrases like ‘sad,’ ‘eerie sounds,’ ‘racked with silent sobbing,’
‘shook convulsively’ to create an atmosphere replete with supernatural and fearful
connotations. He opens the story with a everyday, normal occurrence and then gradually builds
an atmosphere of strangeness and supernatural events through the use of appropriate imagery
and language. The very title suggests that something is not right, it’s suggestive of eeriness. The
use of the word dark connotes the paranormal, the supernatural, the weird.