A Face In The Dark. By Ruskin bond. QUESTION & ANSWERS. ( NO LINKS ).
Answers
Question (i): Who was Mr Oliver? What was his usual leisure activity?
Answer (i): Mr Oliver was an Anglo-Indian teacher, who was teaching in a school, located on the outskirts of the hill-station of Simla. He was a bachelor and would usually stroll into the Simla Bazaar town located three miles from the school, and would return after dark by taking a shortcut through the pine forest.
Question (ii): What was called ‘Eton of the East’? Why?
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Answer (ii): The all-boys school in Simla, in which Mr Oliver was a teacher has been called ‘Eton of the East.’
Life Magazine, in a feature on India, had once called Mr Oliver’s school ‘Eton of the East’ because the school had been run on an English public school lines and the boys, most of them were from wealthy Indian families and were supposed to wear blazers, caps and ties. Eton is also a school in England meant for royalty and elite class. Hence, the comparison.
Question (iii): What kind of weather was there on the night when Oliver was returning to his school? How does it add to the setting of the story?
Answer (iii): That night strong wind was blowing through the pine forest which created sad, eerie sounds. Supernatural atmosphere is created by the elements like eerie sounds of the pine trees, batteries of the torch running down, flickering light, silent sobbing, and lantern swinging in the middle of the path. All these things prepare us for some mysterious or uncanny happenings.
Question (iv): What did Oliver encounter while coming back to school one night? What did he do after that?
Answer (iv): While walking back to school one night, in flickering light of his torch, he saw a boy who was crying silently with his head hung down, sitting on a rock.
After seeing the boy, Oliver immediately thought that he was a miscreant from his school as boys were not allowed to leave the premises after dark. He got angry and questioned the boy as to what he was doing so late and approached closer to the boy in order to recognise the miscreant.
Question (v): What kind of man was Oliver as described earlier by the author? How did he prove himself opposite of this description?
Answer (v): In the beginning of the story the author describes Oliver to be a courageous man who did not believe in existence of supernatural things. He was the only person who could dare to take shortcut route through the pine forest late in the night even in a stormy weather.
Later towards the end of the story when Oliver saw the boy with a featureless face, he was horrified and seemed to be in the grip of unknown fear. The torch he was holding fell from his trembling hand and he ran blindly through the tress calling for help. This incident shows that when Oliver was in real danger, he got overwhelmed with unknown fear, could not think rationally and reacted like a coward. His behaviour was quite opposite of what was portrayed earlier about him being a daring personality.
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Extract II
“What are you doing out here……felt distinctly uneasy.”
Question (i): Where did Mr Oliver find the boy? What did he notice about the boy?
Answer (i): Mr. Oliver was walking through the pine forest late in a stormy night when he happened to spot a boy sitting on a rock.
He noticed that the boy was crying with his head hung down and his face held in his hands.
Question (ii): Why do you think the boy was called a miscreant? In what condition was he found by Oliver?
Answer (ii): Boys were not supposed to be out of school premises after dark. The boy had broken the rule and was spotted in the forest late in the night. This is the reason the boy was called a miscreant by the author.
Oliver found the boy sitting on a rock and crying silently with his head hung down and his face held in his hands.
Question (iii): How did Mr Oliver express his concern for the boy? How did the boy react to it?
Answer (iii): Since the boy had broken the rule by staying out after dark, Mr Oliver got angry. B
Question answers are given below.
Explanation:
(1) What is genre of the A Face In The Dark. By Ruskin bond?
It is a suspense story with the elements of fear due to darkness.
(2) What is the theme of the poem?
The theme of the poem is based on the supernatural beliefs and the fears caused by darkness.
(3) A face in the dark meaning ?
It actual meaning is about the hidden fear that we can not see. Fear is something we can not see. Mostly it is caused by the dark. Dark is a symbol of fear.