Explain the theme of 'Fritz' by Satyajit Ray.
Answers
The short story “Fritz” written by Satyajit Ray is about two friends Shankar and Jayanto. They planned a trip and decided to visit Bundi which is a village in Rajasthan. Jayanto had often visited the place during his childhood days. He recollects the memories about the place and things and the people he had met there. While narrating some of the instances from his memories, he tells Shankar about Fritz. Fritz was a one-foot tall doll which was brought from Switzerland by his uncle for him. he added that he was very fond of the doll and was very much attached to it. He felt devasted when two stray dogs destroyed it. With grief in his heart, he buried the doll under the same Deodar tree which still stood there. That night the doll appears in Jayanto’s dream who came back to play with his master. .At the end of the story, it is seen that the bones of a human are found at the place where he had buried the doll. Hence, it is left for the readers to analyze that whether Fritz was a doll or a human. The story ends with a mystery which is unresolved. Satyajit Ray has been known for his great and shocking endings which leaves his readers and viewers to think and examine the story as per themselves.
The imagery of the scene of the place and the doll builds in the feeling of fear and terror in the play. At the end of the play when the two friends found the skeleton in place of the doll, they are left in abash and in terror.