how does the writer makes a Supernatural look natural in the story of face in the dark
Answers
face in the dark incident makes the story look supernatural through the sound producing words, the eerie atmosphere and the faces without the sense organs.
EXPLANATION:
Ruskin Bond’s short story “A Face in the Dark” is an open-ended story with multiple interpretations. The way Bond describes the surroundings and creates an eeriness that gives the story a super-natural touch.
To begin with Bond describes the dense dark woods across the hills in a haunting manner. The sounds, footfalls, flickering of light, the sobbing of a school boy all create the ambience of the supernatural. When the wailing boy with a school cap lifts his face in the dark it is a face bereft of nose, eyes and mouth.
As the horrified teacher flees from the sight he confronts the watchman with a flickering torch. His face too has no sense organs. This very description lends the story a supernatural feel.
The story looks supernatural because its setting, characters and plot line showcases that it belongs to the fictional genre. All of these elements help contribute that there are supernatural characteristics in the story.
For example, the story has the setting in a pine forest on a Hill Resort. The setting itself is described as one which deals with supernatural elements. There is mystery in the story.
Mr.Oliver is the character who goes through many scary issues while he makes his way through the forest. The figure in the dark moves closer and this figure is moving. There is a weeping boy making strange sounds. This boy is strange faced, no eyes and ears. Which directly indicates that this is a fictional character who may be supernatural. But the author makes supernatural characters look artistic rather than scary.
...OR....
Ruskin Bond is a masterful artist of paranormal in his literature. In the short story “A Face in the Dark”, he has used all the elements of a horror story — fear, surprise, suspense and mystery to explore humanity’s collective fascination with the dark. Set in Simla, Himachal Pradesh, the story is about an uncanny experience of Mr. Oliver, a teacher in an English public school, who stumbles upon a boy and then a watchman, both of whom have no eyes, no ears, no nose and no mouth.
So, understandably the plot of the story is all about coming across paranormal figures, as it should be in a ghost story or horror story. But only the theme or main storyline doesn’t make it a great supernatural story. It is, indeed, all about creating the perfect setting and atmosphere for a supernatural story that makes it a masterpiece. And Bond has done that to perfection in this case. In fact, the author has been able to do all this keeping the story concise.
Mr. Oliver returning after dark, the strong wind, the sad eerie sounds made by the pine trees, the narrow forest path, the flickering light of the torch, figure of a boy sitting alone on a rock, the strange soundless weeping, the torch falling from Oliver’s shaking hands, lantern swinging in the middle of the path, the wind blowing out the lamp — all these contribute to creating an atmosphere of fear, suspense and mystery in the story. Even the title of the story evokes suspense in the readers’ minds. With his masterful narrative and other techniques the author has made an ordinary event look extraordinary. In its theme and setting “A Face in the Dark” is a gem of a supernatural story, no doubt.
Explanation:
Mr. Oliver, an Anglo Indian teacher, was one day taking a shortcut through the pine forest, which was making sad, eeire sounds, because of the strong winds. While walking down the path, he saw a lonely boy sitting on a rock, weeping soundlessly, and strangly, which was scary, as it was very dark, and boys were not supposed to be out after the dark. He kept moving closer to him with a felling that something was wrong, and when light from his torch fell on the boy's face, he was terrified as the boy had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round oval, smooth head, with a school cap on top of it. the sad, eerie sounds that the pine trees were making, the flickering light from Mr. Oliver's torch, the darkness, the fact that the boy had a horrible, and creepy face, all combined, made him truely frightened.