Question

Mr. Oliver's encounter with the boy and the watchman could either be real or a figment of his imagination.Give your comments in the context of the story.

Answer should be atleast half a page long.It should be for 16 marks.Plz.help.

Answer 1

The story is written by Ruskin Bond. This is his imagination. There can't be any person who have no eyes, nose, mouth, face. Ok tell me that if the watchman have no face, no mouth, no nose, etc , than how can he speak to the teacher and how can he walk, see. So, in my opinion it is the imagination..

Answer 2

As per my thoughts and experience, the existence of the supernatural can't be totally denied from the face of this earth. There are instances present around us for which there is no logical explanation, yet they are as true as our breathing. Based on this opinion, I believe that Mr. Oliver really met the boy and the watchman who had no features, no eyes, no mouth, nothing...

Mr. Oliver is a daring man who has the courage to take the path across pine forests. Though it grew quite dark he had his torch and he made his way to his school. When he saw a boy sitting and crying, he thought that he was one of the students of his school and reminded him about the rule that the boys were not supposed to come out at that time.Then he saw the boy was sobbing and his anger changed into concern. He wanted to know the reason for his crying. But as soon as the boy lifted his face, Mr. Oliver was aghast looking at his face. He had no eyes, no ears, no mouth, no features at all. The torch fell off from his hand.

Furthering his way to his residence, he saw a watchman with a lantern and he shares his experience with him. Listening about the boy's face, the watchman lifts his lantern up to his face and asks if the boy's face was like his, revealing his face in the light which was exactly the same, no eyes, no mouth, nothing... Suddenly, with a gush of wind, the lantern blew off and Mr. Oliver rushed towards his apartment. I believe it was a real incident as his imagination could see the weird boy once and then the story would have ended. Since he comes across the watchman with a similar face, it becomes an evidence that the forest was haunted.