Question

Please explain the theme of the story"A Face In The Dark" by Ruskin Bond.

Answer 1

A Face in the Dark is a spooky story in which the author, Ruskin Bond narrates the experience of Mr. Oliver who is an Anglo-Indian teacher in a public school in Shimla. While going from Shimla to his school late in the evening, he comes across a boy who sat crying in pine woods and when he lifted his face it had no features, no eyes, no mouth, nothing at all. He ran towards his school and he saw a watchman moving with a lantern. While talking with the watchman, Oliver tells about the boy with no face. As soon as the watchman lifts his lantern up to his face to ask Oliver if his face was like his, Oliver was horrified to see his face which was exactly like the boy.

The story, hence, has an eerie theme which is basically to bring a horrifying effect (being from the genre of horror) and thrill the reader.