Question

With referrence to the story A face in the dark explain how Ruskin Bond has used fear, suspense, surprise and mystery to make it a successful story?

Answer 1

Hi friend,

The author slowly and surely builds up the suspense in the story by using different figures of speech like metaphor,personification,imagery and alliteration.

He follows the style of a third person narration which makes the story even more mysterious.He has created an eerie atmosphere in the story by mentioning the mysterious sad sounds of pine trees, indicating that something evil was to happen.

He has given the following details to further build up the atmosphere of suspense in the story:-

"....returning after dark, when he would take a short cut through the pine forest."

"He carried a torch and its gleem- the batteries were running down."

"He had no eyes,ears, nose or mouth."

"The torch fell from his trembling hands."

"....he saw a lantern swinging in the middle of the path."

"... And that's when the wind blew out the lamp."

In this way, through clever use of fear, suspense, surprise and mystery in the story, Bond has crafted a successful story.

Hope it helps!

Answer 2

Some of the words that help him create an atmosphere of eeriness, suspense and mystery are —

returning to his school late one night

strong wind

sad, eerie sounds that kept most people to the main road

the batteries were running down

moved fitfully down the narrow forest path

flickering light fell in the figure of a boy

sitting alone on a rock

sensed that something was wrong

head hung down

body shook convulsively

strange soundless weeping

racked with silent sobbing

a round smooth head

torch fell from his trembling hand

running blindly through the trees

lantern swinging in the middle of the path

wind blew the lamp out etc.

Explanation: