My first Magazine A Face in the Dark, Ruskin Bond | Page 5

After seeing the boy, Oliver immediately thought that he was a
miscreant from his school as boys were not allowed to leave the
premises after dark. He got angry and questioned the boy as to what he
was doing so late and approached closer to the boy in order to recognise
the miscreant.
Question (v): What kind of man was Oliver as described earlier by the
author? How did he prove himself opposite of this description?
Answer (v): In the beginning of the story the author describes Oliver to
be a courageous man who did not believe in existence of supernatural
things. He was the only person who could dare to take shortcut route
through the pine forest late in the night even in a stormy weather.
Later towards the end of the story when Oliver saw the boy with a
featureless face, he was horrified and seemed to be in the grip of
unknown fear. The torch he was holding fell from his trembling hand
and he ran blindly through the tress calling for help. This incident shows
that when Oliver was in real danger, he got overwhelmed with unknown
fear, could not think rationally and reacted like a coward. His behaviour
was quite opposite of what was portrayed earlier about him being a
daring personality.
Extract II
“What are you doing out here……felt distinctly uneasy.”