A Face in the Dark

Q1. Who was Mr. Oliver? What was his usual leisure activity?

Ans. Mr. Oliver was an Anglo-Indian teacher. He was a

bachelor and he usually strolled into the town to the Shimla
Bazaar in the evening, about three miles away from school
and returned after dark through a short cut from the pine
forests.

Q2. What was called 'Eton of the East'? Why?

Ans. The school in which Mr. Oliver taught was called the
'Eton of the East'. From before Kipling's time, the school had
been run on English public school lines; and the boys, most
of them from wealthy Indian families, wore blazers, caps and
ties. Here a comparison has been made between Eton
College, one of England's most elite public schools, founded
by Henry VI in 1440 and the school in Shimla in which Mr.
Oliver was teaching.

Q3. What kind of weather was there on the night when Oliver
was returning to his school? How does it add to the setting
of the story?

Ans. According to the spirit of the story the author has

created an eerie atmosphere in the story. It was night time
and a strong wind was blowing. The pine trees were making
mysterious sad sounds, indicating that something evil was
likely to happen. The batteries of Oliver's torch were running
down, creating an atmosphere of fear and suspense.

Q4. What did Oliver encounter while coming back to school

one night? What did he do after that?
Ans. On his way back to school, Oliver saw a boy sitting
alone on a rock, with his head hung down and holding his
face in his hands. Boys were not supposed to be out in the
dark, therefore Mr. Oliver stopped to inquire.

Q5. What kind of man was Oliver as described earlier by the

author? How did he prove himself opposite of this
description?

Ans. Oliver was not a nervous or imaginative man. He had

never believed in anything like a ghost or supernatural
power but at the end he seemed to be in the grip of an
unknown fear and ran for safety.

Q6. Where did Mr. Oliver find the boy? What did he notice
about the boy?

Ans. Mr. Oliver found the boy sitting alone on a rock while he
was returning to school. He noticed that he was crying.

Q7. Why do you think the boy was called a miscreant? In

what condition was he found by Oliver?

Ans. The boy was called a miscreant because boys were not
supposed to be out after dark. The boy was sitting with his
head hung down and holding his face in his hands.

Q8. How did Mr. Oliver express his concern for the boy? How
did the boy react to it?

Ans. Mr. Oliver stopped over him as he sensed that

something was wrong with the boy. Mr. Oliver asked, 'What
are you crying for?' but the boy did no answer or look up
and his body continued to be racked with silent sobbing.

Q9. How can you explain the boy's "strange, soundless

weeping"?
Ans. The boy was crying continuously and his body was
shaking. But what made Oliver uneasy v,ras that the boy's
weeping was soundless.

Q10. What strange revelation took place when the boy finally
looked up at Oliver? How did Mr. Oliver react to it?

Ans. As a teacher having concern for children, Oliver asked

the boy why he was there at night and why he was crying.
The boy did not answer. Oliver asked him again and the boy
looked up. As the light from Oliver's torch fell on the boy's
face, he was horrified to see that the boy's face was
featureless, without eyes, ears, nose or mouth.

Q11. Whose "trembling hand" is referred to in the above

extract? Why was it trembling?

Ans. Mr. Oliver's hands are trembling after seeing the horrid
featureless face of the boy.

Q12. Explain the sentence: ''He turned and scrabbled down

the path, running blindly through the trees... ".

Ans. He is running blindly through the streets because he is

terrified and is running to rescue himself as he knows not
what might happen next. His fear is justified because what
he saw was absolutely unusual and unexpected.

Q13. What did Oliver answer the watchman's questions in

the extract above?

Ans. The watchman asked, 'What is it, Sahib, has thcre been
an accident? Why are you running?' Mr. Oliver said that he
saw something-something horrible-a boy weeping in the
forest-and he had no face!
Q14. The story ends with a thrilling climax. Do you agree?
Why?

Ans. The climax of the story is the best part of the story.
When Mr. Oliver started running away from the faceless boy,
he saw a lantern swinging in the middle of the path and
stumbled up to a watchman only to find that he too was
faceless, with no features or even eyebrows. The climax is
reached when the wind blew out the lamp, leaving the
readers to imagine what might have happened to Oliver.

Q15. Comment on the appropriateness of the title of the

story. Give reasons to justify your answer.

Ans. The boy and the watchman, who appeared to be having

a 'face' in the dark, did not have a face when seen in light.
Ruskin Bond says, ' After dark we see or hear many things
that seem mysterious and irrational and then, by the clear
light of day, we finf that the magic and the mystery have an
explaination after all."Therefore the, the title "A face in the
dark' is quite apt, which makes the readers ponder upon the
mysteries of human existence and the possibility of
anotherlayer of life outside our material world.