Treasure Trove Workbook Answers
Face in the Dark
Extract I
1. Mr Oliver was an Anglo-Indian teacher, who was teaching in a school which was located on the out-skirts of the hill station of Shimla. He would usually walk down to the Shimla Bazar and would return after dark by taking a shortcut through the pine forest.
2. The all-boys school in Shimla, in which Mr Oliver was a teacher has been called ‘Eaton of the East. Eton college is one of the most reputable and expensive English boarding school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor(UK). Mr Olvier’s school was called ‘Eton of the East’ because the school had been run on English public school lines and the boys, were mostly from wealthy Indian families.
3. That night strong wind was blowing through the pine forest which created sad, eerie sounds. Supernatural atmosphere is created by the elements like eerie sounds of the pine trees, batteries of the torch running down, flickering light, silent sobbing, and lantern swinging in the middle of the path. All these things prepare us for some mysterious or uncanny happenings. running down, creating an atmosphere of fear and suspense.
4. While walking back to school one night, he saw a boy sitting alone on a rock whose head was hung down and whose face was held in his own hands.
After seeing the boy, Oliver stopped near the boy and asked him what he was doing there and why he was crying.
Extract II
1. Mr. Oliver was walking through the pine forest late in night wehen he happened to spot a boy sitting on a rock.He noticed that the boy was crying with his head hung down and his face held in his hands.
2. A miscreant is a person who has done some mischief. Boys were not supposed to be out after dark. Thus the boy sitting alone on the rock in the night forced the author to call him a miscreant.
3. Mr Oliver asked himth boy that what he was doing there and why he was crying. The boy did not respond to Mr. Oliver’s call and continued to sob. Oliver again enquired what was troubling him and asked him to look up.
4. The boy’s strange , soundless weeping that Oliver heard could be explained on the basis that Oliver was lonely man caught in psychological fears who was imagining frightening and scary things. Thus all Oliver encountered was ‘soundless weeping’ and ‘faceless’ faces.
5. When the boy finally looked up at Oliver, it was revealed that the boy had no face. It was without eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round head with a school cap on it.
Extract III
1. Oliver’s ‘trembling hand’ is referred to here. It was trembling, as Oliver was horrified to see that the boy’s face was featureless, without eyes, ears, nose or mouth.
2. The ‘faceless’ boy terrified Oliver so much so that he immediately turned and in panic ran blindly through the forest to call for help.
3. Oliver told the watchman that he had encountered something horrible that night-a ‘faceless’ boy weeping in the forest.
4. Yes , I agree that the story ends with a thrilling climax. Oliver ran away from the faceless boy and called for help. He saw a lantern swinging in the middle of the path. What followed next was a thrilling climax as Oliver while running 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.
5. The title A Face in the Dark is suitable as it describes a strange experience of Mr Oliver, the protagonist of the story. Oliver, on his way back at night, meets a boy in an isolated place sitting on a rock. A close look at the boy horrifies him as he has no face-no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. As he runs horrified by the strange experience, he meets the watchman who is also without a face. Thus, the boy and the watchman, who appeared to be having a face in the dark, did not have a face when seen in light.