Abstract Introduction About Author Character in Story The Story Title of the Story Summary of Story The Feature

Similarities and contrasts that the two passengers shared

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Two versions are here compared of a storythat Ruskin Bond wrote for young-adultsin 1955. Intertextual reading of the twoversions and a psychoanalyticinterpretation of the adolescent authorialpsyche embedded in the story havebrought into focus the metafictioninherent in representation. Therestoration of the original version which,due to its unavailability, has beenforgotten, is argued for.

The task of tracing the intricate dynamics of correspondences between the subject and the object in the making of the authorial self is not only difficult, but has become problematic since psychoanalytic interpreters of the self have argued against the existence of such a subject/object dyad. If the cognitive process is influenced by the pre-existent unconscious, the external world loses its independence and becomes a function of the subject’s unconscious.

The Eyes Have It (also known as The Girl on the Train & The EyesAre Not Here) is a short story by Ruskin bond that was originallypublished in Contemporary Indian English Stories. The narratorof this story, a blind man whose eyes were sensitive to light anddarkness, was going to Dehradun by train when he met a girl andhad a chit-chat with her. It was only after she left and anotherpassenger came into the compartment that the narrator realizesthe girl was blind.

Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh , on 19th May, 1934, and

grew up in Shimla, Jamnagar, Dehradun and Mussoorie. As a young man,

he spent four years in the Channel Island and London. He now lives in

Landour, Mussoorie, with his adopted family.

Most of Bond's writings show a very strong influence from the social life in

the hill stations at the foothills of the Himalayas, where he spent his

childhood. His first novel, "The Room On the Roof", was written when he

was 17 and published when he was 21.

It was partly based on his experiences at Dehra, in his small rented room on the roof,

and his friends. The "Room On the Roof" brought him the John Llewellyn Rhys

Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written over three hundred short

stories, essays and novellas (including Vagrants in The Valley, The Blue Umbrella

and A Flight of Pigeons) and more than 30 books for children. He has also

published two volumes of autobiography. Scenes from a Writer's Life, which

describes his formative years growing up in Anglo-India, and The Lamp is Lit, a

collection of essays and episodes from his journal.

The Eyes Are Not Here

/ The Eyes Have It

/ The Girl on the train

The Narrator : He is the main character and the traveller who meets a girl in

the train

The Girl: She is a passenger who travels with the narrator for a while

The Fellow Passenger : He is the passenger who makes the narrator realize that the

girl was blind

The Eyes Have It is a marvellous short story of RuskinBond who has used first person narrative technique in thestory. Here everything is narrated by the person whohimself is blind. His eyes are sensitive only to light anddarkness. While going to Dehradun by train he comesacross a girl. He starts conversation and graduallybecomes interested in her. He tactfully hides his blindnessfrom the girl to impress her. But the conversation does notlast long. The girl bids him good-bye as the train arrives ather destination. After her departure, a new malepassenger comes into the compartment. From that manthe narrator learns that the girl was completely blind. Therevelation shocks the narrator. He feels that he hasdeceived himself. This is an ironical twist that makes theend of the story so appealing..

Up to Rohana, the narrator was alone in the compartment. A girl gets into the compartment at that station. Her parents bid her goodbye at the station and advise her about her well-being, instructing her on where to keep her belongings, not to lean out of the window and to avoid talking to strangers.

Here the narrator surprisingly reveals that he is a sightless person. Once the train leaves the station, the narrator strikes up a conversation with the girl asking if she is going to Dehradun. The voice startles her as she had thought that she was alone in the compartment. The girl told him that she was going to Saharanpur where her aunt would come to receive her. The narrator speaks aboutMussoorie, where he was headed to, presenting a lovely sight of the place in October (the month in which the story takes place).

Throughout the conversation the narrator consciously keeps up the pretense of being a person with complete and perfect sight. Though he is mostly careful in choosing his words, he notes at a few points of time that he had almost given himself up due to some careless comments.

After some more interesting talk, the narrator tells her, quite daringly, that she has an interesting face. She replies happily that it was indeed a welcome deviation from the often repeated phrase: "You have a pretty face".

Soon the time comes for the girl to bid goodbye as the train arrives at her destination. Then the author hears a commotion near the door of the carriage and a man apologizing.

Conti….

The man then entered the compartment and apologizes to the narrator too for not being as attractive a traveling companion as the previous one. When the narrator asks him how the girl has worn her hair, the other person replies had not noticed her hair but saw only her eyes, which were beautiful but of no use to her, as she was completely blind. The last question this man asks to the narrator is if he had not noticed it too.

The story ends with the narrator resuming his game of posing as a person with sight.

Conti.

The Eyes Have It is an ideal short story. It is short in length and can be easily finished in one go. It has a limited number of characters – the narrator, the girl and the new passenger.

It illustrates Bond’s art of story telling which is simple in approach but universal in appeal. It tells a simple tale in a lucid style with a deep insight into the psychology of men. It ends with a striking discovery, and its plot is well-knit. Bond makes the story a vivid one by using the first person narrative technique.

The setting of the story is very simple and interesting. Everything happens in the train compartment and the time chosen is October when Mussoorie looks beautiful.

It is full of ironical turns and twists. There is a real humour in the narrator’s attempt to conceal his blindness. But this humour takes an ironical turn when he discovers that the girl is also blind.

It shows Ruskin Bond’s sympathy for the blind and for their troubles and loneliness. Through the personal experience of the blind narrator Bond focuses on universal human experiences.

It shows Bond’s mastery in the art of characterization. Like the great French master Maupassant Bond also chooses common people to create interesting situations.

Conti.

The narrator was blind and he wished to hide it from the girl.

The narrator was fond of talking. The narrator was skilled in keeping his

blindness from others. The narrator was a romantic fool

altogether. The narrator represents men in common

who love the company of a woman. The girl too was blind and she too

attempted to keep it from the narrator.

In spite of her parent’s warning, the girl too loved to talk.

The girl was smarter in keeping her blindness from the narrator.

The girl was focussed. She didn’t wish to cherish a brief encounter with a man.

The girl represents women in common who love the safety in the presence of a man and vanish without a goodbye because she has reached safely.