Discussion Topic
Analysis of plot construction, imagery, and romantic elements in Ruskin Bond's "The Night Train at Deoli"
Summary:
In "The Night Train at Deoli," the plot construction is simple yet poignant, focusing on a brief encounter between the narrator and a girl at a small station. The imagery vividly captures the melancholy and charm of the Indian landscape. The romantic elements are understated, highlighting the fleeting and unfulfilled nature of the narrator's feelings, which adds to the story's wistful tone.
What is the romantic story in Ruskin Bond's "The Night Train at Deoli"?
Ruskin Bond's short story “The Night Train at Deoli” describes the unfulfilled potential of a lost romance. The narrator is a young college man who takes a train to Dehra to visit his grandmother. Along the way, the train stops briefly at a little station in Deoli. One day, the narrator sees a girl selling baskets. She is beautiful, and the narrator cannot help but look at her. She looks back at him, and they stare at each other for some time. Finally, the narrator gets off the train and meets the girl at the tea stall. He buys a basket from her, and they stand and look at each other until the narrator must run to get back on the train.
The narrator is enchanted by this young woman, and she is apparently attracted to him as well. But of course, the narrator cannot stay even though he...
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continues to think about the girl for a long time. The next time his train stops in Deoli, the narrator sees the girl again. They are both pleased that the other has remembered, but still they do not talk much. The narrator holds the girl's hand and promises her that he will come again. He never forgets the girl, but the next time the train pulls into Deoli, the girl is not there. No one knows who she is or where she has gone.
The narrator regrets the loss of this girl, but he does not go looking for her. He realizes that his romantic feelings are being sustained by the idea of what might have been. If he really were to find out what has happened to the girl, whether she may have married or fallen ill or moved away, he would not, as he says, be able to continue his game. The girl becomes a symbol of unfulfilled potential, of a lost romance that one day just might appear again, and the narrator is content to leave it at that.
How does Ruskin Bond create reader interest at the start of "The Night Train at Deoli"?
In “The Night Train at Deoli” by Ruskin Bond, the author draws readers into the story through an introduction to the narrator and a vivid description of the story’s setting. Let’s see how this works.
The story opens with the narrator’s explanation of his summer vacations at his grandmother’s house. This tells us something interesting about the narrator, for most college students do not spend their summer vacations with their grandmothers. This young man seems to be devoted to his family, and we are already curious about him.
The narrator then goes on to describe the small station at Deoli where the train stopped for ten minutes. He admits that he has no idea why it stopped there, for nothing “ever happened there,” and no one ever got on or off the train. Yet we can sense that something is about to happen at that little station, something that will change the narrator’s life.
The narrator says that he was always a little sorry for Deoli, so he decided to get off the train and look around. We are now curious what he is going to find. So we keep on reading. The author has drawn us in.