The Eyes Have it!

Explaining the lesson The Eyes Have it!

1. About the Author Ruskin Bond, born in 1934 at Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, is an Indian writer of British descent. He is an outstanding figure of international repute among the contemporary Indian English writers. He is a prolific and powerful writer. He has written short stories, essays, novels and children books. AWARDS: He has received many awards. His first novel, The Room on the Roof brought him the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. • He received the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for his short story collection, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the N D Mehra Memorial Award in 2003 for his contribution to children’s literature. Ruskin, a versatile writer and a man of colourful personality, is still active. He now lives in Landour near Mussoorie. His profound love for his own birth place and his passion for literature are the treasure of his life.

2. Introduction “The Eyes Have It “ is a short story written by the famous Indian writer of British descent, Ruskin Bond. It was originally published in contemporary Indian English Stories. • This story is an example of Situational irony. The Story revolves around the conversation between two people , travelling together, each unaware of the similarity that they had , which is being blind.

3. Narration of the story The narrator of this story is a blind man on his way to Mussoorie by train. He is alone in the train when a girl boards his compartment. The girl’s parents bid her goodbye at the station, anxious about her well-being and advising her regarding where to keep her belongings, not to lean out of the windows and to avoid talking to strangers.

4. Narration- The Eyes Have It Once the train leaves the station, the narrator starts a conversation asking if she too is going to Dehradun. The voice startles her as she thinks herself to be the only occupant in the compartment. She answers in the negative and tells him that she is en route to Saharanpur to visit her aunt. He informs her that he is travelling to Mussoorie.

5. Narration-The Eyes Have It After conversing for quiet some time now, the narrator appreciates her daringly saying that she has an interesting face. She is happy at this and surprised as it was a welcome deviation from the often repeated phrase: "You have a pretty face".

6. Narration -The Eyes Have It Soon it’s time for the girl to bid goodbye as her destination comes into view. After her departure, a man enters the compartment and apologizes, for not being as attractive a travelling companion as his predecessor. When the narrator asks him if the girl had her hair long or short, he replies with interest that he had noticed only her eyes, which were beautiful but of no use, as she was completely blind. It is only then that the narrator realises that the girl too, was blind.

7. Summary The Eyes Have It is a marvellous short story written by Ruskin Bond who has used first person narrative technique in the story. The story is narrated by the person who himself is blind. His eyes are sensitive only to light and darkness. While going to Dehradun by train he comes across a girl. He starts conversation and gradually becomes interested in her. He tactfully hides his blindness from the girl to impress her. But the conversation does not last long. The girl bids him good-bye as the train arrives at her destination. After her departure, a new male passenger comes into the compartment. From that man the narrator learns that the girl was completely blind. The revelation shocks the narrator. He feels that he has deceived himself. This is an ironical twist that makes the end of the story so appealing

8. Learning from the Story The Story , ‘The Eyes Have It ‘ teaches us a very valuable lesson. God has given a fair share of luck and talent to each and every individual in this world , so instead of hiding our short comings , we must appreciate what we have and not complain about what we do not have. We ultimately learn a very valuable lesson about the influence of initial assumptions on the ways we perceive the world and other persons.

9. Irony in the Story The short story , “ The Eyes have It “ , is an excellent example of Situational Irony. Ironically the author employs two blind people as his main characters ,yet neither knows that the other is blind. The author does not realise that the girl sitting next to him is also blind , even after listening to her parent’s advice and instructions to their daughter, the narrator could not distinguish any unusual advice or information that led him to believe the girl had any handicap herself Hoping to keep her from realising that he is blind , the author describes the scenery outside from his memories To continue the ruse , he tells the girl that she has an interesting face. The narrator ends up fooling himself. Apparently he also mislead the girl because he did not realise her fellow traveller was blind either.

10. Character Sketch in the Story The Narrator He is the main character in this short story, who is travelling to Dehra alone. He has been described as being blind. He was a romantic and tries to strike a conversation with the pretty girl sitting next to him. He loves to talk and know more about the people by questioning them about their lives The Girl She is the passenger whotravelswith the narrator in the train. She has been described as being a Pretty and /interesting girl. Later in the story we get to know about the blindness of the girl. The Fellow Passenger He is passenger who helps the author realise that the girl he was travelling with was blind , just like him.

11. CHARACTER SKETCH In this story the narrator’s eyes was sensitive only to light and darkness. While going to Dehradun by train he comes across a girl. He starts conversation and gradually becomes interested in her. He tactfully hides his blindness from the girl to impress her. But the conversation does not last long. The girl bids him good-bye as the train arrives at her destination. After her departure, a new male passenger comes into the compartment. From that man the narrator learns that the girl was completely blind. The revelation shocks the narrator. He feels that he has deceived himself. This is an ironical twist that makes the end of the story so appealing.

12. Character sketch The narrator was blind and fond of talking, he wished to hide his blindness from girl. While the girl was smart and and focused. The narrator was a romantic fool who was ready to believe a girl by her ringing laughter and vibrant voice. The narrator represents men in common who love the company of a woman. While, 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. Ruskin Bond kept the pulse of the reader high with the narrator’s attempts to escape the chances of his being caught by the girl’s smart questions and remarks. At the end, the reader realizes that it was not the girl that the narrator had been fooling but it was the reader that the author had just fooled.

13. Critical Analysis The author has started the story in a very simple yet mysterious way. The conversation between the two of them was simply imaginative and said by his past experiences. It was risky from the author’s side to compliment on her features as he himself was blind. Throughout the story the narrator has achieved to show general human behavior about making initial assumptions on the ways we perceive the world and other people