International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume I, Issue VIII, August 2017 | ISSN 2454–6186

Animal Kingdom in the Fictional Works of Ruskin Bond

 Uttiya Sarkar
Research Scholar, Department of English, Sido Kanhu Murmu University, Dumka, Jharkhand, India

Abstract- The world of animals is abundant in the fictions of Ruskin Bond. They are characterized by their behaviour which represent human like behaviour in close relation to the author himself and other characters created by him. Yet visitors visiting the author at his home in Mussourie feels disappointed not to find any bats hanging from his ceiling or any mice under the mattress. This proves that all the animals in the fictions of Bond are basically mere creations of his imaginations framed from his observations of the landscape in the lap of the Himalayas. The present paper proposes to discuss some of the animal characters from Bond’s selections and their characterizations.

Keywords – Nature, child, insects, animals, birds, grandfather, zoo.

I. INTRODUCTION

BOND, himself is a lover of nature, and it is in his works that nature, landscape, flora and fauna finds abundance. His home in the lap of the Himalayas has given him the opportunity to closely observe the wild. His fictions have immortalized through the presentations of these. Bond skillfully handles the issues of man‟s harmony with his environment including animals. In his stories he portrays this passion for pets and animals and related adventures. In “Our Tress Still grow in Dehra”, for which Bond has received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, has the nostalgic touch and smell of the wild. His famous story “The Tiger in the Tunnel”, is a composition which thralls the sinewy existence of a tiger and its closeness to human life. In “An Island of Trees”, we find multiple animal characters that are domesticated and identified with the author and other human characters surrounding him in close existence. He composed stories for children with animals in them, so that visitors to his small flat in Mussourie feel disappointed at having no flying foxes on the ceilings. Bond admits that he loves animals but as their bowel movements is different from humans, so their real home is in the wild. Bond describes the behaviour of birds, animals in such a way that sometimes they seem human.