Whistling in the Dark by Ruskin Bond
In Whistling in the Dark by Ruskin Bond we have the theme of loneliness, companionship, connection and solidarity. Taken from his Collected Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed male narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realizes that Bond may be exploring the theme of loneliness. The narrator on his way to the cemetery walks past a lot of trees. Trees in which he can find some identification. Believing them to come alive if he wished them to do so. This is significant as it suggests that the narrator is lonely and longs to make a connection, particularly with the living (trees). It is not coincidental that the narrator continues his journey to a graveyard. The obvious resting place of those who have died. The narrator too in some ways may feel that he too has died or at least a part of him has. Though as readers we never discover where this death may have occurred.
It could be simply borne out of the narrator’s desire to feel connected with nature (life) or he may have incurred, though it is speculation, difficulty in a previous relationship with somebody, possibly a female lover. Though again we cannot say so for certain. If anything the narrator is looking for some form of companionship. Something he possibly sees in the whistling boy on the bicycle. He does after all offer his hand to the child. Who declines and continues whistling and cycling away from the narrator. Though the child is never far from the narrator particularly when he is sick with the flu. The narrator can hear the boy’s faint whistling from a distance.
There may also be some symbolism in the story which might be important. The trees act as a spirit for life with the narrator imagining them to be living and walking. Trees usually green symbolise a life as such and the red that the narrator sees later on in the story could symbolise an awakening or a change. Perhaps a realisation by the narrator that he is not alone after all. The three things the narrator sees or hears. Himself, his shadow and his echo could symbolise the things that we know in life or see naturally in life but may not necessarily always be connected with. The fact that the narrator gets poorly with the flu is also significant as it suggests that the narrator has to isolate himself from others in order to make a connection with the world. Something that some readers might find ironic. An individual having to be alone first in order to make a connection. One would expect a person to make a connection with others when they are with others but the only person with the narrator is the dead boy.
The end of the story is interesting as it appears as though the narrator is at one, not only with himself, but with the boy too. Though he never sees or hears the boy whistling again. The boy has served his purpose. He has made the narrator realize that he doesn’t necessarily need lots of people in his life and that he can be in solidarity or at one with himself when he is on his own. The boy’s brief companionship in the graveyard has served an enlightening purpose for the narrator. Something that the narrator and the reader are fully conscious of. The narrator has managed to connect with the most important person in his life, himself. Doing so having experienced the presence of the boy on the bicycle.