Study of Childrens World in Selected Short Stories of Ruskin Bond

Abstract

Ruskin Bond was born in in the year 1934 in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, India. Although born to British parents, Ruskin Bond has always been an Indian at heart. His The objective of this research is to understand the world of children. This research aims at understanding the psyche of the children by entering the minds of the characters and becoming a part of their world. The characters of Bond are living examples of struggle and survival. They know how to deal with failure. There is no happy endings for them. The child characters in Ruskin Bond s stories are a role model for children of urban locale. Psychologists have proved that when we read about characters in the stories we start thinking of ourselves as one of them. This identification makes us learn from their struggles and failures of these characters. We learn to find solutions to our problems through these characters. Bond has stated that his characters are not fictitious rather these are people Bond has seen and observed, even the stories are an illustrated account of real incidents. His child characters are ordinary making them believable. Their extraordinary feat makes them heroic. They believe in hard work, honesty and take failures in their stride. Their inherent faith in the goodness of human beings gives them the power of bringing about a change of heart of the crooks also. These child characters through their optimistic approach to life provide food for thought. They gently teach lessons of life without being didactic. There is no prejudice in the heart of the children towards crooks, prostitutes, strangers and other people who have been stigmatised by the society. For children they are adoring adults. The unadulterated world of Ruskin Bond s children restores faith in the goodness of people