Question

Refer to the story ‘The Boy who Broke the Bank’  by Ruskin Bond. Read it carefully and write a Review of the same, keeping the following points in mind.

1. Name of Story and Writer/Author
2. Type of story
3. Background and setting (Time and Place)
4. Main characters
5. Problem faced
6. Language used
7. What you liked about the story
8. What you did not like about it
9. Your general opinion of the story

Answer 1

The story ‘The Boy who Broke the Bank’ has been written by Ruskin Bond. It is a comic short story about a rumour that caused trouble, for a bank, in a small town called Pipalnagar. The main characters in the story are Nathu, the sweeper boy, Sitaram, the washerman’s son and Mrs. Srivastava. The simple, harmless complaint of Nathu, a sweeper boy at the bank, about his unpaid salary leads to the collapse of the bank, without him realising it. I like that Ruskin Bond uses simple language to describe the simplicity of a small town in India. He brings out the characteristic nature of the people in a small town and the power rumours. Though he has written it in English, he brilliantly gives his story a genuine Indian touch. The narrator does not give his opinion about any of the events or any character. The reader is free to form his opinion. The story has been presented in a very positive and fresh manner and does not make any negative comments about anything. It is a fun read, typical of Ruskin Bond’s style, and brings out the lovely image of an Indian town, before the reader.