THE THIEF BY RUSKIN BOND

SUMMARY 1:

This story tells us how love and kindness can change a theif or
a criminal. Arun a young lad of 15 who is kind ,considerable and
sympathetic person and the other fellow 'The Thief' who is thief by
profession joins Arun in a view to rob him. One day Arun was
watching a wrestling match where the thief tries to get into
conversation with him and finally wins Arun's confidence and joins
with him in a view to rob him .He finds his master a saintly person
and of a trusting nature.So, he thinks he will be an easy victim. He
joins him as a cook but does not know how to cook.Arun being of
kind person teaches him how to cook and he even teaches him how
to read and write. Arun never questions the theif about his
purchases he make the thief became very fond of his masters
goodness and nobility.One day Arun came with a wad of notes and
kept it under his mattress the thief watches him clearly and is
tempted to steal his money. He is successful in his operation and
runs away but his conscience and his feeling of grattitude brings
him back to Arun he feels ashamed of his act.Arun knows about the
whole act as the notes were still wet from last nights rain but he
doesnt give any impression that he knows about it.Arun knows that
he has betrayed his masters trust but Arun never made any issue
out of it. This sympathetic attitude of arun had a great impression
on the thief. so, the thief changes into a good man.

SUMMARY 2:

First, we have the author. Ruskin's intent in this novel is to highlight

the significance of trust in human relationships. Our story's narrator
is a thief. He is manipulative and deceitful. When he introduces
himself to Arun, he says his name is Deepak (the first lie), and then
he asks for a job. Arun gives him a job as a cook (our narrator can't
cook), but tells him that he hasn't any money to pay him so he'll
give room and board in exchange for his services. This of course is
acceptable because Deepak doesn't want a job........ he wants to rob
him.

When Arun find out that he's a terrible cook, Deepak talks him into
keeping him anyway. Arun then teaches him not only how to cook,
but how to read, write, and count money as well. Deepak watches
Arun hide money under the matress, and Arun even goes so far as
to give him a key.

Suddenly, Deepak undergoes a change..... he can't make up his min

whether he still wants to rob Arun. One of his given reasons, "He
was the most trusting person I'd ever met." But on the other hand,
Deepak also thought up all of the reason he should rob Arun;
-he's out of practice (thieving)

-if he doesn't take the money, Arun will just spend it on someone
else

-he deserves it because he doesn't gat paid (he forgets the food and
lodging)

Well, after looking at the pros and cons; Deepak chooses to steal
some of the money that Arun has hidden away and catch a train to
get out of town--- he actually pulls it off, but just when he was
supposed to get on the train, he lets it leave without him and while
trying to figure out what to do next starts thinking again;

-he misses Arun

-he misses conversation

-he wants to learn to write in whole sentences

Suddenly, the friendship becomes more important than the money;

Arun's trust is more important than anything he can steal; learning a
new craft is more important than practing the old (thieving.

He goes back to Arun's, replaces the money, and then admits to him
what he has done. Then he realizes that Arun has known all along,
that the money he replaced was wet from the rain the night before.
Arun doesn't question him, but he lets him know he knows.

In the end, the trust of Arun changes the narrator's life. Something
as simple as trust can change the world.

CRITICAL APPRECIATION
The Thief is based on the recollection of a thief and is written
in first person. He was only fifteen and was quite an accomplished
and experienced hand in his profession of theft when he met Arun
for the first time during a wrestling match. The thief found a
prospective client in Arun and had an irresistible desire to rob him.
To shape his plans he introduced himself to Arun by a pseudonym
Deepak and expressed his desire to work for him. Arun refused to
engage him as a domestic help because he made money by fits and
starts and was unable to pay him regularly. But Deepak went on
persuading and flattering Arun. He offered to serve him for food
only. Arun was a kind and generous fellow. He took pity on Deepak
and agreed to keep him if he could cook for him. Although Deepak
knew nothing about cooking he accepted the job just to get an entry
in Aruns house. But Deepak was cipher as a cook and the food
cooked by him turned out to be a disaster and was fed to a
neighbors cat. Deepak was shown the exit again but he won Aruns
heart with his most appealing smile and he was not only pardoned
off and got back to his job Arun promised to teach him write his
name too. Arun also taught him how to cook.
Arun showed full faith in Deepak and made him buy his daily
supplies. Deepak was smart enough to make good profit out of it
daily. Although Arun had some hint about this theft he preferred to
ignore it. Instead he completely relied on Deepak and gave him the
keys of his room too making it easy for Deepak to get into his room
in his absence. Arun was a happy go lucky kind of person. When he
made some money he spent it lavishly. He was not paying Deepak
regularly for his work till then. Though Deepak had fair chances to
rob Arun but it was altogether quite difficult for him also because
Arun was very careless and relying and that is why he was hesitant
to break his trust. Philosophic Deepak was of view that its easy to
rob a greedy man because he deserves it, its easy to rob a rich man
because he can afford it but its difficult to rob a poor man even one
who really doesnt care if he is robbed.
One day proving the saying that a thief is always a thief Deepak
got a chance to satisfy his urge of robbing Arun when he saw him
putting a bundle of crisp notes under his mattress. Arun slept on the
bed oblivious of everything. Deepak decided to workout his plan. He
stealthily took out the money and immediately left the house for
railway station. When he reached the platform Amritsar Express had
just moved off. There was enough time to jump into the
compartment but somehow Deepak did not attempt to board the
train. Soon he was standing alone on the deserted platform. Here
the readers find a gradual change in the psyche of the thief.
Suddenly he got philosophic and realized that Arun was a good
master and he never doubted his intentions. He wondered how Arun
would react when he would come to know about the theft. He had
studied the faces of people when they went through a material loss.
He recalled that a greedy person shows panic, a rich person shows
anger and a poor person shows fear when they lose something
valuable but when Arun would come to know about the theft he
would be saddened, not for the loss of money but for the breach of
trust. Deepak also realized that if he would learn to read and write it
would definitely help him get true success in life. Deepak was
repentant. He slowly reentered the town but he had nowhere to go
and he didnt know anyone except Arun. Soon the drizzle started
and the crisp notes tucked up in his trousers got wet. Ultimately
having a prick in his conscience Deepak came back to Aruns house
and disproving the saying that a thief is always a thief he
cautiously slipped back the money under the mattress and went to
sleep with a hope that Arun didnt know anything about the whole
episode. Next morning Arun got up earlier than him and handed him
a cup of tea with a wet five rupee note and promised him that hence
onward Deepak would be paid regularly and soon he would teach
him to write full sentences. Although aware of everything Aruns
countenance didnt display any emotion and he was absolutely
normal.
The story highlights the moral dilemma of the thief as well as his
potentiality for goodness. It also reminds us of The Bishops
Candlesticks, a beautiful extract from a great novel Le Miserable
by Victor Hugo. Although the scenario, characters, content and the
treatment is altogether different yet the message and the moral of
the story is the same that a hardened criminal can be transformed
into a pious soul through love, compassion and kindness.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS
There are two characters in Ruskin Bond's short story "The Thief."

The Thief/ Deepak

The narrator of the story is the thief. The story is told in first person;
therefore, the thief tells his own story. After Arun asks him his name,
the thief gives him the name of Deepak. This is not the thief's real
name(as seen in the text).

"Deepak," I lied.

Deepak was about my fifth name. I had earlier called myself

Ranbir, Sudhir, Trilok and Surinder.

The thief is fifteen when the story takes place. The thief sees Arun
as an easy target to rob and persuades his way into Arun's home.

Arun

Arun is "around twenty" when he first meets the thief. Arun employs
the thief as a cook (even though the cooking is horrible). In the end,
Arun helps the thief to realize that people can change and promises
to teach him to write.

AUTHORS NOTE:
Ruskin Bond the modern English writer, an Indian author of British
descent and one of the most unforgettable figures of Indian English
Literature writes in the light of his own experience of life, as
reflected by the autobiographical elements in his works. The
collected stories are about irresistible virtuousness, empathetic love
and longing for incredible, someone who is just out of reach. The
bond of human relationships emphasizes Bonds understanding of
the human mentality, nature, thoughts, and behaviour. The
incomparable way in which he alters the unexciting, dull things in
our everyday life into something really striking and interesting
fascinate not only the common reader but also the literary world.
Bond portrays the utter alienation and the negligence experienced
by his characters. They are caught in the whirlpool of changing time.
He explores the subaltern Indian voices with a touch of a sociologist
and details their characters in the tone of a behavioural
psychologist. This paper attempts to analyse selected short stories
and present some details of the treatment of physically challenged
and socially ostracized personalities, orphaned kids, and destitute
women. Also, social themes of insecure childhood, loneliness, social
belongingness are explored in this paper.

Ruskin Bond the modern English writer and one of the most
unforgettable figures of Indian English Literature writes in the light
of his own experience of life, as reflected by the autobiographical
elements in his works. The collected stories are about irresistible
virtuousness, empathetic love and longing for incredible, someone,
just out of reach. The bond of human relationships emphasizes
Bonds understanding of the human mentality, nature, thoughts,
and behaviour. The incomparable way in which he alters the
unexciting, dull things in our everyday life into something really
striking and interesting fascinate not only the common reader but
also the literary world.

Ruskin Bond, an Indian author of British descent is considered to be

an idol among Indian writers. His adaptable, original and graceful
writing style has positioned him among the most triumphant Indian
short story writers. His first novel The Room on the Roof fetched him
the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has
written over three hundred short stories, essays and novellas and
more than 30 books for children. He has also published two volumes
of autobiography. Scenes from a Writers Life, and The Lamp is Lit. In
1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi honour on behalf of English
inscription in India and was awarded the Padma Shree in 1999 for
his contributions to childrens literature.

The collection The Night Train at Deoli and other Short Stories
encompass thirty stories, it includes diverse themes of virtue, love,
courage, beauty of nature, consideration and supernaturalism. In
the preface of the collection Bond has written these stories for
gentle kind of person respectively his main characters are also
moderate and benevolent. The stories are about people and their
social backdrop with which every Indian can correlate, his stories
take the reader into the psyche of his characters. They revolve
around the narrators meetings with a strangers departure a lasting
impression on him. The promise between the speaker and the
stranger is such strong that the slightest movement of consideration
and gentleness of the stranger lingers into the memory of the
narrator for a long time.

Bonds stories display human feelings like affection, care, kind

heartedness, insecurities, sorrow, and disgust. As his art is often
referred to as autobiographical, his characters are real and we can
find them in our neighbourhood. He describes the poor, middle class
men and women who have their own way of life. He writes about
beggars, villagers and even thieves. He studies their attitude,
behaviour as well as relationships with other fellow being. He points
out that every human being whether a thief, sweeper or a beggar
has a sense of honour, virtue and self-respect. Bond, therefore,
loves humanity.

THEME

Friendship as a theme has played an important role in many of

Bonds writings. He discusses about child-parent, student-teacher
relations, about friendship, simple, educated and uneducated men
and women like house servants, shop-keepers, school boys, thieves,
beggars, wrestlers, school-teachers, farmers, gardeners, soldiers
and so on. In each story, Bond shows respect for the intelligence of
children to discriminate between right and wrong and allows them
to resolve their inner conflicts as they gain experience and
understanding, focusing on their own individuality. He is the pioneer
of modern children literature in India. Bond as a master storyteller is
well aware of child psychology. He portrays the effects of children
who are unaware and innocent about social realities. This paper is
an attempt to bring out the theme of friendship in his short stories
The Thief

The story The Thief is a remarkable one as far as friendship is

concerned. Hari Singh is such a clever thief at the tender age of
fifteen that he even keeps changing his name for the sake of hiding
his identity so that he will not be caught by police. After doing a
theft he goes away from the locality purposely. Thus, during one of
his stealing adventures he meets Arun in a wrestling match. Arun
was simple, kind, easy going - quite suitable for Hari Singhs
purpose. I want to work for you, said the thief to Arun who was a
writer and did not mind having a helper at home. Arun wrote for
Delhi and Mumbai magazines and earned just enough for his
existence. But paying regularly to a servant was not possible for him
right now. So he made it clear to Hari Singh, he will not be able to
pay him anything, except food and a place in his house to sleep.
Hari Singh readily agreed although he knew nothing about cooking
for which he was engaged by Arun. Apart from cooking Arun taught
Hari how to write his name, and also promised to teach him to write
full sentences. Hari on his part thought that an educated thief can
accomplish many things in future. Slowly a bond of friendship began
to develop between the two. Arun was most trusting towards his
helper and never realized how much money Hari cheated him of in
the shopping of grocery and other essential items. After some
months Arun was able to sell one of his books to a publisher for
which he earned a handsome amount of money which he kept under
his mattress not realizing Hari Singhs evil intentions. At night the
thief in Hari was awaken and he stole the whole money while his
unsuspecting master was fast asleep. He headed straight away
towards the railway station. Without wasting time even to take a
ticket Hari reached the platform where a train was about to depart.
He could have gone away but he started vacillating between the
thief in him and his conscience which was reminding him what he
would lose the trust of his worthy master and friend Arun. The
good company of Arun had started influencing him positively as a
result of which Hari could not run away from him as he always had
done in the past. For the first time he felt guilty. So instead of
escaping he went back and found his master- friend still seeping
peacefully. Hari managed to keep back the stolen money in its place
without waking Arun. In the words of Hari, who is also the first
person narrator of the story : I had been working for Arun for
nearly a fortnight and apart from shopping hadnt done much to
exploit him. I had every opportunity to so. I had a key to the front
door He (Arun) was a most trusting person I had ever met. And
that was why I couldnt make up my mind to rob him.We can
understand from the story that it was adverse circumstances which
were responsible for making a thief out of Hari. He was an orphan,
poor, illiterate and unemployed. But the same adversity along with
an insight into human psychology made him philosophize about
people and the circumstances that had taught him to be a clever
thief. In the first place it was his selfish motive that inspired him to
go back. Arun had promised to teach him to read and write whole
sentences. Hari, by this time had realized that being able to read
and write is something great. In his excitement at the sight of a
good amount of money he forgot about it. But afterwards while he
was in the railway station he started realizing: It was a simple
matter to steal (and sometimes as simple to be caught) but to be
really big man, a wise and successful man, that was something. I
should go back to Arun. My affection for him, my sense of sympathy,
but most of all my desire to write whole sentences, drew me back to
the room. 2 Although a thief, Hari realized the value of education.
On the other hand it was Haris concern for Arun that drew him
back. A sense of sympathy was one of his weaknesses and also
through hesitation over a theft he had often been caught in the
past. He realized the fact that a successful thief must be pitiless. He
was fond of Arun. His affection for Arun, his sense of sympathy but
most of all his desire to write whole sentences, drew him back to the
room. Next day morning Hari was unable to face Arun. He was
thinking, after all Arun must have come to know what he had done
with the money. Especially while he was heading towards the
railway station it was raining heavily due to which the paper money
had gone wet. But Arun behaved very normally as if he knew
nothing. When Hary woke up Arun had already made tea. Arun
stretched out his hand towards Hari. There was a five Rupee note in
his hand. It was offered as salary, a good amount in the form of
salary for a domestic help in those days. Haris heart sank as he
realized that Arun knew everything that happened on the previous
night. The note was still wet from the last nights rain. Today I will
teach you to write a little more than your name said Arun. This
story contains a lot of social values. In the first place both the
characters have good social values ingrained in them. Hari, although
a thief, knew the value of education, the achievement of which will
make anybody great and self-reliant. On another level he did not
want to betray his Guru. It was also the good qualities of Arun
which influenced Hari and helped him to give up theft. The world
today needs more and more people like Arun who is more human, to
transform people like Hari, who become convicts not by choice but
by influence of adverse circumstances. Here Arun is a mouth piece
Ruskin Bond himself whose writings have lot of good societal
influence especially on children. This story also inspires people not
to ill-treat child servants if at all they have any. Children should be
given all the opportunities for education which will mould their
attitude towards life in a positive way and will enable them to
become responsible citizens. True friendship can bring about
miraculous transformations. This is the message given by Ruskin
Bond through this short story. Friendship between human beings is
the main theme of the story.