Ruskin Bond attempts to explain the proper manner of hearing and understanding others’ perceptions through the narrative “The Boy Who Broke the Bank,” It is a comical short story. The lesson he wants to convey through the story is how misinterpretation of actions can result in the eventual downfall of the entire situation despite good intentions.
The Boy Who Broke The Bank | Summary
Working as a lowly sweeper for the Pipalnagar Bank is Nathu. He isn’t compensated well, thus he doesn’t do his job well. He is dissatisfied and seeks work. He is shown as upset disappointed and frustrated with his job for being underpaid and not being paid at all. Concerned about his payment, Nathu creates dust unintentionally out of aggravation. The washerman’s son Sitaram walks by Nathu while facing the dust. Sitaram talks with Nathu after recognizing his feelings, from the clear scenario, Nathu was frustrated and Sitaram confronts him. He thought Nathu is upset about not being paid the extra two rupees that he has been asking from the bank.
When Nathu gets upset, he claims that the bank has not even paid him his normal amount of payment. Sitaram tries to console Nathu after hearing his tragic story. Additionally, he says that he will search for a new job for Nathu. When Sitaram pays a visit to Mrs. Srivastava, he learns that she is seeking a sweeper. Sitaram recommends Nathu’s name and gives a brief overview of Nathu’s tragic story going on while he works for the bank. Sitaram is instructed by Mrs. Srivastava to contact Nathu the next day. When Mrs. Srivastava repeats the tale to her friend Mrs. Bhushan, the plot twists. She alters the narrative’s tone and style of presentation. Mrs Srivastava and Mrs Bhushan together come up with the conclusion that the bank must be in serious trouble if they can’t pay the sweeper, It’s possible that none of the other employees weren’t getting paid either.
Now, this rumor starts spreading like wildfire. The story’s tone and direction continue to shift as it moves from Mr. Bhushan to Kamal Kishore to Deep Chand to Old Ganpat! People begin to believe that the bank’s owner, Govind Seth Ram, escaped to Kashmir with all of the bank’s funds. In front of the bank, Pipalnagar residents begin to come and ask for their money. More people are added to the gathering. Some of the people in the crowd did not even have a bank account themselves. Soon after people started to become agitated. Soon after, they begin hurling rocks, shattering the bank’s window. Nathu arrives the following morning to find the bank in a dreadful state. As he struggles harder to clear everything off, he is frustrated. Sitaram comes shortly after and recounts with him the nightmare of the day before. After returning to his job, Nathu washes the floor while he waits for the manager to come and give him his payment. He muses over the events that led to the bank’s downfall and is unaware of it.
The Boy Who Broke The Bank | Analysis
Nathu, being responsible for a bank’s failure doesn’t understand why it occurred, the entire scenario is ironic. Even worse, he has no bank account himself. All he wanted was his payment. The bank falling may appear like the ideal plan to the readers because it serves as retaliation for the bank’s disregard for Nathu’s struggle, but it puts him in a worse situation. The Pipalnagar Bank, the market, and a huge shady tamarind tree may all be seen in the town, which serves as the setting for the story. The setting aids in giving the story’s events a sense of place and atmosphere. Nathu is depicted as a whiny and unhappy sweeper boy who is irritated by the bank’s failure to pay his paycheck on time. On the other hand, Sitaram is portrayed as a supportive friend who is willing to aid Nathu. Sitaram and Nathu’s talk displays their dissimilar personalities and issues. Sitaram sympathizes with Nathu and offers to assist him find alternative employment when he reveals his displeasure with the bank and his desire to leave.
The irony is that Nathu, a bank employee, is having financial difficulties and hasn’t gotten his normal income. It emphasizes the injustice experienced by the underprivileged and the absurdity of his predicament. In Sitaram’s contact with Mrs. Srivastava, who cites the want for a sweeper, there may be a chance for Nathu to secure employment. This creates the conditions for a potential solution to Nathu’s problem.
The story uses a variety of literary devices to depict the conflicts that the people and their relationships face. It introduces issues like injustice and poverty while making suggestions for potential resolutions and the value of friendship. The narrative includes the intense heat of Pipalnagar’s summer as one of its themes. In her conversation, Mrs. Bhushan emphasizes that this summer has been the warmest in the town’s history. The atmosphere is formed and the background for the events is provided by this topic.
Seth Govind Ram’s bank’s financial dilemma is another recurring subject. The sweeper hasn’t gotten a salary in more than a month, and Mrs. Srivastava informs Mrs. Bhushan that the bank is unable to pay its staff. Mrs. Bhushan is shocked to learn that the bank is having serious financial problems that could potentially have an impact on the entire neighborhood. The interconnectivity of the town’s characters is another theme in the novel. Mrs. Bhushan departs from Mrs. Srivastava and heads over to where her husband is conversing with Kamal Kishore, the owner of a photo store. Deep Chand, a neighbor, is informed by Kamal Kishore of the bank’s predicament. The narrative illustrates how news may affect people’s lives and how it can travel swiftly in a small community. The conversation and exchanges between the characters give the story substance. The conversation makes the scene more interesting for readers by capturing their worries, responses, and exchanges. Dialogue is used by the author to provide information and advance the plot.
The narrative explores the themes of heat, financial instability, and communal bonds while offering a window into the lives of the inhabitants of Pipalnagar. It lays the groundwork for prospective conflicts and added plot twists. To emphasize how quickly the news spread across the bazaar, it is compared to a forest fire in the sentence:
“The news spread through the bazaar with the rapidity of forest fire.”
Hyperbole is used to emphasize how serious the situation is as individuals conjecture and move about in a frenzy. There is anticipation and a sense of an unexpected change of events when Old Ganpat, a beggar with a twisted limb, is described as abruptly springing to his feet and dashing toward the bank. The manager engages in verbal sarcasm with the crowd outside the bank. The crowd demands their money yelling, “We want it now!” The manager claims that the bank has lots of money but no fast way to collect it. The bank’s damaged plate glass window serves as a metaphor for the crowd’s growing resentment and wrath. The brick that was thrown across the air symbolizes their utter helplessness and breaking point.
The narrative is driven by characters’ conversation, which conveys the thoughts, feelings, and reactions of the characters. It enhanced the tension in the story and brought attention to how the bank’s failure affected the people and the Pipalnagar neighborhood.
Nathu’s response to the situation outside the bank demonstrates both his commitment to hard work and his displeasure with the payment hold-up. He expresses his sense of injustice and the added responsibility of having to clean up the mess the crowd made through his speech and actions. The absurdity of the scenario is heightened by the washerman’s boy’s casual remark that Nathu must find employment elsewhere because the bank is closing its doors. The fact that Nathu, who doesn’t have a bank account, is indirectly impacted by the bank’s failure emphasizes the crisis’s widespread effects. Nathu completes his duties and sits down to wait for the manager while reflecting on the bank’s unexpected collapse. His reflections and astonishment bring a reflective quality to the story, sparking interest in the causes of the bank’s failure and bringing to light the irony of him being the one responsible for the news’s propagation. The narrative illustrates the absurd chain of events that led from one thing to another and how misinterpretation negatively affected people’s lives. It demonstrates how rapidly gossip may develop from news and how this gossip then has an impact on people’s lives.
The Boy Who Broke The Bank | Characters
The protagonist of the narrative is Nathu. He works as a sweeper for a living. He is employed at Pipalnagar Bank. Sitaram, the son of a washerman, is a friend of Nathu’s. He has a big part in the narrative. The proprietor of the Pipalnagar Bank is Seth Govind Ram, who is another character. The primary locale in which the entire story is set is Pipalnagar.
Mrs. Srivastava, Mrs. Bhushan, Mr. Bhushan, Kamal Inshore, Deep Chand, and Old Ganpat are all Pipalnagar residents who miscommunicate and misinterpret the bank’s bankruptcy with one another and, as a result, the entire community.
Nathu, who accidentally broke the bank, is appropriately referred to as “The Boy Who Broke The Bank” in the title. both metaphorically and literally. He accidentally spread rumors that the bank was going out of business, which encouraged others to break the bank’s building’s windows. One may never be aware of the potential effects of what they say or how it may be propagated. The story demonstrates how life always seems to come full circle.
