Discuss how does the use of imagery and suspense add to the element of horror in Satyajit Ray’s Fritz.

Ans: Apart from excelling in the genre of suspense and thriller stories, Satyajit Ray is also famous for his
short stories which are open ended and hovers on the borderline between the psychological and the
macabre. They open the portals to the dark shades of the human character, sinister plots and jaw
dropping endings. And all of these are beautifully executed by Ray’s art of characterisation. The
protagonists of Ray’s stories are usually of a humble background and through them, Ray beautifully
catches the primeval inner struggle of the human nature in a subtle manner. His short story Fritz is no
exception in this regard.

The story begins with the protagonist,Jayanto lost in thought and always disturbed and excited about
something. He is continuously nudged by the narrator of the story, Shankar, to break his trance. Ray’s
portrayal of Jayanto, right from the beginning creates an element of suspense which grips the readers’
attention. Both Shankar and Jayanto are childhood friends,who have come to Bundi, a remote place in
Rajasthan at Jayanto’s insistence. They stay over at a bungalow, which itself is ‘atleast a hundred years
old.’ Besides, Bundi, with its remoteness, ‘cobbled paths’, and exotic architectural beauty seems to
transport the narrator to a Rajputana of olden times. And it is exactly in the middle of this eerie settings
that Jayanto, starts recapitulating before the author, his old history with Bundi, that dates thirty one
years back. His irrational effusiveness at the sight of the deodar tree, the hide and seek played by his
memory, added with the brilliantnarrative technique of using pauses, ‘Memory is a strange business…’
already signals something off about him before the readers. Now as he starts to narrate the story of his
life like doll, Fritz and how he prized Fritz over every other toy,shows Jayanto’s unnatural obsession with
the doll, if not an instance of posession. That funny smile on Fritz’s lips and the look in his eyes
definitely adds to the uncanny feelings pervading this story. According to Jayanto, thirty one years ago,
he had brought the doll to Bundi and ‘It was destroyed here’. It creates further suspense among the
readers to know more about the tragic outcome of the doll. Apparently while playing with Fritz on the
lawn, some tea spliied over Jayanto’s pants and he went insideto change. On coming back he was
shocked to see two dogs having a tug of war with Fritz and ‘Although he didn’t actually come apart, his
face was batttered beyond recognition and his clothes were torn.’ Jayanto’s insistence on burying the
doll under the deodar tree,not only clears our doubt about the deodar tree but at the same time makes
us question his sanity. Whether it is Jayanto’s fancy of regarding the doll as a flesh and blood friend , his
fear of the grotesque look of the doll bitten by the dogs or really a case of being posessed by a demonic
doll, acting as a conduit remains unclear. It is this blurred rationality that adds to the aura of suspense in
this story.

Later that night, as if by coincidence, Shankar finds Jayanto up from his sleep with a ‘look of anxiety on
his face.’ He complains about something having walked over his chest and although Shankar searches
the room for animals that might have strayed inside,nothing is found. The oddity of the incident is
further complimented by the spots on Jayanto’s quilts. It was clearly the proof that something has
definitely come inside the room despite the doors and windows being locked. Thus the probability of a
supernatural occurrence at this lonely hour of the night sends a chill down the readers spine. Although
Shankar dismisses the thought of something strange happening ever since their arrival in Bundi, Jayanto
seems to continuously osscilate between normalcy and his state of trance. The premonition of
something unknown keeps on haunting him. Even while visiting the fort of Bundi, his initial enthusiasm,
‘began to wane.’ As if deep inside he is terrified at the thought of something sinister, lying in a silent
wait for him. Having a look at Jayanto’s trouble torn face,Shankar decides to return to the safety of the
bungalow. But it was also as if, some unnatural force was drawing Jayanto towards the bungalow like a
magnet. And it was only on the return journey that Jayanto, not being able to hide his anxiety any
longer, blabbers before Shankar, ‘Fritz came into our room last night.’ Although, Shankar tries to reason
with him, he seems dead certain, that it was his doll that has come back from the dead to pay him a
visit, either for bond he had with Jayanto or for revenging himself for deserting him with an improper
burial. Jayanto also emphasises how he felt that the creature walking over his chest had two legs. The
contemplation of what Jayanto narrates makes us shudder. Whatever be the reason, Jayanto could not
be reasoned with and the author thought that the only way of reclaiming Jayanto’s lost sanity was to
give him the proof of his folly by digging up the ground near the deodar tree, where the doll was buried
and show him that nothing was there, except some metallic remains like, ‘the buckle of a belt or brass
buttons on a jacket.’

Accordingly they tipped the gardener of the bungalow to dig up the ground near the deodar tree. While
diggingup the ground, Jayanto’s expression showed the terror he was suffering from at the prospect of
what would come up from the grave. A sense of veiled excitement gripped Shankar as well at this point.
Already Ray has succesfully built up the anticipation of the climax by describing the eerie silence of that
afternoon and the desolation of the bungalow. Now at the penultimate moment before the outcome is
to be revealed, as if by the wiles of some supernatural forces, a peacock gives out its raucous cry for
Shankar to be distracted for a fraction of a second and it is exactly in that second that Jayanto lets out a
terrifying sound. His eyes bulging out of their sockets reflects the depth of horror that has gripped him.
Looking in the direction of Jayanto’s ‘visibly trembling’ fingers, even Shankar is numbed into disbelief as
, ‘There lay at our feet, covered in dust,lying flat on its back, a twelve-inch-long, pure white ,perfect little
human skeleton.”

It is the open endedness of the story, which not only gives it a modernist touch, but also allows the
readers to experience an edge of the seat suspense and have their own interpretations of it. Thus it can
be concluded that Ray, through the delicate weaving of imagery and suspense has added to the horror
of the story Fritz.