This paper explores Ruskin Bond’s novella Dust on the Mountain
through an ecocritical perspective . This paper particularly
focuses to the specific structural and psychological roles of text’s
climax.
Ruskin Bond is one of the famous voice in Indian English
literature. He is very famous for his heart touching and localized
portrayals of the Himalayan foothills. His works mostly talks
about the fragile relationship between human and natural
environment. His novella, Dust on the Mountain follows the story
of a young village boy, Bishnu, who is forced to enter the
dengerous world of line stone mining industry after the
environmental failure in his village. This paper analyses the
crucial truck accident towards the end of the story . Ruskin Bond
represents the Oak tree not only as a passive victim of industrial
greed but also as a active forgiving and helping force. The Oak
tree doesn’t take revenge on human who exploits nature for the
shake of their profits, instead it saves the life of the truck driver
Pritam Singh from a deadly accident. The Oak tree absorbs the
whole impact of the crash and saves the truck driver’s life. By
closely examine this part of the text, this study shows that human
life is directly linked to nature. Here Bond presents nature as a
healing force which can change the negative mind of human into
a kind hearted human.