Fritz Story Summary

The Storyline / Plot Summary

The Short story ‘Fritz’ written by Satyajit Ray published
in his book ‘Collected Short Stories’ is about a Swiss doll
named Fritz.

Jayanto, the protagonist, works in the editorial section of

a newspaper and Shankar, the narrator is a school
teacher. Both of them are great friends and have finally
managed to get some time to go on a trip together. They
decide to go to Bundi; a village in Rajasthan where
Jayanto had been before in his childhood with his
parents.

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They stay at the Circuit house (a kind of guest house)
where Jayanto had stayed before in his childhood due to
his father’s frequent work trips there. Upon reaching,
Shankar realises that Jayanto is in somewhat pensive
mood and queries about it. Jayanto says that the old
memories are rushing into his mind. Shankar thinks that
being the overemotional guy Jayanto is, he’s being
nostalgic, so he doesn’t say anything in that matter.

They go for sightseeing in the compound and suddenly

Jayanto remembers that there was a tall deodar tree
there. He searches for it and finds it at the end of the
compound. He looks at the trunk searchingly and says
here he had met a European but doesn’t exactly
remember who it was or how they had met.

They return to the Circuit house where Dilwar, the cook,

has prepared their dinner. Meanwhile Jayanto seems to
remember the old memory of the European. He tells
Shankar the tale about Fritz which Shankar hears
amusedly. It was a one-foot tall Swiss doll brought from
Switzerland by his uncle for him. He says he was very
much attached to the doll and was devastated when two
stray dogs had mutilated it. He had buried the doll’s
remnants under the very same deodar tree.

Shankar is quite tired so he goes to bed but wakes up

abruptly in the middle of the night and finds Jayanto
sitting on his bed, looking perplexed. Upon asking the
reason, Jayanto says that something had walked over
his chest when he was asleep. Shankar assures that it
could have been his dream but Jayanto shows him his
pillow. Faint marks were there pointing to the fact that an
animal had walked over it. Shankar does a thorough
search of the place but doesn’t find any small animal like
mice or rats. Shankar feels that his friend is just
exaggerating but tells him soothing words nevertheless.
After this they both go to sleep.

The following day, during their visit to an old fort on the

hills, Jayanto remains quite lost in thoughts. After
returning, Shankar queries about it persistently. Jayanto
says that Fritz, the doll, had come back alive and it was
the doll last night who had walked over his chest leaving
his footprints. Shankar, now annoyed with Jayanto’s
irrational fears, suggests to dig up the doll’s grave and
see for himself that the doll isn’t back.

Jayanto agrees; together they have the gardener dig the

place where Fritz had been buried. To their horror, they
find a pure white 12-inch skeleton, exactly the same size
as Fritz. They both are confused and scared to see this.
Naturally, weird thoughts and assumptions pop into their
mind. The story ends here on a cliffhanger.

Fritz: A Commentary on the story

Titled after the doll, the story ‘Fritz’ is narrated in first
person from Sankar’s perspective and that provides a
realistic depth into Jayanto’s point of view, unclouded by
Jayanto’s irrational fears and beliefs.

The passages are maybe a bit long and quite descriptive

about the ancient craftsman style, the current venue,
about Jayanto’s childhood memories and experiences.
The story includes a lot of flashbacks; half of the whole
story is told in those flashbacks but the timing to reveal
those past memories and moments is so perfect that the
readers won’t have trouble with the transitions.

The characters are well-portrayed. Jayanto’s

character is drawn as a light-hearted person and maybe
at times irrational as well, whereas Shankar is a smart,
rational man who believes only in what his eyes see.
Hence, he was annoyed at Jayanto’s assumption that
Fritz was back. It’d be right to say that he was quite
fearless as well because even when Jayanto was
reluctant to dig the grave, he was sure about what he
wanted and how to get it done.

The story is set in Bundi, Rajasthan. You will get an idea

of the place even if you haven’t visited it, thanks to the
author’s powerful vocabulary.

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The main themes are friendship, lost friends, memories,
childhood, superstitions, fear and conflict. The word
‘superstition’ can be replaced by supernatural or
paranormal according to the reader’s belief depending
on what they want to believe or think.

Throughout the story, there’s a constant feel of

foreboding, Jayanto isn’t his usual self. He’s rather
worried and pensive about something. The past it seems
is controlling him; he hasn’t let go of his horrible yet sad
memory of Fritz being torn by those street dogs.

From the beginning it’s full of mystery, promises of

adrenaline rush, foreboding and at times even horror.
And it’s enough to get anyone hooked up with the story.
Then there’s the ending; the author has left it in a
cliffhanger, leaving the readers to wonder and assume
how it was possible, and about Fritz; was he human?
Was he really back to meet his friend? You’re free to
assume and cook up your own version. The author is
popular for the shocking elements and endings in his
stories and he has done an incredible job in this one as
well.

Theme
The supernatural or paranormal has always attracted
ordinary human beings. Even in the modern age these is
no dearth of those who claim to have fist-hand
knowledge of a supernatural being – a ghost or a spirit.
Films and TV serials on the the subject are plenty. The
reality is that humans are always fascinated by the
things which are beyond human understanding. Ghosts,
witches and fairies continue to haunt us from our
childhood. Even though no logic can justify their
existence, they continue to exist in our memory. There
are many who accept the supernatural as real.
The story ‘Fritz’ by Ray is a kind of thriller or a mystery.
Jayanto, the protagonist, in inclined to believe in the
reality of supernatural beings. His mind is hinged on the
ruined doll. When he suddenly wakes up on the bed, he
feels that Fritz, the doll of an old man, has walked on the
cover of the quilt above his chest. This is logically
unacceptable. But when the ground in which the doll
was buried is dug out, something gives credence to his
inexplicable feeling. We are horrified to see that a
human skeleton, the size of the doll, is discovered
underground.
What does the writer want to convey? Is it that ghosts
really exist? Or, are they the figment of sick
imagination? The open ending of the story is meant for
free speculation.
Message
‘Fritz’ is a story written primarily as a thriller. There is
obviously no message. And yet we can get at some sort
of lesson for all of us. Is is that we should not allow
ourselves to be obsessed by anything or by anyone,
however close we find ourselves to the thing or the
person. Only when we are obsessed we invite unusual
things to happen to us in one form or the other. We may
get nightmares. We may see spirits with our eyes when
no one else does. Or we may simply lose our rational
faculties.
In Fritz, Jayanto is a sensitive person ever since his
childhood. He makes a beautiful doll his best friend.
How the doll named Fritz became his obsession is told
by Jayanto himself:
‘I had a lot of toys when I was small……..But once I had
Fritz, I forgot all my other toys. I played only with him.
A time came when I began to spend hours just talking to
him…….My parents did warn me not to do overdo
things……..’
This obsession, many years later, makes him visit his
childhood place and locate the deodar tree under which
he had buried Frtiz. This obsession seems to have
continued throughout his life so far. The result is the
horrifying discovery of a skeleton in place of Fritz. The
point is not who Fritz was, or what is the significance of
this discovery. The point is : why should Jayanto need to
remember Fritz at all. Had he been normal, rational
being, say like Shankar, his friend, he would not have
bothered about a doll. And herein lies the message for
us: don’t be obsessed of anything or anybody in life.
Title
The title of the story ‘Fritz’ is at once eye-catching. We
become curious to know who Fritz is. Our curiosity is
soon satiated by the protagonist Jayanto when he tells
his friend about Fritz – a twelve-inch-long figure of an
old man, dressed in a traditional Swiss attire. It is this
Fritz that remains in focus till the end.
The title of the story, as such, is both appropriate and
suggestive. The story is in fact about the doll, Frtiz. It is
the memory of Frtiz that makes Jayanto visit his
childhood town. The thought of Fritz leads to strange
incidents. The discovery of a human skeleton horrifies
us, and we begin to wonder whether Frtiz was really a
ghost in the form of a doll. Thus, it is Fritz that is at the
centre of this story, and hence the title ‘Fritz’ is both apt
and suggestive.
Characters
Jayanto
Overview
 a newspaperman by profession

 sensitive human being

 whimsical

 obsessed by past memories of Fritz

Jayanto is the central character in the story entitled

‘Fritz’ by Satyajit Ray. He is sensitive, thoughtful person.
He is thirty-seven, when the story opens. By profession
is a newspaperman, an editor working in the editorial
division of a newspaper. He is naturally genial and
adventurous.
He relishes old memories. As he has spent some years
as a child in a remote town of Rajasthan, Bundi, he opts
to visit it in the company of his friend Shankar, a school
teacher.
After arriving in Bundi, he behaves erratically.
Sometimes he is cheerful and sometimes morose.
Shankar fails to know why his behaviour fluctuates.
Slowly, Jayanto begins to recall vividly the important
places of his childhood. They used to live in the circuit
house where they are staying now. The memory of a
deodar tree leads him to its discovery in the garden of
the circuit house.
The sight of the deodar tree in the garden of the circuit
house plunges him into the vortex of childhood
memories. We learn how as a pampered child of his
parents he had a lot of toys . His emotional attachment
to a Swiss toy his uncle had brought for him was so
strong that even his parents became concerned and
scared. He would spend hours with this toy – a twelve-
inch-long figure of an old man named Fritz. He would
talk to him as if he were a living human being. Fritz did
not, as he could not, respond, but it seemed to the child
Jayanto as if Fritz could talk to him if he could speak to
him in German. He was shocked when Fritz was torn
apart by stray dogs, which made him bury to toy under
the deodar tree which he discovers during his present
visit.
That he is hallucinated by Frtiz becomes clear when he
wakes up from his sleep. He feels as if something has
walked over his chest. Some small signs on the cover of
the quilt convince him that it was Fritz who walked over
his chest. Shankar tries to make him forget the incident,
but fails to do so. He remains obsessed with the idea of
the reality of Fritz. When a human skeleton , the size of
Fritz, is discovered on digging the ground beneath the
deodar tree, it only strengthens the whim of Jayanto
about Fritz.
It is quite possible that the human skeleton found buried
beneath the deodar tree might be something else. It
could be the figment of his sick imagination in which his
friend, too, got entangled. No doubt, once cannot be
sure about it.
In short, Jayanto, is a whimsical, hypersensitive and
emotional person. His obsession of Fritz makes him
behave abnormally and erratically.
The Narrator (Shankar)
Overview
 a school teacher

 mature and practical

 curious by nature

 tactful and persuasive

The narrator in the story is a school teacher named

Shankar. He is Jayanto’s close friend. In contrast with
Jayanto he seems to be more mature, realistic and
practical in his outlook on life. The way he narrates the
account of his visit, along with his freind, to Bundi, a
small Rajasthan town, reveals his sense of keen
observation and human interest.
He is quite gentle and genial. His intimacy with his
friend, Jayanto, reveals that he is a good friend. Even
though he is not fond of visiting the place suggested by
his friend, he agrees to accompany him readily.
Throughout the visit he keeps an eye on the fluctuating
moods of his friends. He feels concerned whenever he
finds Jayanto in low spirits. He tries to cheer him up.
He is basically a curious person. When Jayanto recalls
his memories , one by one, he becomes more and more
anxious to know the details. Being a good listener, he
pays full attention to Jayanto’s account of his
association with his Swiss doll named Fritz. When
Jayanto takes a pause and becomes silent, he asks,
“What happened to the doll?” When he is told that the
doll was destroyed, he asks, “Destroyed? How?” After
Jayanto has told him about the fate of the doll with the
stray dogs and has become silent, he shows his
curiosity again by asking, “And then?”
Unlike Jayanto , he is rational and practical . When
Jayanto suspects that some rat or cat might have
walked over his chest, he says:
“Rats and cats usually come in through drains, But I’ve
never
known them to climb on the bed”.
When the idea crops up that whatever has crept over
Jayanto’s chest must still be in the room, it is the
narrator who rises quickly and beings searching under
the bed, behind the suitcases and everywhere else in
the room. After some time, he rationally concludes that
Jayanto must have had a bad dram. When he finds that
his friend was in a distraught state he feels that he must
give him a tranquilizer . Ultimately, he takes the most
practical decision to get his friend rid of his whimsical
thought. He says that they should dig the ground
underneath the deodar tree where the boy was buried
years ago.
He is also quite tactful and persuasive at times. When
the gardener suspects the motive behind their digging
the ground under the tree, he lays a friendly hand on his
shoulder  and wins his confidence by saying : “Don’t
worry about the reason. I’ll give you five rupees. Please
do as you’re told.”
Thus, the narrator proves to be a good friend, a helpful
companion and rational being. His narrative shows his
ability to tell an incident vividly and effectively.
Critical Appreciation
Interesting and gripping story : All ghost stories grip the
attention of the readers. ‘Fritz’ by Ray is one such story.
It is unusual in the sense that in it the ghosts is not
horrifying a being who is threatening or destructive. The
ghost in this story – if at all it is a ghost – is a non-living,
harmless, smiling, small doll of an old man imported
from Switzerland. But everything is in it – suspense,
thrill, feeling of creepiness, etc. It is towards the end that
the doll turns out to be something scary. When a human
skeleton, similar in colour and size to the ruined toy
named Fritz, is discovered then we come to realize that
the ‘inactive’ toy could be a ghost, not a wicked but an
innocent one.
Setting :  The story is set in a circuit house in a small
town, Bundi in Rajasthan. The circuit house has a big
garden, and old fashioned large rooms having big
windows. The story that has elements of mystery
requires such atmosphere. The time is contemporary .
So the idea of the ‘ghost’ -whether real or unreal – is left
unexplored. The story of the ghost is, thus, purposely
set in a remote area of Rajasthan where the
supernatural is generally believable.
Point of view : The story is told by Shankar, a school
teacher, in the first person. As Shankar is a participant in
the action of the story, his fist-person account is quite
realistic and authentic. Everything is seen from his
perspective. A third-person point of view would have
been less authentic.
Language : The language of the story is simple and
precise. It is mostly denotative. The writer has not used
figurative language deliberatively. The story demands
plain language, shorn of all ornaments. However, it does
not mean that there is nothing to delight us. The
descriptive imagery is superb. The whole atmosphere is
built up of minute details:
Right opposite it was a huge garden with a large
number of roses in full bloom. Behind there were a
lot of trees which obviously housed a vast section of
local birds. Parrots could be seen everywhere ; and
peacocks could he heard…….