Satyajit Ray’s literary works often incorporate elements of the supernatural, and “Fritz” is no different. In the story, the supernatural centers around Fritz, Jayanto’s old doll, and Ray uses Fritz to interrogate the relationship between memory and reality. Jayanto loved Fritz and played with him all the time. He even brought it with him on a family trip to Bundi where, unfortunately, it was destroyed by a couple of stray dogs. Because Fritz was “a European,” Jayanto believed a funeral to be the appropriate way to mark Fritz’s untimely passing, so he buried the doll in the garden of the circuit house. Though the memory of Fritz’s violent fate is at first difficult to recall, it soon becomes clear that it has deeply impacted Jayanto. Thirty-one years later, Jayanto is still so tormented by grief and guilt over what happened to Fritz that he believes the doll came to life, entered his room, and walked across his chest in the night. Later the next day, to get Jayanto’s mind off this doll, Shankar suggests that they dig up the place where Fritz was buried. Yet when they finally unearth his spot, what they find is a perfectly intact human skeleton, and this utterly terrifying conclusion incites more questions than it does answers about who Fritz actually was.
Thus the supernatural arises in moments of heightened fear and anxiety related to the untold story of Fritz’s identity. And because the supernatural is always associated with such heightened emotional states, it not only contributes to the buildup of narrative tension and suspense, but it also illustrates how Jayanto’s understanding of reality is impacted by these intense emotions. Through the mystery surrounding Fritz’s true identity, then, Ray skillfully incorporates the supernatural to show how unresolved events from the past will quite literally haunt the present. In doing so, he suggests that at the core of Jayanto’s fear and apprehension are childhood grief and guilt—feelings that can’t be rationally understood or categorized.
Related Themes from Other Texts
The Supernatural ThemeTracker
The Supernatural Quotes in Fritz
“But why did you suddenly think of a tree?”
[…] “I can’t remember that now. Something had brought me near the tree. I had done something here. A European…”
“European?”
“No, I can’t recall anything at all. Memory is a strange business…”
It was not the usual kind of doll little girls play with. One of Jayanto’s uncles had brought for him from Switzerland a twelve-inch-long figure of an old man, dressed in traditional Swiss attire. Apparently, it was very lifelike.
“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. Our conversation had to be one-sided, of course, but Fritz had such a funny smile on his lips and such a look in his eyes, that it seemed to me as though he could understand every word. Sometimes I wondered if he would actually converse with me if I could speak to him in German. Now it seems like a childish fantasy, but at the time the whole thing was very real to me.”
I had no doubt that Jayanto had only had a bad dream. All those childhood memories had upset him, obviously, and that was what had led to his dreaming of a cat walking on his chest.
“Fritz came into our room last night. Those little marks on my quilt were his footprints.”
There was very little I could do at this except catch hold of him by the shoulders and shake him. How could I talk sensibly to someone whose mind was obsessed with such an absurd idea?
The spade slipped from the gardener’s hand. I, too, gaped at the ground, open-mouthed in horror, amazement and disbelief.
There lay at our feet, covered in dust, lying flat on its back, a twelve-inch-long, pure white, perfect little human skeleton.
