ISC Echoes Fritz question and answers – Character sketch of Jayanto

Echoes


Fritz : by Satyajit Ray 




Question: Give the character sketch of Jayanto in short story  ‘Fritz’.

Answer : Jayanto is the protagonist of the story ‘Fritz’, who is the childhood friend of the narrator – Shankar and worked in the editorial division of a newspaper. Some of his character traits are –

  • A Man Influenced by Memories

              Jayanto was so Influenced by his memories from past that he chose Bundi to visit over the other famous places like Jaipur, Udaipur or Chittor. This was because he wanted to revive his childhood memories and to compare the modern Bundi with his childhood image of the place. 


         Jayanto was so Influenced by his old memories that he tried to recall them all the time, even he forgot to enjoy this trip.


     When Jayanto could not recall the memories related with the deodar tree he became impatient and angry. When Shankar asked him about that deodar tree, ” Jayanto stared at the trunk of the tree, frowning, “as he couldn’t remember any memory related to deodar tree. 


        Jayanto later became so haunted by the memories of Fritz, that he believed the doll – ‘ Fritz’ had come back to life and visited him the previous night. He also believed that the circular marks on his quilt were the footprints of Fritz. Thus he said to Shankar ” I could distinctly feel that whatever was walking on my chest had two feet , not four. “



  • Quiet and Lost

            Although Jayanto was a quiet man but they arrived Bundi he seemed to be in low spirit also.  As the narrator says – ” I noticed Jayanto had turned rather quiet arriving in Bundi.”
         He seemed to be lost in his past. Some of his childhood memories had returned and he  became depressed and emotional. He was so occupied in his memories that he could not enjoy even his food. The narrator says – ” At lunch, he ate nothing except a couple of chapatis with meat  curry, although I knew he was quite fond of his food.” 



  • A Single Child –

           Jayanto was the only child of his parents. He was so loved and pampered that his parents gave him every thing he wanted. In Jayanto’s own words ” I had a lot of toys when I was small. My parents gave me practically everything I wanted, perhaps because I was their only child “. 

       He was not only loved but loving also. When he got Fritz, he used to spend all his time with him. He could talk to his doll for hours. Perhaps because of being a single child he was adamant too. When his parents warned him not to overdo things with Fritz, he did not listen to them.



  • Sensitive –


              Jayanto was a sensitive soul. He was deeply attached to his doll Fritz. He could not protect his doll from being destroyed by a couple of stray dogs, this fact, made him sad even after thirty one years. He was very much attached with his doll so he burried Fritz as if a real human being had died. His sensitive self continued to be anxious on remembering his doll even after thirty one years. Apart from this Jayanto was a man  of strong sense, when he was walked over by some strange creature at night, he was sure it was not any cat  or rat as he says – ” But I could distinctly feel that whatever was walking on my chest had two feet, not four. ” 

6 thoughts on “ISC Echoes Fritz question and answers – Character sketch of Jayanto”

  1. There was no sanjay but shankar .
    And in short shankar was the narrator of the short story .
    . A good friend
    .A caring man
    .A man guided by curiosity
    .smart and confident man
    .A light hearted man
    I hope it helps you ,and you can expand the following points.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top