Character of Falder
Though Falder is not a hero
in the Aristotelian or Shakespearian sense, the entire dramatic action of
Justice emanates from him, right from the first Act. Everything happens around
him; he claims all our attention, sympathy and pity. He does everything and
suffers not for himself, but for Ruth Honeywill. But even then we find
him an unheroic hero whose tragedy is never grand and sublime, whose suffering
and fall do not inspire awe. If we admire him, it is because he is victim of a
social injustice which we all resent. He does not stir our deeper emotions
beyond pity which is aroused by the spectacle of waste.
Falder is a young clerk of twenty-three. He is pale,
good looking, but a bit timid and nervous. He is soft-spoken and nice, but
rather weak and pensive. He gives us the impression of a scared youngman who is
constantly haunted by something he has done in a desperate bid to save a
married woman. But in spite of all this he has a heart of gold that bleeds to
see others suffer. When he sees Ruth languishing in her hell, waiting only to
be throttled to death by her cruel husband, he tries to assuage her agonies and
gives her his sincere love which is warm enough to make the unhappy woman dream
of a new, happy home with Fader. He considers his love for Ruth very precious
and he does not have much qualm to forge the cheque with a view of building a
happy home for Ruth.
Falder never thinks of being dishonest, he hates
swindling and all his life he has learnt to preserve the integrity of his
character. But when he sees no alternative to forging the cheque he sacrifices
his honesty and integrity at the altar of his love for Ruth, for he considers
this love more precious and above anything else. All along he has remained
faithful and devoted to Ruth, not because he pities her, but because his love
for her pervades his entire existence giving it both succour and meaning in an
otherwise drab and dreary world. He is prepared to sacrifice his life to see
her happy and he actually does it without any remorse.
In the office he is liked by all in spite of his
weakness. His meekness and sincerity endear him to others, and Cokeson and the
Hows do not have anything to complain about as long as he is in the office But
when it is impossible for Ruth to stay with her husband, he frantically tries
to get the money necessary for paying their travelling expenses to a far-away
land where he dreams of giving Ruth a happy home. He is really in a daze while
altering cheque, and when he realises what he has done he does not let his qualm
scare him away from his pledge to Ruth. As he has promises to keep, he does not
think of rest. His only thought is about Ruth, and he silently shelves his
scruples. He alters the counterfoil of the cheque he has forged only to prevent
detection before he leaves the country with Ruth. He knows that Davis is
already beyond anybody's reach, and, so, even if the forgery is detected, no
harm can touch him. But, as ne is not an adept, he is caught on the very day he
has planned to leave. However, James How and Cleaver do not see this reason.
The judge and the jury too find him guilty; he is found to have committed
forgery deliberately, in a planned way. Hence he is sentenced to penal
servitude.
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Falder, in his solitary cell, is a broken man ; the
price he is made to pay is too heavy for a weak young man like him - it
shatters him completely and even robs him of his faith in life. When he comes
out of the prison he finds himself without a shelter and without a living. Even
the doors of his own sister's home is closed before him; no employer would have
him in his office. The stigma of being convicted once appears to be too large
to be rubbed out. He is an outcast in his own society. But even then he does
not forget his Ruth, though now he is sceptical of being of any use to her.
When again they meet, Falder seems to have regained his lost hope, for Ruth is
still there as helpless as ever.
Cokeson and James How help him dream again, for they
agree to give him another chance. But James has one condition : he must sever
his relation with Ruth and keep away from her. Falder refuses to do that, he
cannot give up one for whom he has suffered so much. However, Ruth is quite
agreeable to How's suggestion and tries to persuade him to reason. But Falder
will not be persuaded. At last James relents and does not insist on his
condition as forcefully as he does in the beginning. But the society never stops chasing Falder with a vengeance, the law never gives him the respite even though he has done nothing to malign it. He is caught in a vicious web and even James How fails to extricate him when the custodian of the legal system comes to pounce upon his prey for not reporting himself at the police station. Falder knows that it is no use struggling, for he cannot get away from justice'. Each time he tries to live, the society hurls him down the precipice and he is made to Crawl under its wheel only to get crushed in the process. So, only to flee this society, Falder jumps to his death. It is his only
bold attempt to give 'justice' the slip, and it helps us see the rot.
The pathos in Falder's character moves us all to pity,
but he does not emerge as a tragic hero in the true sense. There is little
grandeur in his suffering; even his death leaves him pathetic. He represents
the frustration of the modern man who is constantly baffled and harassed by the
false values of a heartless commercial system.
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