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ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 5 Summary

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ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 5 Summary

ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 5 Summary

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1 Summary

This is the famous sleep-walking scene. There is no hint of it in Holinshed. Lady Macbeth suffers from somnambulism (sleeplessness). She walks as she sleeps. She sleeps and keeps awake at sametime. It is a strange illness. Every night she gets up from her bed, dresses herself in a night-gown, and with a lighted taper in her hand passing from room to room, muttering strange fancies to herself. In this scene we have a vivid representation of the sleep-walking Lady.

In Dunsinane castle a doctor and Lady Macbeth’s waiting gentlewoman are discussing Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking. While they talk Lady Macbeth enters, carrying a candle. She tries to get rid of the oppression of her secret by committing it to paper. The doctor explains it as the agitation of the mind. Lady Macbeth enters with a taper. She has light by her continually. Darkness frightens her. She rubs her hand continually in an attempt to wipe away the stain of blood. (Washing mania) Old memories come in a disorderly fashion.

She taunts her husband. She recalls her old words to her husband before the murder. “Who dares receive it?” The sight of Duncan lying in a pool of blood has been a persistent memory with her. She recalls the horror of it even in sleep. She questions her husband about the Wife of Macduff. His hands are always red with blood. Lady Macbeth gives out the secret here.

The same old persistent spot in the hand comes back to her mind. She feels now that the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten the damned spot. She remembers the Banquet scene. She exhorts her husband. The knocking of Act II Scene ii comes back to her mind. She is filled with consternation. She goes back to bed.

The sleepwalking scene shows the broken, shattered lady. She is a shadow of her former self. The resolute, ruthless, fiend-like Lady has been reduced to a pale woman creeping from bed and mumbling incoherently, throwing up dreadful memories. There are however indications of this development of this Lady. Her fierce exterior conceals a soft core.

The sleep walking scene is filled with ironical overtone. It is an ironical travesty by Lady Macbeth of the heroic Lady of the first act. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth says, “Macbeth doth murder sleep”. Lady Macbeth cannot understand what he says. She too murdered sleep. This scene is indeed an ironic commentary on her complacency after the murder.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 2 Summary

This scene tells about the rebel Scottish Lords who prepare to join with Malcolm’s English forces near Birnam wood for a united attack against Macbeth. Malcolm and with English Siward to help them are now on the March towards Scotland; the Scottish nobles are also coming out to join gorges with them. There is significant departure from Holinshed. Shakespeare would have believe us that yhr thanes deserted Macbeth. But this is not what Holinshed tells us. We learn that no one any longer serves Macbeth from a sense of love and loyalty and that Macbeth is finding it difficult to keep his men under control. This scene is purely informative and it emphases Macbeth’s gradual isolation.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 3 Summary

Macbeth is in the castle of Dunsinane.He hears the reports of the thanes falling away from him more and more everyday. But Macbeth is determined to meet the situation bravely because of his strong faith in the prophecies of the witches – that he will have no cause for fear till Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane and that no one “born of woman” will have power to hurt him. In his castle Macbeth, deserted by his former supporters, puts a desperate trust in the prophecies of the witches and apparitions.

A servant, who tries to report the proximity and size of the enemy armies, warns of violent reproof from Macbeth for his pains. Macbeth orders his one remaining officer, Seyton, to scour the countryside and hang all those who take of fear or desertion. He finds no solace in the doctor’s diagnosis of Lady Macbeth’s condition and asks him to diagnose and cure Scotland’s illness.

The materials of the scene are taken from Holinshed. Holinshed tells that Macbeth’s friends asked him to take the help of foreigners, but Macbeth is so confident of his security that he did not do anything. He was sure that he would not be vanquished. Shakespeare however emphasises his mental insecurity and restlessness. He is not at peace with himself. He feels sick and tired, and again he is lashed into fury and desperation.

His language is violent and again there is a tender note when he pines for the loss of ‘honour, love, obedience and troops of friends’. His moods give rise to an ambivalent attitude- even in our disgust and horror, we feel a movement of compassion for the tyrant. Even in adversity he shows his practicality and brutality in having people put to death, but his questioning of the doctor strikes a pathetic note, for his own mind is “diseased” and the care he urges fr Lady Macbeth applies most terribly so himself.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 4 Summary

The English Force led by Malcolm, Macduff and Siward has now reached Scotland, and has advanced as far as Birnam wood. The combined forces against Macbeth is ordered by Malcolm to cut boughs from the trees of Birnam wood to use as camouflage during their movement towards Dunsinane. Malcolm assures Siward that those who remain with Macbeth are acting under duress and have no loyalty to their master.

Imminent battle is the keynote. Tension is mounting with the dramatic and ironic fulfilment of the prophecy brought nearer by Malcolm’s instructions to his soldiers. “The toils of retribution close quickly around him”.

When Malcolm gives order that every soldier shall “hew him down a bough and bear’t before hom”, we are at once aware how the witches’ promise, that Macbeth will not be defeated until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane, is open to a different meaning, and how Macbeth has been beguiled.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 Summary

Macbeth is waiting in Dunsinane Castle; his castle can endure a seizure. He hears the cry of a woman which announces the fact that Lady Macbeth has taken her own life. He ponders on the nature of existence- everything leads to death. Then a messenger enters to tell him that he has seen Birnam wood move. Macbeth prepares himself for fight. Macbeth can now forder his approaching doom, but with a desperate courage he decides to die fighting.

Macbeth’s mental defence against the odds is now almost shattered. His bravado in the openings of the scene is reduced to emptiness when he is told of his wife’s death. Life does not signify anything to him now. The report of Birnam Wood’s movement confirms to him the deceptiveness of the Witches’ promise. Aware now of the futility of the struggle, he becomes desperate and raises himself to fight to his death. The scene also brings out Macbeth in all glory of his pride and brooding self-analysis. The scene shows the regeneration of Macbeth in his self recovery from delusion and audacity of follies.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 6 Summary

It shows the progress of the battle. The English Force has come close up to Macbeth’s castle. Malcolm, Macduff and old Siward on a plain before the castle, preparing to shed their boughs and fight. Malcolm asks his soldiers to throw down their “leave screens” and gives battle-orders to his commanders. It is a short scene conveying the activity prior to battle.

Macbeth is on the battlefield. He finds himself surrounded by the enemies. Macbeth kills young Siward in a single combat. Evidently, there is no heart for fight among Macbeth’s followers, and the castle is surrendered almost without resistance.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 7 Summary

Macbeth finds consolation in the prophecy that no one born of a woman can defeat him. Macbeth’s bravery is still evident. He will not surrender inside of all the odds against him. But he is no longer Bellona’s bridegroom. Now he fights from instinct, like a wild animal clinging to life. He compares himself to a bear tied to a post and baited with dogs. He cannot fight but still he tries to fight. He still has hopes of success, for he cannot be killed except by a person not born of woman. But there can be no such person.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 8 Summary

There is no scene division in the Folio.at this point. Most editors follow Pope and Johnson in beginning a new scene. Macbeth will not play the Roman fool (like Cato and Brutus) and commit suicide. Macduff meets Macbeth, and Macduff reveals that he was “from his mother’s womb untimely ripped off. He now realises that the witches are in reality” equivocating fiends”, and none should trust them.

Macduff calls uponMacbeth to surrender and prepare for the humiliation that will be heaped upon him. Macbeth, refusing to suffer such degradation, puts up a fight and is slain in the encounter. They fight, and Macbeth is killed, but not before he has denounced the witches for their double sense’. Thus the prophecy has come true.

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 9 Summary

There is jubilation in the English camp, as Macduff comes from the field with Macbeth’s head held high on a pole for all to see. Their victory has been complete, though they have also suffered heavy losses. Malcolm is hailed by all as the king of Scotland. He makes his trusted Thanes, ‘Earls’, the first-ever in Scotland.

He also promises to reward them all suitably after his coronation at Scone, to which he invites all of them. Thus disorder represented by Macbeth is put down and replaced by order, symbolised by Malcolm, the new king of the country. His victory is the victory of good over evil. The play ends with the re-assertion of legitimate kingship at Scotland and of the normal order of the universe. Scotland is now restored “to a sound of pristine health”.

ISC Macbeth Workbook Answers

ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 4 Summary

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ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 4 Summary

ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 4 Summary

Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1 Summary

The scene occurs on the morrow of the banquet. The banquet scene concludes with Macbeth’s resolution to meet the witches “I will tomorrow, and betimes I will the Weird Sisters”.

This is the third and last witch-scene in the play. It is laid in a dark cave on a desolate heath and the weather is foul and Marky as usual. In the beginning of the scene three witches are seen dancing round a cauldron, and casting their magic spells. They throw all sorts of loathsome ingredients into the cauldron and the refrain of their wicked song is :

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubbles

Soon their Queen Hecate also joined them. They wait for Macbeth who soon arrives to consult them and seek guidance as to his future course of action. They now his thoughts, and conjure up apparitions who are to tell him what he wants to know. The first apparition which rises out of the cauldron has an armed head. It warns Macbeth that he must fear Macduff, the thane of Fife. The apparition then goes down. It does not yell anything further.

The next apparition is a bloody child. The strange direction which Macbeth gers from this apparition is that he should be “Bloody, bold and resolute” and that, “none of the women born shall harm Macbeth”. The third apparition is a child wearing a crown. It bears a tree in its hand, just as Macduff’s soldiers will do towards the end of the play.

It tells Macbeth that he will not be defeated until Birnam wood moves to Dunsinane Hill. Then arises before him a procession of eight apparitions (all of them Scottish Kings) followed by the ghost of Banquo. This means that Banquo’s sons would be the future kings of Scotland.

The witches deal with vulgar things; they are vulgar and ugly, so their activities and methods are vulgar. They reveal in gross things because their values are opposite to those cherished by men. Macbeth is further tempted and trapped by the witches and prepares him for his damnation. Macbeth walks easily into their tap; he is taken in by their juggling with words.

Macbeth Act 4 Scene 2 Summary

This is a scene of relief from tension and horrors of murder and supernatural manifestations. It is a sweet domestic scene. Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm there and plan out the strategy for the overthrow of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is alone with her child in the castle. Lady Macbeth is angry with her husband for his rash action and complains that he lacks the natural touch.

Ross knows the purpose of Macbeth’s flight, but he cannot divulge it for fear of spies of Macbeth. He tries to assuage the wronged feelings of Lady Macbeth by saying that her husband is wise, and knows well. Lady Macbeth is not assured.

Ross leaves lest he will give out his mind. Lady Macduff tells her little son that he has lost his father. The son who is precocious says that he will live as birds do. He asks his mother about the meaning of traitor and says wisely that there are few honest men in the world, and so traitors are not hanged. A messenger comes and asks Lady Macduff to fly away.

Lady Macduff is puzzled because she has done no wrong. Murderers come to ask her about her husband. She says boldly that he cannot be found in any place made unholy by their presence. The son reacts sharply when they call his father traitor. The murderers kill her son, and chase Lady Macduff to slay her. The child’s prattle before the murder, and Lady Macduff’s sense of loneliness caused by her husband’s desertion of her offer a pathetic impression of innocence and helplessness.

Macbeth Act 4 Scene 3 Summary

Macduff has arrived in England, and in this scene we have an interview between him and Malcolm, Duncan’s eldest son. In England, Malcolm and Macduff discuss the horror of Macbeth’s despotic reign in Scotland. To test Macduff’s political integrity and patriotism, Malcolm tells him that if he is ever made the king, he will prove far more tyrannical than Macbeth.

Malcolm is at first suspicious and does not trust Macduff, he wants to be satisfied that Macduff is not the enemy’s spy. He wants to test the sincerity of Macduff’s patriotism and loyalty to the throne. He attributes all kinds of vices to himself-lecherous, greed and cruelties.

He tells Macduff that he has no ‘king-becoming graces’. Thus, Macduff feels despondent and completely frustrated. He makes an outburst of his passionate grief. Macduff’s holy anger disarms all suspicions and withdraws all his allegations against himself and places himself unreservedly in Macduff ‘s hands for his country’s service.

Convinced of his honesty and patriotism, Malcolm accepts him and declares his intention to lead an attack on Macbeth. This happy hour is further enhanced by the news that Old Siward with ten thousand English soldiers was already setting forth for Scotland. This leads to the contrast between England holy king with his power of healing and the tyrant of Scotland with his mistake and outrages.

When public affairs for Scotland seem propitious, there comes a private grievance for a man who is to play a leading role in public life. Rosser comes and after initial hesitations breaks the news of the slaughter of the Macduff family by the tyrant. Macduff is at first overwhelmed with grief but gradually grief is turned to anger and resolve to avenge the killing of his wife and his sons. Thus Macduff, who is to play the keynote in the retribution, is inspired by a personal motive for revenge.

Macduff becomes the agent not only of the grand Nemesis which constitutes the whole plot, but also a nemesis upon a private wrong which occupies the latter half of the play. Macduff’s expected reaction to the news of the brutal slaughter of his family creates the right emotional intensity and a sense of urgency for retaliation necessary for advancing the action of the play to the climax.

ISC Macbeth Workbook Answers

ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 3 Summary

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ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 3 Summary

ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 3 Summary

Macbeth Act 3 Scene 1 Summary

The scene begins with Banquo’s soliloquies. Banquo in this soliloquy suggests his susceptibility to temptation. Macbeth has got what the witches had promised. Macbeth has been crowned as the king of Scotland, and the scene is laid in the hall of his palace at Forres, Scotland. The scene opens with a soliloquy of Banquo which reveals that the poison of the witches is working on him too.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, now arrayed as king and queen. Macbeth makes some enquiry about Banquo’s movements before Banquo leaves to go riding. Macbeth, who fears Banquo for his integrity and noble qualities, arranges for his murder, and the murder of Fleance by two murderers whose minds he poisons against Banquo.

All go away, and Macbeth is left alone on the stage. He has already hired two murderers and now he calls them. He instigated them against Banquo and his son tells them that, if they murder the two, they will only get his friendship, love and affection, but would also be suitably rewarded. They can easily do the deed: as Banquo and Fleance return to the castle by nightfall. The murderers promise to do so.

The scene marks the turning point in the development of the plot. Macbeth launches on a career of murder. His degeneration is suggested. He has developed vices like hypocrisy, falsehood and criminality. He is becoming a villain. The hero is turned into villain. Banquo is also tempted. His degeneration is also shown. He gives way to temptation.

Secondly, he meekly offers loyalty to Macbeth. He becomes an accessory after the murder. He forgets his earlier promise to expose the undivulged pretence of treasonous malice. He forgers his boasts that he will not lose his sense of honour in augmenting it. Macbeth, however exalts him as a man. This characterisation of Banquo is baffling.

Macbeth Act 3 Scene 2 Summary

In another room in the royal palace, Lady Macbeth, aware of her husband’s obsessive involvement with the murder of Duncan, tries to restore his assurance and cheerfulness. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are seen together after the crime of Duncan’s murder. Lady Macbeth is in despair – she knows that they have satisfied their desire without contentment.

They are doomed to live in ‘doubtful joy’. When Macbeth appears, Lady advises him to give up his sorry fancies and not to consider deeply. But she herself cannot get rid of his thoughts. Macbeth shows his desperate mood of destroying the universal order before he eats his meal and sleeps in fear. This shows that he, like Lady Macbeth, lives in doubtful joy. His desperate mood is followed by despondency. He like Lady Macbeth feels that Duncan in his grave sleeps without fear of treason and enmity.

He envies Duncan’s condition because he is living in fear and doubt. Lady Macbeth asks her husband to be jovial among the guests in the banquet. Macbeth wants his wife to pay particular attention to Banquo. He has planned the murder of Duncan but has kept it from his wife. Husband and wife are drifting apart…. The scene is important for psychological reactions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the murder of Duncan.

Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are distracted by fear and remorse. Macbeth is oscillating between a mood of despair and that of desperation. Lady Macbeth’s misery is gnawing at her heart and making her more and more listless. The easy familiarity and intimacy of man and wife has gone. The troubled soul of Lady Macbeth is revealed by the following words of hers;

Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content
‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy
Macbeth’s soul is equally tortured :
O, full of scorpion is my mind, dear wife :
Thou know’st that Banquo and Fleance, live

But nature’s “copy in them is not eternal”, and before nightfall a dreadful deed would be done which would bring relief to his tortured soul. Of course, he refers to the murder of Banquo and Fleance, though he does not tell so to Kady Macbeth.

Macbeth Act 3 Scene 3 Summary

It is now sunset. The two murderers joined by a third one whom Macbeth has sent on order to see if things are well done take their station little outside the castle where Banquo might be expected to get down in order to follow a footpath across the path across the park. Banquo arrives shortly accompanied by Fleance and a servant carrying a torch. The murderers set upon the party at once and Banquo is slain, but Fleance flies in darkness.

This melodramatic scene in which the murder, unlike Duncan’s is commonly on the stage, is theatrically very effective. The scene also confirms the growing suspicion and insecurity in Macbeth’s mind. Macbeth is getting to trust no one. So, he sends a third murderer to make sure the job is done. Though Banquo is brutally murdered, Fleance escapes. So the task is half done and the escape of Fleance will continue to torture Macbeth.

Macbeth Act 3 Scene 4 Summary

The scene is laid in the banquet hall of Macbeth’s palace at Forces. It is already dinner time, the dinner is sweet, and the guests are all assembled. Only Banquo and Fleance have not yet arrived. One of the murderers arrives to tell him that Banquo is dead, but Fleancw has escaped. Only half of what he had ordered has been done. Macbeth is much agitated and he asks the murderer to go away at the time, but meet him again the next day.

As the banquet proceeds, the murderers come and inform Macbeth of the killing of Banquo and escape of Fleance. Macbeth comes back to the hall and cheers the guests. As he goes to occupy his chair, he finds to his surprise and dismay the ghost of Banquo. He is startled and frightened, and begins his ravings. Lady Macbeth has to use all her energies to save the situation. The ghost disappears for a time and Macbeth regains his composure.

But the ghost reappears, and Macbeth relapses into distraction, and begins his delirium. Lady Macbeth tries hard to compose him, but fails. She at last dismisses the party, saying that Macbeth is not well. The delirious talks of Macbeth disclose his crime. Lady Macbeth requests the guests not to talk to Macbeth but leave them at once without any formality. Thus she saves the situation, though the guests have their own doubts and some idea of the crimes that Macbeth has committed.

The ghost disappears and Macbeth again regains a measure of self control. Macbeth now believes that Macduff is his worst enemy because he stays away from the banquet. He resolves to meet the witches to know the worst means. Now he comes a confirmed criminal.The following speech of his reveals his future plans;

There’s not one of them but I his house
I keep a servant feed. I will to-morrow
(And betimes I will) to the weird Sisters :
More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good.
All causes shall give way; I am in blood
Steep’d in so far, that should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o er:
Strange things I have in head. that will to hand;
Which must be acted. even they may be scanned

Thus he prophesied to launch a career of crimes and murders. The curtain falls as they retire for the night. The ghost in this scene is entirely subjective, for it is seen only by Macbeth, and by none else. He is in a state of extreme agitation and so he has hallucinations. The ghost is as much a subjective phenomenon as the “air borne dagger” which he had seen on the eve of the murder of Duncan. It is a product of Macbeth’s excitable imagination and heated brain.

The scene is laid on a desolate heath. There is thunder and lightning and the witches with their Queen Hecate cast their wicked spells. The witches have made prophecies in Macbeth without consulting her. She rebukes the Witches for not consulting her in their dealings with Macbeth. She takes them to task for their audacity to meddle in such matters, and then departs asking them to meet her again next morning “at the pit of Acheron”, where Macbeth will again come to interview them and where they must be ready with the Chief ingredients of their charm. Their magic,

Shall raise such artificial sprites
As, by the strength of their illusion,
Shall drawcord on to his confusion;
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes, above wisdom, grace and fear;
And you all know, security
Is mortals chiefest enemy

Security is mortals chieftest enemy, and they would make Macbeth feel secure and so hasten his downfall. In the ‘witches’ silent submission to Hecate’s reproof, there is an image of unquestioned authority, which stands in sharp contrast to the proceeding disordered banquet. The last scene of Act III is a choice commentary. The scene is laid outside the palace of Macbeth in Forres, Scotland. It is a “Chorus scene”; it does not further the action of the play, but provides much useful information.

At Forres, Lenox, conversing with another Lord, tells him that all who have contorted closely with Macbeth have suffered for it. People have begun to see through Macbeth, and there are ironic references to his actions. Macduff did not come to his coronation and so Macbeth is angry with him. He may be the next to be taken off. Macbeth has grown a tyrant. and dissatisfaction and revolt against him are mounting.

His Lords have begun to suspect him and Macduff is fled to England. Nemesis will soon overtake Macbeth. The people of Scotland cannot eat and sleep in peace. A king creates a kingdom in his own image and Macbeth, unable to eat and sleep in quiet. has caused the same to be true of his country.

Macbeth’s companion informs him that Macduff has gone to England to enlist the English King’s support for Malcolm against Macbeth. The scene shows how the opposition to Macbeth is steadily building up. His evil deeds are revealing upon him and his downfall is now only a matter of time.

ISC Macbeth Workbook Answers

ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 2 Summary

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ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 2 Summary

ISC Class 12 Macbeth Act 2 Summary

Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1 Summary

It is the continuation of the previous scene. Supper is over and it is midnight; the hour of murder is approaching. As Banquo is crossing the courtyard of the castle in order to proceed to his chamber, he is met by Macbeth. Banquo thinks of the witches, but he restraints his ‘cursed thoughts’. Macbeth prepares himself for his terrible feat.

Banquo admits that he feels uneasy over the thought of the witch’s prophesies, but when Macbeth joins them he talks to him politely and conveys to him Duncan’s compliments. He also passes on to him a diamond, a gift for Lady Macbeth from the king. Macbeth urges Banquo to side with him in future. This contrast between the two is kept up throughout the play. Macbeth, however, adds that they would talk further regarding the matter when they have more leisure. If he acts according to his wishes, adds Macbeth, it shall make honour for him. But Banquo, the honest man, replies ;

So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My blossoms franchis’d and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell’d

Macbeth then sends away his servant to tell his mistress to ring the bell when his ‘drunk is ready’ Left alone, Macbeth’s heated imagination makes him see a bloodstained dagger, which points to the room where Duncan is sleeping. It is merely a hallucination, but it is so real that Macbeth tries to clutch “the aur- borne dagger”. Macbeth’s soliloquy shows that he has the imagination of a poet, that he is suffering from prices of conscience. It is an indication of the disintegration which will overtake his soul, as soon as the murder is done. The ringing of a bell is now heard and the soliloquy and the scene end with the words;

I go, and it is done: the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell

The atmosphere of horror and Macbeth’s imaginative convulsion are Shakespeare’s own.

Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Summary

The scene is the same, and it follows the previous one. Lady Macbeth is alone on the stage. Her soliloquy tells us that she has taken wine which has “given her fire” and which will enable him to face the foul deed that is seen to be committed. The two grooms sleep soundly, as she had drugged their wine and so they would not come in the way. But she is afraid of the weakness of her husband, and says she would have herself murdered him, “if he had not resembled her father” in his sleep.

She is startled by the faintest noise. Her nerves are in jitters; her mind in wandering. Macbeth has done the deed in a state of frenzy. He is convulsed. He hears voices, he raves. He stares at herbhand and looks aghast. He cannot say ‘Amen’, he regrets he has murdered when he was asleep. Lady Macbeth tries to soothe his mind, but Macbeth does not heed her. He hears the knocking, hebwishesv that Duncin would awake. The repinings and repentance show the panged of his conscience.

Macbeth has murdered the king and his hands are soaked with blood. He tells his Queen that while the two grooms the attendants of the king – could pray and say ‘Amen’ he could not do so. The word stuck his throat. Lady Macbeth advises him not to think of these things in such a way, otherwise, it will make them mad. Lady Macbeth advises him to place the daggers in the hands of the grooms, and smear them with blood.

But Macbeth does not have the courage to donso, so Lady Macbeth herself goes onto the room, and does the needful. On return. she tells Macbeth that a, “little water clears them of the deed”, and so he must not be afraidaof it. The words are ironical, for no amount of water will ever be able to clear them of ghe deed, and it would spell ruin for them.

Loud knocking is now heard at the door, and they go in to put on their night gowns, lest their present dress should show the to be watchers, and create doubts. This is the famous murder-scene, and it seems to be have been written with a pen of fire.

The murder seems to be mirrored in the souls of the two agents – through them it seems to be visible to us. His conscience tells him that he will sleep no more and he wishes that the deed had never been done. But Lady Macbeth is calm and self – controlled and manages the affair with great skill.

Macbeth Act 2 Scene 3 Summary

The scene is divided into two parts – i. Porter’s speech, ii. Discovery of the murder of Duncan. The scene ii ends with the knocking at the door, so there must beba porter to answer the call. The porter has carousel til midnight and he is under the influence of wine. In the drunken state, he sees visions. He admits a farmer, an equivocation and a tailor to his he’ll.

They have committed sins. But as morning air blows and drunkenness passes, the porter comes to his real self and opens the door and Macduff and Lenox enter to awaken the king quite early according to his instructions. Macbeth also arrives, as if awakened by yhr knocking. They go into the room often king to carry out their mission.

They soon return horrified, for ghey have found the king murdered and lying in his own blood. Alarm bell is rung and a hue and cry raised. Macbeth goes into the room to see things for himself and murders the two grooms, as if in great anger. Lady Macbeth faints and has to be taken away. Banquo suggest that they should dress themselves properly, and then assemble to examine the matter in deed.

All go away and Malcolm and Donalbain, the two sons of the king, are left alone on the stage. They are quick to understand the situation and have some inkling of the truth. They realize that it is not safe for them to remain there any longer. They, therefore, decide to flee from the country at once. Malcolm is to go to England and Donalbain to Ireland. There they would able to plan out their future strategy in safety.

The contrast between the porter’s drunken, grumbling return to his normal workday routine after a night’s carousing and the pretence of Macbeth of awakening to ordinary, everyday reality, after his unknown night of horror, is ironic. Even more ironic isthmus fact that the porter ‘s whimsy of being keeper of Hell – gate is more true than he realizes: it is indeed a hell into which the castle of Macbeth has been transformed by his awful deed. His jesting acts as a relief from extreme tension, but it is thematically significant.

The second part of the scene is devoted to the discovery of the murder by Macduff, Macbeth’s gradual degeneration, his acting and his sense of guilty. Malcolm and Donalbain fearing that they also may get killed, decide to run away, Malcolm to England and his younger brother to Ireland.

Macbeth Act 2 Scene 4 Summary

Shakespeare interposes a quiet scene to relieve the tension of the previous scene. The scene is laid just outside Macbeth’s castle. Ross and an old Macbeth, and recount to each other the horrors and unnatural events that they have witnessed during the night. They speak about unnatural Tempest and irrational behavior of the animals.

The unnatural manifestations and behavior indicate the unnatural deed that is done. Macduff enters and reports that it has been accepted that the two guards killed Duncan on the orders of Malcolm and Donalbain who have run away. He also says that, Macbeth has gone to be crowned in Scone.

The oldman represents the common man and the murder is made more macabre by its uniqueness in his experience. The confusion in the natural world magnifies the crime committed by Macbeth. There is disorder in nature and strange and unnatural things take place. This is symbolic of the disorder in the state of Scotland, and the unnatural murder that has been committed during the night.

ISC Macbeth Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 9 The Pedestrian

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 9 The Pedestrian

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 9 The Pedestrian

The Pedestrian Comprehension Questions Answers

Read the extracts and answer the following questions:

Passage-1.

To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o’clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do.

He would stand upon the corner of an intersection and peer down long moonlit avenues of sidewalk in four directions, deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference; he was alone in this world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone, and with a final decision made, a path selected, he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar.

1. What did Mead love to do?
2. Which time and month is mentioned here?
3. Where he would stand upon?
4. What would fascinate the solitary walker?
5. What is the time mentioned here?
Answer:
1. Leonard Mead loved to walk along the concrete walk to step over grassy seams through the silence.
2. The time mentioned here is the evening and the month is November.
3. He would stand upon the corner of an intersection.
4. The solitary walker would fascinate which way to walk.
5. The time mentioned in the passage is 2053 A.D.

Passage-2.

Sometimes he would walk for hours and miles and return only at midnight to his house. And on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows.

Sudden gray phantoms seemed to manifest upon inner room walls where a curtain was still undrawn against the night, or there were whisperings and murmurs where a window in a tomblike building was still open.

1. When does the walker return?
2. What he would see on his way?
3. What was not unequal?
4. What did appear behind the windows?
5. What were there where the windows were open?
Answer:
1. The walker returns only at midnight after his walking.
2. On his way Mead would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows.
3. It was not unequal to walk through a graveyard.
4. Behind the windows appeared the firefly light in flickers.
5. Where the windows were open there were whispers and murmurs.

Passage-3.

Mr. Leonard Mead would pause, cock his head, listen, look, and march on, his feet making no noise on the lumpy walk. For long ago he had wisely changed to sneakers when strolling at night, because the dogs in intermittent squads would parallel his journey with barkings if he wore hard heels, and lights might click on and faces appear and an entire street be startled by the passing of a lone figure, himself, in the early November evening.

1. How did Leonard Mead march on?
2. Why did he use sneakers?
3. What would be the result of use hard heels?
4. When did Mead walk?
5. How was the walk?
Answer:
1. Leonard Mead marched on by pause, cocking his head and looking.
2. He used sneakers to avoid the walking sounds.
3. If he would use hard heels the dogs in squads would parallel his journey with barkings.
4. Mead would walk in the early November evening.
5. During his walk lights might click on and faces appear and the entire street be startled by the passing of a lone figure.

Passage – 4.

On this particular evening he began his journey in a westerly direction, toward the hidden sea. There was a good crystal frost in the air; it cut the nose and made the lungs blaze like a Christmas tree inside; you could feel the cold light going on and off, all the branches tilled with invisible snow.

He listened to the faint push of his soft shoes through autumn leaves with satisfaction, and whistled a cold quiet whistle between his teeth, occasionally picking up a leaf as he passed, examining its skeletal pattern in the infrequent lamplights as he went on, smelling its rusty smell.

1. In which direction did Mead start his journey?
2. How was the air?
3. What did he listen?
4. How was the whistle?
5. What did Mead pick up?
Answer:
1. Mead started his journey in the western direction.
2. The air was with a good crystal frost, it cut the nose and made the lungs blare like a christmas tree inside.
3. He listened to the push of his soft shoes through autumn leaves.
4. The whistle was cold and quiet between his teeth.
5. Occasionally Mead picked up a leaf and smelt its rusty small.

Passage-5.

The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid country. If he closed his eyes and stood very still, frozen, he could imagine himself upon the center of a plain, a wintry, windless Arizona desert with no house in a thousand miles, and only dry river beds, the streets, for company. “What is it now?” he asked the houses, noticing his wrist watch. “Eight-thirty P.M.? Time for a dozen assorted murders? A quiz? A revue? A comedian falling off the stage?”

1. How was the street?
2. What he could imagine?
3. What was the time by his watch?
4. How was the imagination?
5. How did he know the time?
Answer:
1. The street was silent, long and empty.
2. He could imagine himself upon the centre of a plains.
3. The time was 8-30pm by his watch.
4. The imagination was that the Plain where he was standing a wintry windless. Arizona desert with no house in a thousand miles and only dry river beds, the streets for company.
5. He knew the time from his wristwatch.

Passage-6.

Was that a murmur of laughter from within a moon-white house? He hesitated, but went on when nothing more happened. He stumbled over a particularly uneven section of sidewalk. The cement was vanishing under flowers and grass. In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time.

He came to a cloverleaf intersection which stood silent where two main highways crossed the town. During the day it was a thunderous surge of cars, the gas stations open, a great insect rustling and a ceaseless jockeying for position as the scarab beetles, a faint incense puttering from their exhausts, skimmed homeward to the far directions. But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season, all stone and bed and moon radiance.

1. Why did he hesitate?
2. Why did he go on?
3. Where did he stumble?
4. What was his experience of ten years walk?
5. Where did he come?
Answer:
1. He hesitated because he heard a murmur of laughter from within a moon white house.
2. He hesitated because nothing more happened and he walked again.
3. He stumbled over a particularly uneven section of the sidewalk.
4. In his ten years of walking experience he had never met another person walking.
5. He came to a clover leaf intersection which stood silent, where two main highways crossed the town.

Passage-7.

He turned back on a side street, circling around toward his home. He was within a block of his destination when the lone car turned a corner quite suddenly and flashed a fierce white cone of light upon him. He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth, stunned by the illumination, and then drawn toward it.

1. Where did he turn back?
2. When the lone car turned?
3. What did come upon him?
4. How was he stunned?
5. How did the car come?
Answer:
1. He turned back on a side street circling around toward his home.
2. He was within a block of his destination when the lone car turned to him.
3. A flash and a fierce white come of light came upon him.
4. He was stunned by the illumination of light.
5. The car came suddenly circling around toward him.

Passage-8.

The police, of course, but what a rare, incredible thing; in a city of three million, there was only one police car left, wasn’t that correct? Ever since a year ago, 2052, the election year, the force had been cut down from three cars to one. Crime was ebbing; there was no need now for the police, save for this one lone car wandering and wandering the empty streets.

1. What was the rare incredible thing?
2. What was not correct?
3. When was the election year?
4. What was the result of election year?
5. Why there was no need for the police?
Answer:
1. The rare incredible thing was that there was only one police car.
2. It was not correct, because the city contained 3 million people and there was one police car.
3. The year 2052 was the election year.
4. As the crime was ebbing due to election year there and been cut down from three cars to one.
5. There was no need of the police as that lone car wandering in empty streets repeatedly.

Passage-9.

“No profession,” said the police car, as if talking to itself. The light held him fixed, like a museum specimen, needle thrust through chest.
“You might say that,” said Mr. Mead. He hadn’t written in years. Magazines and books didn’t sell any more. Everything went on in the tomblike houses at night now, he thought, continuing his fancy. The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never really touching them.

1. What did hold Mead fixed?
2. Why had he not written for years?
3. How was everything going on?
4. How were the tombs?
5. How did the people sit?
Answer:
1. The light held him fixed like a museum specimen, needls thrust through chest.
2. He had not written for years as the magazines and books did not sell any more.
3. Everything was going on in the tomb like houses at night then.
4. The tombs were ill lit by television light.
5. People sat like the dead. The grey or multicoloured lights were touching their faces but never really touched them.

Passage-10.

He walked like a man suddenly drunk. As he passed the front window of the car he looked in. As he had expected, there was no one in the front seat, no one in the car at all.
“Get in.”
He put his hand to the door and peered into the back seat, which was a little cell, a little black jail with bars. It smelled of riveted steel. It smelled of harsh antiseptic; it smelled too clean and hard and metallic. There was nothing soft there.

1. How did he walk?
2. Who was there in the car?
3. How was the back seat of the car?
4. How did it smell?
5. What was there?
Answer:
1. He walked like a man suddenly drunk.
2. There was no one with in the car in the front seat or back seat.
3. The back seat was like a little cell a little black jail with bars.
4. It smelled of riveted steel.
5. There was nothing soft there. It smelled of harsh antiseptic. It smelled very clean and hard and metallic.

The Pedestrian About the Story

The story depicts the dangers of isolation and the absence of community. This is a prophecy of what might happen if we continue with our increasingly self observed, self contained lives. The story is futuristic in theme. Once the author was walking down wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.He and his friend were stopped and questioned by a police officer.

In this story also Leonard Mead was walking the street alone and the police arrested him. His behaviour seemed threatening although it was not hurting anyone. But the authorities who were working with robots believed that Mead’s daily habit of walking every night could upset social stability. His behaviour was interpreted as abnormal and likely to be a threat to the law and order in the society. Machines and robots do not allow individuality to servive. In the automatic world the soul has no meaning.

The Pedestrian About the Author

Ray Douglas Bradbury was one of the most famous 20 th century Americal authors and sereen writers. He was born August 22 1920, at waukegan, Illinois U.S.A. He is well known for his magnetic short-stories and novels. In his childhood Bradbury loved horror films.

When his family moved to Los Angeles he joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction Leagues in 1937. He received encouragement from the young writers and started his writing career. His novel Fahrenheit was published in 1953, and that was regarded as his greatest work. Bradbury passed away on June 5, 2010 at Los Angeles, California.

The Pedestrian Brief Summary

Leonard enjoys solitary evening walks in the open area. It is a misty evening in November and the time is 8 pm. He thinks he is alone in this world. On such nights he would walk four hours passing darkened houses. He likes to walk through a graveyard. As a liberty liking individual. Mead is out, active and free. People in their own homes are described lifeless, passive and trapped in their grave like homes. They are as good as dead.

In the night other people remain in doors he goes out on his evening strolls. He starts to wear sneakers for not creating any sound with his foot steps. He thinks that the sound of hard soled shoes would catch the notice of others and would startle the dogs who would start barking.

Mead walks to the west towards a hidden sea’ through frosty air that cuts and nose. He whistles to himself and picks up a leaf. He examines its skeletal pattern and smells its rusty smell. He is swayed by a natural world and its beauty.

Mead walks as a lonely person in the open. He says to himself that inmates of the houses are busy to watch television. He thinks he is wandering alone. It’s already 8-30 pm and the people are just sitting passive in their houses. Mead reflects that he has been taking solitary walks for the last ten years. In the night the street is empty like streams in dry season. It is dormant and lifeless.

Mead starts to turn towards his home. A car suddenly encounters him. He stands still A voice from the car tells him to stand still The voice from the car interrogates him why he is doing outside at that hour of the night. He asks him what is the purpose of his walking. The voice from the car asks his whereabouts and his family and residence. During interrogation the silence between questions is taken in itself an accusation.

Mead is judged to be a danger to the law abiding people. He tells the man in the car that he has walked alone each night for many years. At once he is arrested. As he is a deviant in his behaviour he is considered a great threat to people. Mead is asked to sit at the back seat that looks like a little black jail, with pars. After some time the car informs him that his destination is ‘The phychiatric Centre for Research on regressive tendencies.’

As mead is helpless in that situation he gets in the car willingly. His car moves past his house leaving the empty seats, with empty side walks no sound and no motion in the cold November night.

Glossary

1. Buckling — Collapsing.
2. Seams — Junctions.
3. intersection — crossing.
4. stride off — long step walking.
5. glimmers flashes.
6. flickers flashes.
7. Phantoms — spirits of dead persons.
8. manifest — show clearly.
9. Cock — turn into a particular direction.
10. Lumpy — heavy Movement
11. Sneakers — running shoes.
12. intermi Hent — sporadic.
13. Startled — disturbed.
14. Skeletal — thin.
15. assorted — mixed.
16. revice — a performance dealing with topical issues.
17. cloverleap — a road arrangement for smooth traffic.
18. Surge — strong sudden movement.
19. Puttering — kicking around.
20. skimmed — moved quickly.
21. radiance brightness.
22. entranced — spell-bound.
23. ebbing coming less.
24. humming — throbbing.
25. pop — to appear suddenly.
26. alibe — excuse.
27. whersing — rattling.
28. regressive — opposite of progressive.

Plot : The story takes place on one night in November 2053. It is futuristic story written in 1951 and it foresees how the world would look almost a hundred years hence. Already the developments of science had enslaved mankind and after 100 years this will have destroyed individuality. A man named Leanard Mead identifies himself as a writer. He is walking alone in the deserted streets.

The others are sitting passive in their homes to watch television. He is the lone pedestrian to enjoy the open nature. So, he is deviant from others in his behaviour and views. Mead’s wandering is interpreted as a threat to the conformist society. He is apprehended by the robot like machine. No human respect can be expected from such artificial mind. So, Mead must submit to the existing law. The ending of the story is logical but satirical. Mead’s movements at night cannot be tolerated. He must be sent to a psychiatric Institute for treatment to study the cause of his regressive tendencies.

Theme: In the story Bradbury questions the benefits of technological and social progress. The story demonstrates deep suspician of social conformity in a society that no longer reads books to cultivate thought and individuality.

Bradbury presents a grim view of the 21st century. The author expresses the pessimistic view that the technological progress will ultimately rob people of their essential humanity and gave undue power to machines. Bradbury predicts that within the next century these technological developments would detrimanize and disempower the populace. He predicts that technology would be harnessed to enforce obedience to the status quo and punish those, like Mead who don’t conform.

The theme of conformity versus non-conformity is clearly expressed in the story. The citizens of the future city seem to be under the mesmerizing effect of the television shows. Leonard Mead is the only pedestrian in the city who does not feel lonely. Bradbury seems to suggest that in a corrupt society non-conformity is necessary to maintain one’s humanity.

Bradbury describes nature is a romantic way with vivid sensory imagery. All the citizens are addicted to television sets. Leonard Mead is the solitary pedestrian walking miles for sheer pleasure and beauty of the act communing with nature and finding solace in it.

The Elevator Characters

Leonard Mead : In the story ‘The Pedestrian’ Leonard Mead is the only character witn name. He is of a romantic type man. His name ‘Mead’ suggestive of the meadows of the countryside. His habit of walking around the city seeks motivation. But Mead’s irony is that there are no people to watch him moving in the city.

Mead is satisfied with his isolation and he enjoys his solitude. He loves nature, with sights, sounds and smells in his walks. Mead is an unrepentant individualist, who strongly contrasts with other citizens and and the mechanical robotic police car.

Mead’s contented attitude is interrupted when he meets the police car. At the end of the story he is taken away to a psychiatric institution to be studied for his regressive tendencies. He is shown as a writer who does not write for years because people do not read.

Robotic Police Car : Excluding Leonard Mead the only speaking Character is robotic car. In an iron voice like the police officials, it puts searching and embarrasing questions to Mead. The interrogation is about his name, profission and also the reason of his wandering.

The robotic can represents swift and relentless state power to comprehend any one not following the set moral standards. Mead is found guilty of being a deviant from the set code of conduct. The car sends mead to a psychiatric institution for evaluation of his mind as to what ails him not to fallin line with the rest of the humans, who have accepted the set code of living.

Title : The story ‘The Pedestrian’ deals with the only one pedestrian Leonard Mead, who is alone awake on a cold November night on the other hand the rest of the population is confined to room to enjoy television shows. Mead leaves his home to enjoy his daily walks on the footpath.

He is the only pedestrian to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. A pedestrian who has no car, no family, no work must face the dehumanizing effects of the heartless robots. Mead’s apprehension by the robotic car is a routine affair to curb any individuality. Thus the title of the story ‘The Pedestrian’ is most appropriate and suggestive.

Setting : The setting of the story takes place on one November night in 2053, and so the story futuristic. The story is written in 1951. It imagines how the amazing advancements in technology and social life with the people having TV and working with network programming will have changed life one hundred years ahead in the future.

The story predicts the city a hive of activity, cars felling the streets during the day but at night there is a pall of numbers. In this way the setting of the story in the background of the past World War-II helps the writer to explore the benefits and also the dehumanizing effects of advanced technology.

Style : In the story ‘The Pedestrian’ Leonard Mead expresses his disgust with the dehumanizing effects advancements in technology and social life. The author has used the contrast to bring out the difference between conformity to set standards and the individualistic personality of a non-conformist. Mead is a Nibrant imaginative person and the only hope left to stir individuality, risking freedom.

The story is replete with images of all kinds tactile, touch, visual, auditory and taste. The description of nature with a variety of images render it vibrant. Tactile images bring the natural world to life. In his walks Mead finds good crystal frost in the air. It cuts the nose and makes the lungs blare like a christmas tree inside.

Auditory images of nature convey Meads impression of nature. He picks up one of the leaves and smells its rusty smell denotes the satisfaction and contentment with his walks. The police car itself symbolises dehumanization of the population but shows that the robots are better thinkers.

The Pedestrian Critical Appreciation

The story ‘The Pedestrian’ is written in 1951, and the set is fixed in 2053. So, it is a futuristic story. The writer tries to explore the dehumanizing effects of the rapid advancing technology impacting the social progress. In 1949 Bradbury and his friend were stopped and questioned by a police officer. This incident is the source of the story.

Mead was the solitary walker on a wintry November night in the open. He was accused of following the non-conformist ways of not sitting at home and watching the TV shows. Thus the writer explores the theme of conformity and passively falling into the set standards, with all the implication of losing one’s individuality and communion with the open nature.

The author uses the rich imagery and other literary devices to make the narration effective. It helps him to bring a contrast with the individuality of Mead and the conformity of other human beings, who are just like phantoms. The use of proper imagery and literary devices render the description of nature and other surroundings come alive.

The Pedestrian Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Read the questions given below and answer by choosing the correct options :

Question 1.
To which genre the story ‘The Pedestrian’ belong ………….
a. romance
b. horror
c. fantasy
d. distopia
Answer:
c. fantasy.

Question 2.
In which month the story is set ………….
a. January
b. November
c. December
d. February
Answer:
b. November.

Question 3.
In which year the plot is set ………….
a. 2019
b. 2020
c. 2053
d. 2063
Answer:
c. 2053.

Question 4.
What is the nature of Mead ………….
a. lazy
b. optimistic
c. Pessimistic
d. a criminal
Answer:
b. Optimistic.

Question 5.
The metallic car has a-sound ………….
a. harsh
b. musical
c. whistling
d. mesmerising
Answer:
c. whistling.

Question 6.
Who is in the car ………….
a. a police
b. an officer
c. a computer engineer
d. No one
Answer:
d. No one.

Question 7.
At night the houses were………….
a. grey
b. white
c. red
d. golden.
Answer:
a. grey.

Question 8.
The back seat of the car was like a little ………….
a. cell
b. room
c. shop
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. cell.

Question 9.
Mead was  ………….
a. not married
b. married
c. old man
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. not married.

Question 10.
The time of the story is ………….
a. 8 am
b. 8 pm
c. 8.30 pm
d. 9 pm
Answer:
b. 8 pm

Question 11.
Mead used to return after walking at ………….
a. 9pm
b. 10pm
c. midnight
d. 8pm
Answer:
c. midnight.

Question 12.
The street was-when Mead walked …………..
a. crowded
b. empty
c. noisy
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. empty.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Chapter Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 8 The Girl Who Can

by
Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 8 The Girl Who Can

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 8 The Girl Who Can

The Girl Who Can Comprehension Questions Answers

Read the extracts and answer the following questions:

Passage – 1.

They say that I was born in Hasodzi; and it is a very big village in the Central Region of our country, Ghana. They also say that when all of Africa is not choking under a drought, Hasodzi lies in a very fertile low land in a district known for its good soil. May be that is why any time I don’t finish eating my food, Nana says, ‘You, Adjoa, you don’t know what life is about… you don’t know what problems there are in this life …

1. Where was the narrator born?
2. Where is Hasodzi?
3. Why is the district known for?
4. How is the village?
5. Who is Nana?
Answer:
1. The narrator was born in Hasodzi.
2. Hasodzi is situated in the central Region of Ghana.
3. The district Hasodzi is known for good fertile soil.
4. The village Hasodzi lies in a very fertile low land of Ghana.
5. Nana is the name of Adoja’s grandmother the mother of her mother.

Passage – 2.

As far as I could see, there was only one problem. And it had nothing to do with what I knew Nana considered as ‘problems’, or what Maami thinks of as ‘the problem’. Maami is my mother. Nana is my mother’s mother. And they say I am seven years old. And my problem is that at this seven years of age, there are things I can think in my head, but which, may be, I do not have the proper language to speak them out with.

And that, I think, is a very serious problem. Because it is always difficult to decide whether to keep quiet and not say any of the things that come into my head, or say them and get laughed at. Not that it is easy to get any grown-up to listen to you even when you decide to take the risk and say something serious to them.

1. Who was Maami?
2. Who is Nana?
3. What is the problem?
4. What is the decision of Adjoa?
5. What is not easy?
Answer:
1. Maami is called to Adjoa’s mother.
2. Nana is the grandmother of Adjoa. Actually she was the mother of her mother.
3. The problem is Adjoa’s mother and grandmother always discuss about the thin legs of Adjoa.
4. The discussion about Adjoa is that she has thin legs which are not fit for child bearing.
5. It is not easy for Adjoa to bear with the subject or to protest as that may create problem.

Passage – 3.

Take Nana. First, I have to struggle to catch her attention. Then I tell her something I had taken a long time to figure out. And then you know what always happens? She would once stop whatever she is doing and, mouth open, stare at me for a very long time. Then bending and turning her head slightly, so that one ear comes down towards me, shell say in that voice: ‘Adjoa, you say what?’ After I have repeated whatever I had said, she would either, still in that voice, ask ‘never, never, but NEVER to repeat ‘THAT’, or she would immediately burst out laughing.

1. What does Adjoa do to catch her Nana’s attention?
2. How does Adjoa tell her Nana something?
3. What happens after that?
4. How does Nana reply then?
5. Why she would burst out laughing?
Answer:
1. Adjoa has to struggle much to catch her attention.
2. Adjoa tells her Nana something taking a long time to figure out.
3. Nana would once stop whatever she is doing mouth open to stare at her for a very long time.
4. Nana replies forbidding Adjoa to repeat her question.
5. She would burst out laughing until tears rundown her cheeks.

Passage – 4.

Like all this business to do with my legs. I have always wanted to tell them not to worry. I mean Nana and my mother. That it did not have to be an issue for my two favourite people to fight over. But I didn’t want either to be told not to repeat that or it to be considered so funny that anyone would laugh at me until they cried. After all, they were my legs.

When I think back on it now, those two, Nana and my mother, must have been discussing my legs from the day I was born. What I am sure of is that when I came out of the land of sweet, soft silence into the world of noise and comprehension, the first topic I met was my legs.

1. What is the subject of discussion?
2. What does Adjoa say them?
3. Who are her two favourite people?
4. How long are the discussing about her legs?
5. When do they become silent?
Answer:
1. The subject of discussion of her Nana and Maami is about the thin legs of Adjoa.
2. Adjoa says them not to worry as she is satisfied with it.
3. Adjoa’s two favourite people are her Maami and Nana, her grandmother.
4. They are discussing about her legs just after her birth.
5. As soon as Adjoa enters the room or their discussion area they become silent.

Passage – 5.

‘But Adjoa has legs.’ Nana would insist; except that they are too thin. And also too long for a woman. Kaya, listen. Once in a while, but only once in a very long while, somebody decides nature, a child’s spirit mother, an accident happens, and somebody gets born without arms, or legs, or both sets of limbs. And then let me touch wood: it is a sad business. And you know, such things are not for talking about everyday. But if any female child decides to come into this world with legs, then they might as well be legs.

1. What would Nana insist?
2. Who is the child’s spirit mother?
3. What is an accident?
4. What does Adjoa say to them?
5. What is her final sayings?
Answer:
1. Nana would insist that her legs are too thin for child bearing.
2. Nature is the spirit mother of a child.
3. It is an accident that a person is born with deformities in body.
4. Adjoa says to them that it is a sad business to discuss about her thin legs.
5. Adjoa’s final sayings are that if any female child decides to come into this world with legs then they might as well be legs.

Passage – 6.

And always at that point, I knew from her voice that my mother was weeping inside. Nana never heard such inside weeping, Not that it would have stopped Nana even if she had heard it. Which always surprised me. Because, about almost everything else apart from my legs, Nana is such a good grown-up. In any case, what do I know about good grown-ups and bad grown-ups? How could Nana be a good grown-up when she carried on so about my legs? All I want to say is that I really liked Nana except for that.

1. What does Adjoa hear?
2. Why is the narrator surprised?
3. How is her Nana?
4. What does she know?
5. How Adjoa loves her Nana?
Answer:
1. Adjoa hears from the voice that her mother is weeping inside the room.
2. The narrator is surprised to know that her mother should be stopped by her Nana.
3. Adjoa’s Nana is all right except her comments about her thin legs.
4. She knows how the good grown ups and the bad grownups differ.
5. Adjoa really likes her Nana except her comments about her thin legs.

Passage-7.

That’s how my mother would answer. Very, very quietly. And the discussion would end or they would move on to something else. Sometimes, Nana would pull in something about my father. How, ‘Looking at such a man, we have to be humble and admit that after all, God’s children are many…’How, ‘After one’s only daughter had insisted on marrying a man like that, you still have to thank your God that the biggest problem you got later was having a grand daughter with spindly legs that are too long for a woman, and too thin to be of any use.’

1. How Maami did react in the question of Nani?
2. What was the subject matter of next discussion?
3. Why did Nani rebuke Adjoa’s mother?
4. What was the biggest problem according to Nani?
5. Why did Nani think that Adoja’s legs are useless?
Answer:
1. Adjoa’s mother was a lady of very soft nature. She requested Nani not to talk in such a manner about Adjoa’s thin legs.
2. The subject of next discussion was about Adjoa’s father.
3. Nani rebuked Adjoa’s mother as she married her father who deserted her.
4. According to Nani the biggest problem was that her daughter gave birth to her granddaughter who had thin legs.
5. Adjoa as a girl would not be able to bear child with her thin legs as a woman she must have a solid hips to be able to have children.

Passage – 8.

Running with our classmates on our small sports field and winning first place each time never seemed to me to be anything about which to tell anyone at home. This time it was different. I don’t know how the teachers decided to let me run for the junior section of our school in the district games.

But they did. When I went home to tell my mother and Nana, they had not believed it at first. So, Nana had taken it upon herself to go and ‘ask into it properly’. She came home to tell my mother that it was really true. I was one of my school’s runners.

1. How did Adjoa perform in the sports field?
2. What was her impression about the achievement?
3. What did the teachers decide?
4. What was the reaction of Nani and Maami after her selection?
5. What did Adjoa say to her home?
Answer:
1. In the sports field Adjoa won first place in each time.
2. Becoming first in running events Adjoa never felt her performance extraordinary and so, she did not tell her success at home.
3. The teachers decided to let Adjoa run for the junior section of her school in the district games.
4. After her selection Nani and Maami did not believe and Nani decided to go to school to confirm if the selection was true.
5. Adjoa returned to home to tell her mother that her selection was really true as she was one of her school runners.

Passage – 9.

Wearing my school uniform this week has been very nice. At the parade the first afternoon, it caught the rays of the sun and shone brighter than everybody else’s uniform. I’m sure Nana saw; that too, and must have liked it. Yes, she has been coming into town with us every afternoon of this district sports week.

Each afternoon, she has pulled one set of fresh old clothes from the big brass bowl to wear. And those old clothes are always so stiffly starched, you can hear the cloth creak when she passes by. But she walks way behind us school children. As though she was on her own way to some place else.

1. What was very nice?
2. What did happen in the afternoon parade?
3. Where did Nana go every afternoon?
4. How did she prepare her dress?
5. Why did she walk behind?
Answer:
1. That week during the district sports meet wearing her school uniform was a nice experience to Adjoa.
2. In the afternoon parade the school uniform dazzled in the sunrays and shone brighter than all other uniforms.
3. Every afternoon Nana went to the town with Adjoa to enjoy the district sports.
4. Nana every afternoon pulled one set of fresh old clothes from the big brass bowl to wear. The old clothes were stiffly starched.
5. She walked behind always to show that she was going elsewhere and not in the sports field.

Passage – 10.

I don’t know too much about such things. But that’s how I was feeling and thinking all along. That surely, one should be able to do other things with legs as well as have them because they can support hips that make babies. Except that I was afraid of saying that sort of thing aloud.

Because someone would have told me never, never but NEVER to repeat such words. Or else, they would have laughed so much at what I’d said, they would have cried. It’s much better this way. To have acted it out to show them, although I could not have planned it. As for my mother, she has been speechless as usual.

1. What were the such things?
2. What was the impression of Adjoa?
3. Why was the narrator afraid?
4. What was the way of protest?
5. How was Adjoa’s mother?
Answer:
1. ‘Such things’ mentioned here were that the women with thin legs also could perform like the general man.
2. Adoja had the impression that it was better to act than to protest openly to show the capability.
3. The narrator was afraid to tell and protest loudly because someone would tell her not to say such things loudly.
4. The way of protest is not to say it loudly but to act and protest with activities.
5. Adjoa’s mother remained speechless as usual although her daughter was successful in her attempts to protest with activities and performance.

The Girl Who Can About the Story

In the story The Girl who can the writer Aidoo analyses African women’s struggle to find their proper place in society. In her stories the issues of choice and conflict/are raised. The story The Girl Who Can deals with the story of a girl who overcomes the pressures of social criticism. The story centres round about a girl of Africa who resides in a village in Ghana with her mother and grandmother.

Adjoa is a little African girl. Her struggle to find her rightful place in contemporary society. She had thin legs. She was constantly told her legs were not capable of supporting her hips meant for child bearing. Adjoa’s win proves that women have a greater role in the society than merely to be able to child bearing.

The Girl Who Can About the Author

Ama Ata Aidoo is a writer of Ghana, playwright and academic. She is the Minister of Education of Ghana in 1982. She began her writing career when she was an honours student under Ghana University. Her first play The Dillema of a Ghost was published in 1966.

She was the first African woman dramatist. In the year 1982 she became the Education Minister of Ghana. Her works of fiction deal with the tension between Western and African world views. The Girl who can and other stories is her collection of short stories that challenges patriarchal structures and dominance in African Society.

The Girl Who Can Brief Summary

Adjoa, a seven years village girl hails from Hasodzi in the central region of Ghana. She is conscious of her constraints of living is a patriarchal society. Her grandmother (mother’s mother) Nana is a dominating woman in contrast to her own mother. She is called Maami or Kaya. In this way she was placed between the two contrasting persons in the family-a dominating grandmother and a humble mother who has hardly any say in the family affairs. Her father probably abandoned his family for good.

Adjoa’s main problem is that her Nana says that Adjoa does not make out the real life. Her Nana is very authoritative and imposes her will on Adjoa. According to her women should be strong enough to bear healthy children. Adjoa is conscious about the fact but she does not protest openly for rebuke. Her physical problem of thin legs is the reason of her conflict with Nana.

So, her school going is a sheer waste of time according to Nana. Adjoa cannot make out how getting education can be a waste of time. Adjoa’s Nana and Maami keep on discussing about the thin legs of her. They say that a girl child must have strong legs to bear the child. Maami regrets Nana’s attitude and cries for Adjoa. Her Nana regrets that Adjoa’s mother had married a fellow who was good for nothing and so, he had given birth to a daughter with very thin legs.

Adjoa is hurt with such words of Nana. So, she wishes to survey legs of any woman who has brought up children. But being conservative the women wrap up their legs so, Adjoa cannot check their legs. Adjoa has seen the legs of her Nana, Maami and other girls all almost similar.

Adjoa’s school was about 5 kilometres away from her house. She thinks that walking this distance is nothing problematic for her. According to her Nana going to school for girl’s is useless and waste of time. But Maami wants her daugther to get the benifits of education.

Adjoa takes part in school games and each time wins. Her teachers select her to represent the school in district school games. Nana is still doubtful and goes to school to confirm her ability. Her Nana washes her school uniform completely and iron it several times to give it a shinning shape.

At the school parade Adjoa wears the shinning uniform. Her uniform shines better than other students. He wins the cup meant for best alround junior athlete. The Nana is excited and proud of Adjoa’s distinction. She shows the cup to kaya before returning it to the Headmaster.

At present Nana is a changed lady. She has no problem with Adjoa’s thin legs. She repeats that thin legs can also be useful. Adjoa does not openly say this as she thinks that it may cause annoyance to Nana. Adjoa’s mother remains speechless as usual.

Glossary:

1. Choking — gripping.
2. draught — period of dry weather.
3. fertile — Good crop producing land.
4. Figure — out to understand something.
5. Spindly — long and thin.
6. Screaming — high pitched tone cry out.
7. Splash — sprinkle.
8. Stiffly — hard/not easily foldable.
9. Gleaming — shinning brightly.
10. muttering — whispering / low tone speaking.

Plot : The plot of the story ‘The Girl who can’ can be divided into five phases-rising, action climax, falling action and its resolution. The central character Adjoa is a seven years old girl with thin legs. In the story we see other two characters like her dominating grandmother Nana and her humble mother Kaya (or Maami. Adjoa’s thin legs seem to be a big problem to Nana. According to Adjoa her elders do not pay heed to her and underestimate her for whatever she is doing. Thus, she is confused with their treatment.

The action of the story starts with Nana and Maami discussing about Adjoa’s legs and her insistence to go to school. Nana is doubtful if Adjoa will be able to bear child with her thin legs. Adjoa is uncomfortable in Nana’s mentality. So, she is determined to turn her adversity.

Gradually Adjoa realizes that she can run well like other students. She is selected to represent her school for the junior district games. She silences her opponents in the selection. Her Nana’s attitude changes when she is selected to represent her school Nana now gives her full support by washing and ironing her school uniform. She is proud of Adjoa’s achievement. Nana now realizes that her thin legs are capable to achieve something big, inspite of her physical problems. In the patriarchal society Adjoa’s enormous potential as a woman wins despite initial odds.

Theme : Adjoa is a seven years old girl athlete. In the male dominated society her interactions with her mother and grandmother creates a generational conflicts.

In the story we find that the author is exploring the theme of conflict, innocence, freedom, insecurity, connection and pride. The discussion between Nana and Maami deals with the thin legs of Adjoa and her father. Nana is of the belief that Adjoa will not be able to bear child for her thin legs. She also blames her daughter regarding her selection of husband and her daughter.

The dominating attitude of Nana creates the insecurity situation of Adjoa. But Adjoa is not all concerned for her thin legs and mother’s helplessness. Adjoa is only seven years old and she is trying to make out this complex world clash and dominance. Adjoa decides to take part in junior district games and her selection puts an end to Nana’s antagonism. She gains her freedom to make her own career and shows the world the proper place of women in the male dominated society.

The author points out the need of self expression through the narrator. The author is a feminist. She analyses the struggle of women to find the right place in the society. Adjoa’s win in the district athlete meet declares that the women are capable of grabbing the opportunites and achieve success in spite of many oddities.

The Girl Who Can Characters

Adjoa : Adoja is the central character of the story ‘The Girl who can’. She is only seven years old and has sweetness and innocence. She is surrounded by her dominating Nana and subdued mother she lays bare in her position. She is in a fix either to protest her Nana or to remain silent.

She is the representative of oppressed women of the society. She is a highly sensitive girl. She is aware of her situation with her passive mother and dominating Nana. She guesses with tears in eyes and silence of her mother that family condition is abnormal. It is amazing that Adjoa a seven years old girl is ahead of other girls of her age.

She thinks a lot about her own problems and of other girls around her. She can think a great deal and decides to find a solution to her thin legs. She does not suffer from any complex for her thin legs. She wins the race and shows that her handicappedness cannot stand in the way of the determined and positive thinking persons.

Nana : Nana is the authoritative matriarch of the house. She has the desire to silence the voice of others. She has her own views and she imposes that on others. She expects Adjoa to know a great deal of world affairs. Her remark-‘Adjoa, you don’t know what problems there are in this life.’

She warns Adjoa to refrain from making silly remarks. She is also critical to Maami for her choice of husband and of bearing Adjoa for her thin legs. Adjoa and Maami often differ in opposition to her views. She comes out to be a dynamic character.

She is transformed in her attitude only after learning that Adjoa has running skills to win a race. She feels proud of Adjoa’s win in the race and carries the shinning cup on her back. At the end of the story she realizes that a woman’s body has more to its existence than just birth to children. She seems to understand that a woman’s potential is enormous.

Maami : Maami (real name Kaya) is the mother of Adjoa, a seven years old girl. She occupies the least space in the story. She is the symbol of a hesitant and speechless women. Adjoa is placed in between she is a forward looking girl and tides her problems in her own grand way. Maama loves Adjoa, her daughter and supports her in her dreams to become an athlete.

She looks courage and words of protest for her daughter from the criticism of her mother. She is condemned by her mother always for her choice of husband who has deserted her. In this story Maami is the representative of oppressed women, who are unable to voice against customs and traditions of the society.

Title: The title of the story ‘The Girl who can’ is related to the vast capability of a 7 years old girl Adjoa in our traditional society. Adjoa is asked not to confront criticism and opposition of her grandmother Nana. Nana is of the opinion that Adoja is unable to bear children for her thin legs. Adjoa does not openly oppose her Nana’s views. Adjoa goes to school daily walking about five miles.

In spite of her thin legs she does not lag behind others. She is chosen as an athlete to take part in school games and she wins the race. She shows her potential to achieve something with her thin legs. Determination and strong will can accomplish great things and that is proved by Adjoa. In this way the title is suitable and appropriate to bring out the theme of an individual.

Setting : The setting of the story is in Ghana’s fertile district Hasodzi where the soil is suitable for good crop production. The story is told from the point of view of Adjoa, a seven years old girl. She has to find out the meaning of existence.

In the family she is surrounded by her dominating grandmother and her msierable speechless mother. In this setting the role of women in the society is discussed. In a traditional society the role of a woman has been reduced to only child bearing. Adoja, an advanced thinking girl can carve out their career and show the world that the potential of a woman does not be limited for being a mother of a wife.

Style: The story ‘The Girl Who Can’ is presented from the viewpoint of a 7 years old girl Adoja who has sensivity and analytical mind set. The author uses different techniques of contrast and satire to bring out the theme of feminism.

Adoja’s fertile soil village, Hasdzi remains flowering with crops. Adjoa the central character is shown to contrast the nature of her Nana that of her mother. The two constrasted characters highlight of the Patriarchal and matriarchal schools of thought. Nana’s persistent talk on Adoja’s thin legs is satirised as legs are meant for, carrying children only.

Adoja does not find logic in her Nana’s sentiment. In this story Adjoa is the spokes person of the author and she speaks out her inner feelings. The language used in the story is simple and without ornamentation as it can be the language of a 7 year’s old girl.

The Girl Who Can Critical Appreciation

The story brings out beautifully the role and the struggle of a woman in post colonial Africa. The story is about a seven year’s old girl who expects to grow up to fulfill the expectations of her family. The author a feminist uses the social background of a custom ridden traditional society in which the majority of the people think that a woman can be useful if she has a normal body.

The author dwells on the theme of conflict, freedom, innocence, insecurity and pride through the interaction of Adjoa with her Nana and Maami. The story is told in the eyes of a seven years old girl Adjoa. The first person narration gives authenticity to her views.

The language is simple but forceful. The author has used the technique of contrast, satire and symbolism to bring out the theme. In the story Nana is dominating, Maami is humble and oppressed. Adjoa is full of positivity.

The author had ridiculed the notion of the times that woman must have meat on their legs and have strong hips to bear children. Adjoa disapproves the notion. In spite of her thin legs she wins a district level race. It is a rebuff to the prevalent idea of the women’s role as if it is limited to only child bearing. Adjoa runs a race and it symbolises freedom of choice. She applies her will and takes the untrodden path of her Nani and Maami. She brokes the rigidity of the traditional society.

The Girl Who Can Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
Adjoa is a girl of ……………
a. 7 years
b. 8 years
c. 9 years
d. 10 years
Answer:
a. 7 years.

Question 2.
Adjoa hails from a ……………
a. barren
b. fertile
c. a plateau
d. none of the above land
Answer:
b. fertile.

Question 3.
Adjoa’s Maami is ……………
a. Conservative
b. orthodox
c. dominating
d. humble and helpless.
Answer:
d. humble and helpless.

Question 4.
Who was Kaya?
a. Nana
b. Maami
c. school teacher
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. Maami.

Question 5.
Adjoa is selected for her school in ……………
a. State games
b. national games
c. Junior district games
d. international games
Answer:
c. Junior district games.

Question 6.
Adjoa was ……………
a. timid
b. cunning
c. headstrong
d. sensitive
Answer:
d. sensitive.

Question 7.
Adjoa loved to be an ……………
a. athlete
b. footballer
c. gymnast
d. cricketers
Answer:
a. athlete.

Question 8.
The distance of Adjoa’s school is about-
a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 6.6 kms
Answer:
c. 5kms

Question 9.
Adjoa runs for-
a. Junior
b. Senior
c. Sub-junior
d. None of the above group
Answer:
a. Junior

Question 10.
Nana looked after Adjoa’s win-
a. displeased
b. pleased
c. indifferent
d. none of the above.
Answer:
b. pleased.

Question 11.
Nana carried the gleaming cup on her-
a. back
b. head
c. shoulder
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. back

Question 12.
Adoja’s mother remained-
a. quiet
b. vocal
c. speechless
d. none of the above.
Answer:
c. speechless.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Chapter Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 7 The Elevator

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 7 The Elevator

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 7 The Elevator

The Elevator Comprehension Questions Answers

Read the extracts and answer the following questions:

Passage – 1.

It was an old building with an old elevator – a very small elevator, which could carry only three people. Martin, a thin twelve-year-old, felt nervous in it from the first day he and his father moved into the apartment. Of course he was always uncomfortable in elevators, afraid that they would fall, but this one was especially unpleasant. Perhaps this was because of the poor lighting and the dirty walls.

Perhaps it was because of the door, which never stayed open long enough, and slammed shut with a loud clanging noise. Perhaps it was the way the elevator shuddered each time it left a floor, as if it was exhausted. Maybe it was simply too small. It seemed crowded even with only two people in it.

1. How was the building where Martin lived?
2. How old was Martin?
3. What type of boy Martin is?
4. Why did Martin think about the old elevator?
5. Why the elevator of the building was uncomfortable to Martin?
Answer:
1. Martin lived in an old building with one old elevator.
2. Martin is only 12 years old.
3. Martin is a boy of 12 years with thin and skinny body. He is very nervous and coward. He does not love games and sports.
4. Martin thinks the that old elevator may fall as it is very small and can accommodate only two or three persons at a time.
5. Martin feels uncomfortable in the old elevator because the lighting is dim and the walls are dirty. The door of the elevator stays open for a brief period and it slammers shut with a loud clanging noise.

Passage – 2.

The Stairs were no better. Martin tried them one day after school. There were no windows, and the lights were not working. Martin’s footsteps echoed behind him on the cement, as though there was another person climbing, getting closer. By the time he reached his home on the seventeenth floor, he was gasping for breath.

1. How was the stairs of the building?
2. When did Martin try the stairs?
3. What happened to Martin then?
4. In which floor of the building Martin lived?
5. What was the condition of Martin when he reached his flat?
Answer:
1. The stairs of the building was in a very bad condition. There were no windows and the lights were not working.
2. One day when Martin was returning from his school he tried the stairs to reach his flat.
3. Martin’s footsteps echoed behind him on the cement as though another person climbing and getting closer.
4. Martin lived in the 17th floor of the building.
5. Martin was gasping for breath when he reached his flat in the 17th floor of the building.

Passage – 3.

Martin’s father worked at home. He wanted to know why Martin was out of breath. ‘Why didn’t you take the elevator?’ he asked, frowning at Martin. You’re not only skinny and weak and bad at sports, his face seemed to say, but you are also a coward. After that, Martin always took the elevator. He would have to get used to it, he told himself, just like he got used to being bullied at school.

1. Where did Martin’s father work?
2. What did Martin’s father want to know?
3. What was father’s impression about Martin?
4. When did Martin begin to take the elevator?
5. How was Martin bullied at school?
Answer:
1. Martin’s father worked at home.
2. Martin’s father wanted to know why Martin was out of breath reaching his flat.
3. Martin’s father thought that he was skinny, weak and bad at sports. Above all he was also a coward.
4. Martin used the elevator when his father rebuked him for not using the elevator.
5. Martin was a coward boy. He was also thin and weak. So, his classmates bullied at him in the class.

Passage – 4.

One morning the elevator stopped at the fourteenth floor, and a fat lady got on. She was wearing an old green coat that ballooned around her. As she waddled into the elevator, Martin was sure he felt it sink under her weight. She was so big that her coat brushed against him, and he had to squeeze himself into a corner. There was no room for anybody else. The door closed quickly behind her, and instead of facing it, she turned around and stared at Martin.

1. Where did the elevator stop?
2. Who did get into the elevator?
3. How did the lady dress?
4. Why had Martin to squeeze himself?
5. Whąt did she do to Martin?
Answer:
1. The elevator stopped at the 14th floor of the apartment.
2. A fat old lady got in to the elevator when the elevator stopped at 14 th floor.
3. The lady wore an old green coat that ballooned around her. She was so fat that her coat brushed against him and Martin had to squeeze himself into a corner in the elevator.
4. The elevator was small to accommodate only three persons. When the fat lady entered into the elevator Martin had to squeeze himself.
5. When the door of the elevator closed quickly behind her she turned round and stared at Martin.

Passage – 5.

Martin looked away, but the woman didn’t turn around. Was she still looking at him? He glanced at her quickly, then looked away again. She was still watching him. He wanted to close his eyes, he wanted to turn around and stare into the corner, but how could he? The elevator creaked down to twelve, then eleven. The piggy eyes were still looking at him. She had to be crazy. Why else would she stare at him like this? What was she going to do next?

1. What did Martin do?
2. What did the woman do?
3. What did Martin want to do?
4. Where did Martin stare?
5. How were the eyes of the lady?
Answer:
1. Martin looked away from the fat lady but she did not turn around.
2. The fat lady was looking at Martin sternly. Although Martin looked at her and turned round but the lady was still watching him.
3. Martin wanted to close her eyes and to turn around and to look at the corner avoiding the lady.
4. Martin did not want to face the lady so he tried his best to avoid her, but it was quite impossible to him.
5. The lady had piggy eyes to stare at Martin.

Passage – 6.

She did nothing. She only watched him, breathing loudly, until the elevator reached the first floor at last. Martin wanted to run past her to get out, but there was no room. He could only wait as she turned and moved slowly out into the lobby.

Then he ran. He didn’t care what she thought. He ran nearly all the way to school. He thought about her all day. Did she live in the building? He had never seen her before, and the building was not very big. May be she was visiting somebody? But 730 in the morning was too early for visiting.

1. What did the lady do?
2. What did Martin want to do?
3. When did Martin Run?
4. What did Martin think about the lady?
5. What were Martin’s speculation about the lady?
Answer:
1. The lady did nothing but to watch at Martin who was breathing loudly until the elevator reached the first floor.
2. Martin wanted to run past her to get out but there was no room.
3. Martin had to wait till the lady slowly went out of the elevator. As soon as she went out Martin ran nearly all the way to school?
4. Martin thought if the lady lived in the same apartment where he lived as he did not see her before.
5. Martin speculated that perhaps she was going to visit somebody but 7-30 am was too early to visit a person.

Passage – 7.

Martin felt nervous when he got back to the building after school. But why should he be afraid of an old lady? He felt ashamed of himself. He pressed the button and stepped into the elevator, hoping that it would not stop, but it stopped on. the third floor. Martin watched the door slide open, revealing a green coat, a piggish face and blue eyes which were already staring at him as if she knew he would be there. It wasn’t possible. It was like a nightmare.

But there she was. ‘Going up!’ said Martin, his voice little more than a squeak. She nodded, and stepped on. The door slammed. He watched her pudgy hand move towards the buttons. She pressed, not fourteen, but eighteen, the top floor. The elevator trembled and began to go up. The fat lady watched him.

1. Why was Martin ashamed of himself?
2. Where did the elevator stop?
3. What did Martin see?
4. What was nightmare to Martin?
5. Which button did she press?
Answer:
1. Martin was ashamed for himself because he was afraid of that fat lady.
2. The elevator stopped in the 3rd floor and Martin was amazed to see that.
3. Martin saw that a green coat with a piggish face and blue eyes stared at him as if she knew he would be there.
4. The entry of the old fat lady into the elevator proved to be a nightmare to him.
5. She pressed the 18th-floor button instead of fourteenth floor that she pressed earlier.

Passage – 8.

This morning she got on at the fourteenth floor, so why did she get on at the third floor today and go up to eighteen? The elevator seemed to be moving more slowly than usual. Martin wanted to press seven, so that he could get out and walk up the stairs, but he couldn’t reach the buttons without touching her, and he didn’t want to do that.

When the elevator stopped on his floor, she hardly moved out of his way. He had to squeeze past her, rubbing against her horrible scratchy coat. He was afraid the door would close before he could get out. She turned and watched him as the door slammed shut. ‘Now she knows I live on seventeen,’ he thought.

1. How did the elevator move?
2. Why did Martin want to press 7th?
3. Why could not Martin reach the button?
4. Why Martin had to squeeze?
5. What did Martin think at last?
Answer:
1. The elevator moved more slowly than usual on that particular day.
2. Martin wanted to press seven to run away from the fat lady.
3. Martin could not reach the button as the fat lady stood before the button.
4. In the short space of the elevator where the fat lady stood Martin had to squeeze.
5. Martin at last thought the lady perhaps understood that Martin lived on 17 th floor.

Passage – 9.

Martin knew he was probably making a mistake, but he had to tell somebody about the woman, ‘She was in the elevator with me twice today. She just kept staring at me. She never stopped looking at me for a minute.’
‘What are you so worried about now?’ his father said, turning impatiently away from the television. ‘What am I going to do with you, Martin? Honestly, now you’re afraid of some poor old lady,’
‘I’m not afraid.’
‘You’re afraid,’ said his father. ‘When are you going.
to grow up and act like a man? Are you going to be timid all your life?’

1. What did Martin decide?
2. What was Martin’s impression about the lady?
3. What did Martin’s father ask?
4. What was Martin’s father’s problem?
5. What did he tell Martin finally?
Answer:
1. Martin decided that perhaps he was making a mistake as she met the fat old lady twice in the elevator and she staired at him.
2. About the fat old lady Martin thought that she would never looking at him for a minute.
3. Martin’s father asked Martin why he was so worried about the old fat lady.
4. Martin’s father’s problem was that his son Martin was afraid of some poor old lady although he denied.
5. His father asked finally if he was going to be timid all his life for the old fat lady.

Passage – 10.

Martin started running down the stairs, The stairs were dark and he fell. His father was silent on the way to hospital, disappointed and angry with him for being a coward and a fool. Martin had broken his leg and needed to walk on crutches. He could not use the stairs now. Was that why the fat lady had smiled? Did she know what would happen?

At least his father was with him in the elevator on the way back from the hospital. There was no room for the fat lady to get In, and If she did, his father would see her and may be he would understand. When he got home, he could stay in the apartment for a few days. The doctor said that he had to rest as much as possible. Martin felt quite safe from the fat lady now.

1. Why did Martin fall in the stairs?
2. Why was Martin’s father disappointed?
3. What happened to Martin?
4. Why did Martin feel safe from the fat lady?
Answer:
1. As the stairs were dark Martin fell.
2. Martin’s father was disappointed as Martin remained a coward and fool.
3. Martin had broken his leg and he needed to walk on the crutches.
4. Martin felt safe from the fat old lady as he was advised bed rest by the doctor and he had to remain in bed rest. So, he felt quite safe from the old lady.

The Elevator About the Story

In the story ‘The Elevator’ the author explores the theme of the irrational fears of childhood in contrasting the characters of a sensitive boy with an’ insensitive father. The story is about a 12 years old boy named Martin. He is worrisome and is often bullied by his classmates at the school class. His father wants him to conquer his fears and become strong in mind. He is afraid of using elevators. His father moves to a new apartment and Martin is compelled to use the elevator although he feels nervous and uncomfortable.

His problem improves a lot when he meets an obese woman in the elevator. The elevator is very small and narrow only to carry two or three persons at a time. Martin feels suffocated when he and the obese woman enters into the elevator.

He wants to avoid the lady. So, he takes the stairs. While running on the stairs he falls down the flight of stairs and fractures his leg. He has to stay away from that lady and he is quite safe. His father wants to remove the fear from his mind. So, he leaves him alone on the elevator to help a neighbour.

The Elevator About the Author

William warner Sleator III is popularlyes known as William Sleator. He is an American Science fiction writer. He was born on 13th February 1945, at Havre de Grace, Maryland USA. He had his education at Harvard University. His famous books are: ‘House of Stairs’, ‘Interstellar Pig’, Singularity and The Boxes. His plots are based on fantasy, Science Fiction, horror and suspense. He died on 3rd August, 2011 in Thailand at the age of 66.

The Elevator Brief Summary

Martin a 12 years old boy lived in the 17th floor of an apartment. He had to go up and down and to use the elevator. The old building had dirty walls. The elevator is too narrow and small. It looked crowded if there were two or three persons.

Martin was always afraid of it lest it should fall. The lighting arrangement was very poor. The stairs were also with dim light. When Martin used the stairs his footsteps echoed behind him and he thought about the presence of other people behind him. After reaching his 17th floor he became breathless.

Martin’s father used to work at home. He saw Martin breathless and asked him why he did not use the elevator. He called Martin a coward. He advised Martin to shed his fear of the elevator. But it was hard for Martin to overcome his fear of the elevator. He had a fear if the elevator stopped suddenly he would be trapped inside it for hours.

One day in the morning the elevator stopped at the 14th floor and a fat lady got in. Her entry into the elevator scared Martin and he thought that it would sink under the heavy weight. Martin tried to avoid her but she stared at him. So, Martin was seriously upset.

Martin failed to understand why she was behaving with him that way. The elevator reached the first floor. Martin wanted to get out of it until the lady got down from it. As soon as she got out of it he ran nearly all the way to school. Always he thought about the lady. He had never seen him before and he was in doubt if the lady lived on that apartment.

After school when Martin got back home he was afraid of the lady. Martin pressed the button for 17 th floor. The elevator stopped in the 3rd floor and the same fat lady got into it. She was staring at him as before. Martin asked her if she was going upto 18th floor. As the lady had no fixed floor of entry Martin was nervous.

Martin asked his father if he knew the fat lady. In reply his father told him if he was afraid of her. He advised Martin to grow up and leave all his fears. His advice was to avoid fear and worry throughout his life. But the advice fell flat and Martin could sleep very little.

Next morning the fat lady was waiting for Martin when the elevator door opened. He at once started running down through stairs. In the dark stairs he fell Martin had broken his leg. His father was disappointed and angry with Martin as he was a fool and coward.

Now he needed to walk on crutches. He had to stay confined in the apartment. Martin’s father made a plan to dispel the fear of him. His father pressed nine getting into the elevator. Martin pleaded to accompany his father to meet Ullman there. As he went out the elevator the door was closed. The elevator stopped at 10th floor and Martin met the fat lady again. She called Martin by his name and laughed to press the stop button.

Glossary :

1. Slammed — Closed with a bang.
2. Shuddered — trembled.
3. exhausted — tired.
4. frowning — angry look.
5. gasping — panting.
6. bullied — teased by somebody.
7. trapped — caught.
8. waddled — walked in short steps.
9. Squeeze — shrink.
10. Piggy — small and unattractive.
11. nightmare — frightening bitter dream.
12. Squeak — high pitched sound.
13. Pudgy — fat.
14 scratchy — a rough uncomfortable texture.
15. impatiently — restlessly.
16. hobbled walked — with difficulty.

Plot : The story is set in a small building and the atmosphere for ominous possibilities is worked upon with grim details like creating, narrow elevator, dim lights and dirty wall. Martin, a boy of 12 years has to use the elevator that shakes, horribly and which is very small to accommodate more than two persons. The entry of an unkown fat lady makes the matter worse for Martin.

Though his father tells him to give up fear repeatedly and to grow up he fails to overcome the fear. Each time he tries to avoid the lady but her unexpected entry into the elevator makes Martin more nervous. In this way the conflict begins in his mind with his severe fear of the elevator.

It gets servere and reaches the climax when after getting fractured he is left to face the same old lady in the elevator. There are some questions in the mind of the readers if Martin is able to give up his fear, if he is confident to use the elevator alone. Thus, the plot has an open ending and we are startled.

Theme : Martin a twelve years old boy has skinny body and he has no interest in games and sports. But he has fears about the elevator, strangers and classmates who bully him at the school. He does not confront his fears boldly but runs away from them and is got trapped in them.

Gradually his nervousness grows. His father advises him to give up fears and he also tries to overcome his fears. Once Martin is thrown to his lot in the elevator in the presence of the same fat lady who stares at Martin. Fears are to be confronted and the protest against it can only resolve our predicament of fear. This has been beautifully depicted in the story instead of running away from them. Running away from your fears will simply end up in meeting the fate as Martin.

Title : The title of the story ‘The Elevator’ is appropriate as the story deals with the elevator. The elevator described in the story is very small and it can only accommodate two or three passengers at a time. Martin, the 12 years old boy is terribly afraid of the elevator. When a fat lady enters into the elevator Martin is terribly fearful. The elevator is very small, old and exhausted. The lighting arrangement is very poor and the walls are dirty. It seems to sink under the heavy weight of the fat lady.

The entire story takes place in the elevator of the old building. Once Martin runs down the stairs as he does not want to share the narrow elevator with the fat lady. Martin’s efforts to avoid the elevator becomes futile and so the lady never appears before Martin. Martin’s father does not know why Martin is afraid of the elevator. He advises to give up the fear of the elevator and the strange people. In this way we find the entire story revolves round the old elevator. So, the title is apt and appropriate.

The Elevator Characters

Martin is the central character of the story. He is a 12 years old boy. He is weak and skinny. He has no interest in sports and games. His father thinks that Martin is of coward and nervous nature. He fears the small elevator of the building. He is bullied by his classmates and strangers. When a fat lady enters the elevator with him he almost breaks down. He becomes nervous as soon as he meets the fat lady. At last he gets fractured when he takes the stairs to avoid the fat lady.

Martin has no normal upbringing as it does not seem that to have normal relations with his father. The condition of the old building doubles his fear. His father tries to create favourable conditions to stand by him in the grim fight with the odd situations still he is unable to grow up properly.

Martin’s Father :

Martin’s father is unnamed in the story. His relationship with his son is not friendly. He is concerned about the infirmities of Martin. Like an ideal father he wants his son to be mentally and physically strong. But we see that his advice falls flat to his son Martin a 12 years aged boy. He chids his son as he has no interest in games and sports.

His father is worried as he is very weak and skinny body and his schoolmates bully him regularly. He is also concerned that Martin fears the old fat lady as he meets her. He always advises his son to give up fear from all aspects.

He tries to create some conditions by which Martin can fight the fears alone. He makes a plan to leave Martin alone in the elevator in the presence of the fat lady so that Martin is capable of fighting fear independently. This psychological technique to remove Martin’s fear is praiseworthy. He does not want to prepare his son as spoon fed boy.

The Lady :

In the story the lady is described as fat. She wears an old green coat. She has large fleshy cheeks and no chin with just a huge man of neck. She has tiny blue eyes, Which are sharp also. She glances at Martin and her eyes seen to be boring into his face. In the elevator she occupies almost the entire space as Martin has to stand squeezed. Martin wants to get out of her presence. He feels trapped in the elevator. He is scared of her. He being fearful and to avoid her takes to the stairs and breaks his leg.

The lady adds to the fear of Martin. He feels insecured, shaken and nervous in her presence. Martin always tries to fight shy of her. At last he is compelled to bear her when he is left alone in the elevator in her presence. It is not clear from the story if the lady lives in that particular apartment where Martin lives. But the fat lady plays an important role in the story.

Setting :

The setting of the story is in a building with 18 floors and the use of an elevator in almost essential. But the elevator is small and only three passengers are able to use it at a time. The elevator is in a very bad condition and it slams shut with a clanging sound. The lighting condition is very poor and the dirty walls make the matter worse to create a scary condition.

Martin is scared of the elevators. The unexpected entry of a fat lady and her staring to Martin make the matter worse to Martin. He tries to escape her. In doing so, he uses the stairs only to get fractured. The author creater an atmosphere of suspense and fear. So the setting is congenial for the scary atmosphere.

Style :

From the very beginning the author wants to create an atmosphere of suspense and fear. The entire action of the story takes place in an old building where the elevator is small and old and it creakes as it moves along. The door of the elevator does not stay open long enough.

Thus, the author is able to create a spooky atmosphere. The sudden and unexpected entry of a fat lady adds to the problem of Martin a 12 years old boy. The tone of the story is suggestive and implied. We can easily guess the mental condition of Martin, who is of nervous nature. Martin’s trauma in using the creaking elevator and the presence of fat lady is easy to understand.

The Elevator Critical Appreciation

Martin, a 12 years old boy is of nervous nature. The old building, the creaking and shuddering elevator, dirty walls with poor lighting arrangement set the proper atmosphere of a scary story. The entry of the fat lady in the elevator rises the trauma of Martin, who is bullied by the classmates. Thus, we can easily feel how traumatic such atmosphere can be to a timid boy like Martin.

The situation is nicely created for the fear of Martin. The repeated and unexpected meeting with the fat lady tears the mind of the boy Martin. To avoid the lady he takes the stairs to go down and gets fractured. Once he is left to face the lady alone in a helpless condition and we are left to his speculation about the boys fate. The character of Martin comes to our mind. We have sympathy for Martin although he is a nervous fellow. Martin’s father and the fat lady play their role in Martin’s fears. But the father wishes that his son should grow up and overcome his fears.

The Elevator Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
The elevator could carry only – persons …………..
a. one
b. two
c. three
d. four.
Answer:
c. three.

Question 2.
Martin’s father worked at …………..
a. in office
b. at home
c. in a factory
d. in the fields
Answer:
b. at home.

Question 3.
Martin was ………….. years old.
a. 10
b. 11
c. 12
d. 13
Answer:
c. 12

Question 4.
Martin was a ………….. boy.
a. weak
b. skinny
c. brave
d. fearless
Answer:
c. skinny.

Question 5.
Martin lived on the ………….. floor.
a. 3
b. 4
c. 17th
d. 18
Answer:
c. 17th.

Question 6.
The old lady wore a ………….. coat.
a. red
b. green
c. black
d. brown
Answer:
c. black.

Question 7.
The lady has ………….. eyes.
a. blue
b. red
c. brown
d. none of the above.
Answer:
a. Blue.

Question 8.
The stairs of the building was …………..
a. dark
b. lighted
c. narrow
d. none of the above.
Answer:
a. dark.

Question 9.
The elevator stopped at ………….. floor.
a. 7th
b. 8th
c. 9th
d. 10th floor.
Answer:
d. 10th floor.

Question 10.
‘You are also a coward’: ………….. said by.
a. mother
b. father
c. brother
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. father.

Question 11.
He ran nearly all the way to …………..
a. home
b. road
c. school
d. none of the above.
Answer:
c. school.

Question 12.
The top floor of the building was …………..
a. 18th
b. 17th
c. 16
d. 15
Answer:
a. 18th.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Chapter Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 6 With the Photographer

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 6 With the Photographer

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 6 With the Photographer

With the Photographer Comprehension Questions Answers

Read the extracts and answer the following questions:

Passage – 1.

‘I WANT my photograph taken,’ I said. The photographer looked at me without enthusiasm. He was a drooping man in a gray suit, with the dim eye of a natural scientist. But there is no need to describe him. Everybody knows what a photographer is like.

1. How did the photographer look at the narrator?
2. How was the photographer?
3. What Was the narrator’s experience about the photographer?
4. How did the narrator spend his time?
5. Why the photographer did not look at the narrator enthusiastically ?
Answer:
1. The photographer did not look at the narrator without enthusiasm.
2. The photographer was a drooping man in a gray suit with the dim eyes of a natural scientist.
3. The narrator’s experience with the photographer was very bad.
4. The narrator spent his time by reading the magazines and journals.
5. The narrator is not looked enthusiastically by the photographer because there was nothing to describe him.

Passage – 2.

I waited an hour. I read the Ladies Companion for 1912, the Girl’s Magazine for 1902, and the Infants Journal for 1888. I began to see that I had done an unwarrantable thing in breaking in on the privacy of this man’s scientific pursuits with a face like mine.

1. How long did the narrator wait?
2. How long did The narrator wait?
3. What did the narrator do?
4. How long did the narrator wait?
5. How did the Photographer break the privacy?
Answer:
1. The narrator waited for an hozer in the Studio.
2. The narrator read the Ladies Companion for 1912, the girl’s Magazine for 1902, and the Infant’s Journal for 1988.
3. The narrator did an unwarrantable thing to break the privacy.
4. The narrator waited an hour before entering the studio.
5. The photographer broke the privacy for scientific pursuits with the narrator’s face.

Passage – 3.

He was only in it a second,-just time enough for one look at me,- and then he was out again, tearing at the cotton sheet and the window panes with a hooked stick, apparently frantic for light and air. Then he crawled back into the machine again and drew a little black cloth over himself. This time he was very quiet in there. I knew that he was praying and I kept still.

1. Who was he?
2. Was he at peace with himself?
3. How was the studio?
4. What was the photographer doing?
5. What is thought to be the problem with the face of the narrator?

1. Who was he?
2. Was he at peace with himself?
3. How was the studio?
4. What was the photographer doing?
5. What is thought to be the problem with the face of the narrator?
Answer:
1. ‘He’ was the photographer.
2. No, he was not at peace with himself ultimately.
3. The studio was an old one. It lacked the modern instruments.
4. The photographer was tearing the cotton sheet and the window panes with a hooked stick for light and air.
5. The narrator has a problem with his face according to the photographer.

Passage – 4.

‘I’m sure it would,’ I said enthusiastically, for I was glad to find that the man had such a human side to him. ‘So would yours. In fact,’ I continued, how many faces one sees that are apparently hard, narrow, limited, but the minute you get them three-quarters full they get wide, large, almost boundless in But the photographer had ceased to listen. He came over and took my head in his hands and twisted it sideways. I thought he meant to kiss me, and I closed my eyes.

1. What was the narrator sure of ?
2. What did the narrator wish to convey about the man?
3. How are the faces of human beings made to look better?
4. What was the tone of narrator when he said that human faces are made to look better?
5. Why did the narrator close his eyes?
Answer:
1. The narrator was sure that the face would be better three quarters full.
2. The narrator wished to convey that the man had a human side to him.
3. The faces of human beings were made to look better with three quarters full.
4. The narrator was not willing to change the original position of his face.
5. The narrator closed his eyes as thought that the photographer meant to kiss him.

Passage – 5.

‘The ears are bad’, he said; ‘droop them a little more. Thank you. Now the eyes. Roll them in under the lids. Put the hands on the knees, please, and turn the face just a little upward. Yes, that’s better. Now just expand the lungs! So! And hump the neck – that’s it – and just contract the waist – ha! – and twist the hip up toward the elbow now! I still don’t quite like the face, it’s just a trifle too full, but- -”

1. Which body figures are asked to be improved upon?
2. Do you think that the narrator was satisfied with the photographer?
3. What things are to be right?
4. What organs were adjusted by the photographer?
5. Did the photographer get full approval of the narrator?
Answer:
1. All the facial figures are asked to be improved.
2. No, I think the narrator was not satisfied with the photographer.
3. The organs of the narrator’s body was adjusted with ears, eyes, hands, face, lungs, neck and waist.
4. The photographer adjusted the ears, eyes, hands, face and neck of the narrator.
5. The narrator was not satisfied with the photographer because he tried to improve the facial feature by means of technical skills and chemicals.

Passage – 6.

‘Stop’, I said with emotion but, ! think, with dignity. ‘This feels my face. It is not yours, it is mine. I’ve lived with it for forty years and I know its faults. I know it’s out of drawing. I know it wasn’t made for me, but it’s my face, the only one I have-‘ I was conscious of a break in my voice but I went on-‘such as . it is, I’ve learned to love it. And this is my mouth, not yours. These ears are mine, and if your machine is too narrow – ‘Here I started to rise from the seat.

1. What does the narrator think?
2. How old was the narrator?
3. What does the narrator know?
4. What was the narrator conscious about?
5. Why did the narrator start to rise from the seat?
Answer:
1. The narrator thinks the photographer to stop activities of experiment on his face.
2. The narrator was about forty years old as he loved his figures for last forty years.
3. The narrator knows the faults of his face and his figure.
4. The narrator was conscious about to break in his voice for a moment.
5. The narrator started to rise from his seat that he did not like the instruments to experiment on his face by the photographer.

Passage-7.

The photographer beckoned me in. I thought he seemed quieter and graver than before. I think, too, there was a certain pride in his manner. He unfolded the proof of a large photograph, and we both looked at it in silence.
‘Is it me?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he said quietly, ‘it is you,’ and we went on looking at it.

1. Who beckoned the narrator to go in?
2. What did the narrator think about the photographer?
3. What was in his manner?
4. What did the photographer unfold?
5. How did the narrator look at the photograph?
Answer:
1. The photographer in the studio beckoned the narrator to go into the studio.
2. The riarrator thought that the photographer was graver and quieter than before.
3. The photographer had a pride in his manner.
4. The photographer unfolded the negative of a large photograph.
5. The narrator looked at the photograph amazingly because he had a doubt if the negative was of his own.

Passage-8.

‘The eyes’ I said hesitatingly, ‘don’t look very much like mine’
‘Oh, no,’ he answered, ‘I’ve retouched them. They come out splendidly, don’t they?’
‘Fine,’ I said, ‘but surely my eyebrows are not like that?’
‘No,’ said the photographer, with a momentary glance at my face, ‘the eyebrows are removed. We have a process now – ‘the Delphide – for putting in new ones. You’ll notice here where we’ve applied it to carry the hair away from the brow. I don’ like the hair low on the skull.

1. What did the narrator say about his eyes?
2. What did the narrator say about his eyebrows?
3. Why did the eyebrows of the narrator look so?
4. What did the photographer apply to remove the eyebrows?
5. ‘We have a process’ – What is the process?
Answer:
1. The narrator said that his eyes in the photograph did not look very much like his own eyes.
2. The narrator said that his eyebrows were not about his own eyebrows.
3. The eyebrows of the narrator were removed by applying chemicals.
4. To remove the eyebrows the photographer applied Delphide a chemical.
5. The process of removing eyebrows was to apply the Delphide for putting the new ones as the photographer did not like the hair low on the skull.

Passage-9.

I interrupted, drawing myself up and animating my features to their full extent and speaking with a withering scorn that should have blasted the man on the spot. ‘Listen! I came here for a photograph-a picture-something which (mad though it seems) would have looked like me.

I wanted something that would depict my face as Heaven gave it to me, humble though the gift may have been. I wanted something that my friends might keep after my death, to reconcile them to my loss. It seems that I was mistaken.

1. Why did the narrator interrupt?
2. Why did the narrator blast the photographer?
3. What did the narrator say to the photographer?
4. ‘I was mistaken’- why was the narrator mistaken?
5. What was the desire of the narrator and what happened actually?
Answer:
1. The narrator was interrupted because he was dissatisfied with his negative and told the photographer to stop.
2. The narrator blasted the photographer as he changed his face with his technical skills and application of chemicals.
3. The narrator said to the photographer that his face was the gift of heaven and he did not like any distortion of that.
4. The narrator wanted to have a Snap as he wanted to gift his photo to his friends by which they could remember him after his death. So, he was mistaken with the change.
5. The narrator liked to have his original condition in the photo. Actually the photographer changed his facial feature almost.

Passage-10.

Take your negative, or whatever it is you call it, – dip it in sulphide, bromide, oxide, cowhide, – anything you like, -remove the eyes, correct the mouth, adjust the face, restore the lips, reanimate the necktie and reconstruct the waistcoat. Coat it with an inch of gloss, shade it, emboss it, gild it, till even you acknowledge that it is finished. Then when you have done all that-keep it for yourself and your friends. They may value it. To me it is but a worthless bauble’

1. What did the narrator say to the photographer?
2. What are the process of modification?
3. What was the condition of the narrator?
4. What was his words to the photographer?
5. Why did the narrator break into tears?
Answer:
1. The narrator was angry with the photographer and told him to keep The negative With him and he would not receive it.
2. The processes of modifications were shading embossing and giding.
3. The narrator was amazed to see his own image as the photographer had done many changes through his technical skill and application of chemicals.
4. The last words of the narrator to the photographer were that the photographer would keep the negative to him and he would not take the photograph.
5. The narrator broke into tears because he was angry and displeased on the photographer as he made changes without his proper consent.

With the Photographer About the Story

Source : The story ‘With the photographer’ is taken from Leacock’s literary collection ‘Behind the beyond and other contribution to Human Knowledge.’

Delta Story : In the story the author Shares his personal experiences as he visits a photographer’s shop to have his snap taken as he wants to keep that as a treasure of his memory for his friends after his death.

The photographer made unwanted facial changes to show a better appearance of the author. The photographer uses his technical skills to bring an improvement with the author’s face. The author experiences anguish, annoyance and insecurity as the photographer finds fault in the author’s face, eyes and ears, which he tries to improve upon with his technical ability. For this the photograph fails to show a true picture of the narrator. Being shocked and disgusted he left studio without taking his photograph.

With the Photographer About the Author

Stephen Leacock was a teacher of Canada; He was also a political Scientist and author. He is famous for his light humour and mild criticisms of people’s foibles. He was born in England but was educated at Toranto University, Canada. Later in the same university he was the departmental head of Economics and Political Science. He wrote humourous stories and essays.

He was internationally famous as a humourist, educator, lecturer and author. He wrote more than 30 books of light humour. Literary lapses, Nonsense Novels. Further Foolishness and ‘The Garden of Folly’ are his famous writings. His humour is based on comic perception of social foibles.

With the Photographer Brief Summary

One day the author decided to visit a studio for his photograph. The author was asked to wait a bit though there was no second customer. So, the author was humiliated with the behaviour of the photographer. He spent his waiting time reading the journals and magazines. The author felt as if he was an intruder into the privacy of the photographer.

After an hour of waiting the author was called into the studio. The room was dimly lighted and in the middle the photographer placed his Camera. Actually, his studio was an old fashioned room without any attractive design.

The author entered into the room. The photographer rolled his camera into the middle. The photographer was not satisfied with the light so, he tore the cotton sheet and the broke window panes with a hooked stick. He skipped back in to the machine to draw a little back cloth over himself.

At past he came out with grim face and he began to shake his head. The photographer was not satisfied with the face of the author. The author felt humiliated as the photographer told that his face was quite wrong although he knew that his face is not photogenic. The photographer told that he was capable to transform a human face to make that attractive.

For that purpose. the photographer suggested many trifling postures. The author was annoyed with this. He remarked that he was a man of forty years and he is satisfied with his facial condition. The author was about to rise from his seat and then the photographer took a snap in a moment of animation.

The photographer had produced a negative copy of the author’s face. On the next Sunday the author came to the studio to take his photograph. Seeing the photograph the author was shocked. The author was disgusted also. Many unwanted things on the face were removed and he had retouched the mouth. Only the ears remained intact.

The author was furious and he blasted the photographer with a bitter rebuke. The photographer used his professional skills but the author said that his face and photographed are not identical. He would not be able to gift that to his friends and it was a worthless bauble. The author left the studio with tears in his eyes.

Glossary:

1. Drooping — bending
2. unwarrantable — wrongful
3. Breaking in — intruding
4. Frantic — desperate
5. Persuits — quest
6. grave — Serious
7. Ceased — stopped
8. apparently — seemingly
9. twisted — turned on
10. hump — heave
11. staggering — shaking
12. animation — excitement
13. beckoned — called
14. splendidly — nicely
15. withering — disapproving
16. scorn — hatred
17. Superfices — surface
18. depict — show
19. reconcile — to come to terms
20. emboss — cause to burge up
21. bauble — valueless thing

Plot :

The plot of the story “With the photographer” is set in a dull studio room. Anunnamed narrator of 40 years visits the photographer to have a snap of him. His main purpose is to get a photograph that his friends could keep it as a memory of his.

The narrator enters the studio and asks to click a photo. The narrator is asked to wait, though there was no other customer. Later after an hour he is called into the room. The photographer does not like the facial condition of the narrator. He gives many commands and suggestions. The narrator feels fear, annoyance and insecurity. The photographer’s suggestion humiliate the narrator to some extent.

The narrator obeys the suggestions of the photographer. The narrator desires to have a simple snap of his but photographer thinks otherwise he wants to produce a better face by means of his technical skills. Next Sunday the narrator visits the studio to take the photo.

He sees the negative of the photograph and thinks that it is For removed from reality and that creates a shocking and disgusting feelings to the narrator. The narrator sees the negative and his disgust tends to shake the tendency of the photographer. of creating models instead of ordinary humans. The photographer has retouched and adjusted the authors features. Being disgusted the narrator leaves the studio and tells the photographer to keep his photo to him. He calls the entire incident a worthless bauble

Theme :

The theme of ‘With the photographer deals on the original self and the distorted self. A young narrator of forty years visits a photographer to have his photograph taken. He is waiting reading the magazines about the model’s look.

When he enters and gets ready to take the photograph the photographer gives many suggestions to keep his mouth and posture more attractive than his real face. The narrator agrees to his suggestions although he thinks it is unnecessary. The photographer tells the narrator that his face, eyes, ears, are not photogenic. The photographer wishes to mould the narrators features.

When the narrator sees his negative there is a shock and annoyance. He is unable to recognise himself as the photographer with his technical skills improved upon the original. It is just the distort of reality which causes disgust, annoyance and anger of the narrator. rarrafor has a desire to have a photograph with an eye to present his friends for his remembrance after his death.

But the photograph becomes a nightmare to The narrator to break his confidence. In frustration the narrator begins to cry when he leaves the studio. In the story the narrator feels, that our face is our face, a gift of God. No one should humiliate it.

Outer appearances are meaningless as they do not tell the real story. Behind the make up there can be an ugly face. We should grant and respect what we Get from the God. The narrator regains his confidence and faith after leaving the studio. keeping the photograph with the narrator.

With the Photographer Characters

Narrator:

The narrator, The hero of the story ‘With the photographer’ is a 40 years old man. It is clear from the story that the narrator does not have attractive physical features. The photographer finds fault in his face. It is not photogenic. He becomes conscious of his face and submits to the suggestion of the photographer to have a better image of his face.

So, he abides by the photographer’s suggestions. The narrator feels an insecurity and humiliation when he compares his face with that of a model. He comes to know that the photographer depends on outer appearance rather than his inner quality. The narrator declares that he knows it for last forty years but he loves it as a gift from God.

The narrator accepts the reality and the wish of the God. Man should accept that as it is the grace of God and there should not be complain. He openly tells photographer that his face is of his own and it is a gift of the God.

The narrator is satirical of the ways of the professionals. The photographer tries to impose his own standards. He considers the photographer is an intruder in his life. We should avoid these type of people in our personal life.

Photographer:

The photographer is a drooping man in a gray suit. He has the dim eye of a natural scientist. His camera is placed in a room covered with black cloth through which he keeps an eye to take a photo. The narrator has to sit down in a beam of sunlight that filtered through a sheet of factory cotton hung against a frosted skylight.

It seems the photographer is a professional. He is critical of the face of the narrator. He wishes to improve his face with his profesional skills. He suggests the narrator to improve his facial condition. He is proud as he can bring about a great change in the face by his professional skills if the customer agrees.

The photographer has his own style. Even he does not listen to the customer. The narrator is annoyed and frustrated. At the end the narrator leaves his studio without taking the photograph, which is not identical of his real identity.

Setting :

The story is set in an old fashioned studio with minimum equipments and gadgets. The photographer resorts to digital techniques and gives special effects in the modern studies with highly sophisticated cameras. But this studio is weird. It has its effects on the narrator and loses his temper easily.

Title :

The story tells the narrator’s bitter experience with a photographer who tries to impose his own will and whims on the narrator. Actually, the story deals with an encounter with the photographer and the narrator. The photographer tells that the narrator’s face is wrong and it is insulting to the narrator. The narrator tells that he knows his face for forty years and he likes it.

The photographer remains deaf to all the suggestions of the narrator. The photographer believes in improving the features by his technical skills or chemicals. Thus, his ability can create new features or make an ugly one disappear. Thus, trying to create some magic the originality is the first culprit. Thus, the title is appropriate. The story Centres round the photographer and his dealing with the narrator who remains far from satisfaction.

Style :

The first person narration is used in the story. It gives authenticity to the bitter experiences of the narrator while getting his photograph taken. There are two different characters in the story, the narrator and the photographer. The author has used the humour, satire, irony and contrast in depicting the characters.

The narrator is a man of self respect and the photographer is an egoist, who is proud of his profesional skills. Here in this story humour is created in a subdued tone. The writer has used the technique of suggestion to say a lot in a few words. The picture of the photographer is clear when he is described as ‘everybody knows what a photographer is like’. The last words of the narrator ‘I broke into tears and left’ suggest his anger and frustration and his acceptance of the tings as they are.

With the Photographer Critical Appreciation

The story ‘With the Photographer’ by Stephen Leacock deals with the bitter experiences of the narrator with a professional photographer as the narrator goes to have a photograph of his own. But the narrator faces a very awkward situation as the photographer terms his face as wrong. The narrator has no complaint against the photographer and about his facial features.

The narrator has to grapple with fear, humiliation and inferiority complex. The writer employs the tool of satire, wit, humour and irony to bring out the theme clearly. He satires the professional photographers, who use technical skills.to present improved image of a person with different techniques. The narrator chids the photographer harshly. Thus, the narrator leaves the studio being frustrated.

The characters of the narrator and the photographer stand in contrast with each other. The narrator has to accept the humiliation and the photographer is indifferent to the feelings of others. He appears ridiculous in his approach. Thus, the story has a well-knit plot with the unity of peace and action. Thus, the story is told beautifully with a mild humour.

With the Photographer Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
The colour of the photographer’s suit is-
a. red
b. black
c. grey
d. yellow.
Answer:
c. Grey.

Question 2.
The narrator had to wait in the studio for-
a. an hour
b. two hours
c. three hours
d. four hours.
Answer:
a. an hour.

Question 3.
The photographer looked very-
a. sad
b. joyful
c. grave
d. none of the above.
Answer:
c. Grave.

Question 4.
The photographer: looked at the narrator-
a. cheerfully
b. enthusiastically
c. without enthusiasm
d. indifferently
Answer:
c. without enthusiasm.

Question 5.
The studio was …………..
a. big
b. modern
c. dim lighted
d. furnished
Answer:
c. dim lighted.

Question 6.
The photographer had the looks of …………..
a. a sick man,
b. an angry man
c. a craoked politician
d. a natural scientist.
Answer:
d. a natural scientist.

Question 7.
When the narrator visits the photographer he was …………..
a. 50
b. 40
c. 30
d. 60 years old.
Answer:
b. 40 years.

Question 8.
The narrator met the photographer on …………..
a. Monday
b. Sunday
c. Saturday
d. Tuesday
Answer:
c. Saturday.

Question 9.
The face of the narrator was …………..
a. Wrong
b. right,
c. nice
d. none of the above.
Answer:
a. Wrong.

Question 10.
The photographer had pulled a …………..
a. Chair
b. bench
c. curtain
d. string
Answer:
d. string.

Question 11.
The photographer had a …………..
a. pride
b. love
c. hatred
d. none of the above.
Answer:
a. pride.

Question 12.
The narrator wanted to gift his photograph to his …………..
a. relatives
b. friends
c. daughter
d. brother
Answer:
b. friends.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Chapter Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 5 The Boy Who Broke The Bank

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 5 The Boy Who Broke The Bank

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 5 The Boy Who Broke The Bank

The Boy Who Broke The Bank Comprehension Questions Answers

Read the extracts and answer the following questions:

Passage – 1.

Nathu grumbled to himself as he swept the steps of the Pipalnagar Bank, owned by Seth Govind Ram. He used the small broom hurriedly and carelessly, and the dust, after rising in a cloud above his head settled down again on the steps. As Nathu was banging his pan against a dustbin, Sitaram, the washerman’s son, passed by. Sitaram was on his delivery round. He had a bundle of freshly pressed clothes balanced on his head.

1. Who was Nathu?
2. Why did he grumble?
3. Who met Nathu?
4. Where was he going?
5. What did the passer’s by ask Nathu?
Answer:
1. Nathu was a sweeper boy in the Pipalnagar Bank.
2. He grumbled because he did not get his salary till the 20th day of next month.
3. Sitaram the son of a washerman on his delivery round met Nathu when he was working in the bank.
4. Sitaram, the son of a washerman was on his delivery round as he had a freshly pressed clothes bundle balanced on his head.
5. The passer’s by told Nathu not to raise dust in that manner. He also asked Nathu if he was annoyed with the bank authority as they do not pay him an extra two rupees a month.

Passage – 2.

‘Well, I wish you luck’, said Sitaram. ‘I’ll keepa lookout for any jobs that might suit you.’ And he plodded barefoot along the road, the big bundle of clothes hiding most of his head and shoulders. At the fourth home he visited, Sitaram heard the lady of the house mention that she was in need of a sweeper. Tying his bundle together, he said; T know of a sweeper boy who’s looking for work. He can start from next month. He’s with the bank just now but they aren’t giving him his pay, and he wants to leave.’

1. What did Nathu tell Sitaram?
2. What assurance did Sitaram give Nathu before leaving?
3. Who was the lady of the house?
4. What did Sitaram hear?
5. What did Sitaram tel’ Mrs. Srivastava?
Answer:
1. Nathu earlier told Sitaram that he was not paid regularly from the bank and so, he wanted to leave the job to join another service.
2. Sitaram assured Nathu that he would look out a job for Nathu.
3. Sitaram mentioned Mrs. Srivastav, as the lady of the house.
4. Sitaram heard that the lady of the house was in need of a sweeper.
5. Sitaram told Mrs. Srivastava that Nathu, the sweeper is thinking of leaving his job and to join a new position. Mrs. Srivastava told Sitaram to send him the next day.

Passage – 3.

A large shady tamarind tree grew at one end of the bazaar, and it was here that Mrs. Srivastava found her friend Mrs. Bhushan sheltering from the heat. Mrs. Bhushan was fanning herself with a large handkerchief. She complained of the summer, which she affirmed, was definitely the hottest in the history of Pipalnagar.

She then showed Mrs. Srivastava a sample of the cloth she was going to buy, and for five minutes they discussed its shade, texture and design. Having exhausted this topic, Mrs. Srivastava said, ‘Do you know, my dear, that Seth Govind Ram’s bank can’t even pay its employees? Only this morning I heard a complaint from their sweeper who hasn’t received his wages for over a month!’

1. Where did Mrs. Srivastava find her friend Mrs. Bhusan?
2. What was Mrs. Bhusan doing?
3. What did they discuss about?
4. What did Mrs. Srivastava say to Mrs. Bhusan?
5. How did she know the position of Bank?
Answer:
1. Mrs. Srivastava found her friend Mrs Bhusan under the large shady tamarind tree to have a shelter from the summer heat.
2. Mrs. Bhusan was fanning herself with a large handkerchief. She complained about the hottest summer.
3. They were discussing about the cloth that she was going to buy. They discussed about the shade, texture and design of the cloth.
4. Mrs. Srivastava said to Bhusan that Seth Govind Ram’s Bank could not even pay its employees.
5. She knew the position of the bank from the complaint of Nathu, the sweeper who had not received his wages for over a month.

Passage – 4.

‘Shocking!’ remarked Mrs. Bhushan. ‘If they can’t pay the sweeper they must be in a bad way. None of the others could be getting paid either. She left Mrs. Srivastava at the tamarind tree and went in search of her husband, who was sitting in front of Kamal Kishore’s photographic shop, talking with the owner.
‘So there you are!’ cried Mrs. Bhushan, ‘I’ve been looking for you for almost an hour. Where did you disappear?’
‘Nowhere,’ replied Mr. Bhushan. ‘Had you remained stationary in one shop, I might have found you. But you go from one shop to another, like a bee in a flower garden.’

1. Where did Mrs. Srivastava go?
2. Where was her husband?
3. How long Mrs. Bhusan was waiting for his husband?
4. Why she could not find her husband?
5. How was he compared for his position?
Answer:
1. Mrs. Srivastava went in search of her husband leaving Srivastava at the tamarind tree.
2. Her husband was sitting in front of Kamal kishore’s photographic show talking to the owner.
3. Mrs. Bhusan was looking for her husband for almost an hour.
4. She could not find her husband because he was vising shops one after another.
5. He was compared to a bee for his position like a bee in the flower garden.

Passage-5.

Deep Chand who was cutting the hair of an elderly gentleman, was so startled that his hand shook and he nicked his customer’s right ear. The customer yelped with pain and distress: pain, because of the cut, and distress because of the awful news he had just heard. With one side of his neck still unshaven, he sped across the road to the general merchant’s store where there was a telephone.

He dialled Seth Govind Ram’s number. The Seth was not at home. Where was he, then? The Seth was holidaying in Kashmir. Oh, was that so? The elderly gentleman did not believe it. He hurried back to the barber’s shop and told Deep Chand : The bird has flown! Seth Govind Ram has left town. Definitely, it means a collapse.’ And then he dashed out of the shop, making a beeline for his office and cheque book.

1. Who was Deep chand? What was he doing?
2. What had happened to Deep Chand’s customer?
3. Why did the customer yelp?
4. Why did he go to the merchant’s store?
5. The bird has flown What does the sentence mean?
Answer:
1. Deep chand was a barber. He was cutting the hair of an elderly gentleman.
2. Deep chand’s hand shook and he nicked his customer’s right ear.
3. The customer yelped with pain and distres of the cut as the news of the bankrupt spread very rapidly.
4. With one side unshaven he sped across the road to the general merchant’s shop. Where there was a telephone.
5. The quoted sentence meant that Seth Govind Ram, the owner of the bank had left the town and the customers were in great distress.

Passage-8.

Old Ganpat the beggar, had a crooked leg. He had been squatting on the pavement for years, calling for alms. In the evening someone would come with a barrow and take him away. He had never been known to walk. But now, on learning that the bank was about to collapse, Ganpat astonished everyone by leaping to his feet and actually running at top speed in the direction of the bank. It soon became known that he had a thousand rupees in savings!

1. Who was old Ganpat?
2. What is Ganpat’s profession?
3. Who would take Ganapat away and when?
4. Why did he run to the Bank?
5. What is his savings?
Answer:
1. Old Ganapat was a beggar. He had a crooked leg.
2. By profession Ganpat is a beggar. He had been squatting on the pavement for years and is calling for alms.
3. In the evening someone would come with a barrow take his away. He never knew how to walk.
4. When he learnt that the bank was about to collapse Ganapat ran at top speed in the direction of the bank.
5. Ganapat had a thousand rupees savings although know about his savings earlier.

Passage-7.

Men stood in groups at street corners discussing the situation. Pipalnagar seldom had a crisis, seldom or never had floods, earthquakes or drought; and the imminent crash of the Pipalnagar Bank set everyone talking and speculating and rushing about in a frenzy.

Some boasted of their farsightedness, congratulating themselves on having already taken out their money, or on never having put any in; others speculated on the reasons for the crash, putting it all down to excesses indulged in by Seth Govind Ram. The Seth had fled the State, said one. He had fled the country, said another, he was hiding in Pipalnagar, said a third. He had hanged himself from the tamarind tree, said a fourth, and had been found that morning by the sweeper-boy.

1. What were the men discussing?
2. What was the condition of Pipalnagar earlier?
3. What the men were thinking?
4. What were the rumours about Seth?
5. Were the rumours true?
Answer:
1. The men were discussing about the Collapse of Pipalnagar Bank at street corners.
2. Pipalnagar seldom has a crisis earlier. It had never floods, earthquakes or draught.
3. The men were thinking about their farsightedness and congratulated themselves as they have already taken out their money.
4. There were contrasting rumours about Seth. Some said that Seth had fled from the state, some also said that he had left the country. Some said that he was hiding in Papalnagar and said that he had hanged himself from the tamarind tree.
5. No, the rumours were not true as Seth had gone to Kashmir on a family tour.

Passage-8.

By noon the small bank had gone through all its ready cash, and the harassed manager was in a dilemma. Emergency funds could only be obtained from another bank some thirty miles distant, and he wasn’t sure he could persuade the crowd to wait until then. And there was no way of contacting Seth Govind Ram on his houseboat in Kashmir.

People were turned back from the counters and told to return the following day. They did not like the sound of that. And so they gathered outside, on the steps of the bank shouting ‘Give us our money or we’ll break in!’ and ‘Fetch the Seth, we know he’s hiding in a safe deposit locker’ Mischief makers who didn’t have a paisa in the bank, joined the crowd and aggravated their mood.

1. Why the manager was in a dilemma?
2. Where from emergency funds were available?
3. Why Seth Govind Ram could not be contacted?
4. What were told to the people?
5. Who aggravated their mood?
Answer:
1. The manager was in a dilemma because all the ready cash had gone out and the mob was protesting.
2. Emergency funds were available from a bank which was about thirty miles away.
3. Seth Govind Ram could not be contacted because he was in a family tour in Kashmir.
4. People were told to go to home and to come on the following day.
5. Mischief makers who had no accounts in the bank joined the agitating crowd and aggravated their mood.

Passage – 9.

The manager stood at the door and tried to placate them. He declared that the bank had plenty of money but no immediate means of collecting it; he urged them to go home and come back the next day. ‘We want it now!’ chanted some of the crowd. ‘Now, now, now!’ And a brick hurtled through the air and crashed through the plate glass window of the Pipalnagar Bank.

Nathu arrived next morning to sweep the steps of the bank. He saw the refuse and the broken glass and the stones cluttering the steps. Raising his hands in a gesture of horror and disgust he cried: ‘Hooligans! Sons of donkeys! As though it isn’t bad enough to be paid late, it seems my work has also to be increased!’ He smote the steps with his broom scattering the refuse.

1. How did the manager try to Placate the crowd?
2. What was the reaction of the people?
3. Why did Nathu come to the bank the next morning?
4. Why was Nathu disgusted?
5. How did he smote the steps?
Answer:
1. Standing on the door of the Bank the manager tried to placate them. He declared that the bank had plenty of money but there was no way to collect that money. He urged the people to go home and come back the next day.
2. The people did not pay heed to his words. Someone hurled a brick and broke the plate glass windows of the Pipalnagar Bank.
3. The next morning Nathu came to the bank to sweep the steps of the bank.
4. Nathu was disgusted because his work increased to clean the men.
5. Nathu smote the steps with his broom scattering the refuse.

Passage-10.

‘Good morning, Nathu’, said the washerman’s boy, getting down from his bicycle. ‘Are you ready to take up a new job from the first of next month? You’ll have to I suppose, now that the bank is going out of business.’
‘How’s that?’ said Nathu.
‘Haven’t you heard? Well you’d better wait here until half the population of Pipalnagar arrives to claim their money.’ And he waved cheerfully – he did not have a bank account – and sped away on his cycle.
Nathu went back to sweeping the steps, muttering to himself. When he had finished his work, he sat down on the highest step, to await the arrival of the manager. He was determined to get his pay.

1. What did the washerman’s boy say to Nathu?
2. Why did Sitaram speed away?
3. What did Nathu decide?
4. Why did Nathu decide to wait for the manager?
5. Why did Nathu wonder?
Answer:
1. Sitaram asked Nathu if he was ready to take up a new job from the first day of next month.
2. Sitaram sped away from the bank area as he had no account in the bank.
3. Nathu decided for the manager to arrive as he was determined to get his pay. He would wait in the highest step of the bank.
4. Same as above.
5. Nathu wondered because he could not expect such an incident would come for his remark with Sitaram, the washerman’s boy.

The Boy Who Broke The Bank About the Story

In the story Ruskin Bond shows us that carelessly spoken words can wreak an institution. The story is almost allegorical in its narrative. It is a humourous story that deals with the plight of the underpaid or unpaid boys. In The beginning of the story we see a sweeper Nathu talks about irregular payment of his salary in the Pipalnagar Bank. It becomes a remour and creates a panic among the Pipalnagar area.

They start to protest in front of the bank. Their demand is to give them their money or they would break in. Some mischief mongers joined with the protestors and they start to pelt stones and break the glass windows of the bank. Ultimately the rumour results in the collapse of a sound bank. It is astonishing that Nathu and leader of the incident has nothing to do about the breaking of the bank.

The Boy Who Broke The Bank About the Author

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author who writes in English. He has written more than 500 short stories, essays and novels including 64 books on the children. Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh on 19.05.1934.

His father worked in the Royal Air Force from 1939-1944. Bond spent his early childhood in Jamnagar, Gujrat and Shimla. He went to live with his grandfather in Dehradun when his father passed away. He was brought up by his mother and stepfather. His school and college life was in Shimla. In 1951 when he was only 16 years old he wrote the short story ‘untouchable’.

He spent his childhood in the foothills of the Himalayas. So, his works were influenced by the hilly region and nature. In 1952, at the age of 17 his first novel The Room on the Roof was written. Bond’s works reflect the Anglo Indian experiences and the changing political, social and cultural aspects of India.

The Boy Who Broke The Bank Brief Summary

In the Pipalnagar Bank Nathu was a poor sweeper. In the start we see Nathu grumbling as he is not paid his salary at the 20th day of the month. Sitaram, the son of washerman passes that way. Talking with Nathu he comes to know the complaints of Nathu and he informs him that Nathu has a plan to leave the job after getting the salary. Sitaram welcomes his decision and assures him to look for a suitable job for him.

Sitaram meets Mrs. Srivastava’s house and comes to know that he needs a sweeper. He informs that Nathu of Pipalnagar Bank is ready to leave his job as he is paid late or unpaid. Srivastava tells Sitaram to tell Nathu to come the next day.

Sometime later Srivastava meets her friend Mrs Bhusan in the market. He informs that Seth Govindram’s Bank is unable to pay the salary to its employees properly as Nathu the sweeper is yet to receive his salary. She tells her husband that the bank is going bankrupt. The news spread rapidly and there is panic and confusion. They say that the bank has gone bankrupt.

The rumour regarding bankrupt spreads very fast. Some say that Govind Ram has fled the state or has fled from the country. Some say that Seth has hanged himself from a tree. But the actual story is that Seth has gone to Kashmir on a holiday.

The panic striken people rush to the bank to withdraw their deposits. They refuse to hear the pleas of the manager. They believe that Seth hides himself inside the bank’s locker. Mischief makers join the agitation. They start to pelt stones and break the glass window of the bank.

The news spread that the sweeper is yet to be paid and the they destory the bank. Through the story the author warns us that we should not be guided by a rumur as it is fatal for the life of the people.

Glossary:

1. Hurriedly — Quickly
2. grumbled — Complained
3. annoyed — angry
4. Plodded — walked with heave steps
5. hoisted — raised/lifted
6. ayah — maid servant
7. tamarind — An african tree
8. Stationary — Static motionless
9. Bankrupt — insolvent
10. Collapse fall down
11. yelped — cried
12. astonished —- amazed/surprised
13. imminent — near
14. frenzy — madness
15. dilemma — predicament
16. parsuade — influence
17. aggravated — exasperated
18. Placate — pacify
19. hurtled — moving in high speed

Plot : The short story The boy who broke the bank by Ruskin Bond has a very simple and well knit plot.

Nathu is a sweeper at Pipalnagar Bank has not received his salary till the 20th of the next month. He is in a mood to leave the job. He tells Sitaram about his problem. Sitaram informs Mrs. Srivastava about Nathu as she is looking for a sweeper as he has not been paid his salary. Mrs Srivastava shares this with Mrs. Bhushan and she talks about it to her husband.

Consequently, the rumour spreads that the bank employees are not getting their salary as the bank is in a bad position. Many people withdraw their money from the bank. Other customers fail to contact With Seth Govind Ram. Seth Govind Ram has gone to kashmir to enjoy holidays. There are contrasting rumours that he has fled to other country or he has committed suicide.

The customers rush to the bank to withdraw their deposits. So, the bank goes out of cash. The public start throwing bricks and stones breaking the window glass. Nathu hears that the bank is out of cash he is amared. Thus, we can say that the plot of the story is well built, and it is an interesting humourous story.

Theme: ‘The Boy who Broke the Bank’ deals with the underpaid or unpaid boys although they are forced to do hard work regularly. Nathu, a sweeper of the bank has not received his salary till the 20th day of the next month. In this way the story is the exploitation of the poor by persons or institutions in authority.

The author also wants to mean about the rumour mongering and mob psychology. Sitaram informs Mrs. Srivastava that Nathu the sweeper wants to leave his job as he does not get his salary regularly. In turn Mrs. Srivastava informs of the matter to Mrs. Bhusan who tells that to his husband.

Thus, the remour spreads that the bank is not in a position to pay his employees regularly and it is short of funds. The depositors rush to the bank to withdraw their money. Eventually the bank is on the verge of collapse. The anthor points out clearly that remours can cause damages and we should aware of it.

Title : Regarding titles of his articles Ruskin Bond is always perfect. His titles are meaningful, significant and appropriate. The story The Boy who broke the Bank’ is not an exception to it.

Sitaram is the son of a washerman. He is on his way to delivery round. He meets Nathu a sweeper boy on the way named Nathu who works in Pipalnagar Bank. Nathu in his depressed mood tells Sitaram that he has not yet received his salary although it is 20th day of next month. His desire to leave bank’s job is informed to Mrs. Sivastava.

He does not know his little information will create rumour in the society. That eventually results in the breaking of the bank. In this way the information of Nathu spreads like a fire fauned by the strong wind. The entire story revolves round the information passed on by Sitaram. Thus, the title is apt and justified.

The Boy Who Broke The Bank Characters

Nathu :

Nathu is a sweeper boy. He works hard in Pipalnagar Bank. He expects increments of Rs. two every month with his salary. But its a pity that he is not paid his salary upto the 20th day of the next month. He feels restless and thinks of leaving the job.

At that time Sitaram, his friend asks him why he is not working. He informs that he has not received his monthly salary yet and so he is very sad. Nathu is a simple innocent boy. He cannot expect that his conversation with Sitaram is misreported. In the end of the story when the bank is broken he wonders.

Sitaram :

Sitaram, the son of a washerman and Nathu’s friend. He is simple and innocent like Nathu. On his meeting with Nathu during delivery time Nathu looks sad. He informs to leave the job as he is ill-paid and not paid regularly. The casual talk of Nathu is carried forward to Mrs. Srivastava who needs a sweeper. She informs her husband that the bank is in a very bad condition and it is unable to pay the regular salary of his employees.

In the innocent remark of Sitaram the rumour grows. Ultimately the rumour brings down the bank due to public agitation and stone and brick pelting. A simple conversation between two simple friends Nathu and Sitaram the bank fails only by rumour. It’s pity that often simple conversations result in a big failure/as is the case of bank failure.

Setting :

The story is in a semi town called Pipalnagar. Almost all the characters belong to the same town. Nathu, a poor sweeper works in Pipalnagar Bank. Although he performs his duty well but he is not paid well regularly. Sitaram, a delivery boy of the washerman is his friend. The people of this area are lazy and rumour mongers. One day when a mob surrounds the bank although they have no connection with the bank. Most of the people know each other but they like fun and that is why they assemble in front of the bank.

Style :

Ruskin Bond the writer writes this story in a traditional manner. He narrates the story in the third person and he does not give his own comments. To make the story interesting the author adds a touch of humour in his story.

The reactions of the different people about the news of bankrupt are elaborately described here. Deep chand, the barber is startled to such an extent that he nicks the customer’s ear. Ganpat with a crooked leg begins to run at top speed. In the entire story the author uses a very easy and simple language which is sutiable for the residents of Pipalnagar.

The Boy Who Broke The Bank Critical Appreciation

‘The Boy who Broke the Bank’ by Ruskin Bond is a highly gripping story that deals with the plight of the underpaid and ill-paid workers. The author clearly indicates the exploitation, innocence of children, role of rumours, anxiety and mob psychology in the story.

In the story there are many humourous situations that provoke laughter and entertain the readers.
The language used by the writer is very simple and it is approprite for the residents of Pipalnagar a semi town. The humourous situations created by the author make the story entertaining to read. The characters of the story are very common in our society and we meet daily.

The Boy Who Broke The Bank Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Read the questions given below and tick the correct answer:

Question 1.
The Bank is owned by …………..
a. Seth Govinda Ram
b. Nathu
c. Sitaram
d. none of the above.
Answer:
a. Seth Govinda Ram.

Question 2.
Nathu grumbled because …………..
a. the manager rubuked him
b. he had to work hard
c. he was not given his salary
d. all of above
Answer:
c. He was not given salary.

Question 3.
Nathu expected to be paid by the bank …………..
a. due respect
b. a chair to sit
c. a new broom every month
d. extra two rupees a month
Answer:
d. extra two rupees a month.

Question 4.
Nathu banged the pan against the dustbin several times to …………..
a. show protest
b. emphasize his point
c. warn to bank employees
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. emphasize his point.

Question 5.
Mrs. Bhusan was farming himself with a …………..
a. fan
b. handkerchief
c. book
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. handkerchief.

Question 6.
Deep chand was a …………..
a. farmer
b. teacher
c. barbar
d. none of the above
Answer:
c. barbar.

Question 7.
Old Ganpat was a-
a. beggar
b. washerman
c. sweeper
d. teacher
Answer:
a. beggar.

Question 8.
Seth Govind Ram went to-
a. Kolkata
b. Benaras
c. Delhi
d. Kashmir
Answer:
d. Kashmir.

Question 9.
Nathu arrived next morning to sweep declares
a. pleasure
b. displeasure
c. disgust
d. none of the above
Answer:
c. disgust.

Question 10.
The general tone of the story is-
a. humorous
b. sentimental
c. didactic
d. all of the above
Answer:
a. humourous.

Question 11.
Finishing his work Nathu sat on the-
a. highest step
b. lowest step
c. corridor
d. at the doorstep.
Answer:
a. highest step.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Chapter Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 4 The Homecoming

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 4 The Homecoming

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Chapter 4 The Homecoming

The Homecoming Comprehension Questions Answers

Read the extracts and answer the following questions:

Passage – 1.

Phatik Chakraborti was ringleader among the boys of the village. A new mischief got into his head. There was a heavy log lying on the mud-flat of the river, waiting to be shaped into a mast for a boat. He decided that they should all work together to shift the log by main force from its place and roll it away. The owner of the log would be angry and surprised, and they would all enjoy the fun. Every one seconded the proposal, and it was carried unanimously.

1. Who was Phatik Chakraborty?
2. What new mischief got into Phatik’s head?
3. Why was the log lying in the mud?
4. What did Phatik decide?
5. What was the proposal of Phatik?
Answer:
1. Phatik Chakraborty was the ringleader among the boys of the village.
2. Phatik decided that they should all work together to shift the log by force to roll it to the river.
3. The log was lying because the owner of the log decided to make a mast for the boat.
4. Phatik decided to enjoy the fun when the owner would become angry and surprised.
5. The proposal was to roll the log in the river and to enjoy the fun. His companions agreed to the proposal.

Passage – 2.

But just as the fun was about to begin, Makhan, Phatik’s younger brother, sauntered up, and sat down on the log in front of them all, without a word. The boys were puzzled for a moment. He was pushed, rather timidly, by one of the boys and told to get up but he remained quite unconcerned. He appeared like a young philosopher meditating on the futility of games. Phatik was furious. ‘Makhan,’ he cried, “if you don’t get down this minute I’ll thrash you!”

1. Who was Makhan?
2. Where did Makhan sit?
3. Why was Phatik furious?
4. How was Makhan then?
5. What did Phatik say to Makhan?
Answer:
1. Makhan was the younger brother of Phatik Chakraborty.
2. Makhan sat on the log which was decided to roll in the river by Phatik and his mates.
3. Phatik was furious because his brother Makhan was against his proposal to roll the log into the river.
4. Sitting on the log Makhan was like a philosopher meditating on the futility of games.
5. Phatik warned Makhan to thrash him if he objected to roll the log.

Passage – 3.

Phatik wiped his face, and sat down on the edge of a sunken barge on the river bank, and began to chew a piece of grass. A boat came up to the landing, and a middle-aged man, with grey hair and dark moustache, stepped on shore. He saw the boy sitting there doing nothing, and asked him where the Chakrabartis lived. Phatik went on chewing the grass, and said: ‘Over there,’ but it was quite impossible to tell where he pointed. The stranger asked him again. He swung his legs to and fro on the side of the barge, and said; “Go and find out,” and continued to chew the grass as before.

1. Why Phatik had to wipe his face?
2. Who was the middle aged man?
3. What did the man ask Phatik? What was the reply?
4. How was Phatik’s behaviour with the strange man?
5. Who came to take Phatik home?
Answer:
1. Phatik had to wipe his face because he toiled hard to roll the log to the river.
2. The middle aged man was his maternal uncle Bishwambharbabu who came from Calcutta.
3. The man asked Phatik where the Chakrabarty family lived. Phatik replied vaguely that was over there.
4. Phatik’s behaviour with the stranger was rude in a sense as he did not point the location correctly.
5. Phatik’s maternal uncle came to take Phatik to Calcutta for his proper education if his mother agreed.

Passage – 4.

But when his mother stepped back and looked at the stranger, her anger was changed to surprise. For she recognised her brother, and cried: ‘Why, Dada! Where have you come from?’ As she said these words, she bowed to the ground and touched his feet. Her brother had gone away soon after she had married, and he had started business in Bombay. His sister had lost her husband while he was in Bombay. Bishwambhar had now come back to Calcutta, and had at once made enquiries about his sister. He had then hastened to see her as soon as he found out where she was.
1. Who is grey haired stranger?
2. Why was Phatik’s mother angry?
3. How did she welcome the stranger?
4. What was the tragic incident?
5. How do you know that Bishwambhar was a caring brother?
Answer:
1. The grey haired stranger was Bishwambharbabu, Phatik’s maternal uncle.
2. Phatik’s mother was angry because Phatik behaved improperly with his brother.
3. She welcomed the stranger and touched his feet to ask where from he was coming to her house.
4. The tragic incident was the father of Phatik passed away suddenly.
5. Bishwambhar was a caring brother because he came to his sister’s house as soon as he returned from Mumbai to see her condition.

Passage – 5.

When they reached Calcutta, Phatik made the acquaintance of his aunt for the first time. She was by no means pleased with this unnecessary addition to her family. She found her own three boys quite enough to manage without taking on any one else. And to bring a village lad of fourteen into their midst was terribly upsetting. Bishwambhar should really have thought twice before committing such an indiscretion.
1. Who are they?
2. Where from had they come?
3. What was the reaction of Phatik’s aunt?
4. Why was the aunt unhappy?
5. Describe your idea about Phatik’s aunt.
Answer:
1. ‘They’ referred to Phatik and his maternal uncle Bishwabharbabu.
2. They had come to Calcutta from Phatik’s village home.
3. Phatik’s aunt was displeased with the addition of Phatik in her family because she had three sons.
4. The aunt had one helping hand and it was quite impossible for him to manage the four children.
5. Phatik’s aunt was a selfish woman. She was unwilling to take an extra burden of Phatik, a boy of fourteen years. Phatik’s uncle should think otherwise.

Passage – 6.

In this world of human affairs there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen. He is neither ornamental nor useful. It is impossible to shower affection on him as on a little boy; and he is always getting in the way. If he talks with a childish lisp he is called a baby, and if he answers in a grown-up way he is called impertinent. In fact any talk at all from him is resented.

Then he is at the unattractive, growing age. He grows out of his clothes with indecent haste; his voice grows hoarse and breaks and quavers; his face grows suddenly angular and unsightly. It is easy to excuse the shortcomings of early childhood, but it is hard to tolerate even unavoidable lapses in a boy of fourteen. The lad himself becomes painfully self-conscious. When he talks with elderly people he is either unduly forward, or else so unduly shy that he appears ashamed of his very existence.

1. What is the biggest nuisance?
2. What is impossible?
3. Describe the physical growth of a boy of fourteen.
4. Why the shortcomings of a fourteen years boy can not be excused?
5. Why a young lad’s heart crave at this age?
Answer:
1. In this world of human affairs there is no biggest nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen. He is neither ornamental nor useful.
2. It is impossible to show affection on him as on a little boy. He is always getting in the way.
3. A boy of fourteen grows unattractively. He grows out of his clothes with indecent haste. His voice grows hoarse and breaks and quavers. His face grows suddenly angular and unsightly.
4. The shortcomings of early childhood can be excused but it is hard to put up with even unavoidable lapses. The lad himself becomes painfully self conscious.
5. While talking with elderly people he is either unduly forward or so unduly shy that he appears ashamed of his very existence.

Passage – 7.

For a boy of fourteen his own home is the only Paradise. To live in a strange house with strange people is little short of torture, while the height of bliss is to receive the kind looks of women, and never to be slighted by them. It was anguish to Phatik to be the unwelcome guest in his aunt’s house, despised by this elderly woman, and slighted, on every occasion. If she ever asked him to do anything for her, he would be so overjoyed that he would overdo it; and then she would tell him not to be so stupid, but to get on with his lessons.

1. What is the result of continuous scolding on a 14 years old boy?
2. What is the height of bless?
3. How did Phatik feel in his uncle’s house?
4. What was the reaction of Phatik when he is asked to do something?
5. What was anguish to Pathik?
Answer:
1. A boy of fourteen considers his home the only paradise. To live in a strange house with a little short of torture and slighting by woman it was anguishing.
2. The height of bliss is to receive the kind looks of women and never to be slighted by them.
3. Phatik was an unwelcomed guest in his uncle’s house. He was despised by his aunt and slighted on every occasion.
4. When Phatik is asked to do something for his aunt he would be so overjoyed that he would overdo it.
5. It was anguish to Phatik to remain as a unwelcome guest in his uncle’s house.

Passage – 8.

There was no more backward boy in the whole school than Phatik. He gaped and remained silent when the teacher asked him a question, and like an overladen ass patiently suffered all the blows that came ilown on his back. When other boys were out at play, he stood wistfully by the window and gazed at the roofs of the distant houses. And if by chance he espied children playing on the open terrace of any roof, his heart would ache with longing. One day he summoned up all his courage, and asked his uncle: Uncle, when can I go home?

1. How did Phatik fare in the school?
2. How dld,Phatlk endure the punishment?
3. What was Phatik’s state of mind?
4. What was the longing of his heart?
5. What did Phatik ask his uncle? What reply did he get?
Answer:
1. Phatik fared very badly in the school. He was the worst backward boy in his class.
2. Phatik endured the punishment like an overburdened and patiently. He suffered all the blows that came down on his back.
3. When other boys were playing, Phatik stood by the window wistfully and gazed at the roof of the distant houses.
4. His heart longed to go back to his village home to play in the open place.
5. Phatik asked his uncle when he would go home. He got the reply that he would go to his home when holidays would come.

Passage-9.

One day Phatik lost his lesson-book. Even with the help of books he had found it very difficult indeed to prepare his lesson. Now it was impossible. Day after day the teacher would cane him unmercifully. His condition became so abjectly miserable that even his cousins were ashamed to own him. They began to jeer and insult him more than the other boys. He went to his aunt at last, and told her that he had lost his book. His aunt pursed her lips in contempt, and said: You great clumsy, country lout. How can I afford, with all my family, to buy you new books five times a month?

1. What did Phatik lose one day?
2. What was impossible to Phatik?
3. Why his cousins were ashaned of him?
4. What did his cousins do to him?
5. How did his aunt rebuke him?
Answer:
1. One day Phatik lost his lesson-book.
2. It was impossible to Phatik to prepare his lessons although he failed to do so if he had the lesson-book.
3. His cousins were ashamed of him because his condition was abjectly miserable as the teachers caned him regularly.
4. His cousins also began to insult him more than the other boys do.
5. His aunt rebuked him by saying that it was impossible for her to buy new books five times a month.

Passage-10.

The next morning Phatik was nowhere to be seen. All searches in the neighbourhood proved futile. The rain had been pouring in torrents all night, and those who went out in search of the boy got drenched through to the skin. At last Bishwambhar asked help from the police. At the end of the day a police van stopped at the door before the house.

It was still raining and the streets were all flooded. Two constables brought out Phatik in their arms and placed him before Bishwambhar. He was wet through from head to foot, muddy all over, his face and eyes flushed red with fever, and his limbs all trembling. Bishwambhar carried him in his arms, and took him into the inner apartments. When his wife saw him, she exclaimed; What a heap of trouble this boy has given us. Hadn’t you better send him home?

1. What happened in the next morning?
2. Why Bishwambhar asked for police help?
3. What was the weather condition of that day?
4. Who brought Phatik home?
5. How was Phatik’s condition?
Answer:
1. In the next morning Phatik was nowhere to be seen. He fled from the house.
2. Bishwambhar asked for police help because all the efforts of search party went in vain to find out Phatik.
3. The weather was foul on that day. The rain had been pouring in torrents all night. The men
who went out to search got drenched through to the skin.
4. Two constables, brought back Phatik in their arms and placed him before Bishwambhar.
5. Phatik was wet from head to foot, his body was muddy all over. His face and eyes flushed red with fever and his limbs were trembling.

Passage – 11.

The fever rose very high, and all that night the boy was delirious. Bishwambhar brought in a doctor. Phatik opened his eyes flushed with fever, and looked up to the ceiling, and said vacantly: Uncle, have the holidays come yet? May I go home? Bishwambhar wiped the tears from his own eyes, and took Phatik’s lean and burning hands in his own, and sat by him through the night. The boy began again to mutter. At last his voice became excited: ‘Mother,’ he cried, ‘don’t beat me like that! Mother! I am telling the truth!’

1. How was Phatik all night?
2. What did Phatik ask the uncle.
3. What was the reaction of Bishwambhar?
4. What was his last voice?
5. Where was Phatik going the previous day?
Answer:
1. All night Phatik was delirious, his fever rose very high. So, Bishwambhar called in a doctor.
2. Phatik asked the uncle if the holidays had come and then he might go home.
3. Seeing the condition of Phatik Bishwambhar began to cry. He took Phatik’s lean and burning hands in his own and sat by him through the night.
4. Phatik’s last voice was for his mother. He requested mother not to beat him as he was telling the truth.
5. The previous day Phatik was going to his village home alone.

Passage – 12.

The next day Phatik became conscious for a short time. He turned his eyes about the room, as if expecting someone to come. At last, with an air of disappointment, his head sank back on the pillow. He turned his face to the wall with a deep sigh.

Bishwambhar knew his thoughts, and, bending down his head, whispered: ‘Phatik, I have sent for your mother.’ The day went by. The doctor said in a troubled voice that the boy’s condition was very critical. Phatik began to cry out; ‘By the mark! -three fathoms. By the mark – four fathoms. By the mark-.’ He had heard the sailor on the river- steamer calling out the mark on the plumb-line. Now he was himself plumbing an unfathomable sea.

1. How was Phatik the next day?
2. What did Bishwambhar say to Phatik?
3. What did the doctor say?
4. What did Phatik call out?
5. How did Phatik turn his face?
Answer:
1. The next day Phatik became conscious for a short period of time.
2. Bishwambhar said to Phatik that he had sent for his mother.
3. The doctor said that the boy’s condition was very critical.
4. Phatik called out the mark of on the plumb-line as he heard the sailor to do on the river.
5. Phatik turned his face to the wall with a deep sigh.

The Homecoming About the Story

The Homecoming’ is a story of Phatik Chakraborty, a 14 years old boy who proves to be a problem to his mother. He was sent to his maternal uncle’s house in the city. There he was admitted to a school, but he was inattentive in his education. Naturally he got punishment from the teacher. So, he was ridiculed by his cousins, classmates, and slighted by his aunt.

His maternal uncle also remained silent. He desired to return to his mother in village home. But he was told to wait till the holidays came. He was unable ot put up with the happenings so, he left the city, caught in showers and fell ill. Two policemen brought him home. His mother was informed. She came but it was too late. He was unable to talk. In illness he asked his mother, Mother, have the holidays come. These were his last words. The boy longing to return to the wide open spaces of his village home was granted metaphorically in the poignant closing lines of the story.

The Homecoming About the Author

Rabindranath Tagore was mainly a Bengali Poet. Apart from that he was, writer, dramatist, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. In a sense he had a versatile genious. He also took part in our freedom movement in his own way. He was a devoted friend of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Nation. The British awarded him the knighthood. But he returned the honour in protest against the Jalianwalabag massacre. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in the year 1913, for his poetry collection Song offerings. He was popular throughout the world.

Tagore’s Gitanjali (Song offerings) Chitra, Chaitali, Balaka, Purobi, Punascha brought him the fame of a great poet. His novels, Gora, Ghare Baire, Rajarshi, etc. were also won fame. His short stories are also very popular. The ‘Homecoming’ is one of his famous short stories (‘chhuti’-in Bengali). The rural Bengal is alive in his short stories.

The Homecoming Brief Summary

Phatik Chakrabarti who lost his father early in his life was a fourteen years old Bengali boy. He was idle, desperate and disobedient. In comparison to Phatik his brother Makhan was quiet, good and fond of reading. Daily Phatik thought of some new mischief. One day he and his companions thought of a new mischief. A log was lying near the river was kept to make the mast of a boat.

They planned to push it into the river. Makhan protested and sat firmly on it. Initially they were puzzled. Makhan was pushed by one of the boys. He was told to get up but he was unconcerned. Phatik, the leader of the group ordered the boys to roll the log with Makhan. Thus, Makhan was thrown into the river with the log. He was questioned at home but he beat his brother Makhan and his mother also.

Phatik’s maternal uncle Bishwamvarbabu took Phatik to calcutta for his education with the permission of Phatik’s mother. Bishwambharbabu had three sons of his own and his wife did not like Phatik. Phatik has also his own problems. He was growing gradually. So, he was neither a child nor a man.

In calcutta Phatik was admitted in a school. The school was a miserable experience to Phatik. He failed to impress the teachers. His mind missed the village atmosphere. He became failure in school. Daily he was beaten badly in school. His cousins also ridiculed him. He grew impatient and wanted to return home. one day he lost his book. So. he was insulted by his school-mates and aunt.

Returning home that day Phatik tried to escape from home. However he was under the rainfall. He caught a severe cold. The police found him and brought him back to home as his uncle complained to the police. Due to severe criticism he wanted to return to home. His uncle informed that he could gò home during holidays. He started to ask when the holidays would come.

Phatik had a severe fever and he became restless. His condition was critical and his mother arrived when he was about to die. He requested his mother not to beat him. His last words to his-‘mother were Mother, have the holidays come’?

Glossary:

1. mast — upright support for the sails.
2. ring leader — Captain of improper activities.
3. thrash — beat with stick for punishment.
4. glory — pride, honour and respect.
5. hoarse — rough voice.
6. fury — anger
7. nibble — take little bites.
8. indignantly — hatefully.
9. Sullenly — sadly.
10. Supish — foolish
11. Prejudice — opinion without reason.
12. generosity — kindness
13, gazed — Steadily looked
14. Laughing stock — person to be laughed at
15. clumsy — awkward, complex
16. lout — ill, mannered.
17. futile — useless
18. delirious — talking incoherently.
19. vacantly — blankly
20. flung — sudden throwing

Plot:

‘The Homecoming’ is a sad story of a 14 years old boy Phatik Chakraborty. He lost his father at an early age and no one understood his personal feelings. Being unable to bear with his wildness and new mischief his mother sent him to calcutta with her brother to study there. He was admitted in a school. He was not at ease in home or in school.

He failed to adjust in the new situations and was constantly ridiculed, insulted and beaten. Everyone neglected his emotions. His maternal uncle Bishwambharbabu who brought him to calcutta ignored him. Being homesick Phatik wanted to return in his village home. He ran away from the house and the police brought him back. He fell ill. His mother was called for. She came but it was too late. He told his mother his dying words, ‘Mother, the holidays have come’.

Theme:

‘The Homecoming’ is a touching story of a youth of 14 years. The main idea of the story is to treat our children properly. Children are the budding flowers but we often fail to see their personal griefs. A child wants love from his near and dear ones. But its a pity that we often do not treat them with love, a soft touch of solace, or a word of consolation. For the lack of care, nursing and assistance millions of children are worn out. Phatik is not loved by his mother or maternal uncle and aunt. His feelings are neglected. Tagore points out that we should open our eyes towards the children to treat them with proper care, attention, sympathy and love.

Title :

The title of a literary article is like the signboard of a shop. The singboard indicates the availability of the articles in that shop. The title of the story ‘The Homecoming’ clearly indicates the main theme of the story symbolically. Phatik once moves to calcutta. He misses his rural atomophere. He has a strong urge to return to his home vilage. He gets permission to go to village during holidays. In calcutta Phatik was like a masterless stray dogs. He realised that he is unwanted and unloved in his maternal uncle’s house.

Phatik does not fare well in calcutta school. He has no real friends. He only dreams of homecoming. Ironically Phatik decides to go home but he is seriously ill of fever. He becomes bedridden and only dreams of homecoming. When he sees his mother he only manages to tell her ‘Mother, the holidays have come. The last words of Phatik is very significant. The last words represent his desire to be reunited with his mother who actually loves him. These last words represent Phatik’s homecoming. Thus, the title is symbolic, apt and justified in the true sense.

Bonku Babu’s Friend Characters

Phatik Chakrabarti :

Phatik is a 14 years old village boy. He is the ring leader among the village boys. He lost his father in his early childhood. He got a vast area for playing. But he was compelled to go to calcutta and he misses his rural atmosphere the most. Phatik lacks the love and affection from his mother and he thinks that his mother is in favour of Makhan, his brother. So’ becomes rude to his mother.

He also presses for his dignity at home. Phatik understands the value of his home. When he comes to calcutta in his maternal uncle’s house, his uncle and aunt consider him as a burden. Biswambhor’s three sons and his wife always insult and ridicule him repeatedly. Being fed up he runs away from home but the policemen bring him back home. Phatik falls ill, of fever. But his mother comes when he is in a serious condition. His last words are, ‘Mother, the holidays have come’.

Makhan Chakraborty :

Makhan Chakraborty is the younger brother of Phatik. His appearance in the story is of a brief period but he leaves a great impression on us. Phatic is wild and lazy but on the other hand Makhan is serious and peaceful. He sits on the log to protest the plan of Phatik to push the in the river. Phatik and his companions are at a loss to take the decision.

Makhan does not afraid of Phatik’s friend. He is asked to get up from the log but he remains unconcerned. Even when Phatik orders his companions to push the log along with Makhan he remains unmoved. The incident clearly indicates that Makhan is a boy of firm determination. That is why he receives more love from his mother than Phatik.

Setting :

The setting of the story is partly in the village and partly in calcutta. At the beginning Phatik and his mates are playing in the open near a river. They are thinking of a mischief. Soon after Bishwambharbabu, Phatik’s maternal uncle appears in the scene to see his widowed sister after years. He comes to know about the mischief’s done by Phatik.

He offers to take Phatik to calcutta to educate him properly. Phatik’s mother agrees to the proposal and Phatik comes to Calcutta. The rest of the story is set in Calcutta. There he is admitted to a school. He is a poor performer in school and the boys ridicule him often. Even his cusins and aunt ridicule him. Eventually he passes in Calcutta. At his last moment his mother comes to Calcutta. Even before death he does not get motherly love and affection.

Style :

The story ‘The Homecoming’ of Rabindranath Tagore is written in a traditional narrative style. It starts from present to future. At the beginning of the story we see Phatik lives in a village with his parents and brother. He is happy to enjoy his life in the open space of nature. But soon he takes admission in Calcutta school. But he was unable to put up with the suffiocating atmosphere of Calcutta.

He falls ill and ultimately passes away. The language of the story is simple and straight forward. The author describes how a boy of fourteen commits nuisance. The remarks of the author depicts the great truth of our life and makes us aware to awaken the readers about the needs of tenagers.

The Homecoming Critical Appreciation

The story ‘The homecoming’ is a nice story that shows the change of life journey of Phatik from a carefree child with mischiefs and a ring leader of boys to a masterless stray dog. Before going to Calcutta he makes peace with his brother Makhan by giving him all his toys. But on the contrary he was unable to put up with the suffocating condition of Calcutta.

Phatik was annoyed with the cold attitude of the Calcuttans. His aunt looks down upon him. His cousins also tease him. Even his teachers do not treat him with affection and his maternal aunt remains a mute spectator of the entire incidents. Ultimate he passes away neglected. ‘Mother, have the holidays come’ are his last words in the presence of his mother. Thus, the reformation of Phatik is the main subject matter of the story.

The Homecoming Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Read the questions given below and tick the correct answer:

Question 1.
Who sat on the log ?
a. Bishwambhar
b. Makhan
c. owner of the log
d. all of the above
Answer:
b. Makhan.

Question 2.
The log was to be used for making-
a. furniture
b. a boat
c. boat mast
d. all of the above
Ans.
c. boat mast.

Question 3.
Phatik becomes-
a. unattractive
b. self conscious
c. shy
d. intentionally mischievous.
Answer:
d. intentionally mischievous.

Question 4.
Phatik’s aunt had-
a. 2 children
b. 3 hildren
c. 4 children
d. 1 children
Answer:
c. 3 children.

Question 5.
Bishwambharbabu started business in-
a. Calcutta
b. Delhi
c. Orissa
d. Bombay
Answer:
d. Bombay

Question 6.
Phatik’s aunt was displeased with his arrival because-
a. Phatik was wild and lazy
b. he was uncultured
c. he was a boy of 14
d. intentionally mischievous
Answer:
d. Intentionally mischievous.

Question 7.
Phatik’s mother lost her husband when his brother was in-
a. London
b. Australia
c. Bombay
d. Delhi
Answer:
c. Bombay.

Question 8.
According to aunt holidays would not come till-
a. October
b. November
c. December
d. September
Answer:
c. November

Question 9.
One day Phatik lost his-
a. lesson book
b. Pen
c. Pencil
d. bag
Answer:
a. lesson book

Question 10.
Phatik had an attack of-
a. cholera
b. typhoid
c. malarial fever
d. none of the above
Answer:
c. malarial fever.

Question 11.
To return Phatik Bishwambhar took the help of
a. detective
b. Police
c. Boys
d. teachers
Answer:
b. Police.

Question 12.
According to the doctor Phatik’s, condition was
a. critical
b. well
c. unwell
d. none of the above
Answer:

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Chapter Workbook Answers