The Power of Music Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

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The Power of Music Poem Questions and Answers

The Power of Music Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

Read the extracts and answer the following questions

Question 1.
He sings as though he’s staked his life, he sings as though he’s hell-bent
a. Who is ‘he’ referred to in the above extract? When does he sing?
b. How far is his ‘strain’ carried and why?
c. What is the meaning of ‘hell-bent’? Explain the above two lines?
d. What do the people do when they hear his songs?
Answers:
a. ‘He’ is referred to Bhisma Lochan Sharma the main character of the poem. He sings when the summer season comes.

b. His ‘strain’ of song is so raucous that it can be heard on the hill and the plain. The poet says that he sings in such a shrill and violent manner that it is carried from Delhi to Burma.

c. ‘Hell-bent’ means very stubborn and determined to do something. Bhisma lochan Sharma continues to sing his song as if he has put his life to stake or risked his life. He also sings as if he is determined to sing regardless of what might happen.

d. When the people hear his song, they start leaving in shock. Though they know that he is singing with good intentions yet the shrillness of his voice makes them run and they as a result become weak, sickly and pale. They run frantically and so some of them are also crushed. At last they have nothing to do other than to plead or request him to stop his singing because the song becomes unbearable to them.

Question 2.
But Bhisma Lochan, unconcerned, goes Booming out his broadside
a. Name the poem and the poet of the above extract.
b. Who is Bhisma Lochan? What does the poet mean by ‘booming out his broadside’?
c. What concerns should Bhisma Lochan have according to the poet?
d. What does the word ‘unconcerned’ tell just about Bhisma Lochan?
Answers:
a. The name of the poem is ‘The Power Of Music’ and the poet’s name is Sukuiriar Ray.

b. Bhisma Lochan is the main character of the poem who sings songs in the summer season.‘Booming out his broadside’ means that Bhisma Lochan is singing too loudly which sounds harsh for the others.

c. According to the poet, Bhisma Lochan should be concerned about the other people who are around him. He should not disturb them with his rough, harsh voice, which makes all the people to run everywhere resulting in chaos.

d. The word ‘unconcerned’ tells us that Bhisma Lochan is least bothered about others and doesn’t care of what impact his singing has on others. The people get disturbed and Bhisma Lochan’s song bothers them too much but that doesn’t make any difference to Bhisma Lochan. He is concerned with his own pleasure.

Question 3.
They whine and stare with feet in air or wonder Quite confounded.
a. Who is ‘they’ referred to in the above extract?
b. What do they do and why?
c. How do the fishes behave?
d. How do the birds and the people behave or react?
Answers:
a. ‘They’ is referred to the horses that line and stand on the roadside in the above extract.
b. The moment the horses hear the sound of the song of Bhisma Lochan Sharma which seem to be like a blare to them, they with a feeling of resentment whine and stare with their forelegs up in the air and look around in a confused manner. Most probably they look confused because they can’t understand what the sound is of and also because they can’t tolerate the ‘blare.’

c. The fishes seem to dive below the water in search of silence. To avoid the harshness of Bhisma Lochan sharma’s song they dive below the lake so that they can find peace there.

d. The birds in the sky seem to be disturbed by the noise of Bhisma Lochan Sharma’s singing. So they lose control on their wings and turn like turtles. The people run about madly and in panic. They are shocked to listen to his song. While running many people are trampled and they become pale, weak and sickly. The people grumble and request him for silence when it becomes untolerable for them.

Question 4.
He downs his horns and charges straight, with below answering bellow.
a. Who is ‘he’ referred to in the above extract referred to?
b. Why does ‘he’ charge straight?
c. Explain the second line of the extract.
d. What happens as a result?
Answers:
a. ‘He’ is referred to a Billy Goat in the above extract.

b. He charges straight in the anger to pit an end to the untolerable singing of Bhisma Lochan Sharma.

c. The second line that is bellow answering bellow means the goat to answers Bhisma Lochan’s singing bellows by his own bellows that is by his own way of charging straight in anger. In other words he has replied Bhisma Lochan in the same way or action that he does.

d. As a result, of the charging of the Billy Goat, Bhisma Lochan Shrmaa finally falls to the ground and there is silence every where.

Question 5.
And Bhisma Lochan grants the world the golden gift of silence.
a. What happens to the trees, sky and the mansion as a result of Bhisma Lochan’s singing?
b. What happens to bullock cart and the fishes?
c. What does the “golden gift of silence” mean?
d. Which two instances in the poem are the funniest according to you?
Answers:
a. The tall trees start shaking all of a sudden and are uprooted-the sound of which can be heard till the distance of a mile. The sky itself seems to cry upon listening to his voice and the tall buildings seem to shake and may collapse any moment.

b. The bullock carts are overturned and the fishes swim deep down inside the lake to save themselves from the harsh pain of Bhisma Lochan’s singing.

c. Bhisma Lochan Sharma has been disturbing the people, animals, birds, trees, everyone with his song. ie being requested to stop his song, doesn’t even pay heed to it. At last the billy goat charges him with his horns and he falls to the ground. With this, his harsh song also comes to an end. Thus the world has been gifted with silence.

d. The two instances that are finniest according to me are:

  • When people request Bhisma Lochan Sharma to stop singing as they can’t tolerate his songs.
  • At the end, when the goat chases and hits Bhisma Lochan Sharma.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

 

When Great Trees Fall Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

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When Great Trees Fall Poem Questions and Answers

When Great Trees Fall Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

Read the extracts and answer the following questions:

Question 1.
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
……………………..
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

a. What are the two animals mentioned in the poem?
b. What happens to these animals when great trees collapse or fall?
c. What are the other things that happen when great trees fall?
d. How does the poetess strike a comparison between nature and humans?
Answers:
a. The two animals mentioned in the poem are the lions and the elephants.

b. When great trees fall, the lions hunker down in the tall grasses and the elephants also lumber after safety or shelter.

c. When great trees fall or collapse the rocks of the distant hills also vibrate or shudder. The earth seems to shake with the fall of massive trees. The small animals also react to the falling of great enormous trees in the forest. They seem to recoil into silence. This means that they are not sure what they feel, for their senses are eroded beyond fear. This refers to the numbness of the soul that is followed by the loss of someone great.

d. The poetess opens the poem with the metaphor of the falling of great trees.In the literal sense it means that when great trees fall, the effect of it is felt for miles.Inanimate and immovable objects like rocks shudder.

Powerful animals like lions “hunker down in tall grasses”.Big animals like the elephants lumber after shelter”.Small animals recoil in silence. The falling of great trees is being compared to the loss of a person making it very symbolic. When a great soul departs,the effects are felt deep and far just like the need to hide away to safety.

Question 2.
When great souls
the air around us becomes
……………………
see with
A hurtful clarity.

a. What becomes light, rare and sterile? Why?
b. Describe the brief moments of “hurtful clarity” mentioned in the poem?
c. When and how do our souls shrink?
d. What does the speaker say of the healing of this loss?
Answers:
a. The air that we breathe becomes light ,rare and sterile.
The air becomes light, rare and sterile because when any great souls die or any loved ones die we can’t even breathe or the air becomes unfit for us to breathe.

b. The speaker describes the way in which those who are affected by loss have a brief moment of “hurtful clarity” in which they are able to see and understand, what a valuable soul has been lost. These moments serve as a reminder of the loss of a person.

c. The loss of our beloved soul has a great impact on our day to day life. The loss changes our reality because we were once dependent on the nurture and guidance of the lost person and due to the absence of the person, our souls also seem to shrink or we are left to feel small.

d. The loss that we have to face in the form of death of the person, who has a great influence in our lives, cannot be actually erased totally from our minds.

Somewhere in the background of our minds we feel the pain and the agony combined with grief but as time passes, our senses are restored, we slowly heal and recover when we think of their memories. This memory incites us to survive in our lives because we know that death is an inevitable part of our lives. The scar of pain, anguish and grief remains in our souls though they are healed up.

Question 3.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened
Examines,
Promised walks never taken.

a. Name the poem and the poet
b. What feeling does the poet explore in the lines of the above extract?
c. Explain the meaning of the above line.
d. What does the poetess say about the death of great souls just before the above extract?
Answers:
a. The name of the poem is “When Great Trees Fall.” It is written by Maya Angelou.

b. The poetess explores the feeling of regret as she highlights the “unexpressed feeling”in the heart.

c. With the loss of our beloved one,we become crestfallen and so our memories become sharpened and they are able to remember the moments that had been spent by us with the departed person. We have a feeling of regret as to why we haven’t spoken kind words to the person or we also remember of the walks that had once been promised to be taken with the departed person.

d. Just before the above extract,the poetess says that when he/she has lost an important and loved one, it becomes hard for him/her to breathe. The air seems to become light, rare and sterile and his/her eyes can see briefly or for a short moment with “hurtful clarity” what a precious person has departed from him/her that is one realizes the value of the great person who has departed. These moments serve a reminder of the loss of the person.

Question 4.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
with a kind of
Soothing electric vibration.

a. How do the empty spaces get filled?
b. How does the loss of a great soul affect people?
c. What do the lines of the above extract mean?
d. What does the speaker say about the restoration of senses just after this extract?
Answers:
a. The empty spaces get filled with a kind of soothing electrical vibration.

b. The loss of a great soul alters people’s senses such that they cannot be restored again in its original form.

c. The poetess through the lines of the above extract wants to say that when great people or loved ones die,slowly with time,we heal and recover the loss. After a period, peace blooms slowly and iiregularly.

This shows that though despair and anguish remain in the back of our minds, we recover and the feelings in between the healing is described as something “electric vibration”. In a sense, the pain still buzzes in the background yet the memory of the lost one is soothing and comforting.

d. The speaker says that our ‘senses’ are restored even if they are “never to be the same.” In the back of our mind, we hear the presence of the one lost. We can hear the whisper” they existed”. This gives us hope and thus we are able to heal, recover and live our lives as this gives us a new meaning or purpose in our lives. So even if there will be sadness, there is hope for healing in the middle of the great loss.

Question 5.
Our senses, restored, never
To be the same, whisper to us.
The existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.

a. What ‘whisper’ comes to us?
b. What theme does the speaker highlight in the above lines?
c. Explain the above lines.
d. Who is the poetess and when did she write this poem?
Answers:
a. We can hear the whisper coming to us saying “they existed”. Here ‘they’ is referred to the departed souls of the loved ones.

b. The poetes discusses or highlights the theme of hope in the above lines.

c. The above lines express the theme that life undergoes loss but still there is hope and recovery. The speaker says that because the great soul existed, we can do better. It even offers great hope to us who have experienced this loss.

Since on the back of our minds, we can remember and recollect the memories of the lost person, our senses are restored though never in the same way. But we know that they existed and so we can do better. If there is always pain and sadness, there is also hope of healing that brings joy and peace in the middle of this great loss.

d. The poetess of “When Great Trees Fall” is Maya Angelou. She wrote this poem in response to the death of her friend, James Baldwin who was a renowned writer and civil rights activist.

When Great Trees Fall Poem MCQs

Question 1.
The beginning line of the poem ‘When Great Trees Fall’ is ………….
a. an alliteration
b. a personification
c. an extended metaphor
d. a simile
Answer:
c. an extended metaphor

Question 2.
What does the falling of a tree symbolize?
a. the loss of the shelter of big animals
b. the loss of a great person
c. the loss of our minds
d. the loss of the senses of the small animals
Answer:
b. the loss of a great person

Question 3.
Find the word from the poem which means the same as’ lucidity’
a. lumber
b. strile
c. recoil
d. clarity
Answer:
d. clarity

Question 4.
And even elephants ……….. after safety. Fill in the gap.
a. hunker
b. shudder
c. lumber
d. recoil
Answer:
c. lumber

Question 5.
How many types of animals are mentioned in the poem?
a. two
b. one
c. three
d. four
Answer:
a. two

Question 6.
The air around us becomes…………
Fill in the blanks from the poem.
a. light, clear, sterile
b. light, rare, sterile
c. heavy, rare, clear
d. light, rare, clear
Answer:
b. light, rare, sterile

Question 7.
Where do the lions hunker down when great trees fall?
a. in the bushes
b. behind the trees
c. in tall grasses
d. in the caves
Answer:
c. in tall grasses

Question 8.
Small things recoil into silence because …………
a. their senses are eroded away
b. their fears are eroded away
c. their shelter is eroded away
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. their senses are eroded away

Question 9.
What does the elephants do when great trees fall?
a. they hide in the tall grasses
b. they shudder into fear
c. they recoil into silence
d. they lumber for safety
Answer:
d. they lumber for safety

Question 10.
In the poem the adjective used for ‘ignorance’ is similar to the word …………
a. undaunted
b. inexperienced
c. unspeakable
d. untaught
Answer:
c. unspeakable

Question 11.
What are the two adjectives used to describe the word “vibration” in the poem?
a. soothing, electric
b. soothing, magnetic
c. relieving, comforting
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. soothing, electric

Question 12.
What happens to the small creatures when great trees fall? They
a. shudder
b. recoil
c. lumber
d. hunker down
Answer:
b. recoil

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

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A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Questions and Answers

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

Read the given extracts given below and the following questions:

Question 1.
Sprawlinghalf clad, I gazed
Of shinimering ………………….
A strong flash, then another, startled me.
a. Name the poem and the poet.
b. Who was startled and why?
c. What did he debate? What did he see next?
d. State the theme of the poem.
Answers:
a. The name of the poem is ‘A Doctor’s Jornal Entry for August 6, 1945’. The poem is written by Vikram Seth.

b. The doctor was startled because he saw a sudden strong flash, followed by another.

c. He debated whether these flashes which he had seen, were magnesium flares as they appeared extremely bright. He saw the old stone lantern, to be lit up on its own. Then he saw that the roof, the walls of his house collapsed. His house was mostly made of timber that came crashing down and debris were strewn all over the place and he found himself to be thrown into the garden without his clothes.

d. It is an anti-war poem vividly describing the scene of fire, destruction, blood, death through the doctor’s horrific experience of undergoing the ordeal. It describes the reality of the first nuclear explosion and its power to destroy the human race.

Question 2.
‘All the time wandering what had come to pass’
a. Who was wandering and what was the morning like, when the speaker woke up?
b. What was the speaker doing after he woke up?
c. What had happened to him before this?
d. Just after this what was the speaker reminded of? What did he do?
Answers:
a. The speaker of the above line is the doctor. When he woke up, the morning was calm, beautiful and warm.

b. When the doctor woke up on that beautiful, calm and warm morning, with partially dressed, he looked out and saw the leaves of the trees shaking, and shadows everywhere.

c. He was thrown into the garden and his clothes were separated from him and he was left naked. A splinter stuck out of his thigh which had been ravaged completely. The doctor’s right side bled and his cheek was badly bruised and he somehow pulled out a piece of glass.

d. Just after this,the doctor remembered of his wife Yecko-San. He was confused and thought where his wife was. So he called his wife by her name frantically. Moreover, the artery in his neck had torn and it started to bleed profusely and he was sure that he would soon die.

Question 3.
‘I called out, panic-stricken to my wife’
a. What was the doctor’s wife name? Why was he panic-stricken?
b. What did he notice when she appeared?
c. How did the doctor reassure his wife and what did he suggest to do? Did his wife listen to him?
d. Describe the encounter as they stepped out? How did the doctor react?
Answers:
a. The doctor’s wife’s name was Yecko-San. When she called out his wife, blood started oozing out profusely as the artery in his neck had torn. Being a doctor he knew that he would die soon, so he was panic-stricken and called out his wife.

b. When his wife emerged, the doctor that she was holding her injured elbow and her body was blood stained and she was looking pale and frightened.

c. The doctor assured his wife that they would be alright and he also suggested that they should leave the house immediately. Yes, his wife agreed to him and both of them stepped onto the street.

d. No sooner did they step onto the street than they tripped over something. The doctor gasped out as he saw that it was a head of a dead man who was crushed to death by a gate which had fallen upon him. The doctor apologized to the dead man for stepping on him.

4. My legs gave way. I sat …….. ground
Thirst seizel hie ………. found.
a. What further destruction,frightened the doctor and his wife, immediately just before this extract?
b. What did they decide to do and why?
c. ‘The doctor felt no shame’. Why do you think so and who gave him the towel?
Answers:
a. Just before this extract, the doctor and his wife saw a house in front of them, swayed, tripped and crashed and fire sprang up in the dust, spread by the wind.

b. At that point, the doctor realized that they needed to go to the hospital for help. The doctor wanted to help his employees as well but did not know how to do so.

c. The doctor couldn’t stand any longer so he sat on the ground. He was thirsty but there was no water to quench his thirst. He was panting eventually, but gradually he was able to stand up as be revived slowly.

d. The doctor was still without any attires but still he didn’t feel any shame.He was so disturbed and puzzled at the moment that he had lost his sense of shame. On the way a soldier gave him a towel to cover him and to wipe the blood.

Question 5.
She did not wish ……………………… distress
What choice ………………………. Ioneliness.
a. Who is ‘she’ referred to in the above line? What did she not wish?
b. Did ‘she’ listen and how did the doctor feel then?
c. What did the doctor say the victims of the bomb blast looked like?
d. How did the doctor describe the people going to the hospital?
Answers:
a. ‘She’ in the above line refers to Yeckosan, the doctors’s wife. The doctor told his wife to go to the hospital, leaving him behind, because he couldn’t walk and so he was slowing down her speed.

b. Though the doctor’s wife was reluctant to go to the hospital leaving her husband (the doctor. alone but since there was no choice left for them, she agreed to go. After she left, the doctor felt lonely. Though his mind was moving fast, but his body could not.

c. The people or the victims seemed to have been reduced to pale ghosts or unruly scarecrows. They were all walking with their arms in front of them. The poet for a moment could not understand why they were doing so, but soon he realized that their burns were so severe that they could not even touch themselves against anyone else’s flesh.

d. The victims who were all terribly injured and wounded wanted to hold the last rope to survive. So the people who had strength to stand were all trooping towards the hospital for their lives. It looked like a parade of undressed people.

Question 6.
I turned my gaze but was at a loss.
a. Why did the narrator turn his gaze?
b. What did the narrator think of It?
c. What did the narrator see after this that made him realize Of the reality?
d. What did the doctor see at last when he said silence to be common for everyone? Why did he say so?
Answers:
a. Just before this the narrator that is the doctor saw a woman and her child naked and so he turned away from the naked woman.

b. When the doctor saw the woman and the baby both in an undressed condition, he wondered whether they had gone to bath. Then he thought why the woman wasn’t trying to cover herself up.

c. Just after this the doctor saw again another naked man. It was then that he realized that everyone’s clothes had been ripped open by something or something had happened that unclothed everyone there.

d. The doctor then saw an old woman who was lying on the ground and her face was distorted. Though she looked distressed with seething pain, she still did not say anything. In fact, no one said anything, and no one even cried. Silence was around and in the faces of all men and women. Each and everyone was dumbfounded and speechless.

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem MCQs

Question 1.
What is the main theme of the poem?
a. War
b. Love
c. Nature
d. Loss
Answer:
a. War

Question 2.
How does the doctor feels as he stumbles through the aftermath of the bombing?
a. excitement
b. fear
c. confusion
d. calmness
Answer:
c. confusion

Question 3.
What is the doctor’s primary concern as he searches for his wife?
a. her safety
b. his own injuries
c. The state of the world around him
d. all of the above
Answer:
a. her safety

Question 4.
How does the doctor feel about his nudity in the aftermath of the bombing?
a. ashamed
b. confused
c. indifferent
d. embarrassed
Answer:
b. confused

Question 5.
How was the morning described by the doctor?
a. calm, beautiful and cold
b. beautiful, cold and peaceful
c. calm, beautiful and warm
d. beautiful and warm
Answer:
c. calm, beautiful and warm

Question 6.
How many strong flash startled ………. the doctor?
a. one
b. two
c. three
d. four
Answer:
b. two

Question 7.
Yecko-San came out holding her …………
a. elbow
b. arm
c. wrist
d. finger
Answer:
a. elbow

Question 8.
The victims were described by the doctor as …………
a. ghost and scarecrows
b. scarecrows and wordless dumb
c. ghost and wordless dumb
d. all of the above
Answer:
d. all of the above

Question 9.
A splinter jutted from the doctor’s mangled ………………
a. hand
b. ankle
c. arm
d. thigh
Answer:
d. thigh

Question 10.
The doctor removed a piece of glass from his …………..
a. knee
b. cheek
c. nose
d. shoulder
Answer:
b. cheek

Question 11.
Blood gushed out from the artery of the doctor’s
a. hands
b. thigh
c. neck
d. cheek
Answer:
c. neck

Question 12.
A gave a towel to the doctor.
a. his wife
b. A woman
c. his staff
d. A soldier
Answer:
d. A soldier

Question 13.
The doctor saw the lantern brightly lit up.
a. old metal
b. new stone
c. new metal
d. old stone
Answer:
d. old stone

Question 14.
The doctor found himself thrown into the ………….
a. garden
b. verendah
c. street
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. garden

Question 15.
A woman with a child stood in the way of the doctor who were …………
a. half-clad
b. fully dressed
c. fully undressed
d. in towels
Answer:
c. fully undressed

Question 16.
The doctor’s ……….. and ………… disappeared.
a. drawers and shirt
b. drawers and undershirt
c. drawers and shawl
d. shirt and undershirt
Answer:
b. drawers and undershirt

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

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Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs

Read the extracts given below and the following questions:

Question 1.
“We must find him or the train can’t start”
a. Where is the above line taken from? Name the poet and the book from which it is taken?
b. Who is “him” referred to?Who is “are “referred to?
c. What train can’t start? When was it about to start? Why can’t it not start?
d. How are all the people present ther reacting, due to the absence of’ him?” Where was “him” found at last?
Answer:
a. The above line has been taken from “Skimbleshanks- The Railway Cat.” The name of the poet is T. S. Eliot. It is taken from the book “OLD POSSDUM”S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS”

b. ’’Him “is referred to skimbleshanks the railway cat. “We” is referred to the guards, driver, passengers, stationmaster’s daughters and all the other people who are present in the railway station.

c. The Night Mail train can’t start, It is about to start at 11:42. It is in charge of Skimbleshanks. Unless the cat comes and says that the signal is all clear, the train will not be able to leave the station.

d. A whisper could be heard down the line at 11:39, when the Night Mail train is ready to depart. Skimbleshanks is in-charge of this train. It is under his supervision, the train departs from the station. He is the manager, who looks to every small details of the train.

So since Skimbleshanks is not present, so the people are discussing about him as to where is he, whether he has gone to hunt the thimble. The guard, the porters and the stationmaster’s daughtersare all searching him everywhere in the station. Skimbleshanks is lastly found strolling to the rear. He has been busy in the luggage van.

Question 2.
“He will supervise them all, more or less”
a. Who is “he” referred to and who is “them all” referred to?
b. What does “he” does all after this? Mention at least two things that he does?
c. How is the atmosphere described in the last of this stanza from where the above line is taken?Why do you think to be the atmosphere like that?
d. Describe in short, what do you think of this “he” in the above line?
Answer:
a. “He” in the above line refers to Skimbleshanks the railway cat who is in-charge of the Night Mail train. “Them all” is referred to the driver, the guards and the bagmen.

b. Skimbleshanks moves down the corridor of the train and examines the faces of all the travellers in the first and the third class compartments .Then he establishes contol by regular patrolling and he is so keen that he knows if anything has occurred.

c. All the passengers are quiet and calm. Skimbleshanks watches the passengers so minutely that he is able to see or say what the passengers are thinking. He never approves of any riot or even amusements. So it is quite obvious that the passengers will remain silent and calm and therefore nothing can go wrong in the Night Mail train.

d. Skimbleshanks is a railway cat. He is in-charge of the Night Mail train. He supervises and manages everything related to the train. The train can’t start unless Skimbleshanks gives green signal to it. He is dutiful, meticulous and perfect in his work.

He supervises the guard, the porters and the driver. He looks after each and every details of the passengers. He is diligent. He is also strict as he does not approve any riot and so nothing goes wrong and one can’t play pranks on him.

Question 3.
“Oh,its very pleasant when you have found your little den”
a. What does the word “little den” mean?
b. Why do you think its very pleasant when you have found your little den?
c. What else do they find on their little den? Explain all the things found there in details?
Answer:
a. “Little den” is referred to the cabin of the Night Mail train where the passengers stay and sleep at night while travelling.

b. When the passengers find their names written up on the door, they find it very pleasant as they don’t have to search for their names everywhere.

c. When the passengers come in the cabin, they find their berths to be neat and clean, with newly folded covers. The floor of the cabin is also very neat with no speck of dust. There are lights of every sorts that can be adjusted. They can be made dark and bright The fans there are with handles that can be turned for breeze. There are also basins for the passengers to wash their faces.

If the passengers get cold, they can shut the windows with the help of a handle. Again in the morning the passengers get preferences of having strong or weak tea as the guard comes and asks them politely. Skimbleshanks stands behind the guard to see to it. The passengers also don’t get bothered by mice which are caught by Skimbleshanks.

Question 4.
“Then the guard looks in politely and will ask youn very brightly”
a. What does the guard ask and to whom?
b. Who stands behind the guard and why?
c. What else does he do in the end of the stanza?
d. How does he remain fresh and bright even at night?
Answer:
a. The guard asks the passengers their preference of tea whether they will have strong or weak tea.

b. Skimbleshanks is seen standing behind the guard as if to remind the guard of his duty to be performed correctly. Skimbleshanks is present in the cabin, so nothing can go wrong. When the passengers creep into “their cosy berths and pull up their covers, there is Skimbleshanks present to see that they don’t get disturbed by mice. So everything can be left on the Railway Cat, Skimbleshanks.

c. It is the duty of the railwar cat Skimbleshanks to keep a watch on the train at night.When the train reaches different stations, the cat is found awake while the passengers asleep. To keep himself awake at night and also to keep him fresh and bright he has a cup of tea mixed with a drop of scotch whisky, every now and then. Therefore he can keep vigilance strong at night.

Question 5.
“Only stopping here and there to catch a flea”
a. Who stops here and there and why?
b. What does he do in Crewe station?
c. What does he do in Carlisle and Dumfries?
d. Where does he bid goodbye to the passengers and how?
Answer:
a. Skimbleshanks the railway cat, stops here and there while wandering, to catch a flea.

b. In the Crewe station he walks up and down and only stops to catch a flea.

c. At Carlisle Skimbleshanks is found to be walking out and greeting the stationmaster. At Dumfries he talks to the police to ensure whether everything is alright.

d. Skimbleshanks bids goodbye to the passengers at Gallowgate station. He waves the passengers with his long brown tail saying that “I’ll see you again.”

Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat Poem MCQs

Question 1.
When is there a whisper down the line? It is at …………
a. 11:42
b. 11:30
c. 11:39
d. 11:50
Answer:
b. 11:30

Question 2.
Skimbleshanks has been busy where?
a. in the rear.
b. in the station.
c. in the corridor.
d. in the luggage van.
Answer:
d. in the luggage van.

Question 3.
Skimbleshanks gives one of his …………
a. glass-green eyes.
b. glass-blue eyes.
c. glass-black eyes.
d. glass-brown eyes
Answer:
a. glass-green eyes.

Question 4.
The train was off for …………
a. the southern part of the Southern Hemisphere
b. southern part of the Northern Hemisphere
c. northern part of the Southern Hemisphere
d. northern part of the Northern Hemisphere
Answer:
d. northern part of the Northern Hemisphere

Question 5.
He will supervise them all, more or less …………
a. from the stationmaster to the guards
b. from the driver to the guards to the bagman
c. from the driver to the stationmaster
d. from the guards to the bagman
Answer:
b. from the driver to the guards to the bagman

Question 6.
SKimbleshanks the Railway Cat can be said …………
a. unstrict and oerfectionist
b. kind and strict
e. diligent and strict
d. strict, diligent and perfectionist
Answer:
d. strict, diligent and perfectionist

Question 7.
“Little den” in the poem refers to …………
a. The corridor of the train
b. The berth of the train
c. The cabin of the trains
d. The window of the train
Answer:
c. The cabin of the trains

Question 8.
‘Crank’ in the poem means …………
a. door
b. handle
c. window
d. seat
Answer:
b. handle

Question 9.
The two living creatures mentioned in the poem that could disturb the passengers in the train are ………
a. cociroach and flies
b. flies and ants
c. fleas and mice
d. ants and mice
Answer:
c. fleas and mice

Question 10.
Skimbleshanks is seen walking up and down the station of …………
a. Crewe
b. Gallowgate
c. Dumfries
d. Carlisle
Answer:
a. Crewe

Question 11.
Skimbleshanks walks dovn the corridor and examines the faces of the travellers in the ………..
a. second and the third class compartments
b. First and the second class compartments
c. First and the third class compartments
d. First, second and third class compartments
Answer:
c. First and the third class compartments

Question 12.
Skimbleshanks is seen greeting the stationmastcr in high spirit at ………..
a. Gallowgate
b. Dumfries
c. Crewe
d. Carlisle
Answer:
d. Carlisle

Question 13.
Skimbleshanks speaks to the police at the station of ………..
a. Carlisle
b. Dumfries
c. Gallowgate
d. Crewe
Answer:
d. Crewe

Question 14.
In the morning Skimble is seen to be standing ………..
a. behind the guard
b. beside the guard
c. in front of the guard
d. near the guard
Answer:
a. behind the guard

Question 15.
Whom are all searching for the train to depart?
a. the stationmaster
b. the porters
c. the bagmen
d. Skimbleshanks
Answer:
d. Skimbleshanks

Question 16.
Which word describes the cat the most?
a. unkind
b. careless
c. meticulous
d. none of the above
Answer:
c. meticulous

Question 17.
How doe Skimbleshanks establish control over the train?
a. by examining all the people thoroughly
b. by not allowing anyone to move out of their seat
c. by patrolling regularly in all the compartments
d. by searching the belongings of the passengers thoroughly
Answer:
c. by patrolling regularly in all the compartments

Question 18.
What does Skimble do in the Carlisle station?
a. he walks up and down the station
b. he catches the fleas
c. he summons the police
d. he greets the stationmaster
Answer:
d. he greets the stationmaster

Question 19.
In which station does Skimbleshanks bid goodbye?
a. Dumfries
b. Carlisle
c. Crewe
d. Gallowgate
Answer:
d. Gallowgate

Question 20.
Skimbleshanks bid goodbye by waving
a. his hands
b. his long bushy tail
c. his brown tail
d. his long brown tail
Answer:
d. his long brown tail

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

The Medicine Bag Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by V.D.Hawksneve

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The Medicine Bag Summary by V.D.Hawksneve

The Medicine Bag Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by V.D.Hawksneve

The Medicine Bag Summary

The “Medicine Bag” is a story about a young lad named Martin’s relationship with his grandfather who actually represent the cultural past of their family and culture. The narrator Martin’s mother is a Native American but his father is a white man. His grandfather is from Sioux, South Dakota, belonging to Lakota tribe.

Martin and his sister Chery visit their eighty-six years old grandfather on Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota every summer- On their return to Iowa, where they live, the often depict a very impressive picture of their native grandpa and the place he belonged to. They bring wonderful things from that place to show and impress their friends. Their friends are fascinated by all the details about Grandpa and the place he lives in. The young teen Martin never shows any picture of his Grandpa to his friends.

Therefore, when his Grandpa actually comes to visit them, Martin felt upset. He feels embarrassed by Grandpa’s dressing style and behaviour in the street, where dogs also barked at him. Grandpa greets Martin in a traditional way.

Martin’s mother also feels shocked on seeing that the old man had come from South Dakota to Iowa just to meet them. She avoids hugging the old man while greeting. She feels that her hugging the old man will not be considered dignified. But her daughter Chery goes and greets the old man as their loving Grandpa.

Martin helps his Grandpa into bed, he realises how weak and feeble the old man is. He discovers a leather pouch around Grandpa’s neck. As he removes Grandpa’s boots, he finds them stuffed with money. Seeing the condition they call a doctor and he reports that the old man is suffering from heat exhaustion.

After relishing soup, the old man describes them the actual purpose of his visit. He was feeling lonely and decided to meet his family his only surviving relatives. With the assistance of a policeman, he was able to meet Martin and his family. All the family felt guilty that Grandpa faced difficulties in reaching them.

Martin has a feeling of respect for the old man who bravely set out to the unknown place. Grandpa narrates to the family how he had saved one hundred dollars for his funeral. He carried the money in his boots which was earlier discovered by Mail n himself. He ordered them to use the money to buy groceries as the old man does not want to depend on them being their burden. Martin’s father realises his fault in never asking

Grandpa to come to visit their house or to live with them. He believed that it was his right time go visit the family. He had come to hand over the medicine bag to Martin. The boy feel shocked that he will have to take the bag if it is offered to him.

The Medicine Bag About the Author Roald Dahl

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (born on 21st February 1933) is an American author with a focus on children’s books about aboriginal Americans. The daughter of James Driving Hawk, an Episcopalian priest and Rose Driving Hawk (nee Rose), Virginia was raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. She graduated from St. Mary’s School for Indians Girls in Springfield, South Dakota and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from South Dakota State University (Brookings) where she met her husband.

She published twenty books on South Dakota history, aboriginal American history, poetry, fiction and non-fiction work for children, as well as one about her female ancestors. She studied journalism at the South Dakota State University. She is a mother of three, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of two. It is beacuse of her children that the author realized the need for children’s book about aboriginal Americans in a contemporary context rather than a “Savage” myth of the past.

First published in Boy’s Life Magazine in 1975, ‘The Medicine Bag’ is one of Sneve’s early works. Her writings earned her acclaim throughout the world and won prestigious awards including National Humanities Medal (2000). She always realised the need for children’s books about aboriginal Americans that makes her contribution to literature more valuable.

The Medicine Bag Theme

The story “The Medicine Bag” concentrates on the significance of family relationship and the importance of cultural heritage. The writer explores two levels of family relationship. Martin, the narrator belongs to a small nuclear family. He likes to talk about his Grandpa and the place he lives in but does not want his friends to know the reality about them. On the other hand, the Grandpa keeps hold on the family’s culture and tradition and want Martin to understand the intrinsic power of family heritage and culture.

He wants to handover a leather pouch “the medicine bag” to Martinto carry on the cultural heritage that signifies the families past. At the end of the short story the author makes the reader realise the importance of family history, culture and tradition, through Martins realisation and acceptance of the “Medicine Bag”.

The Medicine Bag Critical Appreciation

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve’s “The Medicine Bag” is very interesting and meaningful story about the forgotten values and significance of cultural heritage. The narrator Mortin a lad of fourteen, loves to talk about his Grandpa a Native American and how the old man brought to their home the link of cultural heritage preserved by the Native Americans.

The boy narrates how he exaggerated the attractive aspect of South Dakota, the place where his Grandpa lived and bored the appearance. Martin’s friends at Iowa, where he lives with his parents, do not know much about the Indians as they have seen them and their life in Television and films or any other media only.

When the narrator’s Grandpa pays them a visit, it worries Martin that his friends would not appereciate Grandpa’s way of life. He does not want them to meet the Grandpa. But his friends like and appreciate Grandpa’s behaviour and the way he greets them. The Grandpa narrates the tale of his father called “Iron Shell” who handed over “the medicine bag” to him with a hope that he would pass it to the future generations particularly the male member of his family.

Since Grandpa’s sons are dead at war, he wanted Martin to hung the medicine bag or the elk leather pouch on his neck which is symbolical about cultural past of the family and the society the ancestors belonged to. There are two parts of the story consisting of two stories related to the bag of medicine.

In the first part, the narrator talks about his fears about the nature of the culture that Grandpa represents. It also brings out that the narrator himself seems ashamed of his past. It critically points at the attitude of the younger generation towards the ancient traditions and values. The young one usually avoid to show their cultural past in fear they will be considered traditional by their modem friends.

The second part of the story highlights Grandpa and his past history of acquiring the medicine bag. Grandpa make the narrator Martin realise the importance and relevance of his cultural tradition and the ways their ancestors have valued them. It brings a change in the young boy’s attitude and he readily accepts his cultural past symbolically represented by the medicine bag”.

The Medicine Bag Characters

Grandpa:

In this story Grandpa is potrayed as an eighty-six years old Native American committed to the family traditions and the cultural past. He lives on the Rosebud Reservation in south Dakota. He travels a long way from Dakota to Iowa to hand over the medicine bag as a symbol of his family heritage to Martin his grandson. The old man wore a tall black hat with feathers in it. Although he was old and belonged to distant land, but he knew how to conduct himself in the changed circumstances.

His behaviour with Martin’s young friends brings a change in the boy’s thoughts about him. He always act with dignity and seems to have an innate sense of time. He understands the proper time at which certain events should take place. He prepares Martin to embrace and appreciate his own culture and heritage.

Martin:

The narrator Martin is a young teen of fourteen. He lives with his parents in a white sub-urban neighbourhood in Iowa. His mother is Native American and his father is a white man. He creates a glorious image of his Grandpa and the place he belongs to infront of his friends. He is aware of this false apprecation. When his Grandpa actually visits him. Martin does not want his friends to meet the old man.

It shows that he does not think high of his Grandpa’s appearance and the culture he belongs to. However, he is helpful, respectful and considerate towards Grandpa. Martin helps the old man in changing his dress and making comfortable place in the house. He guides the old man from the street to the house. He realises the significance of his family’s past and accepts its tradition as desired by Grandpa.

Iron Shell:

The character does not appear in the story like Grandpa or others. He is just mentioned in the story of Grandpa. He is an important character. Iron Shell was a Native American who lived in the area known as Montana and Dakota. He was actually Grandpa’s father. Iron Shell gave respect and importance to ancient tradition of his people. He decided to go on a spiritual journey or quest. His dream of an iron shell that he put in a leather pouch of elk skin gave him his name as “Iron Shell”. He appears to be a strong minded people who had great faith in the value of his cultural past.

Cheryl, Dad, Mother:

These three characters are the member of Martin’s family. Cheryl, is his sister and she lives with her parents in company of Martin. His dad and Mom are too responsible, sensitive and sympathetic human beings. They realized their mistake and feel guilty for not asking Grandpa to accompany them to their house. They look after the old man very well.

Dad is a teacher at a local college. He is a white man but he respects the traditions of his wife’s family belonging to Native American. Martin’s mother, referred to as “Mom” is a good lady who values her Native American heritage. She is kind and affectionate towards her father and also wants her children to follow the advice of their old Grandpa. Cheryl, Dad and Mom are not well-developed characters in the story but they have important roles to play in developing the whole story.

The Medicine Bag Title of the Story

The author Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve has used the title “The Medicine Bag” in a very suggestive and symbolical manner. The pouch of elk leather bag as mentioned in the short story as “The Medicine Bag” has no medicine in it. It has an iron shell that signifies the ancient culture and traditions of the Native Americans that Grandpa wants Martin to adopt and carry forward on heritage relics.

“The Medicine Bag” gains importance in the section of the story when Grandpa gives details about Iron Shell and the story related to him. The whole focus shifts from Grandpa’s unexpected arrival, Martin’s fear and the old man’s long journey to the purpose of Grandpa’s visit concerning the medicine bag. The bag is the symbol of ancient culture and tradition of the family.

The Medicine Bag Setting

The story “The Medicine Bag” features round Grandpa’s concern to carry forward the Native American Culture. Consequently, the setting of the story is in Native American places like Dakota and Grandpa is linked to the Rosebud Reservation located in the southern central part of Dakota. He teaches real Sioux chant to Martin and familiarises Martin to the culture and history of his ancestors. All the incidents related to Grandpa’s arrival to Martin’s house takes place in Iowa whereas the other places are mentioned or simply described to provide a suitable setting to the story.

The Medicine Bag Style

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve’s style in this story includes the use of literary devices like simile, contrast, juxtaposition and symbolism. The example of simile can be observed in the sentences “His rumpled black suit hung like a sack over his stopped frame”. The use of contrast is obvious when the narrator brings out the difference of people’s thought towards the Native American based on Television any other media image and the reality about them.

The narrator Martin’s thought about the reaction of his friends and his sister’s attitude in this situation have been justified to highlight the difference in perception and understanding. The most important example of a symbol in this story is the medicine bag that the Grandpa hands over to Martin. This bag is the symbol of Native American culture and belief that these people preserve and wish their generations to carry forward in future.

The Medicine Bag Plot Explanation

Martin, the narrator fears that his Grandpa’s unexpected visit would spoil his reputation among his friends and peer group as he had poesented a glorious picture about the Grandpa and the place where he lived.

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The Grandpa comes, Martin brings him home from the street, he had reached after a long journey from Dakota.

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Grandpa gives detailed accounts of his journey and declares then his actual purpose of this visit. He wants to give his ancestral medicine bag to Martin as his own son has died in war. Martin feared that his friend will make fun of him seeing his Native Grandpa and hides the oldman’s arrival before them. But Martin’s friends visit the old man and feel rather happy. It changes Martin’s attitude and thoughts about the old man.

↓

The old man narrates the story of his father from shell who had handed over the bag to him. The medicine bag possess a magical quality it keeps away all evil of life. Martin accepts the leather pouch without any hesitation and when the old man dies the family bring the Grandpa for burial to Dakota.

The Medicine Bag Annotations and Vocabulary

glamourous — attractive
bragged — talked two proudly
mocassins — flat comfortables shoes made with large stitches in front
authentic — true
stringy — resemble a string (especially hairs)
strand — a piece of hair or wool
shock — a small bundle of wood or metal
mutis — stray dogs
commotion — great noise
yipping — give out short sharp cries in excitement
nipping — giving a quick bite
straggled — walked more slowly than the group
rumpled — dishavelled
fatigue — tiredness
sheepishly — shyly
Patio — a flat hard area usually behind the house.
squaeeze — press
scared — afraid
sacred — pious, holy
blacksmith — a person who makes and repairs things made of iron
treasured — valued
drifted — moved away
Prairie — a region covered with grass
sage — a fragrant plant
upright — in a straight vertical position or honest and responsible
wearily — tiredly
stooped — head and shoulders bent

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers

Indigo Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Satyajit Ray

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Indigo Summary by Satyajit Ray

Indigo Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Satyajit Ray

Indigo Summary

Satyajit Ray (192 1-1992), mainly an Indian Film maker of international renown, was a diverse talent of the 20th century. Sukumar Roy, his father, was a prolific writer of prominence and an excellent craftsman in creating humour through his short stories, plays and poems. He was short-lived and therefore, Suprava Roy, Satyajit’s mother had to toil hard in order to lead a dignified life.

Satyajit Ray graduated with Honours from Presidency College, Calcutta and then got admitted to Tagore’s Shantiniketan. But he came back to Calcutta without completing his education at Shantiniketan. He, however, worked as a calligrapher, illustrator, photographer, music composer, film maker, and writer and so on. Though Satyajit’s fame and awards rested on his films, he wrote considerable volume of prose in the forms of novels and short stories.

His science fictions, blended with fantasy and imagination have drawn considerable readership. Ray also wrote crime fictions and other short stories for adolescents and children. His interest being diverse in the matters of middle class people, he choose mysticism, occult, phantasm, clairvoyance, necromancy ,apport, sorcery, human relationship, boyhood etc. for his subjects to deal with. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University. His films were also widely acclaimed and those brought several national and international awards.

Indigo About the Author Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray (1921-1992), mainly an Indian Film maker of international renown, was a diverse talent of the 20th century. Sukumar Roy, his father, was a prolific writer of prominence and an excellent craftsman in creating humour through his short stories, plays and poems. He was short- lived and therefore, Suprava Roy, Satyajit’s mother had to toil hard in order to lead a dignified life.

Satyajit Ray graduated with Honours from Presidency College, Calcutta and then got admitted to Tagore’s Shantiniketan. But he came back to Calcutta without completing his education at Shantiniketan. He, however, worked as a calligrapher, illustrator, photographer, music composer, film maker, and writer and so on. Though Satyajit’s fame and awards rested on his films, he wrote considerable volume of prose in the forms of novels and short stories. His science fictions, blended with fantasy and imagination have drawn considerable readership.

Ray also wrote crime fiction and other short stories for adolescents and children. His interest being diverse in the matters of middle class people, he choose mysticism, occult, phantasm, clairvoyance, necromancy, apport, sorcery, human relationship, boyhood etc. for his subjects to deal with. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University. His films were also widely acclaimed and those brought several national and international awards.

Indigo Theme

The theme of Ray’s short story “Indigo” is a supernatural one. But to reach to the theme, he has spent words and space-at times telling upon the patience of the reader. Manifestation of supernaturalism is usually attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. In the story, the wraith of English Indigo planter, infamous in his own country and India as well, for his cunning and cruelty, possessed Aniruddha, an Indian young man and repeated what he did during his last few days.

Aniruddha took shelter in the cursed, dilapidated Dak Bungalow for a night. During the night, the said English Indigo planter possessed him, changed his looks and dress, and made him write last words in a diary although Aniruddha was in his full sense. Rex, the dog, also came to life and was killed by a pistol shot. Aniruddha, alias the English planter, shot himself at the right ear.

Rex was killed by the pistol shot, but Aniruddha was not although the same pistol was fired at him. The story is a haunting experience for Aniruddha and looks like his experience is a paranormal phenomenon. There is also suspense and horror in the story.

Indigo Critical Appreciation

Ray’s “Indigo” is a short story with an elongated circumlocution. Aniruddha’s journey by car to Dumka to comply with his friend’s request is interspersed with so much of details that the reader’s curiosity might pale into discernment about the main story which takes a little time to read and finish.

The story is all about Aniruddha, a young man working in an Advertising Agency. Mention may be made that Ray’s penchant for Advertising Agency is well known, as he started his own career in an Advertising Agency. However, Aniruddha, on his way to Dumka, is waylaid in a nor wester and takes shelter in an old, dilapidated Dak Bungalow in a remote place.

The Dak Bungalow was built long ago by a British Indigo planter infamous in his own country and in India for his cruelty. At night, Aniruddha finds that the paraphernalia of the room where he laid on a charpoy has changed. There were English boots, galoshes, a writing table and so on.

He himself had changed into an Englishman. He was in his full senses all the time. It is like those children’s ghost stories where ghosts’ possess men and women and they act according to the will of the ghosts even when they are in full senses.

The ghost of the British Planter made Aniruddha write a few confessions in a diary and then shot “Rex” his ghost hound and then shot himself at the right ear. Aniruddha, like those ghost stories, fainted and did not die. In children’s ghost stories, when a ghost leaves the possession of a man or a woman, they faint and do not die.

Ray’s long introduction to come to the main story makes it somewhat cumbrous and patience consuming. The creation of a supernatural environment is simple and fails to carve a niche in the mind of the reader.

Indigo Characters

Aniruddha Bose:

Aniruddha Bose is the central character in Ray’s “Indigo”. He is thirty-nine years old and a bachelor. He works in an Advertising Agency of Calcutta. He possesses a flat and an ambassador car which show that he is reasonably well off. At times, he writes and those are even published in periodicals bringing appreciations from his known circle.

It is therefore, evident that he has a penchant for literary activities. He has a wander lust. Ever since he bought a car, he travelled hither and thither. Unfortunately, he does not have a friend in Calcutta and perhaps that is why he undertakes such so trips. On receiving an invitation from Promod, one of his childhood friends, to visit Dumka where he was posted as a forest worker, he packed his baggage and decided to travel all the 200 miles by his Ambassador car.

Solo driving for 200 miles through unknown roads and unthought-of possible troubles along the road was not possibly a wise decision. More youthful zeal and less of wisdom it was not to check the condition of his car.

Twice in the road his car had flat tyres, lost right track of road and was caught in a norwester with thunderstorm. Determined to find a shelter, he found an old, dilapidated Dakbungalow and entered into it. Sukhanram was the name of the caretaker and Aniruddha confirmed from him that there never was a ghost or a spectre in or around the Dakbungalow for ages. His initial fear was gone.

At night, he was possessed by the ghost of a British Indigo planter. But Aniruddha was in his full senses. He could see changes in the room, in his behaviour, tone, looks but was not afraid. The spirit took possession of his body and mind.

He did not have that strength of mind to come out of the spirits’ possession. However, the spirit finally called out “Rex”, his pet hound, shot him and also shot himself in the right ear. Although he possessed Aniruddha, Aniruddha did not fall dead by the gun shot. He simply fainted and forgot everything. Like all ghost stories, the ghost leaves him.

Indigo Title of the Story

Whereas the original Bengali title of “Indigo” is “Indigo horror”, the present English title does not connote the sense of horror and supernaturalism of the original story. However, it becomes clear from the setting of the short story that the purpose of the author to create an atmosphere of suspense, thrill and horror-leading to something ominous and uncanny, is successful and the essence of supernaturalism is established. Aniruddha is possessed by the spirit of a British Indigo planter who is sick with malaria, then a dreadful disease in Bengal.

Even possessed by a ghost, Aniruddha is in his full senses but cannot either control his physical movements or his speech. Aniruddha, impersonated as the British Indigo planter, looked at his changed dress, his complexion and wrote in a diary about his pitiful tale. Then he shot ‘Rex’, the faithful hound of the Indigo planter and shot himself at his right ear, but Aniruddha did not die by the gunshot of the British Indigo planter who simply repeated his action which occurred in the long past. The title therefore, is justified.

Indigo About the Story

Mr. Aniruddha Bose, a twenty-nine year old bachelor worked in an Advertising Agency in Calcutta. He had an Ambassador car which he drove himself. He had always a desire to go on long drives. One day he received a letter from Pramod, one of his childhood friends, now working in forest department at Dumka, to visit his place. Aniruddha was glad to receive the invitation letter and decided to go there by car. Dumka was 200 miles away, and it would take 5 or 6 hours to reach there. There was initial delay for various reasons before departure and therefore Aniruddha drove out at 10 minutes part 11.

On way to Dumka, he had a flat tyre in the rear but somehow he replaced it. By then the sky was getting darker with clouds and then unmistakably, it was a norwester and it soon turned violent. As ill luck would have it, another tyre of the car became flat when he was close to Massanjore and he had no more spares. After a truck driver and his assistant helped him push his car by the side of the road, he went inside his car and through the windows saw a rectangle of orange light.

He got out of the car and somehow reached the source of the light. It was a small cottage and a middle aged man came out. On enquiry, Aniruddha came to know about the existence of a Dak-bungalow close by. But there was neither any provision for food and nor any bed but a charpoy.

However, Aniruddha had had some chapatti and dal from Sukhanram at his cottage to meet his hunger. Sukhan, the keeper of Dak-bungalow unrolled Aniruddha’s bedding on the charpoy and lit a lantern. He informed that this Dak-Bungalow was owned by an erstwhile British Indigo-planter.

Aniruddha fell asleep but suddenly woke up at the scratching sound at the closed door. Aniruddha tried to resume sleep but the barking of a hound woke him up. Aniruddha looked at his wristwatch to confirm the time of night. But it had disappeared. To his surprise and panic, he discovered that his torch and suitcase had vanished too.

Suddenly he looked at his hands and found those all white. He also found that his vest was replaced by a long-sleeved silk shirt. He came out of the room and called out, “Chowkidar”! It was the accent of a typical Englishman and not a Bengali. The landscape had also changed miraculously. Back into the room the charpoy was replaced by a cot with mosquito net. The pillow had border frills. There was an ornate kerosene lamp on the table. Other objects in the room had also changed.

He touched his face and felt that now he had a sharp nose, thin lips and narrow chin. His hair was wavy and there were side burns that reached below his ears.He walked into the bathroom and looked at the reflection in the mirror. The mirror showed a nineteenth-century Englishman with a sallow complexion, blonde hair and light eyes from which shone a strange mixture of hardness and suffering.

Aniruddha was perfectly within himself, but had no control over his body or behaviour. He was fully aware of the changes. A possessed Aniruddha came back to bed room, sat on a chair and wrote the story of his possessor. Malaria killed the English Indigo planter’s wife and daughter. He should have gone back to England but his past misdeeds there had made many enemies. He knew that he would die here and nobody would miss him except Mirjan,the bearer, and Rex, the dog.

Then a spirit -possessed Aniruddha, drew out a loaded revolver from the drawer of the table, went to the veranda, and called out “Rex”. The moment Rex appeared, Aniruddha, alias the Indigo planter, fired at him and killed him. Back to bedroom, Aniruddha fired the revolver at the right ear and fell senseless. This far Aniruddha remembered, and the story ended there.

Indigo Setting

The main setting in Ray’s Indigo is framed in a stormy night, at a dilapidated Dak Bungalow-built by an English Indigo planter during the Raj. As per Sukhanram, the keeper of the Dak Bungalow, the place was not haunted. Other travelers also stayed in the Dak Bungalow and nobody complained of any spectral existence. The bedroom was large and the ceiling was high and the furniture consisted of a charpoy, a table-set against the wall on one side, and a chair with a broken arm.

The chowkidar lit a lantern for Aniruddha, the central character in the story, but the dim light from the lantern, must have made darkness of the big room more prominent than illuminating it. The sound of drizzle had stopped outside. The place was now filled with the sound of frogs croaking.

An old, dilapidated Dak Bungalow with an old chimney standing close by, with almost no human habitation except the caretaker and the croaking of the frogs will certainly bring an eerie sensation in any human being. But as an exhausted man finds in a brick or a pillow enough peace to sleep on, Aniruddha had to be content with the paraphernalia of the Dak Bungalow. Undoubtedly therefore, such setting creates an uncanny, ominous feeling in one’s mind. Thus, the setting appears to be indicative of horror and supernaturalism.

Indigo Annotations and Vocabulary

person/s one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend Instilled — gradually but firmly establish in a person’s mind
Hectic — frantic activity
Snag — An unexpected or hidden obstacle
Dingy — gloomy and drab
Dreary — depressingly dull
Redolent — Strongly reminiscent or suggestive of
Predicament — An embarrassing situation
Dripping — fat that has melted and dripped from roasting meat, used in cooking or eaten cold as spread
Muggy — unpleasantly warm and humid
Norwester — a kind of thunderstorm
Vicious — deliberately cruel or violent
Assault — make a physical attack
Precarious — dangerously
Frolicsome — lively and playful
Puddle — A small pool of rainwater
Stocky — broad and sturdily built
Squinted — look at something with one or both eyes partly closed in an attempt to see more clearly or as a reaction to strong light.
Heyday — The period of a person’s great success.
Jocular — fond of joking.
Spooky — sinister or ghostly in a way that causes fear and unease.
Adjoining — next to, or joined by.
Ajar — slight opening.
Bay — Bay dogs chase and circle the boar, keeping it cornered in one place, while barking intensely. This behaviour is known as baying or keeps the boar at bay.
Ornate — elaborately decorated
Sideburns — facial hair grown on the sides of the face extending from the hairline to run parallel to or beyond the ears.
Quill — The hollow, sharp spines of a porcupine, or hedgehog.
Fiendish — extremely cruel or unpleasant.
Alien — belonging to a foreign country
Wagged — Move or cause to move an animal’s tail

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers

There Will Come Soft Rains Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Ray Bradbury

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There Will Come Soft Rains Summary by Ray Bradbury

There Will Come Soft Rains Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Ray Bradbury

There Will Come Soft Rains Summary

The Story “There Will Corne Soft Rains” is a science fiction where the author Ray Bradbury describes the reader about an automated house. The story represent the year 2026. It opens at seven o’clock in the morning where the alarm clock declares to the inmates of the house that it is the time for them to rise. This automated house is situated in a nuclear devasted area in Allendale, California.

The house was equipped with small robotic gadgets, automatic devices which serves the daily routine work – preparing breakfast for its inhabitants – the Mc Clellan family. The reminder clock sounded with the remark of birthdays and anniversary.

But no inhabitant is present to hear or eat. All the automatic gadgets are engaged in their daily chores oblivious of the presence of inmates. The breakfast stoves serves typical breakfast which comprises of toast, sunny side eggs, bacon, coffee and milk. The weather box declares the weather report and clothing suggestion.

When the breakfast remained untouched after few hour it was disposed off and dishes were promptly cleaned. The mechanical mice emerged from the walls to clean the house. There were automatic sprinklers to water the garden – which too has been affected like other things. The entire west face of the house turned charred black, all the paints were burnt except a few Silhouettes. There was a image of a man and woman doing work in a lawn and of a boy and girl throwing a ball. The rest of the neighbourhood is charred with the radioactive glow that hangs over the city.

The automated house with all its gadget were continuing their duty perfectly. It had a wonderful security system and demanded password from anyone who approached to enter the house. It provides prefect vigil over foxes and birds that flies near the house. Despite of all this vigil, a dog enters the house – only sign of living creature. Once huge and fleshy, the dog is now a mere skeleton, covered with sores. The condition of the dog indicates that something catastrophic has happened to the occupants of the house.The dog goes frantically from door to door of the house in

search of its occupants but fails to find anyone. Then the dog begins to froth collapses, and dies eventually. Delicately sensing decay, the house’s cleaning mice goes into the room to remove the carcass. The body is deposited into the incinerator in the cellar.

This events had no effect on the automatic devices that are attached to the house. They are busy with thin scheduled routine. The gadgets prepares lunch, sets the table and chair for bridge and music starts playing. There was no one to eat or play, the things are bundled back. Later as per scheduled, the nursery walls began to glow.

Animals of variant kinds and hues appeared on the glass walls. At 9 o’clock, the beds were warmed and prepared for children. The scheduled gadgets ask Mrs. McClellan about her favourite poetry. Naturally there was no response. So the computer chose a poem at random and began to recite Sara Teasdales famous poem “There Will Come Soft Rains” and the smell of the ground will fill the air.

Later in the night a furious wind blew and knocked a tree in the kitchen window. The tree made the cleaning solution to spill over the store. It evoked fire in the house which soon engulfed the whole house. Automatic fire extinguisher worked hard to save the house from fire but water ran off. Modem technology is pressed into service. There was confusion and pandemonium. The author humourously suggests that wall animals were also at panic seeing the fire.

The huge devastating fire burns the automatic house and its gadgets completely. The house collapsed. Smoke poured out from the rubble. Only one wall remain standing alone and one gadget sounded and echoed in the hallow air “Today is August 5, 2026.” The voice lingered to narrate the sad tale.

There Will Come Soft Rains About the Author Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury was an American science fiction writer whose works were translated in more than 40 languages and sold millions of copies around the world. Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920 at Wankegan, Illinois, U.S.A. He is well esteemed for his highly imaginative short stories and novels. His work presents a touch of poetic style, nostalgia for childhood, social criticism and an awarness of the hazards of rapid technology.

As a child the author had great interest in horror films. Moving with his family to Los Angeles, he joined los Angeles Science Fiction League and being encouraged he started his literary work from the year 1937. Most of his stories were collected in his first book of short stories Dark Carnival (1947). Ray Bradbury shot to international fame after publication of “The Mertian Chronicles (1950), a collection of short stories partially based on the ideas of ancient Greek and Roman mythology.

His other novels and stories also have been adapted to films and television, as well as for radio, theatre and comic book. In 2004, he recieved a National Medal of Arts. He was given a star as Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6644 Hollywood Blvd. An asteroid was named in his honour ‘9766 Bradbury’ and the Apollo astronaut named a crater on the moon‘Dandelion Crater’ after his novel ‘Dandelion Wine’.

He received the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award for Science Fiction Writers of America, an Emmy Award for his world “The Halloween Tree’ and many other awards and honours. Brad bury’s style is rich in use of metaphors and similies stood out from the more utilitarian work that dominated the prevalent magazine writing.

His novel “Fahrenheit 451” published in 1953, is regarded his greatest work. In 2007, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded him special citation for his distinguished work. Bradbury died on June 5, 2012 at Los Angeles, California.

His other novels and stories also have been adapted to films and television, as well as for radio, theatre and comic book. In 2004, he recieved a National Medal of Arts. He was given a star as Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6644 Hollywood Blvd. An asteroid was named in his honour ‘9766 Bradbury’ and the Apollo astronaut named a crater on the moon ‘Dandelion Crater’ after his novel ‘Dandelion Wine’. He received the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award for Science Fiction Writers of America, an Emmy Award for his world “The Halloween Tree’ and many other awards and honours.

Brad bury’s style is rich in use of metaphors and similies out from the more utilitarian work that dominated the prevalent magazine writing. His novel “Fahrenheit 451” published in 1953, is regarded his greatest work. In 2007, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded him special citation for his distinguished work. Bradbury died on June 5, 2012 at Los Angeles, California.

There Will Come Soft Rains Theme

This story focus on the theme – the horrors of the aftermath of the nuclear holocaust. The story is based on science fiction where we came across a world dominated by scientific gadgets and advanced techology. It focuses both good and evil effect of technological advancement.

Atomic bomb evil effect of technology whereas gadgets working sincerely the daily chores represents good technological development. The author Ray Bradbury, though not against regarding advancement in science and technology, is quite suspicious if these advancements are ultimately doing good to mankind. Humans must utilise the goodness of such advancement and discard the evils which may cause threat in future. The devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a grim warning against the use of such things discreetly.

There Will Come Soft Rains Critical Appreciation

The story also reflect a new technological advancement robotics. The robotic mice and other similar gadget with artificial intelligence is serving the markind. But its quite pathetic that these gadgets are still serving humans who have been sad victims of atomic explosion. The only consolation lies in the mechanical voice chanting the poem on nature which remain oblivious of such devastating destruction.

Man is a great creator but its creation can wipe him out of the face of the Earth. The futuristic story potrays on Ray Bradbury’s vision of the year 2026. He visualised an automated house with developed gadgets developed activated technology, security cameras, electric cleaner and diswasher, dumping machines, incinerators, broadband, glowing screen with comical animals just to mention a few.

The machinery mentioned here is entirely devoid of human vitality. All the gadgets depicted in the story resembles our world in which the machineries had become more important than human existence.

This story focus on the theme the horrors of the aftermath of the nuclear holocaust. The story is based on science fiction where we came across a world dominated by scientific gadgets and advanced techology. It focuses both good and evil effect of technological advancement. Atomic bomb evil effect of technology whereas gadgets working sincerely the daily chores represents good technological development.

The author Ray Bradbury, though not against regarding advancement in science and technology, is quite suspicious if these advancements are ultimately doing good to mankind. Humans must utilise the goodness of such advancement and discard the evils which may cause threat in future. The devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a grim warning against the use of such things discreetly.

There Will Come Soft Rains Characters

McClellan Family:

The actual occupant of the automated house equipped with latest gadgets. The survivors of the house comprising of father, mother and two children died in the nuclear explosion. Since the family perished in the explosion nothing could be stressed about their nature, profession or routine activities.

We only get a hint that Mrs. McClellan had rich inclination towards soft music and poetry particularly Sara Teasdale’s “There Will Come Soft Rains”. The gadgets only represents thin richness, choice of breakfast, comfortable life, love, for children and particularly their standard of living.

The Computer Controlled House:

The auto mated house was equipped with developed technological gadgets which survived in the nuclear explosion. The inmates of the house perished in that situation. The house only remained alive perfomunce it’s daily duties sincerely. It announced date and time, reminded the inhabitants their engagements and important dates of birthday or anniversary.

All the gadgets were specialised to perform various activities like preparation of breakfast and lunch, disposing untouched food, cleaning the house and dishes sprinkling water on plants. They served the house as if the occupants of the house were alive. The house in the end gets destroyed by the fire. Only one wall stood that announced the date August 5, 2026.

The Dog:

The pet of the McClellan family appears for a short while. The security sensor that keeps vigil on any one’s entry allows the dog, sensing its smell. The condition of the dog was pathetic. Its body was filled with sores and it reduced to skeleton due to starvation. The dog was also the victim of radioactive rays. After entering the house the dog searched for his living owners. At noon it frothed and died. Later the gadget smelling the carcass transfered its body into the incinerator in the cellar of the house

Robot Mice:

Robot mice was one of the spectacular device of that automated house. It appeared at necessary and fixed time to clear up all the dust particle and rubbish present in the house.

Clock:

The Clock was the most outstanding gadgets of that automated house. It played the role of a live person. Like modem alarm clock it announced time for each activity programmed and scheduled to be performed by the family. It worked automatically reminding the inhabitants and the readers specific time for performing various activities. Alas! there was no one left to hear it’s message. Still the machine performed its duly sincerely once set automatically.

There Will Come Soft Rains Title of the Story

The author Ray Bradbury had used the title “There Will Come Soft Rams” for this science fiction. The short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” takes its title from a poem by Sara Teasdale (1884 to 1933). In her poem the poet envisions an idyllic, poet appocalyptic world in which nature continues peacefully, beautifully and indifferently after the extinction of human kind. Ray Bradbury’s story, in contrast, was published five years after the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

Where Teasdale has circling swallows, singing frogs and whistling robins, Bradbury offers “lonely foxes and whinning cats” as well as emaciated family dog “covered with sores” Which ‘ran wildly in circles, bitting at its tail, spun in circle and died” In his story, animals face no better than humans. Bradbury’s only survivors are imitation of nature, robotic cleaning mice, aluminium roaches and iron crickets, and the colourful exotic animals projected onto the glass walls of the children’s nursery.

In the dystopian world, the robots and machines have taken over and early enough there is no sign of human beings. The story is not meant to be a specific prediction about future, but shown a possibility that at any time, could lie just around the comer.

The author has in mind a time when we will not allow our advances in science and technology to do the ugly job of destruction. Nature will regain its primary and important role as a healing power. This is aptly conveyed through the title of the story “There Will Come Soft Rains”.

There Will Come Soft Rains About the Story

In 1950 Ray Bradbury wrote this famous story “There Will Come Soft Rain”. This story has appeared in numberless anthologies since its publication. This story was written about five years after the bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The fear and horrors of nuclear wars was haunting the people at large. Technological advancement and robotics, created fear in the mind of the people about human existence.

The story has a beautiful title “There Will Come Soft Rains” which is derived from Sara Teasdale beautiful poem on nature. The poem has the theme related to the short story representing the effect of nuclear war on humnan existence. The story could be categorised as a science fiction where the readers read about an automated house equipped with the latest gadgets that are automated to serve human daily requirements and make their life more comfortable.

The inmates of the automated house are all dead, the house is insensitive to the fact. This automatic house shows the positive aspect of technological advancement and its service towards humanity. But as the story progresses, we come across several clues to conclude that the inhabitants have all perished in an atomic explosion.

The story clearly points out that scientific and technological advancement harm and devastate human existence from the face of the Earth. It also shows that nature will remain unaffected and it will thrive even when human beings are gone.

There Will Come Soft Rains Setting

The setting of the story is the locale of an only intact house that had survived the nuclear catastrophe. As the story begins, the mechanical clock declares the date, August 4,2026 telling the members of the house to wake up. There are no human being except the automatic system like the breakfast toaster, dishwashers and cleaners which carried the daily programmed routine activities. Automatic robotic mice cleaned the house and sprinkler sprinkled water. It is a desolate place situated in Allendale, California because all other things outside, have been destroyed by the nuclear explosion.

The setting, therefore prepares the ground to bring to light the hold of machineries on human life and existence. The forces of nature are even stronger than man’s advancements. The strong wind along with the fire engulfs the house and reduced it into ashes. Only one lone wall exist with a mechanical gadget announcing the following date August 5, 2026.

There Will Come Soft Rains Style

In his short science fiction, “There Will Come Soft Rains’, the author, Ray Bradbury has created a unique style of creativity. The story is rich in imagery, figurative language, tone, mood, diction and syntax. He uses warm family imagery to create a home as “The garden sprinklers whirled up in golden founts, filling the soft morning air with scatterings of brightness”.

The condition of the only living inmate the dog is quite pathetic. The innocent creature has come to nuclear exposure and we find it frothed at the mouth and died. There is personification used while describing the robotic mice “Behind it whirred angry mice, upset at needing to get mud, upset at hassle. The author has made describe the automated house with human body parts.

The house seems to have a ‘paranoia’ which in it nature refers to “nerves”, “veins” and “capillaries of the house” as if it is considered to be a living organism. The sink drains are compared with a metal throat because there are no humans alive to eat the food the automatic gadgets have prepared. The tone of the story throughout is serious as the author warns us of the dangers of technology awaiting for human or threat to mankind.

There Will Come Soft Rains Plot Explanation

The survival of an automated house after nuclear blast. No inhabitants but automatic gadgets engaged with daily chores of serving and comforting the lives of the inhabitants.

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A pet dog enter the house in a worsen condition with sores and looking like skeleton due to starvation. Soon the living being dies and its carcass is consumed into the incenerator.

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Accidental fire broke out due to wash solvent spilling over burning stove. The house was complete destroyed by fire. Only a lone gadget declared the following date from a lone surviving wall. The story begins on 4 August, 2026 in the city of Allendale, California that has rendered dessolate by a nuclear catastrophe. The automated house with robotics gadgets escaped the holocaust. All the inhabitants had become the victim of such devastation except the automated house.

The gadget continues their daily chores like preparing breaking weather, date, anniversary and birthday reporting, making bed, dish washing and cleaning, removing caresses to incinerators. Though no one was living in that house, the sensors in that house was keeping vigil on anyones entry. A pet dog was allowed to enter but the only living creature died due to sores and starvation. In the evening the gadgets played one the inhabitant’s favourite poem “There Will Come Soft Rain” by Sara Teasdale.

Unfortunately, the automated house ceased it working when a huge fire engulfed the house and reduced it to ashes the fire extinguishers faught to prevent the fire but failed due to lack of water supply. Only one gadget and a lone wall survived. Look at the irony, from the lone surviving wall, a lone gadget declared the following date “Today is August 5, 2026, today is “ Thus the plot follows all the unities of time, place and action. It is a well knit excellent plot.

There Will Come Soft Rains Annotations and Vocabulary

ejected — come out with force
glided — moved smoothly
wedge — a piece of wood to keep things apart
warrens — holes on the walls
thudded — crashed
rug nap — the part of the carpet you see and walk on
burrows — holes into the ground animal like rabbits live
rubble — debris
whirled up — moved on circles
charred — turned black due to extreme beat and fire
silhouette on object which represtant something
titanic — huge or gigantic
paranoia — totally possesed
whirred — moved quickly with a humming sound
Baal — Biblical word with evil connotations.
maple syrup — sweentened sticky substance from maple tree often used in pancakes, cookies etc.
incinerator — furnace for burning waste materials.
cavorting — jumping sprockets hard wheels with teeth that locks into a chain
bumble — a light vibrating sound
okapi — a type of animal
shimmering — glowing softly
solvent — a substance that can dissolve other substances.
linoleum — a type of floor covering
scurrying — running with short steps.
Picassos and Mitisses — name of eminent painter and artist.
shaving — thin pieces of hard substances
sheathing — protective covering
oblivious — forgetting the vital point
psychopathic — abnormal

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers

Thank You, Ma’am Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Langston Hughes

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Thank You, Ma’am Summary by Langston Hughes

Thank You, Ma’am Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Langston Hughes

Thank You, Ma’am Summary

A large woman with a heavy side-bag was walking down the pavement. The name of the place, the ruler may safely guess, was Harlem. Suddenly an urchin tried the snatch her purse by the strap. The strap snapped but the bag being too heavy for the boy to pull, he lost his balance and fell down on his back. The large woman turned around and lodged a solid kick at the posterior of the boy. Then the woman gripped the boy firmly by his shirt and made him stand.

Dialogues followed and the woman did not let the boy run away. It was revealed from the conversation that the boy had nobody in the world. The woman felt that since nobody was there to take care of the boy, she would at least; cleanse the face of the boy. So, like a kitten hanging between the forefinger and the middle, the woman dragged the boy.

The boy was in his teen, frail and longed to be released from the woman’s grip. But the woman dragged him to her home, a boarding house, pushed him inside down a hall. The woman, known as Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones still gripped the boy firmly. By then the boy had told her that his name was Roger, and she asked him to go to the sink to wash his face.

Suffering from an initial duality of perception-whether to run away through the open front door or not, he decided to go to the sink to wash his face. The woman knew that the boy was hungry and that was perhaps the reason for his snatching the side-bag. But the boy said that he wanted to buy a pair of blue suede shoes and as such, he needed the money.

The woman admitted that she also committed some silly mistakes in her youth but never stole someone’s purse. Mrs. Jones vanished behind a curtain to cook some food whereas the boy sat at a corner of the sofa from where she could easily watch her. The human bondage of mutual trust has already set in. The supper over, Mrs. Jones gave ten dollars to the boy to buy a pair of blue suede shoes and warned him not to steal ever. Out on the street, the boy wanted to say something to Mrs. Jones more than a mere thanks’, but couldn’t. He never saw her ever.

Thank You, Ma’am About the Author Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (1901-1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called “Jazz poetry”, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that “the Negro was in vogue”, which was later paraphrased as “when Harlem was in vogue.”

Growing up in a series of Midwestern towns, Hughes became a prolific writer at an early age. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. He graduated from High school in Cleveland, Ohio, and soon began studies at Columbia University in New York City. Although he dropped out, he gained notice from New York publishers, first in “The crisis” magazine and then from book publishers, and became known in the creative community in Harlem.

He eventually graduated from Lincoln University. In addition to poetry, Hughes wrote plays and short stories. He also published several non – fiction works. From 1942 to 1962, as the Civil Rights movement was gaining traction, he wrote an in-depth weekly column in a leading black newspaper, “The Chicago Defender.”

Thank You, Ma’am Theme

Langston Hughes short story, “Thank you, Ma’am” is an excellent example of human bondage. It is a proof that the world has still some people in it whose hearts are punctuated with love, care, tenderness and above all, a feeling for the wretched and the downtrodden. Roger, a frail street urchin in teens tried to snatch Mrs. Jones’ shoulder purse.

The strap of the purse snapped but the weight of the bag had impaired Roger’s balance and he fell on the pavement lifting his legs skyward. Mrs. Jones, a sturdy, strong woman caught him by the shirt and before the curious eyes of the bystanders, dragged him to her home, a boarding house. If Mrs. Jones had handed him over to the police; he might have either been tried in a juvenile court, or worse, sent to a Borstal school. Mrs. Jones dragged Roger to her home, had his face washed, hair combed and helped him with a supper.

Roger had no warm heart waiting at his home. He was a destitute. He tried to snatch Mrs. Jones’ bag as he needed money to buy a pair of blue suede shoes. Mrs. Jones gave him ten dollars to buy a pair of blue suede shoes and simply told him never to steal. Roger came out to the pavement, looked back. Mrs. Jones called him “son”-who tried to snatch Mrs. Jones’ bag.

Roger wanted to say something more than a dry “Thank you” to Mrs. Jones, but could not utter anything but “Thank you” before she shut the door. We can well perceive that the thief in Roger had paled into insignificance. Instead, a teen-aged boy took a rebirth in him. His transformation was complete.

“Thank you, Ma’am” is a short story written by Langston Hughes and published in 1958. Though Hughes doesn’t explicitly state what the setting of the story is, there are some clues that indicate the general place and the time. For one thing, the story was published in 1958, and the Mrs. Jones’ motherly heart got the better than that of an admonisher, and she made Roger wash his face, comb and sit in a place. Roger’s face showed that he was hungry and so she cooked some food and fed Roger.

Stiffened by the discernment and cruelty of the material world, Roger learnt that he must snatch things from others to get his own. But Mrs. Jones raised the curtain in his mind where from a boy, as innocent as others, peeped out. Mrs. Jones bade him good bye and Roger, who had so many things to unfold, could only utter “Thank you”. Therefore, the title is justified.

Thank You, Ma’am Critical Appreciation

“Thank you, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes presents a pen-picture of the socio-economic conditions of the African-Americans in America. The story is confined to two characters and these characters reveal themselves through dialogues and situations which are the essential features of a novel, rather than a short story. The narrative is neutral and provides insight into both Roger and Mrs. Jones.

The purpose of using colloquialism and sluggish dialect is to bring out realism in the story. Destitution, loneliness, insecurity, fears, greed are all mixed in the characters and the situations. The eternal human qualities like love, compassion, trust, respect and such other things, hitherto silted under the layers of inhuman, unequal socio – economic combat, are dug out from the depth of oblivion.

Thank You, Ma’am Characters

Mrs. Jones:

Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones or more simply, Mrs. Jones worked in the Beauty Salon of a hotel meant for women only. She had to work till late at night and walk home at that hour. The setting is probably Harlem, a crime prone zone in America where African-Americans prevailed by number.

Mrs. Jones was a well built, strong woman by nature and by heart. Once she caught a purse-snatcher on her way home. The snatcher was a frail, teen-aged destitute who wanted to buy a pair of blue suede shoes with the snatched money. What is expected at this juncture is that Mrs. Jones would hand him over to police and the police in turn, would either send him to a court for juvenile crime or worse, to a Borstal school.

Instead, Mrs. Jones dragged the boy named Roger to her home, a boarding house, made him wash his face, and then Roger sat on the bedstead like a good boy as awaiting his mother to cook his meal.

The front door was open and if Roger took a full blast out of the door, nobody could catch him. But he didn’t. Mrs. Jones disclosed that she also wanted things in her youth like others did, but didn’t get those. She admitted that she also did unfair things on her youth.

After that, it appears from the continuous conversation between Mrs. Jones and Roger that it was quite a normal conversation between a mother and her son. Mrs. Jones’ motherhood got the better and her fondness for Roger, until then a juvenile criminal, was evident from her paying ten dollars to Roger and from her warning, “I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in.” Roger was transformed into a mother’s son.

Roger :

A frail, petty, juvenile criminal at his early teens, Roger was a destitute. When he was caught by Mrs. Jones for her purse-snatching, he thought that the lady would hand him over to the police. But instead, she dragged her to her home, which was a boarding house, made him wash his face, comb his hair and fed him with a square supper.

Roger was never accustomed to such motherly behaviour. All he knew was that he must steal things for his own. He didn’t do anything at that age to earn his livelihood. He had a kind of home, but no warm heart waited there for him. Therefore, he took a short cut to success. He started stealing.

Mrs. Jones’ motherly love re-invented the innocent boy in him. When Mrs. Jones was busy preparing meal, Roger could have easily dashed out of the house. But the thought of running away from Mrs. Jones never occurred to him. He sat at the bedstead, like a mother’s child throughout Mrs. Jones’ cooking and had his meal.

When Mrs. Jones offered him ten dollars to buy a pair of blue suede shoes and bade him good bye, he was overwhelmed with emotion. Motherhood’s sudden gush of love almost inundated the thief in Roger and he was reincarnated as a human being- pure at his heart.

Thank You, Ma’am Annotations and Vocabulary

Slung — suspended, especially with a strap
Rattled — made a rapid succession of short, sharp knocking sounds
Tug — pull hard
Full blast — run away at great speed
Frail — weak and delicate
Willow — wild-growth like wild willows without care
Half-nelson — A wrestling hold
Latching — fasten a door or gate with a latch
tug — to pull hard and quickly
large — huge, quite big
pocket book — purse
turn loose — to let someone or something free blue feared sitter backside of someone wearing blue jeans.
short front — front part of a shirt
lima beans — edible flat bean
kitchenette — area of a room used as a kitchen
latching — fasten a door with a latch
supper — light evening meal after dinner
suede — type of leather with a velvety raised surface
presentable — work to be presented
ice-box — cold storage box to keep food.
gas plate — natural gas flame for cooking
popped out — to come out, appear
embarrass — to make someone feel uncomfortable
barren — unproductive
devilish — like a devil
stoop — to look down upon
frowned — expression of displeasure or disapproval
mistrusted — not trust worthy
barely — hardly, almost not
salon — beauty parlour.

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Roald Dahl

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The Great Automatic Grammatizator Summary by Roald Dahl

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Roald Dahl

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Summary

Mr. John Bohien was the Head of an Engineering Firm where Mr. Adolph Knipe worked as his subordinate. A talented technocrat, but Knip’s penchant for literary writing was much above his professional zeal. His frustration owing to repeated rejection of his literary contributions to periodicals by the editors of those publications, even when he felt that his skill and ability were well ahead of most of those renowned literary contributors, urged and propelled him to design and invent a gizmo which would produce every form of literary art in a jiffy simply by pressing a button here and a pedal there.

The machine had no artificial intelligence. It had a huge memory and was pre loaded with English Grammatical rules, vocabulary, human emotions, passion, and the styles of a few renowned authors whose literary contributions were in demand. He published a few stories in his name and in the name of Mr. Bohien as well, through his machine. Some of those were accepted by the famous periodicals and some of course, were rejected. But they got paid for the accepted ones.

Then Knipe opened up an Agency proposing to take up the franchise of the renowned and not so renowned writes. The Agreement detailed how such writers would stop contributing directly to periodicals. Instead, the machine would write using their names and contribute to those periodicals. Of course, there was a handsome compensation for the authors under Agreement.

The renowned authors rejected the agreement outright whereas the not-so-renowned and those with exhausted creativity readily signed the Agreement Thus, Knipe’s dual purpose of emulating over the authors all by himself and creating a monopolistic market for machine-generated literature became successful. He became a nouveau riche.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator About the Author Roald Dahl

Roald DahI (1916-1990) was born in Wales. A son of Scandinavian parentage, Dahi served as pilot in the British Royal Air force during the Second World War. He is not much valued for his academic excellence although achieved great popularity for his novels and short stories.

His best known works include ‘James and the Giant Peach’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (Since filmed), ‘Matilda’, The ‘Witches’ etc. He received quite a number of awards for his contribution to English Literature. Those include ‘World Fantasy Award for Life Time Achievement’-1983, the British Book Award,’ Children’s Author of the Year on 1990’ etc.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Theme

The theme of Roald Dahi’s short story,” The Great Automatic Grammatizator” is simple but a little bizarre. Mr. Knipe, a successful technocrat and failed literary contributor, with a zeal to excel and emulate over the writers in demand, designed and created a gizmo with extraordinary memory storage capacity to preload it with English Grammar, vocabulary, human emotions, passions, and styles of some renowned authors who were on demand in the literary circle.

Inspired by initial success in getting his machine-generated stories accepted by some editors of reputed magazines, he opened up an Agency and having failed to bait the top literary notches, offered agreements to less renowned authors who would get a handsome compensation in lending their names to his Agency and not write directly in the magazines. His writing machine would write for them.

The theme thus deals with commercialization of the literary art through automation to create a monopolistic capitalism. In other words, the story deals with the possibility of replacing human creativity by way of automation and probable profitability of the monopolistic capitalism.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Critical Appreciation

Roald Dahi’s “The Great Automatic Gammatizator” impregnates within it a general apprehension of the writers of the ‘50s and even the ‘60s that the advent of computers was akin to the advent of artificial intelligence. In a relevant manner therefore, he satirizes in the story a machine complete with almost a memory bank- stacked with vocabulary, plot, English Grammatical rules; and all those elements that are needed to write in one of the forms of literary art.

Knipe, a technocrat as well as a failed aspirant in the field of literary art, invents such a machine that can, with a press on a switch here and another press on a pedal there, print all kinds of literary art like stories, novels and so on. His techno-commercial acumen propels him to sell the idea to the not-so renowned and the exhausted authors to lend their names to his Agency which would publish literary contributions in their names in different eriodicals and pay them handsomely and they wouldn’t have to write a single line anywhere.

Knipe was successful because his targeted people needed money, and himself became a nouveau riche by way of his innovative monopolistic financial strategy. Dahi hasn’t spared the editors of famous magazines or periodicals. Knipe curses on the very word, “Editor” and says to Mr. Bohlen, when his literary contributions are compared with those that are usually published in renowned magazines; his seems to be much better. Well, it was his conviction.

Dahi always dealt with the bizarre, fanciful and the impractical. His description of the machine is reminiscent of the cockpit of a Second World War fighter plane, one of which he once flew. The mutual distaste between Mr. Bohlen and Mr. Knipe has produced some humerous soliloquies; especially when they talk about their appearances and that of course, brings some comic relief.

Like a host of people in those days, Dahl misunderstood the difference of rationale between a computer and an artificial, self propelling intelligence. In case of a computer, it’s a “Garbage in, Garbage out” syndrome. It will give its output according to the quality of the input. It can’t THINK! It can neither monitor or sensor whatever it is fed with! It works algorithmically, and can’t breach out its given limit. It is preprogrammed.

But the noetic quality of human mind or artificial intelligence cannot be used in a machine as an input simply because nobody can fathom the bottomless depth of human mind and its variations. Dahi wrote many short stories, novels and even the script of the James Bond movie,” You only twice”. Unfortunately, he never remembered the Shakespearian adage, “Brevity is the soul of wit”. Whereas the ideal canvass of a short story is necessarily short, his stories are unusually long, the crux of which is just minuscule. However, his satire of the literary world in general is well-avowedly clear. The present story is no exception.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Characters

Adolf Knipe:

Adolf Knipe was a technocrat by profession and was exceedingly creative. He designed and made a Computing Machine that could calculate and do all mathematics in a jiffy. But his penchant for literary art was almost an obsession. He thought himself a litterateur and then realized that neither the editors and nor the readership understood anything like literature since none of his contributions saw the light of the day in one of the periodicals.

His talent and aggression, coupled with tenacity and enterprise to emulate and even excel over the established authors, propelled him to devise a machine with memory-stacked with vocabulary, English Grammatical rules and usages, human sentiment, passion, emotion, style and all those elements that were pre-requisites for literary writing that included stories, novels etc.

The machine had different gears, levers, switches, press-buttons, and pedals and so on. It was reminiscent of the cockpit of a Second World War Fighter Plane (Dahi was once a Fighter Plane Pilot). A press on a switch here, and a press on the pedal there, would print out a particular form of literary art like story, novel etc. The quality of such machine-printed matters would be as good as the stuff that was printed in the standard magazines.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Title of the Story

Roald Dahi’s “The Great Automatic Grammatizator” deals with the possibility of supplanting human creativity by way of automation and the probable profitability of the monopolistic capitalism. Knipe, a technocrat as well as an unsuccessful literary contributor, invented a machine complete with almost a memory bank which was stacked with English grammatical rules, vocabulary, human passion, piots, emotion and style.

A press on a switch here and a press on a pedal there would print out a story or a novel or other forms. of literary art. Then he took franchise of different mediocre and exhausted authors against a standard monetary compensation to print literary contributions Using their names for different periodicals. Thus he monopolized the literary circle by way of automation. The title is justified.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Setting

Setting in the story is all but gizmos, engineering drawings, clatters of machines, printing of rims of papers, interspersed with a few conservations between Mr. Bohien and Mr. Knipe. Knipe’s weird imaginative faculty also adds to the setting. Wiring of the machines, their faults and repairs, Mr. Bohien’s initial frustration – all add to the setting for the material purpose. Roald Dahi’s “The Great Automatic Grammatizator” deals with the possibility of supplanting human creativity by way of automation and the probable profitability of the monopolistic capitalism.

Knipe, a technocrat as well as an unsuccessful literary contributor, invented a machine complete with almost a memory bank which was stacked with English grammaticalmies, vocabulary, human passion, plots, emotion and style. A press on a switch here and a press on a pedal there would print out a story or a novel or other forms of literary art.

Then he took franchise of different mediocre and exhausted authors against a standard monetary compensation to print literary contributions using their names for different periodicals. Thus he monopolized the literary circle by way of automation. The title is justified.

Adolf Knipe: Adolf Knipe was a technocrat by profession and was exceedingly creative. He designed and made a Computing Machine that could calculate and do all mathematics in a jiffy. But his penchant for literary art was almost an obsession. He thought himself a litterateur and then realized that neither the editors and nor the readership understood anything like literature since none of his contributions saw the light of the day in one of the periodicals.

His talent and aggression, coupled with tenacity and enterprise to emulate and even excel over the established authors, propelled him to devise a machine with memory- stacked with vocabulary, English Grammatical rules and usages, human sentiment, passion, emotion, style and all those elements that were pre-requisites for literary writing that included stories, novels etc. The machine had different gears, levers, switches, press-buttons, and pedals and so on.

It was reminiscent of the cockpit of a Second World War Fighter Plane (Dahi was once a Fighter Plane Pilot). A press on a switch here, and a press on the pedal there, would print out a particular form of literary art like story, novel etc. The quality of such machine-printed matters would be as good as the stuff that was printed in the standard magazines.

His machine worked out successfully and then his techno-commercial acumen led him to open up an Agency. His Agency solicited Agreements with the renowned authors to lend their names to his Agency. The Agency would machine-print literary contributions to different renowned magazines in their names and earn their bit.

Of course, the name lenders were to be handsomely rewarded. After the renowned authors rejected his witty proposal outright, he opted for the mediocre, not-so-renowned and the exhausted authors, and they readily accepted the proposal. Needless to say that Knipe created a monopolistic machine-controlled literary culture and himself became nouveau riche. Knipe’s character and the character of the gizmo are well defined.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator Annotations and Vocabulary

Sloppily — Badly or carelessly
Drooping — Bend downwards limply
Untidy — Not arranged neatly or in order
Astonishment — Great surprise
Wonder — Amazement or admiration
Queerly — In a strange perplexing way
Stumper — A puzzling question
Exultation — Jubilation, rejoicing
Prowling — Move about restlessly, especially in search of a prey
Imprecations — A spoken or pronounced curse
Ingenious — Clever, inventive
Darndest — Utmost, best
Scribbling — Writing or drawing something carelessly
Distending — Swell or cause to swell
Smacks — A sharp slap or blow, typically one given with the palm of hand
Musing — A period of reflection or thought
Epexegetically — Additional explanation
Breviped — Having short feet or legs
Lewd — Crude and offensive in a sexual way
Mollified– Appease the anger, anxiety
Prolific — Producing much fruit, foliage or many offspring
Prodigious — Remarkably great in extent, size or degree
Profundity — Great depth or insight or knowledge
Clatter — A continuous rattling sound as of hard objects falling or striking each other
Dismayed — Concern or distress caused by something unexpected

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers

The Paper Menagerie Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Ken Liu

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The Paper Menagerie Summary by Ken Liu

The Paper Menagerie Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Ken Liu

The Paper Menagerie Summary

The emotional story revolves round a Chinese – American boy, struggling to be one with American way of life, and his Chinese mother, unwilling to give up Chinese language and culture even in America. The mother was gifted with a unique quality of origami. She made animals, birds, dolls and with almost a magical skill, she could animate those creations. They could move, make sound, fly and act like animated objects. She did all these to amuse and entertain her child.

But the child started liking American toys and developed a dislike for his mother’s origami and everything that belonged to his mother’s Chinese culture. He felt that his slit-eyed, flat nosed face and yellowish complexion were hated by American neighbours and his classmates. So, he tried to emulate them by transforming himself into an American.

He even stopped talking to his mother when she could not interact in English. With time, the boy’s interest in his mother’s origami was lost and even her terminal illness couldn’t carve a line in the boy’s mind. Finally, the mother died, mumbling a few words to the boy’s father and the boy.

After two years of his mother’s death, the boy – then a grown-up man found a piece of origami in the shape of a dog, and when he straightened up the paper- folds he found something was written in Chinese script. As he never had learnt to read Chinese script, he consulted a young Chinese woman who deciphered the script and the man got to know the rueful story of his mother.

Born in 1957, the mother was from a remote village of China. She survived the great famine but lost all but herself in the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966. As a fugitive she tried to reach Hong Kong but was caught in the way and was handed over to the girl-traffickers of Hong – Kong. The boy’s father, then settled in America, bought her and took her to America as his wife. Thus, she was sans education, money, help but inherited the great magical art of origami which was the only thing she could offer to her son.

The Paper Menagerie About the Author Ken Liu

Born in Lanzhou, China in 1976, and educated at Harvard law school, Ken liu is a Chinese-American author of speculative fiction. A winner of Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards for his fiction. Liu’s most characteristic work is the four-volume epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers, not wizards, are the heroes of a silk punk world on the verge of modernity.

His debut collection of short fiction, THE PAPER MENAGERIE and other stories has been published in more than a dozen languages. A second collection, THE HIDDEN GIRL and other stories followed suit. He also wrote the STAR WARS novel, the legends of Luke Sky walker.

The Paper Menagerie Theme

The theme of Ken Liu’s short story, “THE PAPER MENAGERIE” is primarily the universal bond between a mother and her son. Settled in America, the son struggles to identify himself with Americans and their way of life. He also tries to transform his mother to Americanism but she couldn’t and perhaps wouldn’t. She was a gifted artist of magical origami. She created animals and birds and sea animals that could move, make sound and swim.

But the more the boy grew, the more banal his mother’s artistry appeared to him and he, in order to be an American, developed his interest in American toys. Gradually the boy grew up, his father settling up elsewhere, and got to know about his mother’s rueful story from one of his mother’s origami. He got to know what damage and destruction could natural disasters and political upheavals could do to human life. The genocide in name of Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966 played havoc in the life and family of his mother.

Once a family of happy peasantry, his mother became a fugitive at an age, when she should have been playing with doll or practicing the art of origami, she had to flee to Hong – Kong for life and there she was sold to her husband by the woman traffickers. The boy’s father’s role in the story is significant in the way that without him, the conflict of culture between the west and the orient couldn’t be slated.

The Paper Menagerie Critical Appreciation

Ken Liu’s “The Paper Menagerie” is a moving, emotional short story that deals with estrangement, love magic, identity crisis, ambition discernment, distress due to political upheaval, and a perpetual conflict of philosophy between the orient and the west. Like one of those from universal motherhood, Jack’s mother loves him dearly.

Jack mother, all but a fugitive from China, fleeing to Hong kong for life, is caught by the girl traffickers, but is helped by an old lady to gets listed in the catalogue of Chinese women who are to be sold to Chinese-American husbands. She is also sold to a Chinese- American husband, who treats her well and settles in Connecticut, U.S.A.

Often she felt estranged from her peasant life at Sigulu, her village in China, where she learnt the art of magical origami which put life into the paper crafts of animals and birds. The Cultural Revolution of China in 1967 caused havoc in the lives of the Chinese people and that brought a mass exodus from China to which Jack’s mother fell victim.

Jack says, “Mom’s breath was special. She breathed into her paper animals so that they shared her breath, and thus moved with her life. This was her magic.” This statement however, is exaggerated since no mortal hand could instill life in inanimate objects in the world. In his desire to emulate the Americans, Jack develops his choice for American toys and their way of life.

The magical origami of his mother was now a matter of distaste and so was the Chinese language. He wanted to identify himself as an American. Both he and his father implored upon the mother to cook and speak American. She tried but failed. Jack was discerned because by then, he had been caught in the Menagerie of American Dreams.

His mother’s oriental mind could not reconcile with the western way of life and in finally, died in a terminal disease, living behind her pitiful biography in Chinese script on Laohu, a paper tiger. The pathos in the story is obvious and has an emotional appeal for the reader.

The Paper Menagerie Characters

Jack-Jack is a Chinese-American boy settled in Connecticut, U.S.A. His father has reconciled with American life style and society. But his mother cannot. Jack feels alienated in American set up with his Mongoloid looks and his mother’s magical origami. He is lured by the dream of American El Dorado and therefore, tries to become an American in body, mind and in everything. In order to be a perfect American, both he and his father implore upon his mother to speak and cook American. And much though she tries her best, her oriental lineage stands before her as the buffer.

One cannot accuse Jack for his mind set. He must have the adage at the back of his mind which says, ‘Be a Roman, when you are in Rome’.’ living in America, and working there for a career with an oriental mind-set would hardly help Jack attain his ambitious goal.

Even he prefers American toys to his mother’s origami. Albeit it is true that unless and until one becomes a part of mainstream American life, it is difficult for an easterner to survive in American environment. But that hardly demands any disrespect for his ancentral lineage and that is where Jack is mistaken.

He had even stopped talking to his mother when she failed to comply with American way of life, which was an act of cruelty on Jack’s pari Jack’s discernment for his ailing mother is almost an unforgivable offence. In his run for career, he forgets his mother, his father withdraws from him and relocates elsewhere but Jack has his target fixed at his corporate career. This is quite an example of a selfish, ungrateful young man forgetful about his responsibilities towards his family.

Jack learns the pitiful background of his mother only after her death. She had recorded her pitiful life in Chinese script on a piece of her origami. Jack gets its translated from a Chinese interpreter and then realizes the pangs of the conflicting life of his mother who could not reconcile in western environment leaving her oriental lineage.

The mother-Jack’s mother, a peasant girl, had a peaceful life in a remote village of China. At a very tender age, she mastered the art of origami and knew how to instill life in those paper animals and birds. Unfortunately, during the mass exodus from China to Hong Kong after the Cultural Revolution in China in 1966, she became a fugitive and fell in the trap of girl traffickers of Hong Kong, and worked there, almost as a slave. Jack’s father, then an unmarried Chinese-American, bought her and married her to take her to Connecticut, U.S.A. There they got settled.

In Connecticut, she gave birth to Jack and like a universal mother, loved her son and took every possible care to rear him. She believed in the simpler pleasures of oriental life and could never reconcile with American life. She made her paper creatures and instilled life into them and those could move, make sounds like their real counterparts. All these she did to amuse and please her only son.

Her son grew up and wanted to come out of his oriental background and embrace American culture in body and mind. He detested his mother’s creations and opted for American toys. She was hurt, but bore it silently because that was part of her oriental habit. She was implored by her husband and her son to speak and cook American.

She, much like a patient wife and mother, tried to comply. In the process, she learnt to cook American food, but couldn’t pick up American English. Her inability almost made her shrink into insignificance in the life of her husband and her son. But she never protested, and remained within her oriental frame of mind. She wrote and spoke Chinese, but stopped making any more origamic creatures. Life for her became grey and colourless.

There was no material insecurity in her life, but the life of pleasure, the essential elixir for living, was taken away from her. She missed her simple pastoral life of the village and felt a fish out of water in the U.S. Finally, god becomes merciful to her and relieves her from the pangs of life through mundane finality-death by Cancer after proloned illness.

The Paper Menagerie Title of the Story

Menagerie means a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition. The Paper Menagerie means paper made animals by way of origami. The Chinese-American family in the short story consists of a father, a mother and their only son, named Jack. They are settled in the U.S.A. The mother is almost a wizard in origami. Her creation of animals and birds can make sounds and move as if they are animated. As a boy, Jack loves his mother’s creation.

But with years, he develops his obsession for American toys and American life style as he is afraid that his Mongoloid looks may alienate him from mainstream American life. Since he decides to settle there permanently, he has to be an American by every means. He even impresses upon his mother to speak English and cook American food.

But his mother, much though her husband implores upon her to act like what his son says, cannot fully comply with both her son and her husband. Jack grows up and his distaste for his mother’s origami grows bitter. He becomes an American boy in life and style. Then one day, he hoards his mother’s origami creations into a shoe box and forgets about those in due course, making the shoe box a menagerie for all those paper animals.

Jack grows up and his distaste for his mother’s origami grows bitter. He becomes an American boy in life and style. Then one day, he hoards his mother’s origami creations into a shoe box and forgets about those in due course, making the shoe box a menagerie for all those paper-animals.

Jack grows to be a young man and has Susan, an American girl, as his friend who retrieves all those paper animals from the shoe box in the Attic. She calls Jack’s departed mother “an amazing artist.” Without repeating the whole story, we may say that not only does Jack make a Menagerie of the paper animals created by his mother, but also he makes himself one of the living animals in the luring Menagerie of the west. Thus the title is justified.

The Paper Menagerie Setting

Setting forms an integral part of the story. Set at Connecticut, U.S.A, the story draws the picture of a conflicting culture between the west and the orient. The Chinese family in the story has migrated to America and is settled there. Whereas Jack and his father reconcile with American language and culture, his mother can’t.

Jack liked his mother’s origami at an early age because it was simple magical as it animated the paper dogs, fish, birds etc. Those could move and even make sounds of their likes in the real world. But gradually, he became obsessed with American toys and culture as he wanted to identify himself as an American, lest he was alienated for his Mongoloid looks.

The adage says, “Be a Roman when you are in Rome.” Jack believes in the adage and therefore, takes all the trouble to convert himself into an American. His mother was a fugitive from trouble-tom remote village of China where she mastered the art of magical origami. Pertaining to a peasant family, her life was pure and simple, befitting to an Oriental village. She cannot give up her cultural identity for the lure of the west, much though her husband and her son press her to take to American way of life.

The setting therefore, is important in the story so as to understand this perpetual conflict. We may recount from our experience about the refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan, who resettled in India and most of them changed in behaviour and culture. It was easy for the newer generation to change with the change in set-up, but the elders suffered greatly as they felt alienated in a new setting.

The mother in the story died of a terminal disease leaving behind her pathetic story in Chinese script on a paper-dog. Jack, by then a young man, got to know though a Chinese interpreter the pangs of his mother’s life and there the story ended. Thus the setting is important in the short story, THE PAPER MENAGERIE.

The Paper Menagerie Annotations and Vocabulary

Menagerie — A collection of wild animal kept in captivity for exhibition
Sobbing — crying noisily
Soothed — gently calm, reduce pain or discomfort
Pleated — fold in cloth made by doubling materials over on itself
Tucked — Push, fold or turn
Twitched — give a short, sudden jerking or convulsive movement.
Pounced — spring or swoop suddenly so as to catch prey.
Rustling — make a soft muffled cracking sound like one caused by the movement of day leaves or paper.
Startled — showing sudden shock or alarm.
Vibrated — Move rapidly to and fro.
Origami — Japanese art of folding paper in decorating shapes and figures.
Catalogue — a complete list of items typical one in alphabetical order.
Flipping — To express mild annoyance.
Cheongsam — also known as Qipao, is a Chinese gown worn by women.
Calm — absence of strong emotions.
Contempt felt good like wine — The need to belong is intrinsic to all people. But especially for children, it is the need to make it or break it, the force that determines their viewpoints, attitudes,The way they experience the world.
Growling — Animal, guttered sound expressing hostility.
Capillary action — It is the process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the assistance of, or in opposition to, any external forces like, gravity.
Limp — walk with difficulty because of damaged legs.
Whimpered — Feeble sound experience of fear, pain etc.
Winced — make an involuntary grimace or shrinking movement of the body out of pain or distress.
Soggy — wet and soft.
Translucent — allowing light, but not detailed shapes to pass through-semi transparent.
Drooping — let or make fall vertically.
Skittering — more quickly or lightly.
Peeking — look quickly or furtively
Chink — slit eyed
Hunched — bend the top of one’s body favoured.
Attic — a space or room in the roof of a building.
Shoved — push roughly.
Mime — The theatrical technique of suggesting action, character or emotion without using words.
Exaggerated — Over stated the reality
Cuddle — hold close in one’s arms as a way of showing love.
Hum — make a low, continuous sound like a bee.
Smuck — move or go in a furtive way
Interwining — Connect or link closely.

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers