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