Updated on 25/02/2022
Chapter - 1 The Last Lesson (Alphonse Daudet)
Q. 1 Write a brief
character-sketch of M. Hamel.
Ans. Mr. Hamel is a teacher of the French language at the
narrator’s school. He is very strict as a teacher. His students are afraid of
him. But they also respect him. All villagers also respect him. He is a great
patriot. He loves his country and the language of his country. He urged upon
the students and the villagers to protect the French language. He is deeply
shocked when the new German rulers of the country disallow the teaching of
French in schools. Mr. Hamel has to leave the school. Mr. Hamel was very sad.
He told his students that ‘My children, this is the last lesson, I shall give
you. The order has come from Berlin to teach only German in schools of Alsace
and Lorraine. The new teacher comes tomorrow. This is you last lesson. I want
you be very attentive.’ In the end, he got up. He wants to say something
chocked him. He took a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard in big
letters, “Vive La France!” (Long Live France).
Q. 2 Write a brief
character sketch of Franz.
Ans. Franz is a little student. He is the narrator of this
story. He was late for school that day. He was afraid that the teacher would
scold him. He was also afraid because the teacher was to ask questions on
participles and he didn’t know a single word about them. So he thought of running
away and spending the day out. But when he passed by town hall, he saw a big
crowd in front of bulletin board. Franz wondered what the matter could be, but
he didn’t stop there. On seeing Franz, the village blacksmith said, don’t go so
fast. You’ll get to school in plenty of time. Franz thought that blacksmith was
making fun of him. He continued going fast. When he reached his school, He was
all out of breath. Franz opened the class-room door and went in. He was very
frightened, but to his surprise Mr. Hamel said very kindly, ‘Go to your seat
quickly, Franz’.
2. Lost
Spring- Stories of Stolen Childhood (Anees Jung)
Essay Type Q-Ans.
1. Reproduce briefly
the story related to the man from Udipi?
Ans. The writer once met a man from Udipi. The man said that
as a young boy, he would go to school past an old temple. His father was a
priest at that temple. The boy would stop briefly at the temple. He would pray
to the goddess for a pair of shoes. The boy finally got a pair of shoes. The
boy prayed, “Let me never lose them.” The goddess granted his prayer.
The writer
says that she visited the town again after thirty years. She went to the
temple. She saw that the temple had a new priest now. The new priest’s son was
wearing a grey uniform. He was also wearing socks and shoes. The writer
remembered the prayer of another boy. She saw that the boy like the son of the
priest now wore shoes. But many others like the ragpickers in her neighbourhood
were still shoeless.
2. Who is Mukesh? What is his ambition? Describe the author’s visit to the house of Mukesh.
Ans.
Mukesh belongs to a poor family of bangle makers in Firozabad. He does not like
the life of a bangle maker. His ambition is to become a motor mechanic. He
dreams of driving a car. His
house is being rebuilt. He feels very proud of it and offers to take the writer
to his house. When, the writer goes there, she sees that is a slum area. There
is a stinking lane, which
are chocked with garbage. Mukesh’s house is like a half built shack. In one
part of it, there is firewood stove. It has a large vessel on it. A frail young
woman is cooking the evening meals. She is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother.
Mukesh’s father is a poor bangle maker. Even after long year of hard labour, he
has failed to renovate his house. He could not send his two sons to school. He
could just teach them the art of bangle making. Mukesh’s grandmother is also there. Her husband has
gone blind with dust from the polishing of glass bangles. She calls it his
Karma.
Q.3. What is ironical about Saheb’s
name? Describe the life of Saheb and the life of the other ragpickers of
Seemapuri.
Ans. Saheb
is a poor ragpicker. He is one of the ragpickers of Seemapuri. They have been
living on the periphery of Delhi. Saheb’s full name is ‘Saheb-e-Alam’ which
means ‘Lord of the Universe’. This is highly ironical. He does not know what
the meaning of his name is. He leads a very poor and miserable life. He moves
barefoot as he has no money to buy shoes. He earns his living by scrounging
garbage dumps.
Saheb and the other ragpickers of Seemapuri
lead a miserable and poor life. They live in dingy huts made of mud with roofs
of tin. They live amidst dirty and unhygienic surroundings. There is no
sewerage, no drainage and no running water in their colony. There is no
development and no progress. For these poor people survival means rag-picking.
For these poor children, garbage is gold for them. It is the source of their
living.
3. Deep Water (William Douglas)
Q. 1 How did Douglas overcome his fear of deep
water?
Ans. Douglas had
experienced a misadventure at the YMCA swimming pool. It left a deep impression
on his mind. The fear of water stayed with him for many years. When he was ten
or eleven years old, he decided to learn swimming. So he got an instructor to
teach him how to swim. He went to a pool. He practiced there swimming five days
a week, an hour a day. The instructor was an experienced person. He put a belt
round him. A rope was attached to the belt. The rope went through a pulley.
Douglas was made to go back and forth across the pool. Then he taught Douglas
how to exhale and inhale while in water. Thus, by slow step, the instructor
made him a perfect swimmer. However, Douglas was not sure that his terror of water
had left him. So he went to Lake Wentworth. He swam two miles across the lake.
Only once he had the sensation of his old fear. At last he conquered his fear
of water.
Q. 2 What is the theme
of the lesson’ Deep Water’?
Ans. Douglas recounts his childhood ‘misadventure.’ He
describes how he was tossed into the pool by a big boy. He was nearly drowned
in the pool. He was much frightened. This fear of water remained with him for
years. But later, he decided to be a perfect swimmer. He employed an instructor
to learn to swim. The instructor transformed Douglas into a perfect swimmer.
Even after that, he continued practicing swimming. Finally, he was able to
overcome his fear of water.
‘Deep water’ is not just a childhood experience of terror and conquering of that terror. It has a deeper and larger meaning. Douglas wants to convey a message through it. It is the message of hope, struggle and determinism. The psychology of fear is very complex. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death. Roosevelt has rightly said’ All we have to fear is fear itself’ Douglas experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror of it.
4. The Rattrap (Selma Lagerlof)
Q. 1 How does the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the human predicament?
Ans. The peddler considers that the whole world is nothing but a big rattrap. The riches, joys, shelter and food are nothing but mere baits. When one touches the bait, the rattrap closes in on him. The peddler robbed thirty kronor of the old crofter who served him food and provided shelter at night. Those thirty kronor that he stole prove to be the bait. He is lost in a big and confusing forest. He has befooled himself by the bait. The metaphor of the rattrap comes alive when the ironmaster invited him to his manor house but he refused to go there. Going there would mean going to the lion’s den. Again the metaphor is used effectively when the peddler describes human predicament to the ironmaster. Even the title of the story ‘The Rattrap’ is highly metaphorical. The metaphor runs throughout the story.
Q. 2 Give a character-sketch of the peddler.
Ans. The writer of the story draws the character of the peddler, with all sympathy and understanding. The rattrap seller is a very poor man. He goes from place to place selling rattraps. The peddler represents some human weaknesses. In fact, he is the product of circumstances. The peddler is a vagabond. He is also a beggar as well as a petty thief. He himself falls to temptation and steals thirty kronors of the old crofter.
The writer describes the peddler in such a way that arouses our sympathy with him. His clothes are dirty. He is very poor. He builds rattraps from the material received in begging. The peddler raises himself above petty temptation in the end. He thanks Miss Edla for her kindness and hospitality. He leaves thirty kronors to be given back to the old crofter. He also leaves a small rattrap as a Christmas present for Edla. Thus, the readers forgive him for his little human weakness.
5. Indigo (Louis Fischer)
Essay Type Q-Ans. of ‘Indigo’
1. How did Gandhiji win the battle of Champaran?
Ans. ‘Indigo’ written by Louis Fisher presented how Gandhiji freed the poor peasant of Champaran from the clutches of the British planters. The poor peasants had to produce Indigo 15 percent of the land and surrender it as rent to the landlord. In 1916, a poor peasant named Rajkumar Shukla met Gandhiji at Calcutta. He was determined to take Gandhiji to help the poor peasants of Champaran. They went to Rajendra Prasad’s house where the servant took Gandhiji another peasant. Gandhiji went Muzzafarpur to collect more information about the condition of peasants. He told that it was no good to take the cases to court. So the first thing was to get rid from the fear of British. The British planters demanded compensation instead of planting Indigo because Germany had developed synthetic Indigo. But the peasants refused to give. At last, Gandhiji fought for them and got justice for them. He filled them with courage and self-reliance. Along with this, Gandhiji worked on the social level also. He arranged of education, health and hygiene for the peasants. Thus he won the battle of Champaran.