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Class 12 English NCERT Solutions Flamingo Chapter 2 An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Poem Free PDF Download

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English

An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Textual Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Tick the item which best answers the following.
(a) The tall girl with her head weighed down means
The girl
(i) is ill and exhausted
(ii) has her head bent with shame
(iii) has untidy hair

(b) The paper-seeming boy with rat’s eyes means
The boy is
(i) sly and secretive
(ii) thin, hungry and weak
(iii) unpleasant looking

(c) The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones means
The boy
(i) has an inherited disability
(ii) was short and bony

(d) His eyes live in a dream, A squirrel’s game, in the tree room other than this means
The boy is
(i) full of hope in the future
(ii) mentally ill
(iii) distracted from the lesson

(e) The children’s faces are compared to rootless weeds
This means they
(i) are insecure
(ii) are ill-fed
(iii) are wasters
Answer:
(a) (i) is ill and exhausted
(b) (ii) thin, hungry and weak
(c) (i) has an inherited disability
(d) (iii) distracted from the lesson
(e) (i) are insecure

Question 2.
What do you think is the colour of ‘sour cream’? Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?
Answer:
The classroom walls are painted in a dull creamy colour which symbolizes the bleak future of the slum children who study there. They are deprived of quality education.

Question 3.
The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, ‘World maps’ and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children?
Answer:
The walls of the classroom depict pictures of Shakespeare, sky-high buildings, maps and valleys of flowers. The world of slum children is a real contrast to this. These children live in an environment of poverty, hunger, scarcity, and disease in a pathetic condition in contrast to the prosperous and developing world as depicted on the classroom walls.

Question 4.
What does the poet want for children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants a quality life with equal opportunities for the slum children to learn and earn. Their lives can be changed when they are given equal opportunities, good education, and a respectable life.

An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Solved Question Bank

Reference-to-context Exercises
Read the extracts given below.
Question 1.
Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces. [Delhi 2017]
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor;
The tall girl with her weighed-down head.
Answer the following.
(a) The pale faces of the children are in contrast to the gusty waves. (True/False)
(b) The children looked like rooted weeds. (True/False)
(c) A tall ___________ has a weighed-down head?
(d) What was the condition of the children’s hair?
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) girl
(d) torn

Question 2.
Far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-
seeming boy, with rat eyes.
Answer the following.
(a) The children’s faces wore signs of their rootless condition. (True/False)
(b) The tall girl bows her head with the burden of studies. (True/False)
(c) From which type of landscape is the location described in these lines, far from?
(d) ___________ in the boy’s face have been compared to a rat.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) Gusty waves
(d) eyes

Question 3.
The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.
Answer the following.
(a) The boy was an unlucky heir to the throne of his father. (True/False)
(b) The boy had inherited twisted bones from his father. (True/False)
(c) A sweet and young child sat ___________ at the back.
(d) The child was dreaming of a ___________ game.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) unnoticed
(d) squirrel’s

Question 4.
At back of the dim class [All India 2017]
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.
Answer the following.
(a) The class is enjoying a squirrel’s game.
(b) The classroom not being well lit is ___________ .
(c) The boy was sitting at the back of the class ___________ .
(d) The hole where the squirrel was spotted is called a tree ___________ by the poet.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) dim
(c) unnoticed
(d) room

Question 5.
On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head, [Foreign 2017]
Cloudless at dawn, civilised dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley.
Answer the following.
(a) The walls of the classroom were made of sour cream. (True/False)
(b) On the classroom wall there is a head of ___________ .
(c) There are also pictures of the ___________ valley.
(d) At what time of the day is the shot of the Tyrolese Valley taken?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) Shakespeare
(c) Tyrolese
(d) cloudless dawn

Question 6.
…Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Answer the following.
(a) For the children in the classroom, the only world that they know of is outside their classroom windows. (True/False)
(b) The map in the classroom is pinned to the window of the classroom. (True/False)
(c) The school is located in a ___________ street.
(d) The future of the children is dull and has been compared to a ___________ .
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) narrow
(d) fog

Question 7.
Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal—
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
Answer the following.
(a) The map is a bad example for the children as it tempts hopes in the children. (True/False)
(b) After seeing ships and sunshine, the children’s minds are slyly turning in their cramped ___________ .
(c) The children’s living quarters are described as ___________ heaps.
(d) What metal is used to make the children’s spectacle frames?
Answer:
(a) True
(b) holes
(c) slag
(d) steel

Question 8.
…On their slag heap, these children [CBSE 2018]
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
Answer the following.
(a) The children’s physique is such that their skins seem to be peeping through their bones. (True/False)
(b) The children’s spectacle glasses are ___________ .
(c) The children wear ___________ of steel.
(d) The cracked surfaces of their mended glasses looks like bottle ___________ lying on stone.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) broken
(c) spectacles
(d) bits

Question 9.
On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Answer the following.
(a) On their slag heaps are bones and broken spectacles. (True/False)
(b) ___________ peep through the loose skins of the children’s bodies.
(c) In the children’s spectacles what is broken: steel or glass?
(d) Their slum-dwelling has been compared to ___________ .
Answer:
(a) False
(b) bones
(c) glass
(d) doom

Question 10.
Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs.
Answer the following.
(a) The authorities associated with the school are the governor, the inspector, and visitors. (True/False)
(b) The poet urges the authorities to make the classroom map the children’s ___________ to the outer world.
(c) The windows of the classroom have been compared to ___________ .
(d) ___________ in the classroom is an outlet to the world beyond.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) window
(c) catacombs
(d) map

An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Short Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in a slum? [All India 2016]
Answer:
The lives of slum children are far removed from what is displayed on the walls. Shakespeare represents literature and the map shows the foreign land with beautiful landscapes. This civilized world is meaningless for them and will tempt them to take a wrong path.

Question 2.
What does Stephen Spender want to be done for the children of the school in a slum? [Delhi 2016]
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants their lot to improve. He wants education for the slum children which will broaden their horizons, liberate them truly and empower them to create their own history. He wants them to get rid of their dismal lives.

Question 3.
To whom does the poet in the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” make an appeal? What is his appeal? [Delhi 2014 (C)]
Answer:
The poet appeals to the inspectors, visitors, and governors to improve the lot of the slum children by providing them with quality life and quality education.

Question 4.
Which words/phrases in the poem show that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition? [All India 2014 (C)]
Answer:
‘Stunted’, ‘twisted bones’ ‘paper-seeming boy’, ‘skin peeped through by bones’, etc. are some of the words/phrases that show the conditions of acute malnutrition of the slum children.

Question 5.
What changes does the poet hope for in the lives of slum children? [Foreign 2014]
Answer:
The poet hopes that these children will get rid of their poverty and nourished properly. The doors of the world will be thrown open to them. They will get quality education and quality life.

Question 6.
What message does Stephen Spender convey through his poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’? [Delhi 2013, Foreign 2011]
Answer:
Through this poem, Stephen Spender wants to convey the idea of social injustice and class inequality. Expressing his concern at the plight of the slum children, he appeals to the governors, visitors, and inspectors to provide equal opportunities for education to these children.

Question 7.
What is the theme of the poem? [Foreign 2013]
Answer:
The poem deals with social injustice and class inequality. The poet highlights the lack of political will on the part of the authorities and indifference on the part of society that compels these children to live a life of poverty and hunger. They are deprived of their basic rights.

Question 8.
What does the world of the slum children consist of?
Answer:
The world of the slum children consists of dark classrooms and narrow lanes. Their world is full of poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and disease. It is confined to grey and black colours.

Question 9.
What is the only hope for the slum children?
Answer:
The only hope for these children lies in the hands of inspectors, visitors, and governors. They should take immediate action to provide them with equal opportunities for education so that they can move out of their slums and be part of the real world.

Stammer Summary

Guilty Summary in English

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poetry

• My Mother at Sixty-six Question Answer
• An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Question Answer
• Keeping Quiet Question Answer
• A Thing of Beauty Question Answer
• A Roadside Stand Question Answer
• Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Question Answer

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 3 Macavity : The Mystery Cat are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 3 Macavity : The Mystery Cat.

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew (Poem) Macavity : The Mystery Cat

STANZAS FOR COMPREHENSION

I. Macavity’s a Mystery Cat : he’s called the Hidden
Paw–
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s
despair :
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s
not there! (Page 50)

हिंदी अनुवाद-मैकाविटी एक रहस्यपूर्ण बिल्ला है। उसे ‘छिपा पंजा’ का दूसरा नाम भी (उसकी रहस्यमयता के कारण) मिला है। वह बड़ा कुशल अपराधी है जो बिना किसी डर के कानून तोड़ता है। उसके काम स्काटलैंड की पुलिस को घबरा देते हैं। उड़न दस्ते ने व्यर्थ ही उसे पकड़ने का प्रयत्न किया है। जब तक वे अपराध-स्थल पर पहुँचते हैं, मैकाविटी गायब हो जाता है।

Paraphrase. Macavity is a mysterious cat. His mystery has given him another name also—’Hidden Paw’. He is an expert criminal who can disobey the law with impunity. His actions puzzle the police of Scotland Yard. The Flying Squad has in vain tried to chase him. By the time they reach the scene of crime, Macavity disappears.

Multiple Choice Questions
1. Macavity is a mystery cat because
(a) he has hidden powers
(b) no-one understands his ways
(c) Scotland Yard is baffled by him
(d) he has a hidden paw.

2. Macavity is never punished because
(a) he disappears into thin air
(b) he has a hidden paw
(c) he is never found at the scene of crime
(d) Scotland Yard does not understand him.

3. Macavity breaks
(a) the pots
(b) the wall
(c) a fakir’s honour
(d) human laws.

4. The adjective from the word mystery is
(a) mysterious
(b) mystic
(c) mystify
(d) mysticism.

Answers
1. (b) no-one understands his ways
2. (c) he is never found at the scene of crime
3. (d) human laws
4. (a) mysterious

II. Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like
Macavity,
He’s broken every human law, he breaks
the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir
stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime
-Macavity’s not there! (Page 50)

हिंदी अनुवाद-मैकाविटी, मैकाविटी ; मैकाविटी जैसा कोई नहीं। उसने सभी मानवीय कानून तोड़ डाले हैं। वह गुरुत्वाकर्षण का नियम तोड़ता है। फकीरों के पास रहस्यपूर्ण शक्तियाँ होती हैं। बिना सहारे हवा में उसके उड़ने की शक्ति किसी फकीर को भी चकित कर देगी और जब तुम अपराध के घटनास्थल पर पहुँचते हो तो मैकाविटी वहाँ नहीं होता है।

Paraphrase. There is no one like Macavity. He has broken all man-made laws. He has broken even the law of gravity. Fakirs have mysterious powers. His floating in the air without support would astonish even a fakir. Above all when you reach the scene of crime, Macavity is nowhere to be seen.

Questions
1. Who is Macavity ?
2. What does Macavity do ?
3. Do people like Macavity ?
4. What does the word ‘levitation’ mean?

Answers
1. Macavity is a cat.
2. Macavity does not follow any human law. He is a criminal.
3. No, the people do not like Macavity.
4. The word ‘levitation’ means “floating in the air’.

III. You may seek him in the basement, you
may look up in the air
But I tell you once and once again,
Macavity’s not there!
Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and
thin ;
You would know him if you saw him, for
his eyes are sunken in. (Page 50)

हिंदी अनुवाद -आप मैकाविटी को शायद तहखाने या हवा में तलाश करने का प्रयत्न करें पर वह व्यर्थ होगा। इस प्रकार उसे तलाश करने वाला उसे कहीं नहीं खोज पाएगा-न धरती के नीचे, न ऊपर। मैकाविटी अदरक के रंग वाला बिल्ला है। वह लंबा और पतला है। अगर आप उसे मिलेंगे तो उसकी धंसी हुई आँखों से उसे आसानी से पहचान लोगे।

Paraphrase. You may try to find Macavity in the basement or in the air but in vain. Thus, one who looks for him finds him nowhere—under or over the earth. Macavity is a ginger coloured cat. He is tall and thin. If you meet him, you will easily recognise him because of his deep-set eyes.

Multiple Choice Questions
1. The great difficulty is that Macavity
(a) is easily found
(b) is very difficult to be found
(c) is a ginger cat
(d) is tall and thin.

2. Ginger in the passage is
(a) a thing that Macavity likes
(b) something which resembles Macavity
(c) the colour of Macavity
(d) the breed of Macavity.

3. The poet’s name is
(a) R.N. Tagore
(b) Zulfikar Ghose
(c) William Blake
(d) T.S. Eliot.

4. The word ‘sunken’ in the passage means
(a) deep-set
(b) drowned
(c) floating
(d) attractive.

Answers
1. (b) is very difficult to be found
2. (c) the colour of Macavity
3. (d) T.S. Eliot
4. (a) deep-set

IV. His brow is deeply lined with thought, his
head is highly domed ;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements
like a snake;
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake. (Pages 50–51)

हिंदी अनुवाद -मैकाविटी का माथा झुर्रियों से भरा है। उससे ऐसा लगता है कि हर समय वह गहरे विचारों में डूबा हुआ है। उसका सिर उसके शरीर पर किसी इमारत के ऊपर लगे गुंबज की तरह ऊँचा है। उसके शरीर की देखभाल ठीक से नहीं की जाती है। अतः उसकी खाल धूल-भरी और मूंछे बिखरी हुई हैं। साँप की तरह वह अपना सिर इधर-उधर हिलाता रहता है। वह सदा सतर्क रहता है। जब वह आपको उनींदा हुआ दिखाई दे तब भी वह पूरी तरह सतर्क होता है।

Paraphrase. Macavity’s forehead is wrinkled. From that he appears lost in deep thinking all the time. His head sits high on his body like the dome on a building. His body is not well looked after. So the skin is dusty and the whiskers are uncombed. He moves his head from side to side like a snake. He is always alert. When you think he is dozing, he is wide awake.

Questions
1. What is the passage about ?
2. What is he doing with his deeply lined brow ?
3. What does the word ‘coat refers to in the passage ?
4. Find word in the passage which is the opposite of ‘heed’.

Answers
1. The passage is about a cat named ‘Macavity.
2. He is thinking of his new criminal act.
3. The word ‘coat refers to the skin.
4. ignore.

V. Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in
the square
But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there ! (Page 51)

Paraphrase. Macavity is special. There is no parallel to him. He is a devil in the body of a cat. He is morally corrupt like a monster ! Ordinarily, you may find him anywhere on your way. He may be there in a by-lane or in a square. However, when, his crime is discovered and people look for him, he is nowhere to be found.

Multiple Choice Questions
1. The fiend in feline shape is
(a) Macavity
(b) a dog
(c) a human being
(d) the poet.

2. It is difficult to find Macavity when
(a) he lives in the square
(b) he lives in a by-street
(c) he is a fiend
(d) he commits a crime.

3. Macavity is compared to
(a) man
(b) a dog
(c) a cat
(d) a devil.

4. The word depravity means
(a) deep thought
(b) moral corruption
(c) bad actions
(d) mystery.

Answers
1. (a) Macavity
2. (d) he commits a crime
3. (d) a devil
4. (b) moral corruption

TEXTUAL QUESTIONS

WORKING WITH THE POEM (Page 51)

Question. 1.
Read the first stanza and think.
(i) Is Macavity a cat really ?
(ii) If not, who can Macavity be ?

Answer:
(i) Macavity is a cat.
(ii) If not, Macavity can be a thief.

Question. 2.
Complete the following sentences.
(i) A master criminal is one who ___
(ii) The Scotland Yard is baffled because ___
(iii) ____ because Macavity moves much faster than them.

Answer:
(i) A master criminal is one who is never caught.
(ii) The Scotland Yard is baffled because with all its might, it is unable to lay its hand upon Macavity.
(iii) Flying Squad is not able to get Macavity because Macavity moves much faster than the Flying Squad.

Question . 3.
“A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through”. (Jules Verne)
Which law is Macavity breaking in the light of the comment above ?

Answer:
The law of gravitation.

Question. 4.
Read stanza 3, and then, describe Macavity in two or three sentences of your own.

Answer:
Macavity is a ginger coloured, very tall and thin cat with sunken eyes and high head. He has a wrinkled forehead, dusty coat and uncombed whiskers. He is always alert and moves his head from side to side like a snake.

Question . 5.
Say ‘False’ or ‘True’ for each of the following statements.
(i) Macavity is not an ordinary cat.
(ii) Macavity cannot do what a fakir can easily do.
(in) Macavity has supernatural powers.
(iv) Macavity is well-dressed, smart and bright.
(v) Macavity is a spy, a trickster and a criminal, all rolled in one.

Answer:
(i) True
(ii) False
(iii) False
(iv) False
(v) True.

Question. 6.
Having read the poem, try to guess whether the poet is fond of cats. If so, why does he call Macavity a fiend and monster ?

Answer:
The poet is fond of the cats. That is why, he describes a big cat in such detail. However, for the rats the cat is certainly a fiend and a monster. So the poet gives him those adjectives as well.

Question. 7.
Has the poet used exaggeration for special effect ? Find a few examples of it and read those lines aloud.

Answer:
Yes. The following lines show that:
“He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the
Flying Squad’s despair.”
“His powers of levitation would make a
fakir stare.”
“For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster
of depravity.”

We hope the NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 3 Macavity : The Mystery Cat help you. If you have any query regarding NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 3 Macavity : The Mystery Cat, drop a comment below and we will get back to you at the earliest.

Song of the Flower Summary

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English:

• The Ant and the Cricket Question Answer
• Geography Lesson Question Answer
• Macavity : The Mystery Cat Question Answer
• The Last Bargain Question Answer
• The School Boy Question Answer
• The Duck and the Kangaroo Question Answer
• When I Set Out for Lyonnesse Question Answer
• On the Grasshopper and Cricket Question Answer

Class 12 English NCERT Solutions Flamingo Chapter 8 Going Places Free PDF Download

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English

Going Places Textual Questions and Answers

Think-as-you-read Questions

Question 1.
Where was it most likely that the two girls would find work after school?
Answer:
Both the girls belong to poor families. As per their economic background, they would find a job in a biscuit factory after schooling.

Question 2.
What were the options that Sophie was dreaming of? WTiy does Jansie discourage her from having such dreams?
Answer:
Sophie was dreaming of opening her own boutique. She believed that she was as efficient and original as Mary Quant. So she would easily get a job of a manager in a shop or would become an actress. In this way, she would earn money and then would open her own boutique. Jansie was a practical girl. She knew that all these were Sophie’s dreams which were not possible so she discouraged her from having such dreams.

Question 3.
Why did Sophie wriggle when Geoff told her father that she had met Danny Casey?
Answer:
When Geoff told his father that Sophie had met Danny Casey, she wriggled because she knew that her father would not believe it. He would take it as a story that she had made up.

Question 4.
Does Geoff believe what Sophie says about her meeting with Danny Casey?
Answer:
Initially, Geoff is doubtful but when Sophie starts adding the details, he starts believing in her story. But when she tells him about the proposed date with Danny Casey, Geoff becomes sceptical.

Question 5.
Does her father believe Sophie’s story?
Answer:
Sophie’s father does not believe her. He knows that she is a dreamer and lives in a world of imagination. She is used to make up stories to impress him.

Question 6.
How does Sophie include her brother Geoff in the fantasy of her future?
Answer:
Geoff is a person who speaks very little. Sophie knows that he has his own world which is far away from her. She believes that he visits places she has never been to. She hopes that in future, he would introduce her to the beautiful and glamorous world which is the most appropriate place for her.

Question 7.
Which country did Danny Casey play for?
Answer:
Danny Casey, an Irish sports star, used to play for the Irish team.

Question 8.
Why didn’t Sophie want Jansie to know about her story with Danny?
Answer:
Sophie did not want Jansie to know about her story with Danny for two reasons. First, it was meant to be something special just between her brother Geoff and herself. Secondly, Jansie would have told the whole neighbourhood about it.

Question 9.
Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey?
Answer:
No, Sophie did not meet Danny Casey, but she liked fantasising that she had met him.

Question 10.
Which was the only occasion when she got to see Danny Casey in person?
Answer:
The only occasion when she got to see Danny Casey in person was in a football match on a Saturday. Sophie along with her father and little brother Derek went to watch United. They saw champion Danny Casey there to play football:

Going Places Understanding the text

Question 1.
Sophie and Jansie were classmates and friends. What were the differences between them that show up in the story? [Delhi 2012]
OR
How different is Jansie from Sophie? [All India 2015]
Answer:
Sophie and Jansie were classmates and friends but were very different from each other. Sophie was filled with fantasies and desires. She lived in her world of dreams which was far away from reality. She wanted to open a boutique or become either an actress or a manager. Though she came from a humble background, she wanted to be part of a rich, sophisticated circle. Moreover, she liked the football star Danny Casey so much that she started hero-worshipping him. Her wild fantasies forced her to imagine not only talking to Danny Casey but to even going for a date with him. She is so much engrossed in her world of fantasy that she starts hallucinating about Danny Casey.
On the contrary, Jansie is more realistic and practical. She is well aware of her family background. She knew that both she and Sophie would have to work in a biscuit factory after passing out the school. She kept on reminding Sophie of her reality but all in vain. Unlike Sophie who was all the time lost in her own world, Jansie was nosey to know everything. Sophie never shared her secrets with her because she knew that Jansie would blab around her secrets.

Question 2.
How would you describe the character and temperament of Sophie’s father? [Delhi 2012]
Answer:
Sophie’s father is symbolic of a typical poor class family man. He works hard to fulfil the needs of his family. He is rough in manners and is described as a ‘heavy breathing man in his vest’. He never believes any of the Sophie’s stories and knows that she is not to be believed due to her characteristic fantasies. When Geoff tells him about Sophie’s meeting with Danny Casey, he gives an expression of disdain and calls it another of her wild stories. He is a practical man who does not like his daughter getting too much involved in her fantasies. As a father, he knows his daughter’s temperament very well. That’s the reason he doesn’t believe in Sophie’s story of having met Danny Casey. Rather he becomes aggressive and warns Sophie that one day she would get into a load of trouble.

Question 3.
Why did Sophie like her brother Geoff more than any other person? From her perspective, what did he symbolise?
Answer:
Sophie liked her brother Geoff more than any other person. She hero-worships him. Geoff was three years out of school and was working as an apprentice mechanic. She used to confide in him all her secrets. Geoff was silent most of time and Sophie was curious to know the areas of his life about which she knew nothing. In fact she wanted to be admitted more deeply into her brother’s affections and hoped that someday he would take her along with him.

She wanted to be part of the other world which Geoff belonged to. She wanted to visit that world riding with her brother on his motorcycle. He would be in new, shining black leathers and she would wear a yellow dress and then the entire world would applaud and rise to greet both of them. Thus, for Sophie, her brother Geoff was very close to her heart.

Question 4.
What socio-economic background did Sophie belong to? What are the indicators of her family’s financial status?
Answer:
Sophie belonged to a poor family. Her parents managed the household with difficulty. Her father was a typical poor class family man, rough in his manners and indisciplined. The marks of the sweat on his face indicated that he had to work hard throughout the day to earn his livelihood. Sophie’s mother was an average housewife who was burdened with the family’s responsibilities. She was busy with household chores. She had a crooked back due to constant hard work and the incongruity of the bow clearly showed that she was not a sophisticated lady.

Even the younger brother Derek’s comment on Sophie that “she thinks money grows on trees” emphasized the importance of money in the family. The family was living in a small house with minimum requirements, including very old furniture. All those things indicate that Sophie came from a family with a humble background.

Going Places Talking about the text

Question 1.
Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in her mind. Explain. [Delhi 2012]
Answer:
No doubt Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in her mind. As a young girl she is engrossed in the world of fantasy. She talks about buying a shop and having her own boutique. In order to earn money, she would work as an actress or a manager. She imagines meeting Danny Casey, the Irish football star, and even fantasises going for a date with him. She goes to the wharf and waits for him. But he doesn’t come and she feels sad and disappointed.

In fact, it is all in her mind. She herself has created a story in her mind and finally starts hallucinating. But finally when she realises that it is all her fantasy she feels disappointed. Both the things take place in her mind. Thus, her dreams and disappointments are all in Sophie’s mind.

Going Places – Solved Question Bank

Reference-to-Context Questions

Question 1.
“Well, I’ll be a manager then—yes, of course—to begin with. Till I’ve got enough. But anyway, I know just how it’s all going to look.”
“They wouldn’t make you manager straight off, Soaf.”
Answer the following.
(a) The speaker was sure they would make her a manager to begin with. (True/False)
(b) The speaker knew exactly how things were going to shape up. (True/False)
(c) The speaker thought she would become ________ in the beginning.
(d) The speaker said that she knew how it was all going to ________
Answer:
(a) True
(b) True
(c) a manager
(d) look

Question 2.
Jansie, knowing they were both earmarked for the biscuit factory, became melancholy. She wished Sophie wouldn’t say these things.
(a) Jansie was melancholy because she and Sophie worked in the biscuit factory. (True/False)
(b) Jansie and Sophie were earmarked to work in a ________ .
(c) What were Jansie’s feelings about her new job at the biscuit factory?
(d) Jansie wished that ________ wouldn’t say the things she said.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) biscuit factory
(c) melancholy
(d) Sophie

Question 3.
“Huh – if you ever come into money ________ if you ever come into money you ’ll buy us a blessed decent house to live in, thank you very much.”
(a) The speaker says that if they ever come into money, they will buy a decent house. (True/False)
(b) The speaker wants to use the money they come by to buy a decent house. ( True/False)
(c) If you ever come in money you will buy us a ________ decent house.
(d) What kind of house does the speaker think they should be buying?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) blessed
(d) decent/blessed

Question 4.
And she was impatient. She was conscious of a vast world out there waiting for her and she knew instinctively that she would feel as at home there as in the city which had always been her home.
(a) She would feel as confident in that vast world as she did at her home. (True/False)
(b) She was confident of a vast world ________ for her out there.
(c) She was ________ .
(d) She experienced ________ at home and in the city?
Answer:
(a) True
(b) waiting
(c) impatient
(d) confidence

Question 5.
“I met Danny Casey, ” Sophie said.
He looked around abruptly. “Where?”
“In the arcade – funnily enough. ”
“It’s never true. ”
“I did too. ”
“You told Dad?”
(а) Sophie told her brother that she had met Danny Casey. (True/False)
(б) The speaker’s Dad had also seen Danny Casey. (True/False)
(c) Sophie had met Danny Casey, according to her, in the
(d) Sophie said that she had met in the arcade.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) arcade
(d) Danny Casey

Question 6.
“Well – he has green eyes. Gentle eyes. And he’s not so tall as you’d think
if she should say about his teeth, but decided against it.
(a) The speaker says that the person she is talking about has green eyes. (True/False)
(b) The person being described is gentle. (True/False)
(c) The speaker decided against speaking ________ .
(d) She wanted to speak about his teeth but ________ against it.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) teeth
(d) decided

Question 7.
“One of these days you’re going to talk yourself into a load of trouble, ” her father said aggressively. “Geoff knows it’s true, don’t you, Geoff?”
“He don’t believe you though he’d like to. ”
(a) One of these days Sophie’s father would land in a load of trouble. (True/False)
(b) Sophie turned to Geoff to validate what she was saying. (True/False)
(c) According to Sophie’s father, Geoff would like to ________ what Sophie had said. (True/False)
(d) What, according to Sophie’s father, would she land herself into by her talking?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) believe
(d) trouble

Question 8.
“….And, then just as he was going, he said, if I would care to meet him next week he would give me an autograph then. Of course, I said I would. ”
(a) The speaker said that just as he was going, he enquired if Sophie would care to go with him. (True/False)
(b) The speaker offered to take her autograph next week. (True/False)
(c) He offered to give his ________ when he and Sophie met the following week.
(d) He offered to give his autograph ________.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) False
(c) autograph
(d) next week

Question 9.
On Saturday they made their weekly pilgrimage to watch United. Sophie and her father and little Derek went down near the goal – Geoff, as always, went with his mates higher up.
(a) They went to watch a game by United on Wednesday. (True/False)
(b) Geoff went with his ________ higher up while the rest sat near the goal.
(c) For Sophie and her family, the weekly visit to the football game was like a ________ .
id) Who, along with Geoff, sat higher up to watch the game?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) mates
(c) pilgrimage
(d) his mates

Question 10.
“What’s this you’ve been telling?” Jansie said, next week.
‘About what?”
“Your Geoff told our Frank you met Danny Casey. ”
This wasn’t an inquisition, just Jansie being nosey,
but Sophie was startled.
(a) Jansie asked Sophie what she had been telling others. (True/False)
(b) Jansie said that their Frank had learnt from Sophie’s Geoff that Sophie had ________ Danny Casey.
(c) By enquiring whether Sophie had actually met Danny Casey what was she not carrying out?
(d) The name of Jansie’s brother was ________ .
Answer:
(a) True
(b) met
(c) an Inquisition
(d) Frank

Question 11.
It was meant to be something special just between them. Something secret. It wasn’t a Jansie kind of thing at all. Tell gawky Jansie something like that and the whole neighbourhood would get to know it. Damm that Geoff, was nothing sacred?
(a) According to the author, if something was told to Jansie, it remained a secret. (True/False)
(b) The secret between the speaker and Jansie was meant to be something ________ between them.
(c) What unique quality did the message told to Jansie have?
(d) As Jansie broadcast the message, what word did the speaker use, to describe Jansie?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) special
(c) secrecy
(d) gawky

Question 12.
She realised then that Jansie didn’t know about the date bit – Geoff hadn’t told about that. She breathed more easily. So Geoff hadn’t let her down after all. He believed in her after all. After all, some things might be sacred.
(a) The speaker realised that Jansie did not know about her secret date. (True/False)
(b) Geoff had not told Jansie about his secret date. (True/False)
(c) As Geoff had not let down the speaker she ________ more easily.
(d) ________ were considered sacred between Geoff and the speaker.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) breathed
(d) some things

Going Places Short Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why did Jansie discourage Sophie from living in a world of fantasy? [Delhi 2013 (C)]
Answer:
Jansie was a realistic and practical girl. She knew very well about her socio-economic background and accepted it. Being a good friend of Sophie, she often reminded her of the reality of their lives. She knew that Sophie lived in the world of her fantasy. But she always used to discourage her from living in that world because she knew that it would be heartbreaking for Sophie.

Question 2.
Why did Jansie discourage Sophie from having dreams? [All India 2017]
Answer:
The elderly persons had come to know that, that was the last French lesson they were going to attend as per the order received. They had earlier been indifferent, so in order to express their gratitude and respect, they had come in full attendance on the last day.

Question 3.
What is unrealistic about Sophie’s dreams of her future life? [Ddhi 2013 (c)]
Answer:
Sophie belonged to a poor family. Her parents were managing the basic necessities of life with great difficulty. But Sophie had high dreams. She had plans to set up her own boutique. She would like to be a manager or an actress. But she was not ready to accept the reality that she could not get any work except that in a biscuit factory.

Question 4.
What was Sophie’s ambition in life? How did she hope to achieve that? [Delhi 2017]
Answer:
Sophie wanted to open a boutique for which she thought she would save money by working as a manager. She also toyed with the idea of becoming an actress to earn good money and have the boutique too.

Question 5.
Sophie was dreaming of so many things in her life. What were they? [Delhi 2017]
Answer:
Sophie, a daydreamer, dreamt of big things in life. She wanted to open a boutique after her schooling was completed and was looking at becoming a manager too. She also harboured the dream of becoming an actress or a fashion designer.

Question 6.
Which was the only occasion when Sophie got to see Danny Casey in person? [All India 2011, Foreign 2013]
Answer:
When Danny Casey was playing with the United team in the stadium, Sophie saw him for the first time. She was one of the spectators.

Question 7.
Why did Sophie not want Jansie to know anything about her meeting with Danny Casey? [All India 2012]
Answer:
Sophie did not want Jansie to know anything about her meeting with Danny Casey. She did not trust her for keeping secrets as Jansie was fond of gossiping. Sophie feared that she might gossip about her meeting with Danny Casey. This might enrage her father.

Question 8.
Why was Sophie jealous of Geoff’s silence? [All Foreign 2013]
Answer:
For Sophie, Geoff’s silence symbolised freedom. Geoff used to work as a mechanic. He used to ride his motorcycle and visited places where she had never been to. Sophie believed that he moved into a different exotic world which was far away from home and their reality. She was jealous of his silence which does not reveal that world to her.

Question 9.
Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey? Why was she always talking about him? [Foreign 2013]
Answer:
No, Sophie did not meet Danny Casey in reality. She was a dreamer. She had developed a liking for Danny Casey and in her world of fantasy she had imagined herself meeting him. It was just an effect of teenage fantasy and hero-worship that she started hallucinating about the football star Danny Casey.

Question 10.
Did Geoff keep up his promise? How do you know? [All India 2013]
Answer:
Sophie had shared her secret of meeting Danny Casey with her brother Geoff. But Geoff didn’t keep his promise not to share it with anyone. He told this to Frank who was his friend and Jansie’s brother. When Jansie came to ask Sophie about Danny Casey, it became evident that Geoff had told that secret to her brother.

Question 11.
Why did Sophie long for her brother’s affection? [All India 2014]
Answer:
Sophie liked her brother Geoff more than any other person. She used to confide in him all her secrets. She was very curious to know about his world. She longed for her brother’s affection so that he would take her into his exotic world which was far away from their own real world.

Question 12.
What did Sophie imagine about her brother, Geoff? [Foreign 2017]
Answer:
Sophie imagined that her brother, Geoff, was in the world that she had never seen. Besides, she thought that her brother might be knowing interesting people, she longed to know. She wished that her brother would some day take her to his world with him.

Question 13.
What did Sophie tell Geoff about her ‘meeting’ Danny Casey? [Foreign 2o17]
Answer:
Sophie told her brother Geoff that she had met Danny Casey, a sports star, in the arcade. She said that she was looking at the clothes in Royce’s window when Danny Casey came and stood beside her. He had gentle, green eyes but was not very tall. She asked him for an autograph for little Derek, but neither of them had any paper or a pen.

Question 14.
Why did Sophie not want Jansie to know about her story with Danny? [Foreign 2017]
Answer:
Sophie did not want Jansie to know about her story with Danny because she felt that Jansie would tell the same to the whole neighbourhood. She also felt that Jansie might disclose her secret to her father who would be angry.

Question 15.
Why, according to Sophie, couldn’t she take the autograph of Danny Casey when she met him?
Answer:
According to Sophie, she couldn’t take the autograph of Danny Casey when she met him because neither she nor Danny Casey had a pen. Besides, the meeting took place only in Sophie’s fantasy.

Question 16.
How did the evening “blackened the window of Sophie’s mood too”?
Answer:
Sophie was a daydreamer who had carried her fantasy too far. She had imagined her meeting with football star Danny Casey for a date. All this imagination gave her a lot of pleasure. But she met with the reality when Danny Casey didn’t come to meet her. This made her sad and despondent and blackened her mood like the black sky.

Question 17.
How is the title ‘Going Places’ most appropriate?
Answer:
In literary terms, going places refers to achieving success. The title ‘Going Places’ is most appropriate as it very clearly describes the protagonist Sophie. She is deeply enthusiastic about her successful life and fantasises all good and successful things for her. In her imagination, she fantasises herself to be an actor or a manger and then finally a boutique owner. She also fantasises to have met the football star Danny Casey as her close friend and going for a date with him. The title ‘Going place’ clearly depicts the exotic journey of Sophie into the dream world.

Going Places Long Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What were Sophie’s plans for future? Why would you call her dreams unrealistic? [Delhi 2014]
Answer:
Sophie was a school girl who would pass out in a few months. She came from a humble background but was untouched by the harsh realities of life. She was lost in her world of fantasies. She planned to open a boutique after she passed out of school. She thought she would work as manager or an actress in order to earn money for the boutique. She didn’t realise that she belonged to a family that didn’t have the sources to finance her dreams. Her dreams had no ground of reality. With the kind of socio-economic background that Sophie belonged to, it was completely unrealistic to have such dreams fulfilled.

Question 2.
Sophie lives in a world full of dreams which she does not know she cannot realise. Comment. [All India 2015]
Answer:
There is no doubt Sophie lives in a world of dreams which she cannot realise. She dreams of opening a boutique which requires a lot of money. But the kind of family background she has, it is not possible for her to have that much finances. Moreover, she has high aspirations and a very high esteem about herself. Despite of her poor socio-economic background, she doesn’t accept the idea of working in a biscuit factory which is obvious for a girl of her qualifications and background. Rather she believes that she would get a job not less than that of a manager or would become an actress.

Sophie, like any adolescent, indulges in daydreaming and fantasy to the extent that she completely ignores the reality of her life.

Question 3.
In one’s approach to life one should be practical and not live in a world of dreams. How is Jansie’s attitude different from that of Sophie? [CBSE 2018]
Answer:
Jansie and Sophie have contrasting characteristics and a totally different approach to life. Jansie is portrayed as very practical with her feet grounded in reality, whereas Sophie is a daydreamer living in her imaginary world.

Jansie is a mature person and accepts the truth that people of their kind can only aspire to become workers in a factory. On the other hand, Sophie tries to escape from reality and dreams of becoming an actress, a manager or a fashion designer.

It is not unreasonable to have high hopes and aspirations for one’s future, but daydreaming can be justified only when one is prepared to work hard to fulfil one’s dreams.

Sophie needs to work hard to achieve her dreams, instead of merely imagining a bright and successful future for herself or fantasising about her meeting with Danny Casey. Sophie is a middle class girl with lofty aspirations. She is a daydreamer, unrealistic and impractical. She aspires to be an actress, own a boutique, become a manager, etc. which is all beyond her means.

So we conclude that we shouldn’t daydream but have a realistic view of life.

Question 4.
Teachers always advise their students to dream big. Yet, the same teachers in your classrooms find fault with Sophie when she dreams. What is wrong with Sophie’s dreams? [Delhi 2016]
Answer:
It is true that in our classrooms, the teachers always encourage us to dream big but what they discourage is daydreaming which Sophie used to indulge in all the time. She was far removed from reality and lived in her own world of dreams. She strongly felt that there was a whole new world waiting for her and that she was tailor-made for it. All through the story, she never thought practically or came out of her dreamworld.

Sophie’s ambitions and her dreams were unrealistic as she was from a poor socio-economic background. She was earmarked for joining a biscuit factory after completing her studies. Her parents didn’t even have a decent house to live in. Her father wanted her to step out of her dreamworld and start thinking worldly-wise. Being an impractical person, it was difficult for Sophie to understand that she was living in a world of harsh realities.

Question 5.
Has Sophie met Danny Casey? What details of her meeting with Danny Casey did she narrate to her brother. [Delhi 2014]
Answer:
No, Sophie never met Danny Casey. It was one of her wild imaginations that she met Danny Casey, the football star. She told her brother Geoff she met Danny Casey at the market place at Royce’s window. When Geoff showed his disbelief, she gave him Danny’s description. She told him that Danny Casey had green gentle eyes and was not very tall. She said she wanted to have his autograph but unfortunately none of them had a pen. She had a conversation with Danny and found him to be very lonely. Sophie said she was going for a date with Danny, the next week.

Sophie’s imagination is so vivid that she creates each and every minute detail and describes it to her brother so as to make him believe her.

Question 6.
Sophie was a dreamer. The lesson ‘Going Places’ reminds us that mere dreams will not help us to accomplish anything? What qualities, do you think, would help Sophie to realise her dream? [Foreign 2014]
Answer:
Sophie represents a teenager who is lost in the world of imagination. She was fond of daydreaming. As a result, she lost her touch with the reality of life.

She dreams to own a boutique, though she has no financial background. She doesn’t accept the reality that she comes from a poor background. There is no harm in aiming high. One should be ambitious in life. But along with aspirations, we must have a clear planning to achieve that goal. Sophie needs to be practical in her life and analyse her situation. She should be hardworking and determined to achieve what she wants in life. Only dreaming doesn’t help. To succeed in life, actions are required. Sincere and continuous efforts, along with a proper action plan, bring the desired result. Sophie needs to be practical and patient to materialise her dreams.

Question 7.
It is normal for adolescents to fantasise and indulge in hero-worship. How far is it true of Sophie? [Foreign 2015]
Answer:
Teenage is the time of hero-worship and fantasising. When one finds a celebrity one starts admiring that person so much that the celebrity becomes one’s hero and one starts fantasising about him/her. A similar thing happened with Sophie. She liked Danny Casey, the Irish football star. She used to go with her family to see his match and was attracted by his personality.

She liked Danny Casey to the extent, she started fantasising about him. Her wild imagination got converted into hallucination and she started imagining to meet Danny Casey in person. She enjoyed this fantasy so much that she went to the extent of imagining going for a date with Danny, who was her hero.

Sophie, in fact, represents an adolescent lost in the world of fantasies and hero-worship.

Question 8.
Every teenager has a hero/heroine to admire. So many times they become role models for them. What is wrong if Sophie fantasises about Danny Casey and is ambitious in life? [All India 2016]
Answer:
There is no denying the fact that every teenager has someone to admire who he/she looks up to as his/her role model. What was wrong with Sophie’s fantasizing was that she was far removed from reality and lived in her own world of dreams. She strongly felt that there was a whole new world for her and that she was tailor-made for it. Sophie’s ambitions and her dreams were unrealistic as she was from a poor socio-economic background.

She was earmarked for joining a biscuit factory after completing her studies. Her imaginative meetings with Danny Casey were part of her dream world. She knew that her parents didn’t even have a decent house to live in. Her father wanted her to step out of her dream world and start thinking worldly-wise. Being an impractical person, it was difficult for Sophie to understand that she was living in a world of harsh realities.

Question 9.
Describe Sophie’s so-called meeting with Danny Casey. [HOTS]
Answer:
As per Sophie, she met with Danny Casey in the arcade outside Royce’s while she was doing window shopping. Sophie narrated her meeting to her brother Geoff and said that Danny Casey was standing beside her. She could not take his autograph as none of them had a pen. She talked to him a little bit. Sophie said that Danny seemed lonely and promised to give her autograph if she would care to meet him next week. Sophie not only imagined her meeting with Danny Casey but also believed to have fixed a date with him.

Question 10.
“There was the sound of applause as the world rose to greet them.” What is the world that Sophie is dreaming about? Why? [HOTS]
Answer:
Sophie always dreamt of a life of sophistication and elegance. Her brother Geoff was very close to her and she used to confide in him. Geoff used to speak less and Sophie believed that he had his own world in which he was moving and which was far away. She wanted to be part of that world. She imagined to be introduced to that glorious world by her brother as she believed her to be most suited for that. She believed that one day she would accompany Geoff to the world which was waiting for her. Geoff in his black leather and she in her elegant yellow dress would be welcomed by the people in that world with a standing ovation and applause.

Sophie, as per her habit, is dreaming of a world of elegance and sophistication for which she believed herself to be most suitable.

Question 11.
What made Sophie imagine her meeting with Danny Casey? What does it tell us about her life and her relationship with her family?
Answer:
Sophie is a young girl who lives in her world of imagination. Like adolescents she dreams of unbelievable and far-fetched things. Though she belongs to a lower middle class family, she fantasises a world of sophistication. She has seen Danny Casey playing and has started hero-worshipping him. She not only imagines talking to him but also goes all the way to have an imaginary date with him. In fact, it was her longing and dreaming to be part of an exotic world. Her family knows very well about her imaginary world and always tries to draw her away.

Her father never believed in her stories and says, ‘One day you are going to talk yourself into a load of trouble’. Even her younger brother Derek says, “She thinks money grows on trees”, when Sophie is fantasising about opening a boutique. Her elder brother Geoff also does not believe in her story about Danny Casey initially. This clearly shows that except for her elder brother Geoff, Sophie doesn’t connect well with her family.

Question 12.
‘I can see the future and now I will have to live with this burden’, says Sophie. What is the burden being referred to? What light does it throw on Sophie’s life?
Answer:
Sophie lives in her world of imagination. She tells her brother that she met football star Danny Cassey in the arcade outside Royce and would be going on date with him. Her father does not believe that she has met Danny Casey. Geoff, though believes in her meeting, warns her that Danny Casey is a popular star and has many girl friends.

Sophie has probably met Danny Casey and exchanged a few words and asked for an autograph. It is just in imagination that Sophie fantasises to have a date with Danny Casey. When Danny Casey does not show up for the date, Sophie faces a dilemma of having to uphold the fact that she had really met Danny Casey. She is aware that nobody would believe her. She is deeply sad at the realisation that her life is not going to change. Her life of poverty will not change into the glamorous world of her dreams. This is a heavy burden for her. She finds it very difficult to cope with her reality.

Question 13.
The theme of the story ‘Going Places’ is an adolescent fantasy and hero-worship. Every teenager has a hero in his/her life. Based on your reading of the story, write an article on the topic:
‘Are teenagers justified in their act of hero-worship’?
Answer:
‘Hero-worship’ is a very common phenomenon in teenagers. They idolise, even literally worship their heros or role models. Huge crowds gather outside the studios and stadia to take pictures or autographs of the celebrity stars or sports stars. No doubt it is good to admire and appreciate these achievers, but there must be some limit. The fans should not waste their time because adolescence is the time when the foundation of the success of life is laid in the form of career.

Moreover, aping and doing what they see their stars doing is not going to give them any benefit. In that way adolescents just waste their time and resources. In fact, the teenagers should select their role model very carefully and should have self-control and determination. They should imbibe all the good qualities of these heroes and try to be like them by putting in their sincere efforts. They should plan out their career and set their priorities. They must have some inspiring people as their role models to make their lives meaningful.

Question 14.
All of us, like Sophie, look up to people who then become our role models. These role models have a positive impact on our lives and possess those qualities that we would like to have.
As head boy/head girl of your school, you have to address the students in the morning assembly telling them about the kind of people, they should adopt as role models and seek inspiration from them. Write this speech in 120-150 words.
Answer:

Dear friends

It is said that every successful person has a role model in his life. This role model is the one who changes our life. Role models guide us in our quest for success and make the world a better place. We need to be very careful in choosing our role models. A role model is one who is an embodiment of all virtues; a person who is selfless and truthful, one who is sincere, honest, and straightforward. Depending upon our field of interest, we can have many legendary personalities to make our role models, personalities such as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Vivekananda, the list is inexhaustive. These are the people who have enlightened the lives of others, they have lived their life much above the selfish pursuits. We must idolise someone who has the virtues which should be followed to be a good human being.

There are such inspiring people even in our surroundings, in our society, at home, or in school. Our teachers are the best example. They are our best role models who have taught us to differentiate between right and wrong. To conclude, I would just like to say that we should make an honest, sincere, and inspiring person our role model.

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Prose

• The Last Lesson Question Answer
• Lost Spring Question Answer
• Deep Water Question Answer
• The Rattrap Question Answer
• Indigo Question Answer
• Poets and Pancakes Question Answer
• The Interview Question Answer
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NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 2 Geography Lesson are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew (Poem) Chapter 2 Geography Lesson.

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew (Poem) Chapter 2 Geography Lesson

STANZAS FOR COMPREHENSION

I. When the jet sprang into the sky,
it was clear why the city
had developed the way it had,
seeing it scaled six inches to the mile. (Page 34)

हिंदी अनुवाद- जब जेट प्लेन तेज़ी से आसमान में उठा, कवि ने अपने नीचे की ओर देखा। वह समझ गया कि नगर क्यों बेतरतीव ढंग से विकसित हुआ था। उसे शहर बहुत छोटा लग रहा था। एक मील छः इंच के बराबर नज़र आता था।

Paraphrase. When the jet rose fast into the sky, the poet saw below him. He could understand why the city had grown into haphazard way. He saw the city look small. A mile of the ground looked as small as six inches.

Multiple Choice Questions
1. The “jet’ in the passage refers to :
(a) jet black
(b) jet engine
(c) jet liner
(d) jet stream.

2. The poet realised why
(a) he was in the sky
(b) the city had developed
(c) there were new ways in the city
(d) the city had taken the shape it had.

3. The city appeared from the sky
(a) very big
(b) very small
(c) very wide
(d) very beautiful.

4. The word ‘scaled’ in the passage means :
(a) measured
(b) spotted
(c) climbed
(d) like a scale.

Answers
1. (c) jet liner
2. (d) the city had taken the shape it had
3. (b) very small
4. (a) measured

II. There seemed an inevitability
about what on ground had looked haphazard,
unplanned and without style
When the jet sprang into the sky. (Page 34)

Paraphrase. The jet went up into the sky. Looking below, one could see the inevitable way in which the city had developed. It certainly had a logic. On the earth it seemed ugly and without a method.

Questions
1. What did the poet see from the jet ?
2. What seemed inevitable ?
3. Why is logic not seen on the earth ?

Answers
1. From the jet the poet saw how his city had developed.
2. The way the city had developed seemed inevitable.
3. On the earth one cannot have the whole view. One can see only a part at a time. So the logic of geography is not seen on the earth.

III. When the jet reached ten thousand feet,
it was clear why the country
had cities where the rivers ran
and why the valleys were populated. (Page 34)

हिंदी अनुवाद-जेट-प्लेन आकाश में और ऊँचा दस हज़ार फीट तक गया। वहाँ से नीचे देश की ओर देखकर यह स्पष्ट रूप से समझा जा सकता था कि देश के नगर नदियों के किनारे क्यों विकसित हुए थे। ऐसा स्वाभाविक था क्योंकि मनुष्यों को जल की आवश्यकता होती है। उसी प्रकार उस ऊँचाई से कवि देख सका कि घाटियों में क्यों लोग बस गए थे।

Paraphrase. The jet plane went higher upto ten thousand feet in the sky. Looking below at the country, one could clearly see why the cities in the country had developed along the rivers. It was natural because people need water. In the same way from that height the poet could see why people had settled in valleys.

Multiple Choice Questions
1. From the height of ten thousand feet the poet was observing
(a) his city
(b) his country
(c) the earth
(d) the sky

2. The cities are developed
(a) in the open space
(b) on the hill-side
(c) by the river-side
(d) in the deserts.

3. The valleys are populated because
(a) the climate is good
(b) people love the hills
(c) the life is safe there
(d) the water is easily available.

4. The word ‘valley’ means the same as
(a) vale
(b) valet
(c) valour
(d) value.

Answers
1. (b) his country
2. (c) by the river-side
3. (d) the water is easily available
4. (a) vale

IV. The logic of geography,
that land and water attracted man
was clearly delineated
When the jet reached ten thousand feet. (Page 34)

हिंदी अनुवाद-जेट प्लेन में बैठकर 10 हजार फुट की ऊँचाई से कवि ने देश को देखा। उसे भूगोल के तर्क समझ आए। वह समझ गया कि लोग वहाँ जाकर बसे जहाँ भूमि और जल सहज उपलब्ध थे। यह पाठ स्पष्ट लिखा दिखाई देता था।

Paraphrase. From the height of ten thousand feet in the jet plane the poet observed the country. He understood the contentions of geography. It was that people settled where land and water were easily available. This lesson seemed clearly written.

Questions
1. What did the poet see from the height of ten thousand feet?
2. Where did man settle ?
3. Name the poet.
4. What does the word ‘delineated’ mean?

Answers
1. From the height of ten thousand feet man saw the logic of geography.
2. Man settled on the land which was close to the water.
3. The poet is “Zulfikar Ghose’.
4. The word ‘delineated’ means ‘drawn’.

V. When the jet rose six miles high,
it was clear the earth was round
and that it had more sea than land.
But it was difficult to understand (Pages 34–35)

हिंदी अनुवाद- कवि का जेट प्लेन आकाश में और ऊँचा उठा। यह ज़मीन से 6 मील ऊपर उठ गया। अब पृथ्वी गोल दिखाई देती थी जैसा कि उसने भूगोल में पढ़ा था। यह भी दिखाई दिया कि जल पृथ्वी के अधिक भाग को आच्छादित किए है। अतः समुद्र का क्षेत्रफल भूमि से अधिक था। पर कुछ ऐसा था जिसे वह समझ नहीं पाता था।

Paraphrase. The poet’s jet plane went higher into the sky. It rose six miles up the ground. Now the earth seemed round as he had learnt in geography. It was also shown that water covers the better part of the earth. So sea had an area larger than the land. However, there was something which he could not understand.

Multiple Choice Questions
1. The passage has been taken from :
(a) Geography Lesson
(b) The Ant and the Cricket
(c) The Last Bargains
(d) Macavity : The Mystery Cat.

2. From that height the poet saw that
(a) the earth is full of people
(b) the earth has hills and deserts
(c) the earth has much water
(d) the earth has much land.

3. From the height of the jet, the earth looked
(a) flat
(b) round
(c) rectangular
(d) triangular.

4. The noun form of ‘difficult is
(a) difference
(b) diffident
(c) diffract
(d) difficulty.

Answers
1. (a) Geography Lesson
2. (c) the earth has much water
3. (b) round
4. (d) difficulty

VI. that the men on the earth found
causes to hate each other, to build
walls across cities and to kill.
From that height, it was not clear why. (Page 35)

हिंदी अनुवाद-ऊपर आसमान में पहुँच कर कवि को भूगोल की बातें समझ आ गयीं। पर वह मानव की आपसी घृणा को नहीं समझ सका। वह नहीं समझ पाया कि क्यों उन्होंने एक-दूसरे से अलग रहने का निश्चय किया है। क्यों लोग एक-दूसरे को मारना चाहते हैं ? उस ऊँचाई पर यह एक ऐसी उलझन थी जिसे कवि सुलझा नहीं पाता था।

Paraphrase. From high in the sky, the poet understood logic of geography. However, he could not understand the logic of human hatred for each other. He could not understand why they have decided to live separately. Why are there walls across the cities ? Why do people want to kill each other ? It was one puzzle which the poet could not answer from that height.

Questions
1. What did the poet understand from ‘that height?
2. What did he not understand ?
3. What does the phrase ‘building walls’ mean?
4. Give the adjective form of ‘heighť.

Answers
1. From that height, the poet could understand how the cities developed.
2. The poet could not understand why people on the earth quarrelled. He could also not understand why they separate themselves from their fellow beings.
3. The phrase ‘building walls’ indicates man’s desire to segregate.
4. high.

TEXTUAL QUESTIONS

WORKING WITH THE POEM (Page 35)

Question. 1.
Find three or four phrases in stanzas one and two which are likely to occur in a geography lesson.

Answer:
The following phrases are likely to occur in a geography lesson :
(a) scaled six inches to the mile (stanza 1)
(b) why valleys were populated (stanza 2)
(c) land and water attracted man (stanza 2)
(d) clearly delineated (stanza 2)

Question. 2.
Seen from the window of an aeroplane, the city appears
(i) as haphazard as on ground.
(ii) as neat as a map.
(iii) as developed as necessary.
Mark the right answer.

Answer:
(iii) as developed as necessary

Question. 3.
Which of the following statements are examples of “the logic of geography.”
(i) There are cities where there are rivers.
(ii) Cities appear as they are not from six miles above the ground.
(iii) It is easy to understand why valleys are populated.
(iv) It is difficult to understand why humans hate and kill one another.
(v) The earth is round, and it has more sea than land.

Answer:
(i), (iii), and (v) are the correct statements.

Question. 4.
Mention two things that are
(i) clear from the height.
(ii) not clear from the height.

Answer:
(i) The earth is round and that it has more sea than land. These two things are clear from the height.
(ii) Men hate each other and build walls across the cities to kill each other. It is not clear why they do so.

We hope the NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 2 Geography Lesson help you. If you have any query regarding NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 2 Geography Lesson, drop a comment below and we will get back to you at the earliest.

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NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English:

• The Ant and the Cricket Question Answer
• Geography Lesson Question Answer
• Macavity : The Mystery Cat Question Answer
• The Last Bargain Question Answer
• The School Boy Question Answer
• The Duck and the Kangaroo Question Answer
• When I Set Out for Lyonnesse Question Answer
• On the Grasshopper and Cricket Question Answer

Class 12 English NCERT Solutions Flamingo Chapter 7 The Interview Free PDF Download

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English

The Interview Textual Questions and Answers

Think-as-you-read Questions

Question 1.
What are some of the positive views on interviews?
Answer:
The positive views on interviews are that it is a medium of communication and a source of truth and information. Some even look at it as an art. These days we know about the celebrities and others through their interviews.

Question 2.
Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?
Answer:
Most celebrity writers despise being interviewed because they look at interviews as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. They feel that it diminishes them. They feel that they are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves. They consider interviews immoral and a crime, and an unwanted and unwelcome interruption in their personal life.

Question 3.
What is the belief in some primitive cultures about being photographed?
Answer:
Some primitive cultures consider taking a photographic portrait is like stealing the persons’s soul and diminishing him.

Question 4.
What do you understand by the expression ‘thumbprints on his windpipe’?
Answer:
Saul Bellow once described interviews as being like ‘thumbprints on his windpipe’. It means he treated interviews as a painful experience, as something that caught him by his windpipe, squeezed him and left indelible thumbprints on that. It also means that when the interviewer forces personal details from his interviewee, it becomes undesirable and cruel.

Question 5.
Who, in today’s world, is our chief source of information about personalities?
Answer:
The interviewer is the chief source of information in today’s world. Our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are based on communication that comes from them. Thus, interviewers hold a position of power and influence.

The Interview Understanding the text

Question 1.
Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.
Answer:
Umberto Eco does not think highly of interviewers who he thinks are a puzzled bunch of people. He has reasons for thinking so as they have often interpreted him as a novelist and clubbed him with Pen Clubs and writers, while he considers himself an academic scholar who attends academic conferences and writes novels on Sundays.

Question 2.
How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Answer:
Eco humorously states that there are a lot of empty spaces in his life. He calls them ‘interstices’. There are moments when one is waiting for the other. In that empty space, Eco laughingly states that he writes an article. Then he states that he is a professor who writes novels on Sundays.

Question 3.
What was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Answer:
Umberto’s writings have an ethical and philosophical element underlying them. His non-fictional writing work has a certain playful and personal quality about it. Even his writings for children deal with non-violence and peace. This style of writing makes reading his novels and essays interesting and being like the reading of most academic writings. His works are marked by an informal and narrative aspect.

Question 4.
Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic scholar?
Answer:
Umberto identified himself with the academic community, a professor who attended academic conferences rather than meetings of Pen Clubs. In fact, he was quite unhappy that the people referred to him as a novelist.

Question 5.
What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, The Name of the Rose?
Answer:
The success of The Name of the Rose, though a mystery to the author himself, could possibly be because it offered a difficult reading experience to the kind of readers who do not want easy reading experiences and those who look at novels as a machine for generating interpretations. For the same reason, the sale of his novel was underestimated by his American publishers, while the readers actually enjoyed the difficult reading experience that was offered bv Umberto Eco by raising questions about truth and the order of the worid.

The Interview – Solved Question Bank

Reference-to-Context Questions

Question 1.
Today, almost everybody mho is literate will have read an interview at some point in their lives, while from the other point of view, several thousand celebrities have been interviewed over the years, some of them repeatedly.
Answer the following.
(a) Everybody who is literate has been interviewed at some point in their lives. (True/False)
(b) Several celebrities have been interviewed repeatedly. (True/False)
(c) _________ would have read an interview at some point in their lives?
(d) Several thousand _________ have been interviewed over the years, and some of them repeatedly.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) the literate
(d) celebrities

Question 2.
H.G. Wells in an interview in 1894, referred to ‘the inteiviewing ordeal’, but was a fairly frequent interviewee and forty years later found himself intetriewing Joseph Stalin.
Answer the following.
(a) Joseph Stalin interviewed H.G. Wells. (True/False)
(b) Find a word from the extract that means ‘a person who is being interviewed’.
(c) How long after 1894, did Wells interview Joseph Stalin?
(d) Despite giving several interviews. Wells referred to the process as ‘the interviewing _________ .
Answer:
(a) False
(b) interviewee
(c) forty years
(d) ordeal

Question 3.
Yet despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely setviceable medium of communication. “These davs, more than at any other time, our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews.”
Answer the following.
(a) These days communication is through interviews. (True/False)
(b) The most vivid impressions of contemporaries is through interviews. (True/False)
(c) Interviews are a supremely serviceable _________ of communication.
(d) Of whom can vivid impressions be collected through interviews?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) means
(d) contemporaries

Question 4.
In 1980, he acquired the intellectual equivalent of intellectual superstardom with the publication of ‘The Name of the Rose’, which sold more than 10 million copies.
Answer the following.
(a) ‘The Name of the Rose’ is a book about a superstar. (True/False)
(h) The book, ‘The Name of the Rose’ was published in 1980. (True/False)
(c) How many copies did ‘The Name of the Rose’, sell?
(d) Eco acquired _________ with the sale of ‘The Name of the Rose’.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) More than 10 million
(d) superstardom

Question 5.
I have some philosophical interests and I pursue them through my academic work and my novels. Even my books for children are about non-violence and peace… you see, the same bunch of ethical, philosophical interests.
Answer the following.
(a) The writer pursues his academic interests through children’s books. (True/False)
(b) Through what means does the writer pursue his philosophical interests?
(c) The writer’s books for children are about non-violence and _________
(d) The writer has some _________ interests.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) academic work
(c ) peace
(d) philosophical

Question 6.
Did you know what will happen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the universe, eliminate the empty spaces in all the atoms? The universe will become as big as my fist.
Answer the following.
(a) By eliminating empty spaces in atoms, the universe will be as big as an atom. (True/False)
(b) Besides the universe, where else does the speaker want to eliminate empty spaces.
(c) Find a word from the extract that means to ‘remove’.
(d) If the empty spaces in the universe and in atoms were measured, then the universe would be as _________ as the writer’s fist.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) atoms
(c) eliminate
(d) big

Question 7.
Your non-fictional writing, your scholarly work has a certain plavful and personal quality about it. It is a marked departure from a regular academic stvle – which is invariably depersonalized and often diy and boring.
Answer the following.
(a) The writer’s scholarly work is about play things. (True/False)
(b) The writer’s scholarly work is a marked departure from the academic style. (True/False)
(c) Which kind of writing by the author has a playful and personal quality?
(d) Scholarly writing is often dry and _________, according fo the writer of the passage.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) academic writin
(d) boring

Question 8.
At that point, at the age of 22, I understood scholarly books should be written the way I had done – by telling the story of the research. This is why my essays always have a narrative aspect.
Answer the following.
(a) At age 22 the author understood how scholarly books should be written. (True/False)
(b) Scholarly books are written to tell the story of the research. (True/False)
(c) What special aspect do the essays written by the author have?
(d) According to the writer, he had written his research in a manner that told the _________ of his research.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) True
(c) narrative aspect
(d) story

Question 9.
I started writing novels by accident. I had nothing to do one day and so I started. Novels probably satisfied my taste for narration.
Answer the following.
(a) The author started writing novels because he was a novelist. (True/False)
(b) According to the author, novel writing probably satisfied his _________ for narration.
(c) The author started writing novels _________ .
(d) In writing, the author had a taste for _________ .
Answer:
(a) False
(b) taste
(c) accidentally
(d) narration

Question 10.
I know that by writing novels I reach a larger audience. I cannot expect to have one million readers with stuff on semiotics.
Answer the following.
(a) The author reaches a million readers by writing semiotics. (True/False)
(b) The author reaches a larger _________ by writing on semiotics.
(c) He has reached a _________ readers by writing novels.
(d) _________ is the main focus of the author’s writing.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) audience
(c) million
(d) Semiotics

Question 11.
And this is because journalists and publishers believe that people like trash and don’t like difficult reading experiences.
Answer the following.
(a) According to journalists, authors like to read trash. iTrue/Faise)
(b) According to journalists, people don’t like _________ reading experiences.
(c) According to journalists, people like _________ trash.
(d) Whose opinion about public reading habits is being aired in the passage?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) difficult
(c) reading
(d) journalists

Question 12.
I myself at 9p.m. after dinner, watch television and want to see either ‘Miami Vice’, or ‘Emergency Room ’. I enjoy it and I need it. But not all day.
Answer the following.
(a) The author states that before dinner he watches television. (iVue/Faise)
(b) The author enjoys watching ‘Miami Vice’. (True/False)
(c) The author enjoys watching ‘Miami Vice’ or ‘ Room’ on television, after dinner.
(d) What time does the author enjoy watching television?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) Emergency
(d) after dinner

The Interview Short Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why did Lewis Carroll have a horror of the interviewer?
Answer:
Lewis Carroll was said to have had a just horror of the interviewer. It was his horror of being lionized which made him thus repel would-be acquaintances, interviewers, and those seeking his autographs. So, he never consented to be interviewed.

Question 2.
How did Rudyard Kipling look at interviews?
Answer:
Rudyard Kipling condemned interviews. His wife writes in her diary that Rudyard Kipling told the reporters that he called being interviewed as immoral and a crime like an offence against any person. It merited punishment. It was cowardly and vile.

Question 3.
How were Rudyard Kipling and H.G. Wells critical of interviews yet they indulged in interviewing others or being themselves interviewed?
Answer:
Rudyard Kipling criticized interviews yet he interviewed Mark Twain. H.G. Wells referred to an interview in 1894 as an ordeal. Yet he was a fairly frequent interviewee. He also interviewed Joseph Stalin forty years later.

Question 4.
How are interviews, despite their drawbacks, useful?
Answer:
Despite their drawbacks, interviews are a supremely serviceable medium of communication. We get ‘ our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries through interviews. Denis Brain writes that almost everything of moment reaches us through interviews.

Question 5.
What, according to Umberto Eco, is the one thing he does through his various pieces of writing?
Answer:
According to Eco, he is always pursuing his ethical, philosophical interests which are non-violence and peace, through his academic work, his novels and even his books for children. He uses his spare moments constructively.

Question 6.
Umberto Eco tells Mukund that he has a secret. What is that?
Answer:
Umberto Eco tells Mukund that he has a secret to reveal. He tells him that there are empty spaces in the universe, in all the atoms. If they are removed, the universe will shrink to the size of a fist. He calls these empty spaces interstices and he writes in these interstices.

Question 7.
How, according to one of Eco’s professors in Italy, do scholars do in their research? How is Eco’s approach different?
Answer:
According to one of Eco’s professors in Italy, scholars made a lot of false hypotheses. They correct them and at the end they put the conclusion. But Eco told the story of his research and included his trials and errors. His professor allowed the publication of Eco’s dissertation as a book.

Question 8.
What did Umberto Eco learn at the age of 22 that he pursued in his novels?
Answer:
At the age of 22, Umberto Eco understood that scholarly books should be written the way he had done, that is, they should be written by telling the story of the research. He means to say that they should have the narrative technique. That’s why he started writing novels so late—at the age of 50.

Question 9.
How did Eco start writing novels?
Answer:
Eco states that he started writing novels by accident. One day, he had nothing to do, so he started writing. He felt that novels probably satisfied his taste for narration and he produced five novels, including the famous The Name of the Rose.

Question 10.
Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic scholar? Discuss briefly.
Answer:
Umberto Eco considered himself an academic scholar, a university professor who wrote novels on Sundays. If somebody said that he was a novelist, that bothered him. He participated in academic conferences and not the meetings of Pen Clubs and writers. He identified himself with academic community.

Question 11.
What makes Eco’s The Name of the Rose a very serious novel?
Answer:
The Name of the Rose is a very serious novel. It is a detective story at one level but it also delves into metaphysics, theology and medieval history. Due to these reasons it was greatly received by the public.

Question 12.
What, according to Eco, puzzles journalists and publishers?
Answer:
According to Umberto Eco, journalists and publishers are puzzled when something unexpected happens. They believe that people like trash and do not like difficult reading experiences. But Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, a serious work, sold between 10 and 15 million copies. This puzzled them.

Question 13.
What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, The Name of the Rose?
Answer:
The reason for the huge success of the novel, according to Eco, is a mystery. Nobody can predict it. He states that if he had written the novel ten years earlier or ten years later, it wouldn’t have been the same. So, the time component, its narrative technique, its aspects of metaphysics, theology and medieval history, made it a grand success.

Question 14.
Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.
Answer:
I think Eco likes being interviewed. His answers to Mukund’s questions are straightforward, precise and to the point. They are never wavering. He even mentions his preferences about TV shows. While answering he gets humorous and laughs. Nowhere does he say anything that may give us this sort of glimpse that he does not like being interviewed.

Question 15.
Is Umberto’s informal style consciously adopted or natural?
Answer:
Umberto’s doctoral thesis was a story of his research and a sum of his experience, his trials and errors. The thesis was appreciated and published as a book. Umberto then developed on his taste for narration and this narrative aspect lends an informal touch to all his essays and novels. It makes his style alive and reading his works is not dry and boring like the reading of other academic works.

Question 16.
Why did Umberto take to writing novels?
Answer:
Umberto took to writing novels to satisfy his taste for narration. He did not have even a single novel to his credit, till the age of 50. One day having nothing to do, he started writing a novel. Moreover, he thought that novels have more readership and he could reach a larger audience.

Question 17.
What made Roiand Barthes frustrated? What did he want to do?
Answer:
Eco s friend Roland Barthes was an essayist. He was not satisfied fully with his scholarly essays. He yearned to do some creative writing. He remained frustrated that he was as essayist and not novelist. But, unfortunately he died before he could do so.

Question 18.
How did Umberto Eco become spectacularly famous?
Answer:
Umberto Eco had earned a good reputation in the field of semiotics or the study of signs. His scholarly works were staggeringly large and wide ranging. But his spectacular fame came to him with his novel The Name of the Rose which stormed the world and sold more than 10 million copies.

Question 19.
What sort of TV programmes does Eco watch after dinner and why?
Answer:
After dinner, Eco watches light television programmes like Miami Vice and Emergency Room. These programmes do not tax his mind and he feels relaxed after a hard, day’s work. But he cannot watch such programmes the whole day.

Question 20.
Bring out Umberto Eco’s humility and modesty as evident in the chapter.
Answer:
Umberto Eco takes success in his stride and talks about his achievements in all modesty. He very humbly gives credit to the people’s capability of appreciating difficult reading experiences. Regarding doing so many things, he tells that it a fallicious impression, but at the end of the day, he is doing the same thing.

The Interview Long Questions and Answers

Question 1.
The Interview as a communication genre is here to stay. Discuss with reference to the interview with Umberto Eco.
Answer:
The interview today is a communication genre that has come to stay. Its detractors—mostly celebrities— despise it as an intrusion into their lives. However, a good interview can be a source of truth, it is an excellent medium of communication and in the modern world our most vivid impressions of contemporaries are through interviews. It is through the interview that we learn about Eco’s diverse writings, his interest in the philosophy of non-violence and peace and his ability to put every spare moment to constructive use. At the interviewer’s prompting, he tells us why he writes scholarly works in an informal style and how he started writing novels. We realise that he is an academician at heart. He honestly talks of the success of his book as a mystery saying that it might •not have sold so well in another time.

Question 2.
How did Umberto Eco assess his style of writing in The Name of the Rose?
Answer:
Umberto Eco considered himself to be an academician who was happy writing novels on Sundays. Though he did not feel he was a novelist, he felt the novel fulfilled his desire for narration. In fact, he spoke of himself as a university professor who wrote novels on Sundays. The novel, according to him, enabled him to reach a larger audience. The Name of the Rose was a very serious novel. It was a detective story that delved into metaphysics, theology and medieval history’. It enjoyed a huge audience as, according to him, people did enjoy difficult reading experiences. Like him. many did not like easy experiences all the time. The novel deals with a period of medieval history and the publisher did not expect to sell so well in a state where nobody had studied Latin or seen a cathedral. He felt the timing was crucial. Perhaps its popularity would have been less, had it been written earlier or later. ‘

Question 3.
How do celebrity writers despise being interviewed as given in ‘The Interview’?
Answer:
Since its invention a little over 130 years ago, the interview has become commonplace journalism. Over the years, opinions about its functions, methods and merits vary considerably. Some say it is a source of truth and in practice, an art. Others despise it being an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. They feel it diminishes them. They equate it to taking a photographic portrait of somebody which in some primitive cultures mean ‘stealing the person’s soul.’ Some people feel wounded by interviews and lose part of themselves. They call it immoral, a crime and an assault. To some it is cowardly and vile or an ordeal.

Question 4.
How does Eco explain that he is convinced he is always doing the same thing?
Answer:
Umberto Eco explains to Mukund Padmanabhan in an interview that all the people have a lot of empty spaces. These he call ‘interstices’. He explains them through an example. He says that one is to come to him and is in an elevator and he is waiting for him. While waiting for the guest’s elevator to appear before him. he has already written an article. It means he writes in snatches of time. However, his creative ideas flow in his mind every time even when he is hosting his guest. Though he relaxes on Sundays, yet is very much busy to write novels. On other days he is busy with his academic work.

Question 5.
How does Mukund Padmanabhan comment on Eco’s academic writing style? What does Eco say about it?
Answer:
Mukund Padmanabhan states that Eco’s non-fictional writing, that is, his scholarly work has a certain playful and personal quality about it. It is a marked departure from a regular style. That regular style is invariably depersonalised and often dry and boring. To a question if he consciously adopted
an informal style, he cited the comments of one of the professors who examined and evaluated his first doctoral dissertation. The professor said that scholars learned a lot of a certain subject, then they made a lot of false hypotheses, then they corrected and put conclusions at the end. But Eco told the story of his research, including his trials and errors. At the age of 22, Eco understood that scholarly books should be written by telling the story of the research. His essays, therefore, have a narrative aspect. That is why, he wrote novels to satisfy his taste for narrative.

Question 6.
How does Mukund Padmanabhan impress you as an interviewer? Do you consider his interview with Umberto Eco a success?
Answer:
Mukund Padmanabhan’s interview with Umberto Eco tells about his capabilities as a successful interviewer. He does not encroach upon his privacy or embarrass him with personal questions. He does not come in-between the celebrity and the readers. His questions are well worded. His questions • draw out of him what his fans would like to know. The questions asked by Mukund cover all the aspects of his works and personality. Eco gives elaborated answers to all his questions. With every question, the interviewer withdraws to the background leaving the interviewee in the limelight. The whole interview does not appear to be an ordeal for the interviewee. In short it is crisp at the same time informal.

Question 7.
What are the opinions of some of the celebrities on interviews?
Answer:
Celebrities have often seen themselves as victims of interviews. In V.S. Naipaul’s opinion, interviews have left people wounded and part of them stolen. Lewis Carroll was in horror of the interviewer and he never consented to be interviewed. He often silenced all those who sought to interview him or ask for his autographs. Rudyard Kipling too held a very critical attitude towards interviews and disapproved of them after he was left almost wrecked by two reporters from Boston. According to his wife, since then he found interviews were vile, immoral and a crime. To H.G. Wells, being interviewed was an ordeal, while to Saul Bellow, interviews were like thumbprints on his windpipe, an extortion of personal details by an overbearing interviewer. They all seemed to be terrified of interviews.

Question 8.
How does the interview with Umberto Eco prove that the interview is the most commendable tool to elicit information about the interviewee?
Answer:
Mukund Padmanabhan from ‘The Hindu’ interviews Umberto Eco and proves that interview is the most commendable tool to elicit information about the interviewee.

Through his interview he reveals that Eco is a prolific writer and yet a man who is most modest about his achievements. He very humbly spells the secret of his varied and staggeringly voluminous works produced by him. When Mukund asks him about David Lodge’s remark that how one man can do all the things that Eco does’, Eco very modestly says it is a fallacious impression, in fact he has always been doing the same thing by pursuing the same philosophical ideas. He views himself as an academic, rather than a novelist. He admits that he has started writing novels by accident and writes novels on Sundays.

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NCERT Solutions for Class 7 English Honeycomb Chapter 9 A Bicycle in Good Repair are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 7 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 7 English Honeycomb Chapter 9 A Bicycle in Good Repair.

NCERT Solutions for Class 7 English Honeycomb Chapter 9 A Bicycle in Good Repair

IMPORTANT PASSAGES FOR COMPREHENSION

Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct option :
Question 1.
I assured ; “easily enough in the morning ; goes a little stiffly after lunch.” (Page 126)
Multiple Choice Questions
Question 1.
The remark implied
(a) the author was an early riser
(b) the author liked to cycle in the morning
(c) the author liked to cycle in the afternoon
(d) the author to be a professional rider
Answer.
(b) the author liked to cycle in the morning
Question 2.
To cycle in the afternoon was
(a) refreshing
(b) annoying
(c) difficult
(d) easy
Answer.
(b) annoying

Question 3.
The mood swings happen
(a) due to the timings of the day
(b) due to sumptuous lunch
(c) due to heavy lunch
(d) due to light lunch
Answer.
(c) due to heavy lunch

Question 2.
“Don’t you trouble about it any more ; you will make yourself tired. Let us put it back and get off.”   (Page 127)
Questions.

1.  Who is the speaker of the above passage ?
2.  Who is being spoken to ?
3.  What is the work being done ?

Answers.

1.  The owner of the bicycle is the speaker.
2.  He is speaking to his friend who was trying to mend the bicycle.
3.  The bicycle is being repaired.

Question 3.
“People talk like that who understand nothing about machines. Nothing is easier than taking off a gear-case.”   (Page 129)
Multiple Choice Questions
Question 1.
The friend cautioned the author about the people
(a) who were just idiots
(b) who were not his friends
(c) who knew nothing about machines
(d) who were non-riders
Answer.
(c) who knew nothing about machines

Question 2.
The friend was an expert in taking off the gear-case as it took him
(a) five minutes to dismantle it
(b) less than five minutes to put it in two pieces
(c) just five seconds to throw it off
(d) all the above
Answer.
(b) less than five minutes to put it in two pieces

Question 3.
Who were effected by the friend’s repairs ?
(a) both the author and the cycle
(b) the bicycle
(c) the author
(d) the friend became tired
Answer.
(a) both the author and the cycle

Question 4.
“Watching you do this is of real use to me. It is not only your skill that fascinates me, it is your cheery confidence in yourself, your inexplicable hopefulness, that does me good.”
(Page 131)
Questions.

1.  Is the speaker of these words happy ?
2.  What fascinates the speaker ?
3.  What does he mean by inexplicable hopefulness ?

Answers.

1.  No. In fact he is very unhappy.
2.  The speaker is fascinated at the behaviour of his friend. Though he is making the bicycle from bad to worse, he hopes to mend it.
3.  The confidence of the friend cannot be explained. He is doing everything wrong, yet he
   hopes to set everything right.

Question 5.
The bicycle, I was glad to see, showed spirit; and the subsequent proceedings degenerated into little else than a rough-and-tumble fight between him and the machine. (Page 131)
Multiple Choice Questions
Question 1.
The bicycle showed spirit as it finally defeated him
(a) the handles hit him sharply over the head
(b) he continued repairing it
(c) the friend was tired
(d) the author was flushed with victory
Answer.
(a) the handles hit him sharply over the head

Question 2.
The proceedings were defined as
(a) bicycle on the gravel and the friend over it
(b) friend on the gravel and the bicycle over him
(c) a rough tumble fight between them
(d) none of the above
Answer.
(c) a rough tumble fight between them him

Question 3.
The ultimate triumph was that of
(a) the author
(b) the friend
(c) the cycle
(d) none of the above
Answer.
(d) none of the above

TEXTUAL QUESTIONS

Comprehension Check (Page 128)
Question 1.
“I got up early, for me.” It implies that
(i) he was an early riser.
(ii) he was a late riser.
(iii) he got up late that morning.
Mark the correct answer.
Answer.
(ii) he was a late riser.

Question 2.
The bicycle “goes easily enough in the morning and a little stiffly after lunch.” The remark is
(i) humorous.
(ii) inaccurate.
(iii) sarcastic.
(iv) enjoyable.
(v) meaningless.
Mark your choice(s).
Answer.
(iv) enjoyable.

Question 3.
The friend shook the bicycle violently. Find two or three sentences in the text which express the author’s disapproval of it.
Answer.
(i) “Don’t do that ; you’ll hurt it”.
(ii) “It doesn’t if you don’t wobble it”.
(iii) “Don’t you trouble about it any more ; you will make yourself tired.”

Question 4.
“… if not, it would make a serious difference to the machine.” What does “it’ refer to ?
Answer.
‘It’ refers to the loss of bearings’.

Working with the Text (Page 132)

Answer the following questions.
Question 1.
Did the front wheel really wobble ? What is your opinion ? Give a reason for your answer.
Answer.
No, the front wheel did not really wobble. The author had already tried the bicycle and was pleased with it. Even the friend had said that it was a good-looking machine.

Question 2.
In what condition did the author find the bicycle when he returned from the tool shed ?
Answer.
When the author returned from the tool shed, the front wheel had been taken off the bicycle. The friend was sitting on the ground with the front wheel between his legs. He was playing with it. The remnant of the machine was lying on the gravel path beside him.

Question 3.
“Nothing is easier than taking off the gear-case.” Comment on or continue this sentence in the light of what actually happens.
Answer.
The friend is right that ‘nothing is easier than taking off the gear-case’ but as he realised later, it was very difficult to refix it.

Question 4.
What special treatment did the chain receive ?
Answer.
First the chain became so tight that it would not move at all. Then it became twice as loose as it was before.

Question 5.
The friend has two qualities—he knows what he is doing and is absolutely sure it is good. Find the two phrases in the text which mean the same.
Answer.
“Cheery confidence” and “inexplicable hopefulness”.

Question 6.
Describe the fight between the man and the machine. Find the relevant sentences in the text and write them.
Answer.
“The bicycle showed spirit; and the subsequent proceedings degenerated into little less than a rough and tumble fight between him and the machine. One moment the bicycle would be on the gravel path and he on the top of it, the next, the position would be reversed-he on the gravel path, the bicycle on him. Now he would be standing flushed with victory, the bicycle firmly fixed between his legs. But his triumphs would be short-lived. By a sudden quick movement it would free itself and, turning upon him, hit him sharply over the head with one of its handles.”

Working with Language

Question 1.
Read the following sentences.

•  We should go for a long bicycle ride.
•  I ought to have been firm.
•  We mustn’t lose any of them.
•  I suggested that he should hold the fork, and that I should handle the wheel.
  The words in italics are modal auxiliaries. Modal auxiliaries are used with verbs to express notions such as possibility, permission, willingness, obligation, necessity etc. Should’, ‘must’ and ‘ought to’ generally express moral obligation, necessity and desirability. Look at the following.
•  We should go on a holiday. (suggestion : It is a good idea for us to go on a holiday.)
•  He is not too well these days. He must see a doctor before he becomes worse. (compulsion or necessity : It is absolutely essential or necessary for him to see a doctor.)
•  You ought to listen to me. I am well over a decade older than you. (more emphatic than ‘should’ : Since I am older than you, it is advisable that you listen to me.)

Note. “Should’ and ‘ought to’ are often used interchangeably.
Rewrite each of the following sentences using should/ought to/must in place of the italicised words. Make other changes wherever necessary.
(i) You are obliged to do your duty irrespective of consequences.
…………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………..
(ii) You will do well to study at least for an hour every day.
…………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………..
(iii) The doctor says it is necessary for her to sleep eight hours every night.
…………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………..
(iv) It is right that you show respect towards elders and affection towards youngsters.
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………
(v) If you want to stay healthy, exercise regularly.
…………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………….
(vi) It is good for you to take a walk every morning.
………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………
(vii) It is strongly advised that you don’t stand on your head.
………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………….
(viii) As he has a cold, it is better for him to go to bed.
…………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………….
Answers.
(i) You must do your duty irrespective of consequences.
(ii) You should study at least for an hour every day.
(iii) The doctor says she must sleep eight hours every night.
(iv) You ought to show respect towards elders and affection towards youngsters.
(v) To stay healthy, you must exercise regularly.
(vi) You should take a walk every morning.
(vii) You must not stand on your head.
(viii) As he has a cold, he should go to bed.

Question 2.
Use should/must/ ought to appropriately in the following sentences.
(i) People who live in glass houses …………. not throw stones.
(ii) You ….. wipe your feet before coming into the house, especially during the rains.
(iii) You …… do what the teacher tells you.
(iv) The pupils were told that they ………… write more neatly.
(v) Sign in front of a park : You ……….. not walk on the grass.
(vi) You ……… be ashamed of yourself having made such a remark.
(vii) He left home at 9 o’clock. He …….. be here any minute.
(viii) “Whatever happened to the chocolate cake ?” “How ……… I know ? I have just arrived.”
Answers.
(i) should
(ii) must
(iii) must
(iv) should
(v) must
(vi) ought to
(vii) should
(viii) should

Question 3.
Two or more single sentences can be combined to form a single sentence.
Read the following.
I made an effort, and was pleased with myself.
This sentence is in fact a combination of two sentences.

•  I made an effort
•  was pleased with myself.
  Now read this sentence.
  I did not see why he should shake it.
  This is also a combination of two sentences.
•  I did not see (it).
•  Why should he shake it ?

Divide each of the following sentences into its parts. Write meaningful parts. If necessary, supply a word or two to make each part meaningful.

1. I went to the tool shed to see what I could find. (3 parts)
2. When I came back he was sitting on the ground. (2 parts)
3. We may as well see what’s the matter with it, now it is out. (3 parts)
4. He said he hoped we had got them all. (3 parts)
5. I had to confess he was right. (2 parts)

Answers.

1.  I went to the tool shed.
   I went to see.
   What could I find ?
2.  I came back.
   He was sitting on the ground.
3.  We may as well see.
   What is the matter with it ?
   Now, it is out.
4.  He said.
   He hoped.
   We had got them all.
5.  I had to confess
   He was right.

Question 4.
‘en’ acts as a prefix (put at the beginning) or as a suffix (put at the end) to form
new words.

‘en’ at the beginning or at the end of a word is not always a prefix or a suffix. It is then an integral part of the word.

(i) Now arrange the words given in the box under the three headings, prefix, suffix and part of the word.

en (prefix)        en (suffix)             en (part of word)
………….                  …………….                …………………
………….                  …………….                …………………
………….                  …………….                ………………….
Answers.
en (prefix)          en (suffix)            en (part of the word)
encourage           dampen                 listen
endanger             soften                    barren
enclose                fasten                     even
enable                 weaken                   enclave
(ii) Find new words in your textbook and put them under the same headings.
Answers.
List of some new words from the textbook :
en (prefix)         en (suffix)               en (part of the word)
enjoy                   loosen                     dozen
en-route              tighten                    sudden
enact                   deepen                    kitchen
encircle                strengthen              happen
open

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