Question Answers of Chinar I

THE SUITOR AND PAPA

Q. Why did Pyotr’s friend ask for a stag party?

Pyotr’s friend asked for a stag party because there were rumours all around about Pyotr’s marriage.

Q. Why did pyotr’s friend conclude that he was planning to marry Nastya?

Pyotr’s friend concluded that Pyotr was planning to mary Nastya because Pyotr would spend days with the kondrashkins. He would dine with them and go for walks with Nastya and Konrashkins. He would take bunches of flowers to her.

Q. Pyotr’s friend says, I’m glad for Kondrashkin’s sake rather than yours. Why?

Pyotr’s friend says like that because he was glad for Kondrashkin’s sake for Kondrashkin had seven daughters and Milkin’s marriage with Nastya would mean that the poor father would get one of his liability settled.

Q. I’ll drop in tomorrow and sort if out with that blocked of Kondrashkin’s….”What was Pyotr’s planning to sort out with Kondrashkin?

Pyotr was planning to sort out with Kondrashkin that he was having no plan for marrying his daughter. He wanted him to know that he was not interested in getting married to his daughter though he had been dinning at his place and walking with Nastya and that all this would never mean that he would marry his daughter.

Q. In what state was Pyotr when he went to meet Konderashkin? How do you know?

Pyotr was in a state of anger and displeasure. He had been frustrated by the rumours about his getting married to Kondrashkin’s daughter Nastya. We know all this only when he entered Kondrashkin’s study in a disturbed and confused state.

Q. What issue was Kondrashkin accusing Pyotr of evading?

Kondrashkin was accusing Pyotr of evading the issue of his marrying his daughter Nastya.

Q. Pyotr cited many reasons for not proposing to Anastasia-list them.

Pyotr cited many reasons in order to avoid getting married to Anastsaia. The reasons are listed as under:

That he was a drunkard.

That he took bribes.

That he had embezzled a hundred and forty four thousands

That he was on trail for embezzlement /that he was a runaway convict. And that he was mad and that marriage is forbidden to a mad person.

Q. Do you think the reasons Pyotr put forth were genuine? How do you know?

I think the reasons were somehow genuine for Pyotr was left with no choice but to concrete reasons in order to avoid getting hitched with Nastya for the court councillor seemed to be using his hospitality as a pressure tactics to force the young Milkin to agree to marry Anastasia.

Q. When he failed to convince Kondrashkin, what did Pyotr almost family decided to do?

After having failed in convincing Kondrashkin, Pyotr decided to feign insanity, a Hamlet’s device so that it would not be legally allowed for him to marry. He almost decided to visit one of his friends, a doctor, and get from him a certificate proving his being insane.

Q. Why does Fituyev refuse to certify Pyotr as mad, despite being his friend?

Fithyev refuses to certify him as mad for he believed that anyone who did not want to get married could not be insane. He thinks that avoiding marriage is being wise.

THE STAR DUCKS

Who was Rafferty? Why had he gone to the Alsop farm?

Word Rafferty was a news reporter of the times. He had gone to the Alsop farm because he had received a telephonic information that these had been a crack-up of an air plane around there about which he wanted to get full information for his newspaper’ The Times’.

What made him conclude that the news was hoax?

After having reached around the Alsop farm, Rafferty found no crowd of confused or curious farmers over there around the Alsop house. There was no sign of the incident that Rafferty had been informed about. This made ward Rafferty conclude that the news of an airplane crash was a hoax, a false alarm intended to deceive the reporters.

How did Rafferty know Alsop wasn’t a times Reader?

Rafferty knew that Alsop was not a Times reader for Alsop would have know Rafferty’s name if he had read the times. But Alsop did not seem to be knowing of the name when Rafferty mentioned his name and it was clear from the episode that Alsop was not a reader of the Times.

When did Rafferty realize he had a story? Who did he feel had built the spaceship?

It was after reaching the barn and having a look at the contraption that Rafferty realized he had a story. It was certainly when all he was an airplane without wings only half inflated, globular on top and flat at the bottom.

The spaceship actually belonged to the men who bend iron with a hammer. Rafferty felt it as somebody’s crackpot idea of a spaceship.

Describe the visitors who had come in the contraption?

The visitors who had come to the Alsop in the contraption were strange creatures. They were aliens from somewhere in space. They had long flexible antennae. Their faces were pale blue completely bereft of expressions. One of them was a woman, and other the man. They could not talk. They would only make pictures for anyone talking to them.

How did they communicate with the Alsop?

The visitors communicated with the Alsop by moving their antennae towards them (Alsop) and by bending them down until they focused on them between the eyes which would make them think what the visitors thought.

‘Rafferty looked slyly at the people who bent iron‘. Why did he look at them slyly?

Rafferty thought that he should not be looking at them. He did not want the aliens to see him looking at them. So he looked slyly at them. It is also indicative of the fact that Rafferty suspected them as no extraordinary creatures but a fraud.

What made Rafferty change his mind about the visitors being fraud?

Rafferty changed his mind about the visitors being fraud when the female alien focused her antennae on Rafferty between the eyes and he, in a jiffy, under went a terrible experience by feeling as if his brain were made of rubber and by experiencing his mind being pounded. This terrible experience made him change his mind about the aliens because it was only then that he felt that the creatures were not a fraud.

Why were the visitors in a hurry to leave?

The visitors were in a hurry to leave because they had to catch the tide or something like that. They couldn’t wait for they had to leave as it was the time when the moon was in the right place. If they would have waited, they would not had found the moon in that right position.

Why had the visitors returned to the Alsop farm?

The visitors had returned to the Alsop farm to get eggs and brooder and feed for their use in space.

What happened to the star ducks?

Years back the aliens had brought to the Alsops some eggs of their own trade . The Alsop called those eggs as ‘star ducks’. They set them under a hen which bothered the hen awfully. According to the Alsop only two of them had lived and they ate them for thanksgiving.

Do you think Rafferty had a story? Why/ why not?

No, Rafferty did not have a story for his paper ‘the Times’ because the visitors (aliens) disappeared in to space hurriedly. He didn’t get the camera to photograph them. Without a photograph of those creatures his reporting would have been convincing. So, he was made to leave without a story, completely dejected and unhappy.

The Daffodils – William Wordsworth

Discussion 3:-

Those lines are taken from the poem “the Daffodils” written by ‘William Wordsworth. The poet feels elated at the sight of the countless number of the daffodils that have grown by the side of the lake.

In the lines under reference the poet compares the golden daffodils with the stars that shine and twinkle in the sky .The poet feels the number of the daffodils as never ending as the stars in the milky way .The poet is not capable to count the number of the daffodils in much the similar way as he could not count the number of stars .He also personifies the dancing of the golden daffodils with the dancing of men and women who toss their heads in a very cheerful dance.

a) ‘They’ refers to the golden daffodils.

b) They have been compared to the Milky Way because the poet feels the number of the daffodils as unending as the stars in the Milky Way.

c) The example of personification is as under:

Tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.

The picture created by this description is one of the happy dancers dancing and tossing their heads against each other in a very happy situation.

d) The example of the rhyming couplet from these lines is as under.

Ten thousand saw I at a glance

tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.

2. a) The poet saw a countless number of daffodils at a glance. No, they were not really ten thousand in number. It is poet’s way of describing the innumerable and unending sight of the daffodils.

b) The daffodils out did the waves in happiness and joy for they were both happy but the daffodils appeared to the poet much happier than the waves and that is how the poet describes the way the daffodils out did the waves.

c) The waves refer to the raised lines of water that fly over the surfaces of the daffodils.

d) The scene affected the poet emotionally .It made the poet feel emotionally satisfied and blissful.

e) the words that mean being happy are “glee”, “gay”,’jocound’

f) Tossing their heads in sprightly dance the waves besides them danced.

(3) a) The poet is referring to the wealth of being ,happy ,the wealth of joy .It is not a reference to the material gains or what ever amounts be worldly. It is the wealth of being happy in the company of daffodils.

The poetic device used in it is’ metaphor’.

b) The poet refers to it as ‘wealth’ because it brings both emotional and spiritual satisfaction and emotional bliss.

c) The poet feels blissful even when he is not in the company of daffodils and also simply when he gets reminded of them.

d) The poet refers to it as being blissful state because he derives a spiritual and emotional bliss. Even when the poet is completely alone where normally a person can not be but sad. The remembrance of the beauty of the daffodils makes his solitude blissful.

e) No, the poet had not realized the significance of the scene when he had first seen if because, in accordance with the poet, he could not visualize what wealth of joy the sight of the daffodils had brought to him. He could scarcely believe that the recollection of the scene of the daffodils would make his vacant times a source of happiness and satisfaction.

QUALITY

Q1. How long had the narrator known Gessler brothers?

The narrator had known the Gessller brother from the days of his extreme youth. It was nearly at the age of fourteen or so that the narrator was promoted to one of the Gessler Brothers.

Q2. “He would never have tolerated in his house leather ion which he had not worked himself”. This shows that the shoemaker….

This shows that the shoemaker was a self- respecting man who was proud of his ability and talent to make exquisite shoes.

Q3. Pick out the sentences in the second paragraph which show that the Gesslers were excellent shoemakers.

The following sentences are a clear evidence about Gesslers being excellent shoemakers :

i) ‘It seemed so inconceivable that what he made could ever have failed to fit’.

ii) ‘He would have never tolerated in his house leather on which he had not worked himself’.

iii) ‘The pair of pumps, so in expressibly slim. The patent leather ……making water come into one’s mouth.

iv) ‘ those pairs could only be made by one who saw before him the soul of boots - so truly were they prototypes incarnating the very spirit of all foot- gear.

Q4. Making shoes was a work of art for Gesslers means :

It means that the Gessler brothers considered shoemaking an art and spent hours in producing shoes that were of the highest quality and of exquisite workmanship.

Q5. How did the narrator differentiate between the two brothers? Who was the more skilled of the two ?

According to the narrator, the narrator would identify the Gessler brothers after the conversation is over. The elder brother would say "I'll ask my brudder" whereas the younger brother would take decision immediately. He would say "Come tomorrow fordnight".

Among these two, the younger brother was more skilled.

Q6. Why does the narrator compare the atmosphere of the shop to that of a church?

The narrator compares the atmosphere of the shop to that of a church to highlight Sincerity and the work culture combined with utmost devotion to which Mr. Gessler was wedded as a shoemaker. His shop was the church where he served his customers without any selfish motives.

Q7. The narrator says that the boots ‘lasted terribly’. Is it a compliment or criticism’? Explain.

The narrator says that the boots ‘lasted terribly’. It is a definite compliment. The narrator actually praises the quality of boots. This line clearly brings out the durability of the shoes made by Mr. Gessler.

Q8. “…… and I would continue to rest in the wooden ……..” why did the narrator have to rest in the chair? What was the incense of his trade?

The narrator had to rest in the chair because he had no choice to go to the shop as one usually goes to other shops in a mood of “please serve me and let me go” the narrator had to enter the shop as one enters a church and sit on the single wooden chair and wait for there was never anybody in the shop. The narrator is referring to the smell of leather as the incense of Mr. Gessler’s trade.

Q9. On one occasion the shoe maker offered to take back the narrator’s shoe. Why did he do so?

The narrator told Gessler that the pair of town walking boots creaked. The shoemaker said that they shouldn’t have done so. He, however, offered to take them back if he could do nothing to them because he thought it to be a reflection on his professional skill.

Q10. ‘Dose big virms’are no self respect. Who said this? Who were the big firms ………….,

This statement was spoken by Mr. Gessler, a shoe-maker who produced excellent and exquisite shoes with devotion and diligence and the big ‘virms’ he was referring to were the big firms or factories which made shoe-making an industry and with whom quality and customer satisfaction mattered much less. He spoke such word to expose the self-ulterior motives of those industrialists with whom monetary profits meant more than their self-respect and customer’s comfort.

Q11. What were the changes that the narrator observed when he visited the shoemaker’s shop after two years? Why had he not visited him for such a long time?

The narrator observed that outside one of the two little windows of Gessler’s shop another name was painted, also that of a boot maker. The old pair of boots was huddled in the single window. Inside it was then a contracted well and even darker than ever. The narrator had not visited the shoemaker’s shop for a few years owing to the fact that the shoes got made lasted more terribly than ever.

Q12. Why did the narrator order three pairs of shoes when he wanted only two?

The narrator actually wanted only two pairs of shoes but ordered three after coming to realise that the shoe maker had lost half of his shop owing to the fact that his business was getting too different to carry on. He felt sympathy over the Gessler brothers' condition.

Q13. Why was the narrator shocked to receive the bill for his shoes?

The narrator was shocked to receive it for the time along with the parcel of shoes which was quite unusual for Gesslers wouldn’t send it till quarter day.

Q14. What were the reasons that led to the death of the younger of the Gessler Brothers?

The younger of the Gessler brothers could not tackle with the pressures of his declining business and financial constraints and ultimately died of slow starvation.

Q15. Why did the Gessler brothers lose customers even though they made the best shoes in town?

The Gessler brothers made the best shoes in the town even though lost customers. It was owing to industrialization that made people resort to prompt services rather than the quality and durability of the product. As Gesslers wouldn’t compromise on quality and make shoes with devotion which naturally called for time and the seekers of prompt services stopped buying shoes from them.

THE LISTENERS

Q1. Why did the traveler knock at the door?

According to the atmosphere with which the poem begins, the traveler Knocked at the door for he wanted to meet somebody there with whom he seemed to have promised to come perhaps after a long gap of time.

Q2. Did anybody answer his Knock?

The traveler kept smitting at the door but nobody answered his knock.

Q3. What does the poet refer to as the voice from the world of men?

The poet refers “the voice from the world of men” as the voice of the traveler who belonged to the world of humans.

Q4. Explain the phrase “perplexed and still”

The phrase ‘perplexed and still’ refers to the feelings of the traveler after not having been responded at his constant smitting. He feels totally Chaotic and stands without moving i.e., perplexed and none has come out to see him.

Q5. What time of the day is described in the poem? Pick out the words that suggest this.

It is the night time. It is suggested by the use of the words as under :-

‘The moonlit door, the moonlight beams, faint moon, dark stair’ dark turf and starred sky.

Q6. List out the words that have been used to describe the listeners. What kind of a picture is created by these words? Do you think they are ordinary people?

The poet has described the listeners in fascinating and attractive words like-a host of phantom listeners, their strangeness, their stiffness etc.

These words create the picture of a mysterious place around which every thing is still and silent.

The listeners are no ordinary people. If they had been so, they would have come out and met the traveler. They were most probably ghosts for according to the poet the traveler’s voice was the only voice from the world of men.

Q7. Why have been the hoofs of the horse been described as ‘plunging’?

The hoofs of the horse have been described as plunging to bring out the picture of the traveler being in tremendous hurry. The traveler is fleeing from the place which is all mysterious and eerie and weird.

Q8. What is the effect created by the words the silence surged softly backwards?

The words create the effect of the immediate returning of the silence after the departure of the traveler on his horse. The silence comes back and the surroundings again plunge in quite.