About the Poet
Nissim Ezekiel was a professor of English at the University of Mumbai. He is one of the most noted Indian English poets; and is often mentioned as a "poet of the city". In this poem "Night of the Scorpion", Nissim Ezekiel poignantly describes a mother's selfless love for his children as she, despite having been bitten by a scorpion herself and narrowly escaping death, is grateful to god, that the scorpion had bitten her and spared her children.
Summary
• "Night of the scorpion" is a poem that can be understood at two levels at one level, the poet describes how, on a rainy day the narrator's mother is bitten by a scorpion and what are the chain reactions to it. At another level, it depicts the India ethos and cultured richness through a simple incident and epitomizes the typical Indian motherhood which depicts sacrifice and affection.
• The narrator remembers the night when the scorpion had bitten his mother. The heavy rain had driven the scorpion to crawl under a sack of rice and unexpectedly had bitten his mother's toe; flashing its devilish tail and parting with its poison.
• The peasants or villages came into their hut "like swarms of flies" to sympathize with the family. The neighbours buzzed the name of god hoping to paralyse the scorpion as they believed that if the mother moved the poison would spread. They searched for the scorpion with candles and lanterns. They clicked their tongues that the mother's sufferings may decrease "the misfortunes of her next birth". They also prayed that the sum of evil may be balanced in this unreal world against the sum of good that she had done. They prayed that the poison would purify her of her desires and ambitions.
• All the people sat around, the mother in the centre, while she continued to groan and twist with pain, on the mat.
• The narrators father who was normally a rationalist and a practical man, also gave in to the superstitious beliefs of the villages and joined them in their cursing and praying then putting a mixture of powders and herbs on her toe, a little paraffin on the bite and lit it with a match - hoping to burn the poison away. The narrator saw his mother's toe on fire and must have felt afraid. A holy man, the priest, performed some rites' to probably tame the poison. Only after (20) twenty hours did the poison subside the mother was relieved of the pain, and thanked god that the scorpion bit her and spared her children.
• The poem thus brings out the mother's love and sacrificial thoughts - the maternal instinct, as well as beautifully describes the superstitions and ignorant practices followed by the villagers. The title of the poem thus is very deceptive, as it does not focus on the scorpion at all.
IMAGERY
Poet communicates an experience. The poet's communication is received by our senses. The senses consist of seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling and touching. The poet has to create an image to stimulate any of these senses. This is called imagery. It can be defined as the representation of an experience through language.
Though visual imagery is most often used in poetry, an image may also represent a sound, a smell, a touch or a feeling or sensation. In this poem, the poet has made use of various types of imagery:
Visual imagery
• scorpion crawling beneath a sack of rice
• peasants came like swarms of flies
Smell imagery
• smell of candles
• smell of burning oil in the lanterns
Tactile experience
• scorpion biting the mother
• father pouring paraffin on the toe.
Internal sensation
• fear
• pain
Sound imagery
• buzzed the name of god a hundred times
• they clicked their tongues
Questions & Answers
Question (1): Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I remember the night my mother. He risked the rain again.
i) Who does "he" refer to?
ii) Why did he come inside the house? Where did he hide?
iii) Why does the poet refer to his tail as diabolic?
Answer: i) "He" refers to the scorpion.
ii) He came inside the house to seek protection and shelter from the rain. He hid himself beneath a sack of rice.
iii) The sting of the scorpion's tail caused much pain to the poet's mother. He is therefore calling its tail diabolic or devilish.
Question (2): Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
They clicked their tongues ..... be burned away tonight, they said
i) Who are "they" in the above passage?
ii) What did "they" attribute the mother's suffering to?
iii) Why did "they" want him to sit still?
Answer: i) "They" in the above passage refers to the villages
ii) They attributed the mother's sufferings to her sins in some previous birth. They said that her present suffering would burn away her sins of her previous birth.
iii) They thought that the poison in the mother's blood moved swiftly as the scorpion moved. They, therefore wanted the scorpion to sit still.
Question (3): Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
May the poison purify your flesh.... the peace of understanding on each face.
i) How did the poison enter the mother's body?
ii) What good did the villages hope that the poison would do?
iii) Explain the phrase: "peace of understanding"
Answer: i) The scorpion had stung the mother on her toe and thus the poison entered the mother's body.
ii) The villagers hoped that the poison would purify the mother's body of desire and her spirit of ambition.
iii) Although the villagers were sad to see the mother suffering, the understanding that it was doing some good to both her body and her spirit - brought peace on their faces.
Question (4): Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
My father, sceptic, rationalist,.... upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.
i) Why did a "sceptic, rationalist" try every curse and blessing etc? What does it show?
ii) Why did the father pour a little paraffin and put a match to it?
Answer: i) Although the poet's father was a sceptic and rationalist, he was too grieved with the mother's situation to think practically. So, he tried whatever anyone around suggested to him which would help to relieve the mother's pain and suffering. It shows that during a crisis, human beings will do anything suggested to them, by others, to help them overcome the crisis.
ii) The father put a little paraffin upon the bitten toe and put a match to it (lit it) because it was thought that it would burn the poison of the wound.
Question (5): Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I watched the flame feeding on my mother... it lost its sting.
i) Who is 'I' here?
ii) What does "the flame" remind the poet of?
iii) When did the mother find relief?
Answer: i) "I" here is the poet who is the narrator.
ii) "The flame" probably reminds the poet of the funeral or burning or cremation of a dead body according to funeral rites. In it, the dead body is consigned to flames. So the burning of the mother's toe, probably reminds the poet of that.
iii) After twenty hours of suffering in pain, the poison finally subsided, and the mother got relief.
Question (6): Examine the theme of the poem "Night of the Scorpion".
Answer: The theme of the poem is presented through an incident in which the poet's mother is bitten by a scorpion on rainy night. The villagers on hearing of this unfortunate event, come to see her, praying to god and giving all kinds of justifications for her suffering. With their prayers and words they try to console the victim. The victims husband who is otherwise a sceptic and a rationalist also gives in to every curse and blessing.
The poem shows how when a critical situation arises, human beings are always willing to help one another. Common villagers show their simplicity and sympathy; though they are not of much help, and give in to superstitions and false beliefs, they try to help out. The father, though a sceptic and rationalist in normal circumstances, yet in this moment of crisis, he gives in to the villagers' advice.
The mother bears the pain and suffering for twenty hours, writhing in pain and when she recovers, she is thankful that she was bitten and not her children, bringing out the maternal love of a mother for her children
Question (7): Show the different qualities in the poet's father and mother that are brought out in the poem.
Answer: The father is logical and scientific in his thinking and does not believe in superstitions and blind beliefs. Yet when his wife is bitten by the scorpion he is anything but logical. He tries out every curse and blessing, every possible antidote. He summons the holy man to perform his rites and even pours paraffin on the bitten to and ignites it. The mother suffers the bite of the scorpion. She groans and moans on the mat twisting and turning in pain. As soon as the poison loses its effect she thanks god for sparing her children. She epitomizes motherhood and like a typical Indian mother is selfless in her love for her children.
Question (8): "After twenty hours
It lost its sting"
a) Explain 'It lost is sting'
The poison stopped spreading and the pain reduced in the mother's toe.
b) How did the villagers see something positive in the scorpion's attack?
Answer: The peasants believed that the suffering would cleanse some of her sins of the poet birth or of the next birth. With her suffering the balance of evil in this world would be reduced. It would cleanse her soul and kill the spirit of desire which is the root cause of suffering in the world.
Question (1): What had driven the scorpion to the poet's home?
1. Fear
2. Rain
3. Sun
4. Poison
Ans: 2 Question (2): Why did he return to the rain outside
1. He could see in the lightening
2. He was chased away
3. He liked the rain
4. He stang and went away
Ans: 4 Question (3): What did the villagers do when they heard of the scorpion sting?
1. They were indifferent
2. They visited the temple
3. They flocked to the poet's house
4. They went in search of the scorpion
Ans: 3 Question (4): The peasants came like swarms of flies. The figure of speech is
1. Metaphor
2. Simile
3. Personification
4. Alliteration
Ans: 2 Question (5): The sting of the scorpion is
1. painful and can cause death
2. a blessing of God
3. a sin of previous birth
4. momentary and requires no medication
Ans: 1 Question (6): What assessment of the father's character have you made by reading the poem?
1. He is detached and cruel
2. He is harsh but effective
3. He is concerned but helpless
4. He is a holy man and very pious
Ans: 3 Question (7): A sceptic is a person who
1. doubts everything
2. believes everything
3. always thinks of God
4. removes curses
Ans: 1 Question (8): The mother thanks God because the scorpion
1. stung her
2. spared her children
3. went away
4. did not poison her
Ans: 2
Friday, June 5, 2009
CUTIE PIE BY NICHOLAS FISK
CUTIE PIE BY NICHOLAS FISK
About the Author
Nicholas Fisk's real name is David Higgenbottom. Born in London in 1923 he has worked as an actor, photographer, journalist, lecturer and a musician. He has been an editor and publisher as well as one of the most popular authors of Science Fiction and Horror stories over the past three decades. He has written over forty books and several television scripts.
Summary
• In Cutie Pie, the author describes the capture of an extra-terrestrial creature and his experiences on earth. The emphasis is on the basic human connection between the infant Winters and Cutie Pie, the E.T. creature. Indirectly, the author means that creatures living anywhere on any planet have some basic common human characteristics similar to the ones possessed by human beings.
• The scientists on earth built a space ship-Questar, which accidentally captured a creature living on the planet Quta-pie. When this extra-terrestrial creature was brought to earth and shown on T.V; Ch-tsal, at once became the darling of the spectators. They found him cute because of his shining feathers with shimmering patterns displaying rainbow colors. He had a curved, cosy, and rounded body, dark liquid eyes. He had bushy little hands, complete with thumbs that cutie pie used with astonishing speed and skill. Cutie Pie became an instant celebrity - he was a commercial success sold as Cutie Pie dolls, colouring books, tee-shirts, fan clubs, cereal cartoons, cartoon serials etc. Everyone wanted to touch him, see him, hold him. He was given a proper name - Ch-tsal - and put in a glass prison because he could live only in an environment similar to that on Quta-pi. The glass prison was a kind of scientific tomb which had a temperature of 180oF, 98 per cent humidity and an atmosphere of hydrogen, oxygen and careful proportions of a dozen exotic gases.
• Though Ch-tsal was captured from Quta-pie, the planet was not really his home. He merely chanced to be on Quta-pi. His elders had sent him there for his initiation; he went out as a boy and was to return as a "man", after having faced difficulties and dangers in strange places. Questar chanced to travel to Quta-pi and in scooping soil, rock, shale etc from it as samples, scooped Ch-tsal too.
• Ch-tsal remembered the scientists or inmates of Questar-silver creatures with bubble faces. He had become unconscious, but now he was in prison of the scientist jailers, white-clad men with tubes and goggle faces. He knew that these jailers didnt mean to torture him. He couldnt talk to them because he had no vocal chords; he could only look past their goggle glasses into their eyes, begging them to understand, but they could not.
• Ch-tsal groomed his feathers because they were filters, temperature - controllers, respirators etc. His whiskers were receiver's antennae, language carriers, voice, life-line. These linked him to his people and he had to keep them in working order by grooming. But unfortunately in the glass prison, these did not work. So he had to face a lot of miseries - he was deaf, dumb, alone, cut off from his land, his people.
• However, Ch-tsal fought his despair with all the courage he could muster up. His five stomachs, and numerous organic filters helped him to stomach the food and atmosphere supplied to him. He used to sleep and dream of his home. But on the nineteenth day of his captivity on earth, Ch-tsal awoke to a horrifying calamity.
• His jeweled feathers from his back and sides and down from his body had fallen out in the night. This calamity was as bad as it would be if humans suddenly found one day that they had hair - coarse hair all over their bodies. This loss of hair made him feel naked and hideous. His feathers were to him what clothes were to human. To lose his feathers was to lose himself. To become naked was to become a monster.
• He felt hideous and close to death. He crouched in a corner of his glass prison. He realized how powerless he was now. The scientists working on him also pitied him but they too were powerless.
• One day, two scientists came to Ch-tsal to try a change of diet. They examined him through the glass of their gas-mask goggles and hastened to get out because strange gases began to seep in through their masks. One of them pressed the button that closed the glass wall. The food bowl jammed it which caused a gap. Ch-tsal then escaped into the human world through this gap.
• Ch-tsal sensed that he could breathe in the air and the temperature was pleasant. He would have sent a message of thanks to his god, but his whiskers, his voice, were gone.
• Soon he began to explore the world around him. He found food in Mrs. Chats worth's house. He tasted cacti and put some into his bag. Now he wanted a friend desperately as he was very lonely. He saw a cat with fur. But the cat attacked him with its claws. He questioned the creature with his mental power and found it useless because the cat had only simple, crude thoughts - comfort, hunting, mating, food etc. He also came across a dog, but it too was useless for him.
• Then Ch-tsal felt rain and saw that his muzzle had some tiny, wire like projections - He was happy because his feathers were growing. But he was still looking for a friend and soon he found a small baby Christopher Harry Winters, who was of the same size as he was and completely naked. He learnt that Winters was an ungrown specimen of the senior species of earth. When winter's mother picked up the baby, waves of love and maternal emotions flowed between Winters and his mother which Ch-tsal recognized by his own experience.
• One night, Ch-tsal made his way into Christopher's nursery and lay down by Winters. He asked him to talk to him and hearing him, Winters smiled in his sleep. From Winters, Ch-tsal learned what it was like to plunge through a great wave, to hunt down animals in dark forests, to shoot an arrow knowing where it would hit. He also learnt of the glories of battle, the terrors of defeat, the chill wickedness of snakes, the smell of wood smoke etc.
• In turn, Ch-tsal told Winters of the building of crystal cities, of creatures in caves, of the pioneer ships that opened up the galaxy, of the Venus invaders and how they were defeated, of the five ways of knowing god, of the taste of a certain food that grew only when the planet's three moons were full.
• Both Ch-tsal and Winters underwent a great change after their meetings and talks. Now Winters often laughed and gurgled, bubbled and pulled his mother's hair. Ch-tsal's feathers and whiskers grew. He searched for food and exercised vigorously when Winters was four months old, Ch-tsal's feathers were so splendid that they gathered in the darkness. One particular night, he heard his mother's voice faintly, brokenly. Ch-tsal was overcome with joy and forgot all caution. He became a firework, a bombshell, spinning and zooming and bouncing off tree trunks. When two young poachers saw him, he beamed a single pulse of ecstasy so powerful that they fell backwards. One fine day, Ch-tsal was gone , the scientists stared at burnt grass in a roped-off area where his spaceship landed to take him back home. No one knew what became of Cutie Pie.
• Only-one person on earth knew, however, that was Winters, but he was too young to talk about Ch-tsal. He tried to tell his mother, but the mother only half-believed him and scolded him on listening to him, coaxing him to drink up his milk.
Questions & Answers
Question (1): How did the people react to see Cutie-Pie shown on T.V sets?
Answer: The people were very fascinated by the extraordinary appearance of this extra terrestrial creature. They called him "Cute" because of his admirable rainbow-like coloured feathers. They wanted to cuddle him, touch him, hold him.
Question (2): Describe Cutie - Pie's appearance.
Answer: Cutie-Pie had a curved, cosy, rounded body. He had dark, liquid eyes. He had a gentle smiling mouth and bushy little hands, complete with thumbs. What was fascinating about him was his iridescent feathers down on his belly with radiant shimmering patterns.
Question (3): How did Cutie Pie affect the commercial side of public life?
Answer: Cutie Pie became an instant celebrity. Commercial mileage was taken by his presence. Cutie Pie dolls were made to be sold. Colouring books, Tee-shirts, fan clubs, cereal cartons, cartoon serials, anything and everything had Cutie Pie represented on it.
Question (4): What kind of a special place was created by the scientists to keep Ch-tsal?
Answer: Since Ch-tsal was an alien, he was kept in an air-tight sealed glass prison - a kind of scientific tomb with 180oF temperature, 98 percent humidity and an atmosphere of hydrogen, oxygen and careful proportions of a dozen exotic gases.
Question (5): How did Ch-tsal get captured? Where was he captured from?
Answer: Ch-tsal was captured from the planet Quta-Pie, another planet. He merely chanced to be there, as he had gone to get initiated there. He went there as a boy, hoping to return, to his own planet as a man after having faced difficulties and dangers in strange places. Quta pie was a strange and hostile planet from where he was captured. Quentar was a spaceship which had gone to explore Quta-Pie. The spaceship was scooping samples of soil, rock and shale from Quta-Pie, when doing so, it accidentally scooped Ch-tsal who happened to be there and thus he was brought to earth.
Question (6): Why couldnt Ch-tsal establish any kind of contact with his captors?
Answer: Ch-tsal couldnt establish any contact with his captors because he couldnt talk to them. He had no vocal chords and his race did not speak. He could only look past the goggle glasses into the eyes of his captors begging them to understand him. But they could not.
Question (7): Why did Ch-tsal try so hard to grow his feathers and whiskers?
Answer: Ch-tsal groomed his feathers and whiskers because they were filters, temperature controllers, respirators and much more. His whiskers, were receivers, antennae, language-carriers, voice and his life-line. Through them alone, he could establish contact with his people.
Question (8): How did Ch-tsal sustain himself though he underwent great physical miseries on earth?
Answer: Ch-tsal fought his miseries with courage. His five stomachs and numerous organic filters, allowed him to stomach the food and atmosphere supplied to him. He forced his mind and hands to entertain him. He slept most of the time and dreamed of his home.
Question (9): What appalling reality did Ch-tsal wake up to on the nineteenth day, Earth time?
Answer: On the nineteenth day of his captivity, Ch-tsal saw that his jewelled feathers from his back and sides had fallen out in the night. These were his communication channels, respirators, temperature controllers, receive, antennae - his entire lifeline so to say. He now looked naked and hideous.
Question (10): What important feature did Ch-tsal have which his mother also possessed?
Answer: Like his mother, Ch-tsal could also will his own individual, self-expressive loveliness. The beauty, the shape, the pattern and colour of his feathers could be created by will by him. To him, his feathers were what clothes were to humans.
Question (11): How was Ch-tsal treated by people after his change?
Answer: After Ch-tsal's feathers and whiskers were shed, he looked naked and hideous and monster-like. Everyone pitied him. Then pity turned to disgust and soon everyone began to change to other channels on T.V. inorder to forget him. The birth of a panda, the Olympic games, a new girl singer with an exotic dress became their points of attraction. Cutie-Pie was soon forgotten.
Question (12): What kind of a life did Ch-tsal live in the glass prison?
Answer: Ch-tsal looked hideous and was near to death. He had no feathers and whiskers. Without them he couldn't communicate. The glass walls prevented him from sending or receiving messages. He was completely powerless.
Question (13): "Cutie Pie were words they flinched from". Who does "they" refer to? Why did they flich at the mention of these words?
Answer: "They" here refers to the scientists - jailors of Cutie Pie. They saw that Cutie-Pie had shed his feathers and whiskers. Besides, he looked hideous and was near to death. His sickness accused them of their incompetence. His survival was a challenge to their expertise.
Question (14): How did Ch-tsal manage to escape from his glass prison?
Answer: One day, the scientists - jailors entered the glass prison to examine his food. They hastened from the prison to avoid the strange gases seeping into their masks. One of them pressed the button that closed the glass wall. The food bowl jammed the door, leaving a gap. Ch-tsal managed to escape through this gap.
Question (15): How did Ch-tsal adjust to the outside atmosphere after his escape from the glass prison?
Answer: Ch-tsal found that he could breathe in the air. The temperature was pleasant. There was even a sun to warm his naked, decaying body and tingle his naked skin. He felt great ecstasy in the rain. He felt he was efficient in everything. He explored the facts and things of the earth around him and found them easy to handle.
Question (16): Though Cutie-Pie escaped from the glass prison, he was not able to return to his planet immediately? Why?
Answer: Cutie-Pie was not able to return to his planet immediately because he had not grown his feathers and whiskers which had fallen. These were his life line, a kind of receivers antennae, machinery to take him off, or to establish a contact with his own people.
Question (17): How did Ch-tsal find the infant Christopher Mary Winters?
Answer: Ch-tsal was very lonely, he wanted some company. He found Winters - a baby of six weeks and 3 days lying on a rug in the garden, warming in the sun. Winters was the same size as Ch-tsal and naked like him. He didnt have to feel ashamed of his own nakedness in Winter's company. The baby looked very happy as it kicked its legs about and drooled. Later, Ch-tsal realized that Winters was an ungrown specimen of the senior species of Earth.
Question (18): How did Ch-tsal recognize "the big creature" to be the mother of baby Winters?
Answer: Ch-tsal after getting soaked in the rain, had started growing his feathers and whiskers which were his lifeline. He could now pick up the strong, thick waves of loving emotion that flowed between mother and baby. He recognized them and remembered them from his own childhood.
Question (19): What did Cutie Pie learn from his interaction with Winters?
Answer: Cutie Pie learned what it was like for a human to plunge through a great wave, to hunt down animals in dark forests, to shoot an arrow and to know how it would hit its mark. He also learned of the glories of the battle, the terrors of defeat, the cold wickedness of snakes etc.
Question (20): What information did Ch-tsal give Winters, lying down besides him?
Answer: Ch-tsal told Winters of the building of Crystal cities, of creatures in Caves, of the pioneer ships that opened up the galaxy, of the Venus invaders and how they were repulsed. He also told him of the five ways of knowing God, of the taste of a certain food that grew only when his planet's three moons were full.
Question (21): What was the effect of Ch-tsal's friendly talks on Winters?
Answer: Winters was happier than ever with the friendly talks between him and Ch-tsal. He gurgled, bubbled, and chuckled. He laughed loudly and tugged at his mothers hair. He was a happy, contented baby with hair curling day by day.
Question (22): What happened to Ch-tsal after he heard his mother one day?
Answer: One particular night, Ch-tsal heard his mother faintly and brokenly. He got so excited and ecstatic that he almost went mad. In the dewy moonlight of the woods, he became a firework, a bombshell, spinning, zooming and bouncing off tree trunks. He somersaulted, flashed and was filled with sheer joy and excitement.
Question (23): What became of Cutie Pie after he established contact with his own planet? What is the proof of it?
Answer: Cutie Pie, heard his mother call out to him. He was wild with joy. One fine day, a spaceship landed in Hertz village and took off with Cutie Pie aboard. It became a real sensation. The landing of the spaceship was seen physically in the burnt grass in the roped-off area - a patch of burnt field with a furrow leading to a dimple like an exclamation mark (!) had been formed. This was the proof that Cutie Pie went away to his own planet.
Question (24): How does Christopher's mother react when he tries to tell her of his meeting and friendship with Cutie Pie?
Answer: Christopher tells his mother about Cutie Pie but his mother only humours him saying, "Did he come, darling? I'm glad. Hold your mug properly". She does not believe him and tells him to finish his milk. When he tells that Cutie told him stories, she tells him 'you're sure you're not telling stories, darling? Christopher feels helpless that his mother cannot accept a simple truth that quite often in the night Cutie Pie visits him in his dreams and they tell each other stories and that this friendship will last all his life.
Question (25): Imagine you are C.H. Winters. You have grown up and wish to share with someone, your secret friendship with Cutie Pie. Write a letter to your friend victor telling him about your experiences with Cutie Pie.
Answer:
Hertz.
20.1.08
Dear Victor,
Thank you for the lovely birthday card you sent me. As usual my birthday always brings back some memories which are very precious to me I wish to share them with you.
I am sure you have heard about Cutie Pie the cute extra-terrestrial who was scooped from Quta Pie by our scientists. I was only two at that time. One night I felt something warm and cosy ticked next to me I was surprised to see Cutie Pie smiling at me 'We struck up an instant friendship. We communicated with our minds I spoke history of the humans. Cutie Pie told me his real name was Chtsal. He told me about his planet, the crystal cities, of creatures in caves, of the pioneer ships that opened up the galaxy, of the Venus invaders and how they were repulsed. He also told me about how his planet had 3 Suns and Moons and the taste of a certain food that grew only when his planets three moon were full. We grew fond of each other I realized he was hiding from humans as he met me only in the night.
One night he disappeared. I soon gathered that he had returned to his planet Victor this may seem incredible to you, but trust me every year on my birthday he sends his love and greetings to me. I value that friendship as much as I value your. I hope you understand and believe me.
Lots ofl ove,
Christopher.
Question (26): You are a newspaper reporter writing about the mysterious landing of the village in Hertz Village and connecting this with disappearance of Cute Pie.
Answer:
Spaceship and in Hertz village!
20.01.07
It is believed that a spaceship mysteriously landed in Hertz village last night. A patch of burnt field with a furrow leading to a dimple like an exclamation mark(!) hears testimony to the landing of the spaceship. Scientists believe that the spaceship was on a special mission to rescue Cutie Pie, the alien who created a sensation a few months ago. Readers will recall that Cutie Pie Had been scooped from Quta Pie and kept in a glass cage where the atmosphere of Quata Pie was created Cutie Pie had lost its beauty and feathers inside the cage and had managed to escape due to the carelessness of a couple of scientists. Thought efforts were mad Cutie Pie could not betraced. Some questions loomlarge
How did Cutie Pie survive in Earth? Had the scientists misjudged that Cutie Pie belonged to Quta Pie? Did Cutie Pie communicate with someone on earth? So far these questions remain unanswered as no eye witnesses have come forward with any information. However, one thing remains certain. It was a failure of the scientists to provide a conducive atmosphere for Cutie Pie. They lost a golden chance to study the existence of life in other plant
Question (27): Describe Cutie Pie's feeling about the Earth and his experiences after his escape from the glass prism.
Answer: The Earth astonished him and he could breathe the air and the temperature was pleasant! He loved the warm sun tingling his naked skin and the coolness of the night! He was ecstatic when it rained. It was like a balm on his tortured skin!
He found everything in the earth very crude and simple. He could easily operate the knobs and handles. He found food, cacti in the extension of Mrs. Chatsworth's house. He made himself and carrying bag, cut himself a store of food and carried if off. He was in need of companionship to give him comfort. He met a cat who tried to attack and a dog who displayed a silly niceness. He was disgusted by the simple, crude thoughts these creatures possessed. At last he found a human body who was the prefect friend for him. He communicated with baby Christopher, regaling him with stories about his own planet. During the daytime he hid from human beings but at night he moved about stealthily. Soon his whiskers and feathers grew back. Finally his mother came in a spaceship and a delighted, rapturous Cutie escaped back home.
Question (1): Cutie Pie was captured from the planet
1. Questar
2. Quta - pi
3. Ch - tsal
4. Winters
Ans: 2
Question (2): Cutie Pie was covered with
1. shiny colourful feathers
2. dull feathers
3. shiny fur
4. skin
Ans: 1
Question (3): Why was Cutie Pie on the planet of Quta - pi?
1. That was his planet
2. He was there for his initiation
3. He was on a vacation
4. He was a scientist
Ans: 2
Question (4): Where did the scientists keep Cutie Pie?
1. In water
2. In a glass prison
3. In a space ship
4. In a garden
Ans: 2
Question (5): Who were the 'silver creatures with bubble faces'?
1. Men in space suits
2. Inhabitants of Quta Pi
3. Brothers of Cutie Pie
4. Imaginary creatures
Ans: 1
Question (6): What was the one thing that Cutie Pie did frequently?
1. Talk to people
2. Send messages to his planet
3. Comb his feathers
4. Sleep and dream
Ans: 3
Question (7): How did Cutie Pie escape from the glass prison?
1. The scientist let him out
2. A food bowl jammed the glass door
3. Winters saved him
4. The prison broke
Ans: 2
Question (8): What healthy food did Cutie Pie find in Mrs. Chatsworth's house?
1. Cacti
2. Sandwich
3. Baby food
4. Wood
Ans: 1
Question (9): How did Ch-tsal quieten the furry creature that attacked him?
1. By singing to it
2. By talking to it
3. By using mental power
4. By hitting it
Ans: 3
Question (10): The creature that Ch-tsal saw had coloured fur, it arched its back, and had hooks at the end of its limbs. This was a
1. baby
2. dog
3. cat
4. fox
Ans: 3
Question (11): How long did Ch-tsal remain on earth after he met Christopher?
1. About ten weeks
2. About one week
3. About ten months
4. About four months
Ans: 1
Question (12): Christoper tells his mother about Ch-tsal, what is her reaction to this?
1. She is excited
2. She does not hear him
3. She does not believe him
4. She also tells him a story
Ans: 3
About the Author
Nicholas Fisk's real name is David Higgenbottom. Born in London in 1923 he has worked as an actor, photographer, journalist, lecturer and a musician. He has been an editor and publisher as well as one of the most popular authors of Science Fiction and Horror stories over the past three decades. He has written over forty books and several television scripts.
Summary
• In Cutie Pie, the author describes the capture of an extra-terrestrial creature and his experiences on earth. The emphasis is on the basic human connection between the infant Winters and Cutie Pie, the E.T. creature. Indirectly, the author means that creatures living anywhere on any planet have some basic common human characteristics similar to the ones possessed by human beings.
• The scientists on earth built a space ship-Questar, which accidentally captured a creature living on the planet Quta-pie. When this extra-terrestrial creature was brought to earth and shown on T.V; Ch-tsal, at once became the darling of the spectators. They found him cute because of his shining feathers with shimmering patterns displaying rainbow colors. He had a curved, cosy, and rounded body, dark liquid eyes. He had bushy little hands, complete with thumbs that cutie pie used with astonishing speed and skill. Cutie Pie became an instant celebrity - he was a commercial success sold as Cutie Pie dolls, colouring books, tee-shirts, fan clubs, cereal cartoons, cartoon serials etc. Everyone wanted to touch him, see him, hold him. He was given a proper name - Ch-tsal - and put in a glass prison because he could live only in an environment similar to that on Quta-pi. The glass prison was a kind of scientific tomb which had a temperature of 180oF, 98 per cent humidity and an atmosphere of hydrogen, oxygen and careful proportions of a dozen exotic gases.
• Though Ch-tsal was captured from Quta-pie, the planet was not really his home. He merely chanced to be on Quta-pi. His elders had sent him there for his initiation; he went out as a boy and was to return as a "man", after having faced difficulties and dangers in strange places. Questar chanced to travel to Quta-pi and in scooping soil, rock, shale etc from it as samples, scooped Ch-tsal too.
• Ch-tsal remembered the scientists or inmates of Questar-silver creatures with bubble faces. He had become unconscious, but now he was in prison of the scientist jailers, white-clad men with tubes and goggle faces. He knew that these jailers didnt mean to torture him. He couldnt talk to them because he had no vocal chords; he could only look past their goggle glasses into their eyes, begging them to understand, but they could not.
• Ch-tsal groomed his feathers because they were filters, temperature - controllers, respirators etc. His whiskers were receiver's antennae, language carriers, voice, life-line. These linked him to his people and he had to keep them in working order by grooming. But unfortunately in the glass prison, these did not work. So he had to face a lot of miseries - he was deaf, dumb, alone, cut off from his land, his people.
• However, Ch-tsal fought his despair with all the courage he could muster up. His five stomachs, and numerous organic filters helped him to stomach the food and atmosphere supplied to him. He used to sleep and dream of his home. But on the nineteenth day of his captivity on earth, Ch-tsal awoke to a horrifying calamity.
• His jeweled feathers from his back and sides and down from his body had fallen out in the night. This calamity was as bad as it would be if humans suddenly found one day that they had hair - coarse hair all over their bodies. This loss of hair made him feel naked and hideous. His feathers were to him what clothes were to human. To lose his feathers was to lose himself. To become naked was to become a monster.
• He felt hideous and close to death. He crouched in a corner of his glass prison. He realized how powerless he was now. The scientists working on him also pitied him but they too were powerless.
• One day, two scientists came to Ch-tsal to try a change of diet. They examined him through the glass of their gas-mask goggles and hastened to get out because strange gases began to seep in through their masks. One of them pressed the button that closed the glass wall. The food bowl jammed it which caused a gap. Ch-tsal then escaped into the human world through this gap.
• Ch-tsal sensed that he could breathe in the air and the temperature was pleasant. He would have sent a message of thanks to his god, but his whiskers, his voice, were gone.
• Soon he began to explore the world around him. He found food in Mrs. Chats worth's house. He tasted cacti and put some into his bag. Now he wanted a friend desperately as he was very lonely. He saw a cat with fur. But the cat attacked him with its claws. He questioned the creature with his mental power and found it useless because the cat had only simple, crude thoughts - comfort, hunting, mating, food etc. He also came across a dog, but it too was useless for him.
• Then Ch-tsal felt rain and saw that his muzzle had some tiny, wire like projections - He was happy because his feathers were growing. But he was still looking for a friend and soon he found a small baby Christopher Harry Winters, who was of the same size as he was and completely naked. He learnt that Winters was an ungrown specimen of the senior species of earth. When winter's mother picked up the baby, waves of love and maternal emotions flowed between Winters and his mother which Ch-tsal recognized by his own experience.
• One night, Ch-tsal made his way into Christopher's nursery and lay down by Winters. He asked him to talk to him and hearing him, Winters smiled in his sleep. From Winters, Ch-tsal learned what it was like to plunge through a great wave, to hunt down animals in dark forests, to shoot an arrow knowing where it would hit. He also learnt of the glories of battle, the terrors of defeat, the chill wickedness of snakes, the smell of wood smoke etc.
• In turn, Ch-tsal told Winters of the building of crystal cities, of creatures in caves, of the pioneer ships that opened up the galaxy, of the Venus invaders and how they were defeated, of the five ways of knowing god, of the taste of a certain food that grew only when the planet's three moons were full.
• Both Ch-tsal and Winters underwent a great change after their meetings and talks. Now Winters often laughed and gurgled, bubbled and pulled his mother's hair. Ch-tsal's feathers and whiskers grew. He searched for food and exercised vigorously when Winters was four months old, Ch-tsal's feathers were so splendid that they gathered in the darkness. One particular night, he heard his mother's voice faintly, brokenly. Ch-tsal was overcome with joy and forgot all caution. He became a firework, a bombshell, spinning and zooming and bouncing off tree trunks. When two young poachers saw him, he beamed a single pulse of ecstasy so powerful that they fell backwards. One fine day, Ch-tsal was gone , the scientists stared at burnt grass in a roped-off area where his spaceship landed to take him back home. No one knew what became of Cutie Pie.
• Only-one person on earth knew, however, that was Winters, but he was too young to talk about Ch-tsal. He tried to tell his mother, but the mother only half-believed him and scolded him on listening to him, coaxing him to drink up his milk.
Questions & Answers
Question (1): How did the people react to see Cutie-Pie shown on T.V sets?
Answer: The people were very fascinated by the extraordinary appearance of this extra terrestrial creature. They called him "Cute" because of his admirable rainbow-like coloured feathers. They wanted to cuddle him, touch him, hold him.
Question (2): Describe Cutie - Pie's appearance.
Answer: Cutie-Pie had a curved, cosy, rounded body. He had dark, liquid eyes. He had a gentle smiling mouth and bushy little hands, complete with thumbs. What was fascinating about him was his iridescent feathers down on his belly with radiant shimmering patterns.
Question (3): How did Cutie Pie affect the commercial side of public life?
Answer: Cutie Pie became an instant celebrity. Commercial mileage was taken by his presence. Cutie Pie dolls were made to be sold. Colouring books, Tee-shirts, fan clubs, cereal cartons, cartoon serials, anything and everything had Cutie Pie represented on it.
Question (4): What kind of a special place was created by the scientists to keep Ch-tsal?
Answer: Since Ch-tsal was an alien, he was kept in an air-tight sealed glass prison - a kind of scientific tomb with 180oF temperature, 98 percent humidity and an atmosphere of hydrogen, oxygen and careful proportions of a dozen exotic gases.
Question (5): How did Ch-tsal get captured? Where was he captured from?
Answer: Ch-tsal was captured from the planet Quta-Pie, another planet. He merely chanced to be there, as he had gone to get initiated there. He went there as a boy, hoping to return, to his own planet as a man after having faced difficulties and dangers in strange places. Quta pie was a strange and hostile planet from where he was captured. Quentar was a spaceship which had gone to explore Quta-Pie. The spaceship was scooping samples of soil, rock and shale from Quta-Pie, when doing so, it accidentally scooped Ch-tsal who happened to be there and thus he was brought to earth.
Question (6): Why couldnt Ch-tsal establish any kind of contact with his captors?
Answer: Ch-tsal couldnt establish any contact with his captors because he couldnt talk to them. He had no vocal chords and his race did not speak. He could only look past the goggle glasses into the eyes of his captors begging them to understand him. But they could not.
Question (7): Why did Ch-tsal try so hard to grow his feathers and whiskers?
Answer: Ch-tsal groomed his feathers and whiskers because they were filters, temperature controllers, respirators and much more. His whiskers, were receivers, antennae, language-carriers, voice and his life-line. Through them alone, he could establish contact with his people.
Question (8): How did Ch-tsal sustain himself though he underwent great physical miseries on earth?
Answer: Ch-tsal fought his miseries with courage. His five stomachs and numerous organic filters, allowed him to stomach the food and atmosphere supplied to him. He forced his mind and hands to entertain him. He slept most of the time and dreamed of his home.
Question (9): What appalling reality did Ch-tsal wake up to on the nineteenth day, Earth time?
Answer: On the nineteenth day of his captivity, Ch-tsal saw that his jewelled feathers from his back and sides had fallen out in the night. These were his communication channels, respirators, temperature controllers, receive, antennae - his entire lifeline so to say. He now looked naked and hideous.
Question (10): What important feature did Ch-tsal have which his mother also possessed?
Answer: Like his mother, Ch-tsal could also will his own individual, self-expressive loveliness. The beauty, the shape, the pattern and colour of his feathers could be created by will by him. To him, his feathers were what clothes were to humans.
Question (11): How was Ch-tsal treated by people after his change?
Answer: After Ch-tsal's feathers and whiskers were shed, he looked naked and hideous and monster-like. Everyone pitied him. Then pity turned to disgust and soon everyone began to change to other channels on T.V. inorder to forget him. The birth of a panda, the Olympic games, a new girl singer with an exotic dress became their points of attraction. Cutie-Pie was soon forgotten.
Question (12): What kind of a life did Ch-tsal live in the glass prison?
Answer: Ch-tsal looked hideous and was near to death. He had no feathers and whiskers. Without them he couldn't communicate. The glass walls prevented him from sending or receiving messages. He was completely powerless.
Question (13): "Cutie Pie were words they flinched from". Who does "they" refer to? Why did they flich at the mention of these words?
Answer: "They" here refers to the scientists - jailors of Cutie Pie. They saw that Cutie-Pie had shed his feathers and whiskers. Besides, he looked hideous and was near to death. His sickness accused them of their incompetence. His survival was a challenge to their expertise.
Question (14): How did Ch-tsal manage to escape from his glass prison?
Answer: One day, the scientists - jailors entered the glass prison to examine his food. They hastened from the prison to avoid the strange gases seeping into their masks. One of them pressed the button that closed the glass wall. The food bowl jammed the door, leaving a gap. Ch-tsal managed to escape through this gap.
Question (15): How did Ch-tsal adjust to the outside atmosphere after his escape from the glass prison?
Answer: Ch-tsal found that he could breathe in the air. The temperature was pleasant. There was even a sun to warm his naked, decaying body and tingle his naked skin. He felt great ecstasy in the rain. He felt he was efficient in everything. He explored the facts and things of the earth around him and found them easy to handle.
Question (16): Though Cutie-Pie escaped from the glass prison, he was not able to return to his planet immediately? Why?
Answer: Cutie-Pie was not able to return to his planet immediately because he had not grown his feathers and whiskers which had fallen. These were his life line, a kind of receivers antennae, machinery to take him off, or to establish a contact with his own people.
Question (17): How did Ch-tsal find the infant Christopher Mary Winters?
Answer: Ch-tsal was very lonely, he wanted some company. He found Winters - a baby of six weeks and 3 days lying on a rug in the garden, warming in the sun. Winters was the same size as Ch-tsal and naked like him. He didnt have to feel ashamed of his own nakedness in Winter's company. The baby looked very happy as it kicked its legs about and drooled. Later, Ch-tsal realized that Winters was an ungrown specimen of the senior species of Earth.
Question (18): How did Ch-tsal recognize "the big creature" to be the mother of baby Winters?
Answer: Ch-tsal after getting soaked in the rain, had started growing his feathers and whiskers which were his lifeline. He could now pick up the strong, thick waves of loving emotion that flowed between mother and baby. He recognized them and remembered them from his own childhood.
Question (19): What did Cutie Pie learn from his interaction with Winters?
Answer: Cutie Pie learned what it was like for a human to plunge through a great wave, to hunt down animals in dark forests, to shoot an arrow and to know how it would hit its mark. He also learned of the glories of the battle, the terrors of defeat, the cold wickedness of snakes etc.
Question (20): What information did Ch-tsal give Winters, lying down besides him?
Answer: Ch-tsal told Winters of the building of Crystal cities, of creatures in Caves, of the pioneer ships that opened up the galaxy, of the Venus invaders and how they were repulsed. He also told him of the five ways of knowing God, of the taste of a certain food that grew only when his planet's three moons were full.
Question (21): What was the effect of Ch-tsal's friendly talks on Winters?
Answer: Winters was happier than ever with the friendly talks between him and Ch-tsal. He gurgled, bubbled, and chuckled. He laughed loudly and tugged at his mothers hair. He was a happy, contented baby with hair curling day by day.
Question (22): What happened to Ch-tsal after he heard his mother one day?
Answer: One particular night, Ch-tsal heard his mother faintly and brokenly. He got so excited and ecstatic that he almost went mad. In the dewy moonlight of the woods, he became a firework, a bombshell, spinning, zooming and bouncing off tree trunks. He somersaulted, flashed and was filled with sheer joy and excitement.
Question (23): What became of Cutie Pie after he established contact with his own planet? What is the proof of it?
Answer: Cutie Pie, heard his mother call out to him. He was wild with joy. One fine day, a spaceship landed in Hertz village and took off with Cutie Pie aboard. It became a real sensation. The landing of the spaceship was seen physically in the burnt grass in the roped-off area - a patch of burnt field with a furrow leading to a dimple like an exclamation mark (!) had been formed. This was the proof that Cutie Pie went away to his own planet.
Question (24): How does Christopher's mother react when he tries to tell her of his meeting and friendship with Cutie Pie?
Answer: Christopher tells his mother about Cutie Pie but his mother only humours him saying, "Did he come, darling? I'm glad. Hold your mug properly". She does not believe him and tells him to finish his milk. When he tells that Cutie told him stories, she tells him 'you're sure you're not telling stories, darling? Christopher feels helpless that his mother cannot accept a simple truth that quite often in the night Cutie Pie visits him in his dreams and they tell each other stories and that this friendship will last all his life.
Question (25): Imagine you are C.H. Winters. You have grown up and wish to share with someone, your secret friendship with Cutie Pie. Write a letter to your friend victor telling him about your experiences with Cutie Pie.
Answer:
Hertz.
20.1.08
Dear Victor,
Thank you for the lovely birthday card you sent me. As usual my birthday always brings back some memories which are very precious to me I wish to share them with you.
I am sure you have heard about Cutie Pie the cute extra-terrestrial who was scooped from Quta Pie by our scientists. I was only two at that time. One night I felt something warm and cosy ticked next to me I was surprised to see Cutie Pie smiling at me 'We struck up an instant friendship. We communicated with our minds I spoke history of the humans. Cutie Pie told me his real name was Chtsal. He told me about his planet, the crystal cities, of creatures in caves, of the pioneer ships that opened up the galaxy, of the Venus invaders and how they were repulsed. He also told me about how his planet had 3 Suns and Moons and the taste of a certain food that grew only when his planets three moon were full. We grew fond of each other I realized he was hiding from humans as he met me only in the night.
One night he disappeared. I soon gathered that he had returned to his planet Victor this may seem incredible to you, but trust me every year on my birthday he sends his love and greetings to me. I value that friendship as much as I value your. I hope you understand and believe me.
Lots ofl ove,
Christopher.
Question (26): You are a newspaper reporter writing about the mysterious landing of the village in Hertz Village and connecting this with disappearance of Cute Pie.
Answer:
Spaceship and in Hertz village!
20.01.07
It is believed that a spaceship mysteriously landed in Hertz village last night. A patch of burnt field with a furrow leading to a dimple like an exclamation mark(!) hears testimony to the landing of the spaceship. Scientists believe that the spaceship was on a special mission to rescue Cutie Pie, the alien who created a sensation a few months ago. Readers will recall that Cutie Pie Had been scooped from Quta Pie and kept in a glass cage where the atmosphere of Quata Pie was created Cutie Pie had lost its beauty and feathers inside the cage and had managed to escape due to the carelessness of a couple of scientists. Thought efforts were mad Cutie Pie could not betraced. Some questions loomlarge
How did Cutie Pie survive in Earth? Had the scientists misjudged that Cutie Pie belonged to Quta Pie? Did Cutie Pie communicate with someone on earth? So far these questions remain unanswered as no eye witnesses have come forward with any information. However, one thing remains certain. It was a failure of the scientists to provide a conducive atmosphere for Cutie Pie. They lost a golden chance to study the existence of life in other plant
Question (27): Describe Cutie Pie's feeling about the Earth and his experiences after his escape from the glass prism.
Answer: The Earth astonished him and he could breathe the air and the temperature was pleasant! He loved the warm sun tingling his naked skin and the coolness of the night! He was ecstatic when it rained. It was like a balm on his tortured skin!
He found everything in the earth very crude and simple. He could easily operate the knobs and handles. He found food, cacti in the extension of Mrs. Chatsworth's house. He made himself and carrying bag, cut himself a store of food and carried if off. He was in need of companionship to give him comfort. He met a cat who tried to attack and a dog who displayed a silly niceness. He was disgusted by the simple, crude thoughts these creatures possessed. At last he found a human body who was the prefect friend for him. He communicated with baby Christopher, regaling him with stories about his own planet. During the daytime he hid from human beings but at night he moved about stealthily. Soon his whiskers and feathers grew back. Finally his mother came in a spaceship and a delighted, rapturous Cutie escaped back home.
Question (1): Cutie Pie was captured from the planet
1. Questar
2. Quta - pi
3. Ch - tsal
4. Winters
Ans: 2
Question (2): Cutie Pie was covered with
1. shiny colourful feathers
2. dull feathers
3. shiny fur
4. skin
Ans: 1
Question (3): Why was Cutie Pie on the planet of Quta - pi?
1. That was his planet
2. He was there for his initiation
3. He was on a vacation
4. He was a scientist
Ans: 2
Question (4): Where did the scientists keep Cutie Pie?
1. In water
2. In a glass prison
3. In a space ship
4. In a garden
Ans: 2
Question (5): Who were the 'silver creatures with bubble faces'?
1. Men in space suits
2. Inhabitants of Quta Pi
3. Brothers of Cutie Pie
4. Imaginary creatures
Ans: 1
Question (6): What was the one thing that Cutie Pie did frequently?
1. Talk to people
2. Send messages to his planet
3. Comb his feathers
4. Sleep and dream
Ans: 3
Question (7): How did Cutie Pie escape from the glass prison?
1. The scientist let him out
2. A food bowl jammed the glass door
3. Winters saved him
4. The prison broke
Ans: 2
Question (8): What healthy food did Cutie Pie find in Mrs. Chatsworth's house?
1. Cacti
2. Sandwich
3. Baby food
4. Wood
Ans: 1
Question (9): How did Ch-tsal quieten the furry creature that attacked him?
1. By singing to it
2. By talking to it
3. By using mental power
4. By hitting it
Ans: 3
Question (10): The creature that Ch-tsal saw had coloured fur, it arched its back, and had hooks at the end of its limbs. This was a
1. baby
2. dog
3. cat
4. fox
Ans: 3
Question (11): How long did Ch-tsal remain on earth after he met Christopher?
1. About ten weeks
2. About one week
3. About ten months
4. About four months
Ans: 1
Question (12): Christoper tells his mother about Ch-tsal, what is her reaction to this?
1. She is excited
2. She does not hear him
3. She does not believe him
4. She also tells him a story
Ans: 3
JULIUS CAESAR
EXPERTS ENGLISH EXPERTS ENGLISH EXPERTS ENGLISH EXPERTS ENGLISH
JULIUS CAESAR: SUMMARY
BY SHAILESH SHUKLA
Julius Caesar is the story of a man's personal dilemma over moral action, set against a backdrop of political drama. Julius Caesar, an able general and a conqueror, returns to Rome amidst immense popularity after defeating the sons of Pompey. The people celebrate his victorious return and he is offered the crown by Mark Anthony which he refuses. Jealous of Caesar's growing power and afraid he may one day become a dictator, Cassius instigates, a conspiracy to murder Caesar. He realizes that to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Romans, he must win over the noble Brutus to his side, for Brutus is the most trusted and respected in Rome. Brutus, the idealist joins the conspiracy, feeling everyone is driven by motives as honourable as his own. Ironically, Caesar is murdered at the foot of Pompey's statue.
The present extract is from the five Act play. It dramatizes how Caesar is murdered, and how his close friend Mark Anthony cleverly turns the mob against his conspirators. At the same time, different characters are laid bare in their moral uprightness in the backdrop of political and personal compulsions. The fickle nature of the mob is also beautifully revealed.
• The setting is in Caesar's house. Caesar says that there is great turmoil in the sky and on earth. Calpurnia who is Caesar's wife had cried out in her sleep, asking for help, on seeing him murdered. She enters and asks her husband not to go to the senate house. Calpurnia says that the guard had seen many unnatural occurances of horrifying dimensions. All of these were ominous and indicated that a tragedy would befall Caesar if he went out of the house.
• But Caesar said that only cowards die many times before their death. The valiant die only once. He finds it strange that people fear death when they see it as a necessary end. He agrees not to go but Brutus interpretation of the dream turns Caesar to overrule Calpurnia's fears. Caesar say that Calpurnia saw in a dream his statue "like a fountain with a hundred spouts" and running blood in which Romans bathed their hands. But Brutus twisted the interpretation saying that it indicated that from Caesar, Rome shall be great and his blood would serve as colours added to a coat of arms, as an object of reverence, mementos etc.
• Brutus also says that the Roman senators wanted to offer mighty Caesar the crown. If he doesnt go that day, they may change their minds. This proves very effective on Caesar's credulous mind, and he at once gets ready to go.
• Before the capitol, as per the plan of the conspirators, Metellus Cimber bows low before Caesar, pleading and fawning before him for recalling his brothers, who had been banished from Rome by a decree. But Caesar said that he is constant like the Northern Star and shall not repeal the decree. At this, the conspirators stab Caesar one by one. Brutus, too, stabs Caesar at which Casesar exclaims. Et, tu, Brute. Then Caesar dies.
• Anthony enters and seeing Caesar lying dead says how Caesar with his conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils has shrunk to a "little measure". He addresses Brutus, Cassius and others and requests them to kill him too because he finds it a suitable place and time to lie by Caesar. But Brutus says that their hearts are pitiful and they receive him with all kind love, good thoughts and reverence. He perceives the situation mentally and begs to be excused by Caesar's dead body for "making his peace with his foes".
• Cassius asks Anthony whether they should treat him as their friend or foe. At this, Anthony states that he is their friend but they must give him reasons why Caesar was "dangerous" and why they killed him, he also says that he would like to produce Caesar's body at the market place and speak at his funeral, Brutus says that he will be told the reason. Cassius, however, fears that Anthony might move the people's hearts against them. Brutus says then, that Anthony shall not blame them for Caesar's death and he will speak only after Brutus has spoken and with his permission.
• Anthony is now alone with Caesar's dead body. He calls it the "bleeding price of earth" and calls the conspirators "butchers". Looking at Caesar, he calls him the ruins of noblest man that ever lived. He predicts that Caesar's murder will trigger a spate of calamities in the whole of Italy. "Domestic fury", "fierce civil strife" shall rage in horrible proportions. Blood and destruction will now be common. Mothers shall see their infants killed before their own eyes. Caesar's spirit shall come out hot from hell and wander in the streets to take revenge.
• In the market place, Brutus is in the pulpit and addresses the mob. He tells the mob that they killed Caesar because he had become ambitious and posed a threat to the country and all the countrymen would have become his slaves. Hearing this explanation, the mob approves the conspirators action in murdering Caesar. They hail Brutus and chant "Let him be Caesar". Brutus then tells the mob to listen to Antony who was going to speak with his permission; and requests the mob to be silent and stay on till Anthony has finished speaking.
• Anthony then addresses the mob in a very diplomatic manner. He says that he has not come to praise Caesar, but to bury him, for the evil that men do, lives after them and the good is interred with their bones. He says that Caesar was ambitious and he has rightly answered for it in his death. But in the next breath he explodes this by stating that Ceasar brought many prisoners home to Rome and their ransoms helped to fill the state treasury. If Brutus says that Caesar was ambitious, then ambition should be made of sterner stuff. He says sarcastically and repeatedly that Brutus is an "honourable" man. Caesar was offered the crown, thrice, but thrice he did refuse. Was this ambition? He says that they once loved Caesar, but asks what held them back from mourning for him now?
• The mob sees reason in Anthony's speech and remarks. Anthony further states that if he stirs their hearts to mutiny and rage, they would do Brutus and Cassius wrong, but both Brutus and Cassius are honourable men. He has found Caesar's will in his cupboard. He doesn’t want to read it, because if he does so, they would dip their napkins in his sacred blood. They could ask for Caesar's hair to keep it as a relic. The mob is now aroused. It demands that Anthony read Caesar's will.
• Antony asks the mob to make a circle around Caesar's dead body, they are very impatient to hear what Caesar had written in his will. Antony confesses that by reading Caesar's will, he will be doing a great injustice to his murderers, who are so called honorable men. He rouses the mob's emotion and impatience by pointing out to the holes made by the conspirators on Caesars body. The cloak that Caesar was wearing was the same one that he had worn when he won victory over Nervie. In that same cloak were now holes made by the dagger thrust by Cassius and Brutus to stab Caesar. Brutus was very dear to Caesar. So much blood rushed out of Caesar when Brutus stabbed him, showing how unkind Brutus was to him. Caesar never would have expected Brutus to do what he did as Brutus was Caesar's well-loved friend. Was it not ingratitude? It must have broken Caesar's heart. It was a great fall for Caesar; very shocking indeed.
• Antony goes on to state that he is not as good a orator as Brutus, but he is a plain and blunt man, who loved his friend Caesar very dearly. He speaks only the truth, unlike Brutus who was good at prejudiced speeches.
• By now, the mob is totally moved, full of anger and see through Brutus and the conspirators wrongful act, they want to riot and burn down the house of Brutus. They now want to pursue the conspirators and want to kill them; but before that they want to know what is in Caesar's will.
• Anthony reads the will. Caesar has left all his private houses, his newly-planted orchards for all his countrymen to enjoy and their future generations to come. He has also given to every Roman seventy-five silver coins. All his properties now belong to the Romans and they can use them for their pleasure. Can Rome have had another man like Caesar, Antony asks the mob.
Now the mob is fully charged, full of anger and passion and they rise in mutiny against the conspirators. They carry torches of fire in their hands, pull down everything around them to make the torches. Finally, Anthony remarks that he has instigated the mutiny, now let the mob take any course they like.
EXPERTS ENGLISH
JULIUS CAESAR Q & A
By Shailesh Shukla
Question (1): Why does Calpurnia tell Caesar not to stir out of the house?
Answer: Calpurnia has seen many unnatural things happen. Her own "inner self" has frightened her that something horrible was going to take place. She has a dream in which she sees Caesar's statue pouring forth blood and Romans dipping their hands into it, so she advises Caesar to remain indoors.
Question (2): What horrible things did the watchman see in the streets?
Answer: The watchman had seen a lioness whelping in the sheets, graves opening and giving out the dead, fiery warriors had been seen fighting in the clouds and blood drizzling upon the capitol. Ghosts shrieked and squealed in the streets.
Question (3): How does Caesar react to Calpurnias" fears" in the beginning?
Answer: Caesar remains unruffled at what Calpurnia states about the unnatural things. He says that anything whose end is purposed by the mighty Gods can't be avoided.
Question (4): What are Caesars views about men and death?
Answer: Caesar says that cowards die many times before their death. The brave taste death only once. It is a very strange thing that men fear death when they know that it is a necessary end and shall come when it comes.
Question (5): What did Calpurnia dream of Caesar which makes the fear for him?
Answer: Calpurnia dreamed of Caesar's stature which like a fountain had a hundred spouts. Pure blood ran from them and lusty Romans came smiling and dipped their hands into these. Calpurnia saw this dream and regarded it as inauspicious and ominous and requested Caesar not to go out of the house.
Question (6): What interpretation did Brutus give of Calpurnia's dream about Caesar?
Answer: Brutus said that Caesar's statue spouting blood in which many Romans bathed their hands signifies that Rome shall be great. Metaphorically, it stands for Caesar's "spirit" and signifies that it will serve as colours to a coat of arms an object of reverence; mementoes and a bridge of service.
Question (7): Why does Calpurnia say Caesar's "wisdom" is consumed in confidence? What does she mean by it?
Answer: Calpurnia says that Caesar's wisdom is overshadowed by over-confidence. He is wise no doubt, but he should not be over-confident about that whatever he sees to be always right and auspicious for him.
Question (8): What are the arguments put forward by Decuis Brutus to convince Caesar to go to the Capitol?
Answer: Brutus gives a positive interpretation to Calpurnia's dream of Caesar. He says that the dream signifies that Caesar will be so great that all will seek him in great honour. Secondly, if Caesar does not go to the senate that day, the senators may change their mind about offering the crown to him.
Question (9): Why is Decius Brutus more successful than Calpurnia in persuading Caesar to go to the senate house?
Answer: Decius Brutus is a close and honourable friend of Caesar. He is known for his uprightness, honesty and integrity. So whatever Brutus says is believed wholeheartedly by Caesar to be true and appropriate. Besides Brutus uses the right argument when he says that the senate may not offer Caesar the crown if he didnt go that day. It works very well, as Caesar believes this to be true.
Question (10): Why does Cimber crouch so low before Caesar and how does Caesar react to it?
Answer: As per the plans of the Conspirators, Metellus Cimber crouches very low before Caesar to repeal the order of banishing his brother from Rome. Cimber bends so low that Caesar looks at it as "fawning" (flattering) and that it reminds him of a low bred dog and if Cimber continues to do so, he will treat him like a low bred dog by kicking him out of his way. Caesar says that he is like the Northern star fixed and permanent and constant. Once he has made a decision and moreover the right one, he was not going to change it or repeal the order.
Question (11): Who says "Et tu Brute" ? When are these words spoken? Why?
Answer: Brutus is a very close and a sincere confidante of Caesar. He along with some of the others conspire to kill Caesar. When Brutus stabs Caesar, Caesar is shocked out of his wits and says "Et tu Brute" meaning you too Brutus? Caesar cannot face the fact that Brutus has also joined hands with the others to conspire to kill him.
Question (12): In the moments following Caesar's death, what do the conspirators proclaim to justify Caesar's death?
Answer: The conspirators proclaim "liberty, freedom and enfranchisement" in the moments following Caesar's murder for the sake of democracy; freedom and glory of the country. They all justify Brutus reason for killing Caesar - that he had grown too "ambitious" and it was not good for Rome or its people.
Question (13): How does Antony react on seeing Caesar's dead body?
Answer: Antony is overwhelmed with grief on seeing Caesar's dead body. He exclaims that inspite of Caesars' conquests, glories, triumphs and spoils, he lies so "low". He offers to be killed and lie by Caesar's side whom he calls the choice and master spirits of this age and "most noble".
Question (14): How do Brutus and Cassius respond to Antony's speech when he sees Caesar's body and speaks?
Answer: Brutus asks Antony not to beg for his own death because they had killed Caesar with a purpose. They are not Antony's enemies. He offers his arms of friendship to Antony and proclaims him to be their friend. Cassius says that with Antony by their side he shall be strong like the others and Antony's words shall carry as much weight as anybody else's in the distribution of the new offices and honours.
Question (15): On what condition does Anthony offer his "friendship" to Brutus and Cassius?
Answer: Antony tells Cassius that he is willing to go along with them and be their friend. But he needs to know the reason why they killed Caesar and how he was, as they say, dangerous to the country. He also wants to be allowed to speak about Caesar at his funeral.
Question (16): Why does Cassius object to allowing Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral? How does Brutus overcome this objection?
Answer: Cassius fears that in speaking at Caesar's funeral Antony may move the people against them. Brutus over rules this objection stating that he himself would speak first and give the reasons for Caesar's death. Antony could speak after him and shall not blame them for Caesar's death. Also he will tell the people that he has been allowed to speak about Caesar with their permission. He should speak only after Brutus has spoken and also from the same pulpit.
Question (17): What are the conditions imposed upon Antony by the conspirators before allowing him to speak at Caesar's funeral?
Answer: The conspirators agree to allow Antony to speak, but Brutus would speak first, giving reasons for killing Caesas. Antony could speak only after Brutus had finished speaking and he must tell the people that he had been given permission to speak by them. He would speak in the same pulpit where (from) Brutus will speak from. Finally, Antony must not blame them for Caesar's death in his funeral speech.
Question (18): When Antony is alone with Caesar's body, how does he address it and what does he call the conspirators?
Answer: Antony begs pardon that he is meek and gentle with the butchers, meaning the killers of Caesar. He calls Caesar "bleeding piece of earth" , and " the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times" . He curses the hand that shed the costly blood of Caesar. He calls the conspirators "butchers".
Question (19): What predictions does Antony make regarding the future events in Rome?
Answer: Antony predicts that "domestic fury" and "fierce civil strife" shall spread in Italy. Blood and destruction shall rage the country. Mothers shall go mad and smile when they see their children slaughtered. The earth shall be covered with dead bodies lying for burial. Caesar's spirit shall roam about for revenge and his spirit will be accompanied by Ate, the goddess of strife, who would come in hot haste from hell.
Question (20): What reasons does Brutus give for murdering Caesar?
Answer: Brutus says that he loved Caesar, but loved Rome more. If Caesar had lived, he would have made all the Romans slaves because he was "ambitious". Would the people of Rome have liked that? They killed Caesar, so that the people of Rome could be free. Brutus puts Caesar in poor light saying that Caesar was ambitious and that he did it for the good of his country and his countrymen.
Question (21): Who says "let him be Caesar" ? What light does this throw on the speaker?
Answer: "Let him be Caesar" is spoken by the third citizen representing the mob. The mob is fickle-minded and this fickleness is seen in the fact that the mob hails Brutus now without thinking rationally.
Question (22): How effective is Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral?
Answer: Antony as we can see, is a master manipulator, in his funeral speech. He appeals to the sentiments of the mob. He first sides with his conspirators, but as he proceeds he proves to the mob that Caesar was not ambitious. He gave all his possessions to the people of Rome as he had written in his will. This incites the mob and they want to chase the conspirators to kill them.
Question (23): Why does Antony say that he doesnt want to read Caesar's will before the mob?
Answer: Antony says so only to rouse the mob against the conspirators. He says so because if they come to know that Caesar has given them his every thing they will beg a hair or nail of Caesar for memory, as a relic, because Caesar was so great. They would like to kiss his wounds and dip their handkerchiefs in his sacred blood as a rich legacy for their children.
Question (24): How does Antony prove that Caesar was never ambitious?
Answer: Antony says that on the lupercal he presented Caesar the kingly crown thrice. But Caesar refused it. Caesar offered his orchards and private properties to the Romans for their use and pleasure and seventy-five silver coins to each and every countrymen. If he had been "ambitious" he wouldn't have done all these things.
Question (25): At the end of the scene, what is the fate of Brutus and Cassius?
Answer: Antony had successfully instigated the mob to mutiny against and rage the houses of the conspirators. They set the benches and windows on fire. They burnt Caesar's body in the holy place and with the brands and torches set fire to the traitors houses. Question (26): After reading Julius Caesar what conclusions do you draw about the Roman mob of the day?
Answer: Fickle
The most outstanding trait of the mob is its fickleness. A clever person can lead it as he likes. So when Brutus speaks the mob adores him. They want him to be Caesar. They want to crown and honour him in every possible way, but as Antony has spoken, the same mob cries for revenge and wants to kill Brutus and his companions.
Foolish and emotional
Roman mob is made of foolish people who are sentimental and incapable of judging a situation or a person properly. The description of the way Caesar was killed brings tears to their eyes.
Greedy
Antony knows that the common Romans are greedy. Caesar has left seventy five silver coins for each Roman and the mob immediately cries "Noble Caesar" .
Violent
The mob is violent. They always seem ready to attack those they don't like. They call for burning of Brutus's house and killing all the conspirators.
Question (27): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Calpurnia
Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
a) When does Calpurnia speak these lines.
b) What is "One million" and "without" that has frightened her the most?
c) How does Caesar react to these premonitions?
Answer: a) Calpurnia speaks these lines to Caesar before he gets ready to go to the Senate house.
b) Calpurnia has seen a horrible dream about Caesar's statue spouting pure blood and the Romans bathing their hands into it. Then the watchman has seen unnatural things occurring outside. These two are internal and external things.
c) Caesar states that nothing can be avoided and the end is purposed by the Gods. He doesnt give much importance to these premonitions.
Question (28): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Caesar
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
a) When does Caesar speak these lines?
b) What is most strange for Caesar?
c) How does Calpurnia react to Caesar's attitude to her premonition?
Answer: a) Caesar speaks these lines to Calpurnia when she pleads before him not to go to the senate house as she has seen a horrible dream about him.
b) A strange thing for Caesar is that men fear death when they know it is inevitable and it shall come when it comes.
c) Calpurnia reacts stating that Caesars "wisdom is confused with confidence. "She continues to plead with him not to leave the house.
Question (29): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
For tinctures, stain, relics and cognizance.
a) Who speaks these lines and to whom?
b) What is Brutu's interpretation of Calpurneas dream?
c) Is the speaks giving the right meaning? Why?
Answer: a) Decius Brutus speaks these lines to Julius Caesar
b) Brutus interpretes Calpurnias dream of Caesar in his favour, saying that the blood spouted by Caesar's statue signifies that Caesar's honour shall increase. His blood will serve as colour added to a coat of arms; be an object of reverence, mementoes and a badge of service.
c) Decius Brutus misinterprets Calpurnias dreams of Caesar for his own advantage. He has conspired with others to murder Caesar that day in the senate house. He knows that Caesar is credulous so he deliberately gives Calpurnia's dream a different interpretation to serve his own motive
Question (30): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
For your part,
To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony:
Our arms, in strength of malice, and our hearts
Of brothers' temper, do receive you in
With all kind love, good thoughts and reverence.
a) Who is speaking these lines and to whom?
b) How do the murderers of Caesar receive Mark Antony?
c) How do the conspirators think mark Antony will be helpful in friendship?
Answer: a) Brutus is speaking these lines to Anthony after the murder of Caesar.
b) The murderers of Caesar receive Mark Antony as a friend with kind love and good thoughts and respect.
c) The conspirators think that Antony will strengthen their voices in disposing of new dignities as Cassius states.
Question (31): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Antony
That's all I seek:
And am moreover suitor that I may
Produce his body to the market-place;
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend,
Speak in the order of his funeral.
a) What does Antony seek?
b) Why does Antony want to produce Caesar's body at the market place?
c) How does Cassius react to Antony's request?
Answer: a) Antony seeks to know why the conspirators murdered Caesar and how/what made him an ambitious man.
b) Antony wants to produce Caesars dead body at the market place to turn the tables against the conspirators and bring the mob against the murderers of Caesar.
c) Cassius doesn't want Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral because he has apprehensions that Antony may move the Roman people against them.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
Question (1): Julius Caesar returned to
1. Pompey
2. Rome
3. Philippi
4. Sardis
Ans: 2
Question (2): Caesar most trusted friend was
1. Antony
2. Brutus
3. Cassius
4. Octavious
Ans: 1
Question (3): Calpurnia does not want Caesar to go out of the house as
1. she fears his enemies
2. she wants to be with him
3. she is scared of the bad omens
4. she suspects Brutus
Ans: 3
Question (4): 'And we like friends will straightway go together'. Brutus feels sorry when he hears this from Caesar because Brutus
1. will soon betray Caesar
2. is a true friend
3. could not hear clearly
4. does not wish to go with Caesar
Ans: 1
Question (5): Casca says 'hands speak for me'. What do Casca's hands do?
1. clap loudly
2. slap Caesar
3. stab Caesar
4. push Brutus forward
Ans: 3
Question (6): Antony declares himself on the side of Brutus and Cassius as he
1. wishes to save himself
2. wants to know why they killed Caesar
3. thinks they did the right thing
4. is money minded
Ans: 2
Question (7): When Brutus gets up to talk we realise that the people of Rome
1. have respect for him
2. hate him
3. do not care for him
4. are ready to kill him
Ans: 1
Question (8): Caesar's better parts will be crowned in Brutus. This means that
1. Brutus will be made the ruler
2. like Caesar he will be killed
3. Brutus is the king
4. Brutus is better than Caesar
Ans: 1
Question (9): Antony says that 'Caesar's will' gives the Romans
1. a sliver coin each
2. a drachma each
3. seventy five drachmas each
4. the kingdom
Ans: 3
Question (10): 'Mischief thou art afoot' says Antony meaning that
1. no one could now control the public
2. he was mischievous
3. art and skill causes mischief
4. the public were art conscious
Ans: 1
JULIUS CAESAR: SUMMARY
BY SHAILESH SHUKLA
Julius Caesar is the story of a man's personal dilemma over moral action, set against a backdrop of political drama. Julius Caesar, an able general and a conqueror, returns to Rome amidst immense popularity after defeating the sons of Pompey. The people celebrate his victorious return and he is offered the crown by Mark Anthony which he refuses. Jealous of Caesar's growing power and afraid he may one day become a dictator, Cassius instigates, a conspiracy to murder Caesar. He realizes that to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Romans, he must win over the noble Brutus to his side, for Brutus is the most trusted and respected in Rome. Brutus, the idealist joins the conspiracy, feeling everyone is driven by motives as honourable as his own. Ironically, Caesar is murdered at the foot of Pompey's statue.
The present extract is from the five Act play. It dramatizes how Caesar is murdered, and how his close friend Mark Anthony cleverly turns the mob against his conspirators. At the same time, different characters are laid bare in their moral uprightness in the backdrop of political and personal compulsions. The fickle nature of the mob is also beautifully revealed.
• The setting is in Caesar's house. Caesar says that there is great turmoil in the sky and on earth. Calpurnia who is Caesar's wife had cried out in her sleep, asking for help, on seeing him murdered. She enters and asks her husband not to go to the senate house. Calpurnia says that the guard had seen many unnatural occurances of horrifying dimensions. All of these were ominous and indicated that a tragedy would befall Caesar if he went out of the house.
• But Caesar said that only cowards die many times before their death. The valiant die only once. He finds it strange that people fear death when they see it as a necessary end. He agrees not to go but Brutus interpretation of the dream turns Caesar to overrule Calpurnia's fears. Caesar say that Calpurnia saw in a dream his statue "like a fountain with a hundred spouts" and running blood in which Romans bathed their hands. But Brutus twisted the interpretation saying that it indicated that from Caesar, Rome shall be great and his blood would serve as colours added to a coat of arms, as an object of reverence, mementos etc.
• Brutus also says that the Roman senators wanted to offer mighty Caesar the crown. If he doesnt go that day, they may change their minds. This proves very effective on Caesar's credulous mind, and he at once gets ready to go.
• Before the capitol, as per the plan of the conspirators, Metellus Cimber bows low before Caesar, pleading and fawning before him for recalling his brothers, who had been banished from Rome by a decree. But Caesar said that he is constant like the Northern Star and shall not repeal the decree. At this, the conspirators stab Caesar one by one. Brutus, too, stabs Caesar at which Casesar exclaims. Et, tu, Brute. Then Caesar dies.
• Anthony enters and seeing Caesar lying dead says how Caesar with his conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils has shrunk to a "little measure". He addresses Brutus, Cassius and others and requests them to kill him too because he finds it a suitable place and time to lie by Caesar. But Brutus says that their hearts are pitiful and they receive him with all kind love, good thoughts and reverence. He perceives the situation mentally and begs to be excused by Caesar's dead body for "making his peace with his foes".
• Cassius asks Anthony whether they should treat him as their friend or foe. At this, Anthony states that he is their friend but they must give him reasons why Caesar was "dangerous" and why they killed him, he also says that he would like to produce Caesar's body at the market place and speak at his funeral, Brutus says that he will be told the reason. Cassius, however, fears that Anthony might move the people's hearts against them. Brutus says then, that Anthony shall not blame them for Caesar's death and he will speak only after Brutus has spoken and with his permission.
• Anthony is now alone with Caesar's dead body. He calls it the "bleeding price of earth" and calls the conspirators "butchers". Looking at Caesar, he calls him the ruins of noblest man that ever lived. He predicts that Caesar's murder will trigger a spate of calamities in the whole of Italy. "Domestic fury", "fierce civil strife" shall rage in horrible proportions. Blood and destruction will now be common. Mothers shall see their infants killed before their own eyes. Caesar's spirit shall come out hot from hell and wander in the streets to take revenge.
• In the market place, Brutus is in the pulpit and addresses the mob. He tells the mob that they killed Caesar because he had become ambitious and posed a threat to the country and all the countrymen would have become his slaves. Hearing this explanation, the mob approves the conspirators action in murdering Caesar. They hail Brutus and chant "Let him be Caesar". Brutus then tells the mob to listen to Antony who was going to speak with his permission; and requests the mob to be silent and stay on till Anthony has finished speaking.
• Anthony then addresses the mob in a very diplomatic manner. He says that he has not come to praise Caesar, but to bury him, for the evil that men do, lives after them and the good is interred with their bones. He says that Caesar was ambitious and he has rightly answered for it in his death. But in the next breath he explodes this by stating that Ceasar brought many prisoners home to Rome and their ransoms helped to fill the state treasury. If Brutus says that Caesar was ambitious, then ambition should be made of sterner stuff. He says sarcastically and repeatedly that Brutus is an "honourable" man. Caesar was offered the crown, thrice, but thrice he did refuse. Was this ambition? He says that they once loved Caesar, but asks what held them back from mourning for him now?
• The mob sees reason in Anthony's speech and remarks. Anthony further states that if he stirs their hearts to mutiny and rage, they would do Brutus and Cassius wrong, but both Brutus and Cassius are honourable men. He has found Caesar's will in his cupboard. He doesn’t want to read it, because if he does so, they would dip their napkins in his sacred blood. They could ask for Caesar's hair to keep it as a relic. The mob is now aroused. It demands that Anthony read Caesar's will.
• Antony asks the mob to make a circle around Caesar's dead body, they are very impatient to hear what Caesar had written in his will. Antony confesses that by reading Caesar's will, he will be doing a great injustice to his murderers, who are so called honorable men. He rouses the mob's emotion and impatience by pointing out to the holes made by the conspirators on Caesars body. The cloak that Caesar was wearing was the same one that he had worn when he won victory over Nervie. In that same cloak were now holes made by the dagger thrust by Cassius and Brutus to stab Caesar. Brutus was very dear to Caesar. So much blood rushed out of Caesar when Brutus stabbed him, showing how unkind Brutus was to him. Caesar never would have expected Brutus to do what he did as Brutus was Caesar's well-loved friend. Was it not ingratitude? It must have broken Caesar's heart. It was a great fall for Caesar; very shocking indeed.
• Antony goes on to state that he is not as good a orator as Brutus, but he is a plain and blunt man, who loved his friend Caesar very dearly. He speaks only the truth, unlike Brutus who was good at prejudiced speeches.
• By now, the mob is totally moved, full of anger and see through Brutus and the conspirators wrongful act, they want to riot and burn down the house of Brutus. They now want to pursue the conspirators and want to kill them; but before that they want to know what is in Caesar's will.
• Anthony reads the will. Caesar has left all his private houses, his newly-planted orchards for all his countrymen to enjoy and their future generations to come. He has also given to every Roman seventy-five silver coins. All his properties now belong to the Romans and they can use them for their pleasure. Can Rome have had another man like Caesar, Antony asks the mob.
Now the mob is fully charged, full of anger and passion and they rise in mutiny against the conspirators. They carry torches of fire in their hands, pull down everything around them to make the torches. Finally, Anthony remarks that he has instigated the mutiny, now let the mob take any course they like.
EXPERTS ENGLISH
JULIUS CAESAR Q & A
By Shailesh Shukla
Question (1): Why does Calpurnia tell Caesar not to stir out of the house?
Answer: Calpurnia has seen many unnatural things happen. Her own "inner self" has frightened her that something horrible was going to take place. She has a dream in which she sees Caesar's statue pouring forth blood and Romans dipping their hands into it, so she advises Caesar to remain indoors.
Question (2): What horrible things did the watchman see in the streets?
Answer: The watchman had seen a lioness whelping in the sheets, graves opening and giving out the dead, fiery warriors had been seen fighting in the clouds and blood drizzling upon the capitol. Ghosts shrieked and squealed in the streets.
Question (3): How does Caesar react to Calpurnias" fears" in the beginning?
Answer: Caesar remains unruffled at what Calpurnia states about the unnatural things. He says that anything whose end is purposed by the mighty Gods can't be avoided.
Question (4): What are Caesars views about men and death?
Answer: Caesar says that cowards die many times before their death. The brave taste death only once. It is a very strange thing that men fear death when they know that it is a necessary end and shall come when it comes.
Question (5): What did Calpurnia dream of Caesar which makes the fear for him?
Answer: Calpurnia dreamed of Caesar's stature which like a fountain had a hundred spouts. Pure blood ran from them and lusty Romans came smiling and dipped their hands into these. Calpurnia saw this dream and regarded it as inauspicious and ominous and requested Caesar not to go out of the house.
Question (6): What interpretation did Brutus give of Calpurnia's dream about Caesar?
Answer: Brutus said that Caesar's statue spouting blood in which many Romans bathed their hands signifies that Rome shall be great. Metaphorically, it stands for Caesar's "spirit" and signifies that it will serve as colours to a coat of arms an object of reverence; mementoes and a bridge of service.
Question (7): Why does Calpurnia say Caesar's "wisdom" is consumed in confidence? What does she mean by it?
Answer: Calpurnia says that Caesar's wisdom is overshadowed by over-confidence. He is wise no doubt, but he should not be over-confident about that whatever he sees to be always right and auspicious for him.
Question (8): What are the arguments put forward by Decuis Brutus to convince Caesar to go to the Capitol?
Answer: Brutus gives a positive interpretation to Calpurnia's dream of Caesar. He says that the dream signifies that Caesar will be so great that all will seek him in great honour. Secondly, if Caesar does not go to the senate that day, the senators may change their mind about offering the crown to him.
Question (9): Why is Decius Brutus more successful than Calpurnia in persuading Caesar to go to the senate house?
Answer: Decius Brutus is a close and honourable friend of Caesar. He is known for his uprightness, honesty and integrity. So whatever Brutus says is believed wholeheartedly by Caesar to be true and appropriate. Besides Brutus uses the right argument when he says that the senate may not offer Caesar the crown if he didnt go that day. It works very well, as Caesar believes this to be true.
Question (10): Why does Cimber crouch so low before Caesar and how does Caesar react to it?
Answer: As per the plans of the Conspirators, Metellus Cimber crouches very low before Caesar to repeal the order of banishing his brother from Rome. Cimber bends so low that Caesar looks at it as "fawning" (flattering) and that it reminds him of a low bred dog and if Cimber continues to do so, he will treat him like a low bred dog by kicking him out of his way. Caesar says that he is like the Northern star fixed and permanent and constant. Once he has made a decision and moreover the right one, he was not going to change it or repeal the order.
Question (11): Who says "Et tu Brute" ? When are these words spoken? Why?
Answer: Brutus is a very close and a sincere confidante of Caesar. He along with some of the others conspire to kill Caesar. When Brutus stabs Caesar, Caesar is shocked out of his wits and says "Et tu Brute" meaning you too Brutus? Caesar cannot face the fact that Brutus has also joined hands with the others to conspire to kill him.
Question (12): In the moments following Caesar's death, what do the conspirators proclaim to justify Caesar's death?
Answer: The conspirators proclaim "liberty, freedom and enfranchisement" in the moments following Caesar's murder for the sake of democracy; freedom and glory of the country. They all justify Brutus reason for killing Caesar - that he had grown too "ambitious" and it was not good for Rome or its people.
Question (13): How does Antony react on seeing Caesar's dead body?
Answer: Antony is overwhelmed with grief on seeing Caesar's dead body. He exclaims that inspite of Caesars' conquests, glories, triumphs and spoils, he lies so "low". He offers to be killed and lie by Caesar's side whom he calls the choice and master spirits of this age and "most noble".
Question (14): How do Brutus and Cassius respond to Antony's speech when he sees Caesar's body and speaks?
Answer: Brutus asks Antony not to beg for his own death because they had killed Caesar with a purpose. They are not Antony's enemies. He offers his arms of friendship to Antony and proclaims him to be their friend. Cassius says that with Antony by their side he shall be strong like the others and Antony's words shall carry as much weight as anybody else's in the distribution of the new offices and honours.
Question (15): On what condition does Anthony offer his "friendship" to Brutus and Cassius?
Answer: Antony tells Cassius that he is willing to go along with them and be their friend. But he needs to know the reason why they killed Caesar and how he was, as they say, dangerous to the country. He also wants to be allowed to speak about Caesar at his funeral.
Question (16): Why does Cassius object to allowing Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral? How does Brutus overcome this objection?
Answer: Cassius fears that in speaking at Caesar's funeral Antony may move the people against them. Brutus over rules this objection stating that he himself would speak first and give the reasons for Caesar's death. Antony could speak after him and shall not blame them for Caesar's death. Also he will tell the people that he has been allowed to speak about Caesar with their permission. He should speak only after Brutus has spoken and also from the same pulpit.
Question (17): What are the conditions imposed upon Antony by the conspirators before allowing him to speak at Caesar's funeral?
Answer: The conspirators agree to allow Antony to speak, but Brutus would speak first, giving reasons for killing Caesas. Antony could speak only after Brutus had finished speaking and he must tell the people that he had been given permission to speak by them. He would speak in the same pulpit where (from) Brutus will speak from. Finally, Antony must not blame them for Caesar's death in his funeral speech.
Question (18): When Antony is alone with Caesar's body, how does he address it and what does he call the conspirators?
Answer: Antony begs pardon that he is meek and gentle with the butchers, meaning the killers of Caesar. He calls Caesar "bleeding piece of earth" , and " the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times" . He curses the hand that shed the costly blood of Caesar. He calls the conspirators "butchers".
Question (19): What predictions does Antony make regarding the future events in Rome?
Answer: Antony predicts that "domestic fury" and "fierce civil strife" shall spread in Italy. Blood and destruction shall rage the country. Mothers shall go mad and smile when they see their children slaughtered. The earth shall be covered with dead bodies lying for burial. Caesar's spirit shall roam about for revenge and his spirit will be accompanied by Ate, the goddess of strife, who would come in hot haste from hell.
Question (20): What reasons does Brutus give for murdering Caesar?
Answer: Brutus says that he loved Caesar, but loved Rome more. If Caesar had lived, he would have made all the Romans slaves because he was "ambitious". Would the people of Rome have liked that? They killed Caesar, so that the people of Rome could be free. Brutus puts Caesar in poor light saying that Caesar was ambitious and that he did it for the good of his country and his countrymen.
Question (21): Who says "let him be Caesar" ? What light does this throw on the speaker?
Answer: "Let him be Caesar" is spoken by the third citizen representing the mob. The mob is fickle-minded and this fickleness is seen in the fact that the mob hails Brutus now without thinking rationally.
Question (22): How effective is Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral?
Answer: Antony as we can see, is a master manipulator, in his funeral speech. He appeals to the sentiments of the mob. He first sides with his conspirators, but as he proceeds he proves to the mob that Caesar was not ambitious. He gave all his possessions to the people of Rome as he had written in his will. This incites the mob and they want to chase the conspirators to kill them.
Question (23): Why does Antony say that he doesnt want to read Caesar's will before the mob?
Answer: Antony says so only to rouse the mob against the conspirators. He says so because if they come to know that Caesar has given them his every thing they will beg a hair or nail of Caesar for memory, as a relic, because Caesar was so great. They would like to kiss his wounds and dip their handkerchiefs in his sacred blood as a rich legacy for their children.
Question (24): How does Antony prove that Caesar was never ambitious?
Answer: Antony says that on the lupercal he presented Caesar the kingly crown thrice. But Caesar refused it. Caesar offered his orchards and private properties to the Romans for their use and pleasure and seventy-five silver coins to each and every countrymen. If he had been "ambitious" he wouldn't have done all these things.
Question (25): At the end of the scene, what is the fate of Brutus and Cassius?
Answer: Antony had successfully instigated the mob to mutiny against and rage the houses of the conspirators. They set the benches and windows on fire. They burnt Caesar's body in the holy place and with the brands and torches set fire to the traitors houses. Question (26): After reading Julius Caesar what conclusions do you draw about the Roman mob of the day?
Answer: Fickle
The most outstanding trait of the mob is its fickleness. A clever person can lead it as he likes. So when Brutus speaks the mob adores him. They want him to be Caesar. They want to crown and honour him in every possible way, but as Antony has spoken, the same mob cries for revenge and wants to kill Brutus and his companions.
Foolish and emotional
Roman mob is made of foolish people who are sentimental and incapable of judging a situation or a person properly. The description of the way Caesar was killed brings tears to their eyes.
Greedy
Antony knows that the common Romans are greedy. Caesar has left seventy five silver coins for each Roman and the mob immediately cries "Noble Caesar" .
Violent
The mob is violent. They always seem ready to attack those they don't like. They call for burning of Brutus's house and killing all the conspirators.
Question (27): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Calpurnia
Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
a) When does Calpurnia speak these lines.
b) What is "One million" and "without" that has frightened her the most?
c) How does Caesar react to these premonitions?
Answer: a) Calpurnia speaks these lines to Caesar before he gets ready to go to the Senate house.
b) Calpurnia has seen a horrible dream about Caesar's statue spouting pure blood and the Romans bathing their hands into it. Then the watchman has seen unnatural things occurring outside. These two are internal and external things.
c) Caesar states that nothing can be avoided and the end is purposed by the Gods. He doesnt give much importance to these premonitions.
Question (28): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Caesar
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
a) When does Caesar speak these lines?
b) What is most strange for Caesar?
c) How does Calpurnia react to Caesar's attitude to her premonition?
Answer: a) Caesar speaks these lines to Calpurnia when she pleads before him not to go to the senate house as she has seen a horrible dream about him.
b) A strange thing for Caesar is that men fear death when they know it is inevitable and it shall come when it comes.
c) Calpurnia reacts stating that Caesars "wisdom is confused with confidence. "She continues to plead with him not to leave the house.
Question (29): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,
In which so many smiling Romans bathed,
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press
For tinctures, stain, relics and cognizance.
a) Who speaks these lines and to whom?
b) What is Brutu's interpretation of Calpurneas dream?
c) Is the speaks giving the right meaning? Why?
Answer: a) Decius Brutus speaks these lines to Julius Caesar
b) Brutus interpretes Calpurnias dream of Caesar in his favour, saying that the blood spouted by Caesar's statue signifies that Caesar's honour shall increase. His blood will serve as colour added to a coat of arms; be an object of reverence, mementoes and a badge of service.
c) Decius Brutus misinterprets Calpurnias dreams of Caesar for his own advantage. He has conspired with others to murder Caesar that day in the senate house. He knows that Caesar is credulous so he deliberately gives Calpurnia's dream a different interpretation to serve his own motive
Question (30): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
For your part,
To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony:
Our arms, in strength of malice, and our hearts
Of brothers' temper, do receive you in
With all kind love, good thoughts and reverence.
a) Who is speaking these lines and to whom?
b) How do the murderers of Caesar receive Mark Antony?
c) How do the conspirators think mark Antony will be helpful in friendship?
Answer: a) Brutus is speaking these lines to Anthony after the murder of Caesar.
b) The murderers of Caesar receive Mark Antony as a friend with kind love and good thoughts and respect.
c) The conspirators think that Antony will strengthen their voices in disposing of new dignities as Cassius states.
Question (31): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow.
Antony
That's all I seek:
And am moreover suitor that I may
Produce his body to the market-place;
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend,
Speak in the order of his funeral.
a) What does Antony seek?
b) Why does Antony want to produce Caesar's body at the market place?
c) How does Cassius react to Antony's request?
Answer: a) Antony seeks to know why the conspirators murdered Caesar and how/what made him an ambitious man.
b) Antony wants to produce Caesars dead body at the market place to turn the tables against the conspirators and bring the mob against the murderers of Caesar.
c) Cassius doesn't want Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral because he has apprehensions that Antony may move the Roman people against them.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
Question (1): Julius Caesar returned to
1. Pompey
2. Rome
3. Philippi
4. Sardis
Ans: 2
Question (2): Caesar most trusted friend was
1. Antony
2. Brutus
3. Cassius
4. Octavious
Ans: 1
Question (3): Calpurnia does not want Caesar to go out of the house as
1. she fears his enemies
2. she wants to be with him
3. she is scared of the bad omens
4. she suspects Brutus
Ans: 3
Question (4): 'And we like friends will straightway go together'. Brutus feels sorry when he hears this from Caesar because Brutus
1. will soon betray Caesar
2. is a true friend
3. could not hear clearly
4. does not wish to go with Caesar
Ans: 1
Question (5): Casca says 'hands speak for me'. What do Casca's hands do?
1. clap loudly
2. slap Caesar
3. stab Caesar
4. push Brutus forward
Ans: 3
Question (6): Antony declares himself on the side of Brutus and Cassius as he
1. wishes to save himself
2. wants to know why they killed Caesar
3. thinks they did the right thing
4. is money minded
Ans: 2
Question (7): When Brutus gets up to talk we realise that the people of Rome
1. have respect for him
2. hate him
3. do not care for him
4. are ready to kill him
Ans: 1
Question (8): Caesar's better parts will be crowned in Brutus. This means that
1. Brutus will be made the ruler
2. like Caesar he will be killed
3. Brutus is the king
4. Brutus is better than Caesar
Ans: 1
Question (9): Antony says that 'Caesar's will' gives the Romans
1. a sliver coin each
2. a drachma each
3. seventy five drachmas each
4. the kingdom
Ans: 3
Question (10): 'Mischief thou art afoot' says Antony meaning that
1. no one could now control the public
2. he was mischievous
3. art and skill causes mischief
4. the public were art conscious
Ans: 1
THE TRIBUTE
The Tribute
The story 'Tribute' traces the process of repentance that starts for Babuli when he receives a letter from his elder brother about the partition of his village property amongst the three brothers. This letter removes the strands of complacency, which have gathered around him in his pursuit to become a 'city babu'. Preoccupied with his wife and job, he had forgotten his mother, brothers and their families.
Discussing the partition with his wife only reveals her greed for money and total indifference to Babuli's feelings.
When he goes back to his village, the sight of his brother brings back a flood of childhood memories. His elder brother is an epitome of sacrifice and selfless love. Babuli remembers how his elder brother would carry his school bag for him, serve him his favourite fish curry prepared exclusively for him and cover Babuli with his own blanket as an extra protection on a cold winter night.
His elder brother had mortgaged his watch to raise money to send Babuli for an interview to Delhi. Everything was done so ungrudgingly and with so much love! Nothing had changed him - his seven children, cattle, fields, and household responsibilities. The second brother, pressurised by his wife, had sold his soul to greed and had become adamant about the partition.
Babuli compares the partition to the act of a butcher, slicing out the flesh of the domestic body which bad been nourished with years of love and care. When the partition actually takes place, the elder brother watches on stoically and dispassionately giving into the second brother's demands in everything. When the elder brother shows Babuli his share of the paddy fields, Babuli's repentance is complete. He sees the fruits of his elder brother's hard work in every crop. He realises that his only true wealth is his brother from whom he has harvested everything in life. Finally overcome with acute guilt and shame, he goes back to Bhubaneswar, leaving his share of land to his elder brother as a tribute to his brothers concern and exemplary love for him.
CONCLUSION
Being loved is very important but being able to give unconditional love is supreme. Love which sacrifices and expects nothing in return is invaluable and no amount of wealth can challenge that love.
Questions & Answers
Question (1): Describe Babuli's feelings when he hears his wife discussing the things they would buy with the money they would get after selling their share of the land.
Answer: Babuli thinks of the butcher. He feels his wife is insensitive and heartless. But finally, he also goes with her to the shops to estimate the costs of various commodities. Question (2): What were the changes Babuli noticed in the village home when he reached there?
Answer: When Babuli reached his village home no one came to receive him. There was the silence of a graveyard. His sister-in law and nephews did not rush out to greet him. His second brother and his wife were nowhere to be seen. Question (3): How much did the second brother offer Babuli to buy his share of land?
Answer: Babuli was offered Rs. 18,000/- to buy his share of land. Question (4): Quote two instances from the story highlighting his elder brother's sacrificing nature.
Answer: Even on a cold morning, he placed his blanket on Babuli and walked to the farm without a cover.
He mortgaged his watch to send Babuli to the interview at Delhi. Question (5): What does the act of leaving his share to his elder brother reveal about Babuli's character?
Answer: Babuli was a sensitive person who had behaved in a selfish and immature manner. In good time, he realises his mistake and shows his love for his elder brother. Question (6): How does Babuli manage to come out of the cobwebs that had settled around him?
Answer: Babuli was caught in the strands of city life. He was preoccupied with his work and wife in the city. He had pushed back all thoughts of his brother and mother. But the letter from his brother woke up the dormant feelings. He was filled with shame on his way to the village. He felt as if everybody was accusing him of his behaviour. Past memories flooded his mind and he was reminded of his brother's unconditional sacrifices. Finally, he makes the decision to leave his share of property to his eldest brother as a tribute to his love. Question (7): Imagine you are Babuli's mother. Write a diary entry on the day of the partition after it is over.
Answer:
8.8.2008
It has been such a sad day. Today, the property was divided amongst the three children. I am glad my husband is not here to see this day. My heart was breaking when all the movables were brought outside to be divided. I feel most sorry for my eldest son.
My eldest son has been a father to his brothers. Kind and sacrificing, he has only wanted their good in his heart. How could Babuli forget all his kind acts of love? My second son is, of course, selfish and totally in his wife's clutches. He has no feelings. But Babuli! How could he behave in such a way? He has become a 'City Babu' and forgotten all our love. Still, I hoped that he would be different.
Will these walls of stone and brick actually separate the love the three brothers shared? Can the younger two forget their childhood and the happy moments they all spent together? God! give courage to my eldest son to bear this partition. He must feel totally devastated! God Bless him! Question (8): You are Babuli's wife. Write a letter to your sister about what happened in the village and your reaction to it.
Answer:
Meeta,
7, Bhubaneshwar
Orissa,
9.9.2008
Dear Seeta,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. Remember I had mentioned the partition of the village property to you? I had dreams of buying so many things. Now, there has been a twist in the events.
When Babuli set off to the village, I had many dreams in my heart. When he returned, I bombarded him with questions. He did not answer for a while. Then he broke the news that he had left his entire share to his elder brother! I was too stunned to speak. Slowly he talked to me, telling me things he had never done before - how his elder brother had been like a parent to him, how he had mortgaged his watch to send Babuli for an interview to Delhi! And how on cold winter nights he would put his own blanket on Babuli to make him comfortable, how he carried his bag for him when Babuli returned from his tuitions. His elder brother's love is unconditional, and he has never wanted anything in return. Never a request. Never a complaint. Just a pillar of strength!
Babuli, overcome with feelings of shame and repentance, left his share of property to his elder brother as a tribute to his love. When Babuli stopped talking, tears flowed from my eyes. He held me and there was no need for words. I have forgotten the fridge, the scooter and the twenty thousand rupees. All I feel is the circle of love to which I been drawn after Babuli shared his feelings.
Hope you appreciate my feelings.
Write soon.
Your sister
Meeta
Question (9): You are Babuli's elder brother. You have received Babuli's note and are replying to it. Write the letter.
Answer:
Kabuli
Sonepet
Orissa
9.9.2008
Dear Babuli
I was surprised to see your note. I know how much you love me and I never doubted it. It is your love, which has prompted you to do what you have done. But I cannot actually take your share.
However, I will always look after your land and send you the returns regularly. Partition cannot affect our relationship. We are all one and will continue to remain so. You have always occupied a special spot in my heart and I cherish our relationship.
Do come to the village often. Bring your wife too. My children miss you and talk about you often. My blessings remain with you. Hope you prosper in everything you do.
I hope you understand my feelings and respect them. Write back.
With love
Kabuli
Question (10): You are Babuli's elder brothers son. Make a diary entry on the day of the partition.
Answer:
8.8.2008
Today was a horrible day. The house has got partitioned. I felt so sad when I saw all the movables brought out. Even our toys were not spared. The last few weeks have been horrible with nobody talking to each other. I was so close to my cousins and Babuli uncle. Yet, today, we didn't even talk to each other. He used to laugh and joke with us. He was our favourite uncle. All that has changed.
Everybody looked serious and behaved as if they were strangers to each other. The house has been deathly silent for so many days and I feel horrible!
I cannot show or share my feelings. Mother will scold me if I do. Father has completely withdrawn into a shell. He barely talks. I know he is also suffering inside, but doesn't show it.
Oh God! Can the family not get back together? Please perform a miracle so that we are reunited.
Oh, please God, please!
Question (11): Why was Babuli disturbed by the contents of his elder brother's letter?
Answer: Babuli was disturbed by the contents of his elder brothers letter because their father's lands in the village were to be partitioned between the three brothers. Question (12): Why was there an abominable silence in the village home when Babuli arrived?
Answer: The brothers and their families were all unhappy about the impending partition. Therefore, there was an abominable silence in the village home when Babuli arrived. Question (13): What does the reference to butcher symbolise?
Answer: Butcher symbolises cruelty, heartlessness and death. Question (14): What did Babuli do with his share?
Answer: Babuli gifted it to his elder brother as a sign of his gratitude for the many sacrifices made by him. Question (15): Why could Babuli not sleep the night before the partition?
Answer: Babuli did not sleep the night before the partition because he realised how ungrateful he had been and was remorseful. Question (16): Why did Babuli feel guilty when he saw the letter?
Answer: Babuli felt guilty when he saw the letter because he had neglected the family in the village and had not visited or written letters to them. Question (17): Cite examples to illustrate the elder brother's affection towards Babuli during his child hood.
Answer: The following incidents illustrate the elder brother's affection towards Babuli during his child hood:
• He escorted him back from tuitions.
• He got a special dish of fish made for him.
• He covered him with his own blanket.
Question (18): In what way was Babuli ungrateful?
Answer: Babuli was ungrateful towards his elder brother. He got his education and job because of the sacrifices of his elder brother, but
• he had not paid his elder brother a visit for the past two years after his marriage.
• he had not taken back gifts to his brother or his family even after he began to earn.
• he had not written to his mother for the past two years after his marriage.
Question (19): How did he feel when he saw his wife's reaction to the news of the partition?
Answer: Babuli felt unhappy and threatened. His wife was butchering his feelings. Question
(20): What kind of a person was the second brother?
Answer: Babuli's second brother was money-minded and selfish. He paid heed thoughtlessly to his wife. He was ungrateful.
Question (21): How did Babuli feel as he got into the bus?
Answer: Babuli realised the long duration of his absence from the village. He felt they were all reprimanding him for not having visited the village. In his confusion, he dropped the 'prasad'.
Question (22): Perhaps a tear trickled down his cheek. Why did the elder brother behave in this manner?
Answer: The elder brother felt that with the placing of the wristwatch, he was snapping all ties with the past.
Question (23): Compare and contrast Babuli's character with that of his second brother.
Answer: Though both the brothers are selfish, Babuli is more sensitive and a better human being. Babuli's love for his family lies dormant in his heart, but when he receives the letter about the partition, the floodgates of love open. He is ridden with guilt. He does not yield to his wife's pressure. The second brother, on the other hand, though living in the village, has become very hard-hearted and money-minded. He is also weak-natured and gives in to his wife's pressure. He is insensitive to the pain that his mother and elder brother are undergoing.
Question (24): Describe Babuli's feelings when, after the partition, Babuli's brother shows him his share of the fields and how this influences the conclusion of the story.
Answer: Babuli's repentance is complete. He sees the fruits of his elder brother's labour in every crop and compares the dewdrops to the sweat of his elder brother. He realises that his only true wealth is his brother from whom he has harvested everything in life. Question (25): Imagine you are the elder brother's wife making a diary entry on the day Babuli has left his share to his elder brother and returned to Bhubaneswar.
Answer:
8.8.2008
Today, I feel ashamed of myself. After reading Babuli's letter, I feel so bad. My sister-in-law and I fought over a trivial matter that finally ended in this partition. I am older and I should have behaved in a more mature manner. I realise the depth of love that lies between the brothers. The same love lies dormant in the second brother and needs to be wakened.
I must undo the wrong I have done. I will apologise to my sister-in-law, and talk about getting back together. I will beg for forgiveness from Ma. How sad she must be feeling! I know my husband is very hurt and sad, but he doesn't express anything. Babuli's letter has really opened my eyes. If he feels so much for his brother, who am I to come between them. We will look after Babuli's share of property and send him the returns.
God, forgive me for my behaviour! My repentance will be complete when I get the family back together. How glad the children will feel! They love their cousins, but for my sake, they have stopped talking to them. God, give me the strength to rebuild the family, which means so much to my husband and my children!
Question (26): Imagine you are Babuli's second brother and make a diary entry on the day after the partition.
Answer: I was surprised to know of Babuli's decision. I thought he had become a 'City Babu' and thought only about his share. Yet, his offering his share to elder brother has surprised me. I offered him money, but he refused to sell his share. It's strange how money holds no value for him. His love and respect for brother is so much that he could give up his entire share! And that too, despite sister-in-law's pressure! This has set me thinking. Was I right in what I did? I have followed what my wife advised. I was fed up of the petty quarrels between my wife and my sister-in-law. The partition of property seemed the only solution to be happy. Yet, can we really be happy without elder brother's love and encouragement? He has actually done so much for us. He has been like a parent. I know he is upset with the partition. He never expresses his feelings. Babuli has left me thinking. It is too late to patch up. Maybe I will ask for forgiveness from mother and brother. If we all try, we can reunite. I will have to talk to my wife. I hope I can convince her. God give me strength! Question (27): You are the second brother's wife and write a diary entry on the day of the partition.
Answer:
8.8.2008
I had been waiting for this day. At last, I have managed to have my way. My husband was so much under the influence of his elder brother, that it took me some time to bring him to my way of thinking. Anyway, I always felt that elder brother was partial towards Babuli. My heart filled with triumph and joy as the partition details were discussed. We got whatever we wanted. Only Babuli refused to sell his share. He is a stubborn man.
How I hate my mother-in-law and sister-in-law! Now, the children are on my side and hate them too. With the land we have got, we can lead a happier and more comfortable life. I can start my life now without bothering about others.
Thank you, God.
Question (1): What does the word 'petite' mean?
1. strong
2. small
3. neat
4. clean
Ans: 2
Question (2): What was almost a routine affair for Babuli during his student days?
1. working in the city
2. writing to his elder brother
3. going home in the rickety bus
4. reading big books
Ans: 3
Question (3): What was written in the elder brother's letter?
1. That they were missing him in the village
2. That there was to be a partition
3. That there was a festival
4. That he would get money
Ans: 2
Question (4): How many days were left for the partition?
1. A week
2. A month
3. A day
4. Three days
Ans: 1
Question (5): How much money was expected for Babuli's land?
1. Seven thousand
2. Twenty thousand
3. Ten thousand
4. Forty thousand
Ans: 2
Question (6): What makes Babuli think of the butcher?
1. Hunger
2. Wife's heartlessness
3. The innocent lamb
4. The partition
Ans: 2
Question (7): What was the first thing the elder brother did when Babuli reached the village?
1. He took Babuli's heavy briefcase
2. He scolded Babuli
3. He carried Babuli on his shoulders
4. He walked in front of Babuli
Ans: 1
Question (8): When Babuli reached home he was received by
1. his mother
2. an abominable Lull
3. his sister-in-law
4. his niece and nephew
Ans: 2
Question (9): Why did elder brother shed tears when he placed the wrist watch on the pile?
1. It was an expensive watch
2. He was attached to the watch
3. He was snapping his attachment to the past
4. He had mortgaged it
Ans: 3
Question (10): Which of these words best describes the elder brother?
1. Calm and composed
2. Uncaring
3. Greedy
4. Slow
Ans: 1
Question (11): Babuli had not bothered to even replace the elder brother's tattered blanket after he found a job. What does this show?
1. Babuli's laziness
2. Babuli's ingratitude
3. Babuli's busy schedule
4. Babuli's poverty
Ans: 2
Question (12): What did Babuli finally do with the land?
1. Sold it to a brother
2. Gave it to his wife
3. Gifted it to elder brother
4. Harvested crops
Ans: 3
The story 'Tribute' traces the process of repentance that starts for Babuli when he receives a letter from his elder brother about the partition of his village property amongst the three brothers. This letter removes the strands of complacency, which have gathered around him in his pursuit to become a 'city babu'. Preoccupied with his wife and job, he had forgotten his mother, brothers and their families.
Discussing the partition with his wife only reveals her greed for money and total indifference to Babuli's feelings.
When he goes back to his village, the sight of his brother brings back a flood of childhood memories. His elder brother is an epitome of sacrifice and selfless love. Babuli remembers how his elder brother would carry his school bag for him, serve him his favourite fish curry prepared exclusively for him and cover Babuli with his own blanket as an extra protection on a cold winter night.
His elder brother had mortgaged his watch to raise money to send Babuli for an interview to Delhi. Everything was done so ungrudgingly and with so much love! Nothing had changed him - his seven children, cattle, fields, and household responsibilities. The second brother, pressurised by his wife, had sold his soul to greed and had become adamant about the partition.
Babuli compares the partition to the act of a butcher, slicing out the flesh of the domestic body which bad been nourished with years of love and care. When the partition actually takes place, the elder brother watches on stoically and dispassionately giving into the second brother's demands in everything. When the elder brother shows Babuli his share of the paddy fields, Babuli's repentance is complete. He sees the fruits of his elder brother's hard work in every crop. He realises that his only true wealth is his brother from whom he has harvested everything in life. Finally overcome with acute guilt and shame, he goes back to Bhubaneswar, leaving his share of land to his elder brother as a tribute to his brothers concern and exemplary love for him.
CONCLUSION
Being loved is very important but being able to give unconditional love is supreme. Love which sacrifices and expects nothing in return is invaluable and no amount of wealth can challenge that love.
Questions & Answers
Question (1): Describe Babuli's feelings when he hears his wife discussing the things they would buy with the money they would get after selling their share of the land.
Answer: Babuli thinks of the butcher. He feels his wife is insensitive and heartless. But finally, he also goes with her to the shops to estimate the costs of various commodities. Question (2): What were the changes Babuli noticed in the village home when he reached there?
Answer: When Babuli reached his village home no one came to receive him. There was the silence of a graveyard. His sister-in law and nephews did not rush out to greet him. His second brother and his wife were nowhere to be seen. Question (3): How much did the second brother offer Babuli to buy his share of land?
Answer: Babuli was offered Rs. 18,000/- to buy his share of land. Question (4): Quote two instances from the story highlighting his elder brother's sacrificing nature.
Answer: Even on a cold morning, he placed his blanket on Babuli and walked to the farm without a cover.
He mortgaged his watch to send Babuli to the interview at Delhi. Question (5): What does the act of leaving his share to his elder brother reveal about Babuli's character?
Answer: Babuli was a sensitive person who had behaved in a selfish and immature manner. In good time, he realises his mistake and shows his love for his elder brother. Question (6): How does Babuli manage to come out of the cobwebs that had settled around him?
Answer: Babuli was caught in the strands of city life. He was preoccupied with his work and wife in the city. He had pushed back all thoughts of his brother and mother. But the letter from his brother woke up the dormant feelings. He was filled with shame on his way to the village. He felt as if everybody was accusing him of his behaviour. Past memories flooded his mind and he was reminded of his brother's unconditional sacrifices. Finally, he makes the decision to leave his share of property to his eldest brother as a tribute to his love. Question (7): Imagine you are Babuli's mother. Write a diary entry on the day of the partition after it is over.
Answer:
8.8.2008
It has been such a sad day. Today, the property was divided amongst the three children. I am glad my husband is not here to see this day. My heart was breaking when all the movables were brought outside to be divided. I feel most sorry for my eldest son.
My eldest son has been a father to his brothers. Kind and sacrificing, he has only wanted their good in his heart. How could Babuli forget all his kind acts of love? My second son is, of course, selfish and totally in his wife's clutches. He has no feelings. But Babuli! How could he behave in such a way? He has become a 'City Babu' and forgotten all our love. Still, I hoped that he would be different.
Will these walls of stone and brick actually separate the love the three brothers shared? Can the younger two forget their childhood and the happy moments they all spent together? God! give courage to my eldest son to bear this partition. He must feel totally devastated! God Bless him! Question (8): You are Babuli's wife. Write a letter to your sister about what happened in the village and your reaction to it.
Answer:
Meeta,
7, Bhubaneshwar
Orissa,
9.9.2008
Dear Seeta,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. Remember I had mentioned the partition of the village property to you? I had dreams of buying so many things. Now, there has been a twist in the events.
When Babuli set off to the village, I had many dreams in my heart. When he returned, I bombarded him with questions. He did not answer for a while. Then he broke the news that he had left his entire share to his elder brother! I was too stunned to speak. Slowly he talked to me, telling me things he had never done before - how his elder brother had been like a parent to him, how he had mortgaged his watch to send Babuli for an interview to Delhi! And how on cold winter nights he would put his own blanket on Babuli to make him comfortable, how he carried his bag for him when Babuli returned from his tuitions. His elder brother's love is unconditional, and he has never wanted anything in return. Never a request. Never a complaint. Just a pillar of strength!
Babuli, overcome with feelings of shame and repentance, left his share of property to his elder brother as a tribute to his love. When Babuli stopped talking, tears flowed from my eyes. He held me and there was no need for words. I have forgotten the fridge, the scooter and the twenty thousand rupees. All I feel is the circle of love to which I been drawn after Babuli shared his feelings.
Hope you appreciate my feelings.
Write soon.
Your sister
Meeta
Question (9): You are Babuli's elder brother. You have received Babuli's note and are replying to it. Write the letter.
Answer:
Kabuli
Sonepet
Orissa
9.9.2008
Dear Babuli
I was surprised to see your note. I know how much you love me and I never doubted it. It is your love, which has prompted you to do what you have done. But I cannot actually take your share.
However, I will always look after your land and send you the returns regularly. Partition cannot affect our relationship. We are all one and will continue to remain so. You have always occupied a special spot in my heart and I cherish our relationship.
Do come to the village often. Bring your wife too. My children miss you and talk about you often. My blessings remain with you. Hope you prosper in everything you do.
I hope you understand my feelings and respect them. Write back.
With love
Kabuli
Question (10): You are Babuli's elder brothers son. Make a diary entry on the day of the partition.
Answer:
8.8.2008
Today was a horrible day. The house has got partitioned. I felt so sad when I saw all the movables brought out. Even our toys were not spared. The last few weeks have been horrible with nobody talking to each other. I was so close to my cousins and Babuli uncle. Yet, today, we didn't even talk to each other. He used to laugh and joke with us. He was our favourite uncle. All that has changed.
Everybody looked serious and behaved as if they were strangers to each other. The house has been deathly silent for so many days and I feel horrible!
I cannot show or share my feelings. Mother will scold me if I do. Father has completely withdrawn into a shell. He barely talks. I know he is also suffering inside, but doesn't show it.
Oh God! Can the family not get back together? Please perform a miracle so that we are reunited.
Oh, please God, please!
Question (11): Why was Babuli disturbed by the contents of his elder brother's letter?
Answer: Babuli was disturbed by the contents of his elder brothers letter because their father's lands in the village were to be partitioned between the three brothers. Question (12): Why was there an abominable silence in the village home when Babuli arrived?
Answer: The brothers and their families were all unhappy about the impending partition. Therefore, there was an abominable silence in the village home when Babuli arrived. Question (13): What does the reference to butcher symbolise?
Answer: Butcher symbolises cruelty, heartlessness and death. Question (14): What did Babuli do with his share?
Answer: Babuli gifted it to his elder brother as a sign of his gratitude for the many sacrifices made by him. Question (15): Why could Babuli not sleep the night before the partition?
Answer: Babuli did not sleep the night before the partition because he realised how ungrateful he had been and was remorseful. Question (16): Why did Babuli feel guilty when he saw the letter?
Answer: Babuli felt guilty when he saw the letter because he had neglected the family in the village and had not visited or written letters to them. Question (17): Cite examples to illustrate the elder brother's affection towards Babuli during his child hood.
Answer: The following incidents illustrate the elder brother's affection towards Babuli during his child hood:
• He escorted him back from tuitions.
• He got a special dish of fish made for him.
• He covered him with his own blanket.
Question (18): In what way was Babuli ungrateful?
Answer: Babuli was ungrateful towards his elder brother. He got his education and job because of the sacrifices of his elder brother, but
• he had not paid his elder brother a visit for the past two years after his marriage.
• he had not taken back gifts to his brother or his family even after he began to earn.
• he had not written to his mother for the past two years after his marriage.
Question (19): How did he feel when he saw his wife's reaction to the news of the partition?
Answer: Babuli felt unhappy and threatened. His wife was butchering his feelings. Question
(20): What kind of a person was the second brother?
Answer: Babuli's second brother was money-minded and selfish. He paid heed thoughtlessly to his wife. He was ungrateful.
Question (21): How did Babuli feel as he got into the bus?
Answer: Babuli realised the long duration of his absence from the village. He felt they were all reprimanding him for not having visited the village. In his confusion, he dropped the 'prasad'.
Question (22): Perhaps a tear trickled down his cheek. Why did the elder brother behave in this manner?
Answer: The elder brother felt that with the placing of the wristwatch, he was snapping all ties with the past.
Question (23): Compare and contrast Babuli's character with that of his second brother.
Answer: Though both the brothers are selfish, Babuli is more sensitive and a better human being. Babuli's love for his family lies dormant in his heart, but when he receives the letter about the partition, the floodgates of love open. He is ridden with guilt. He does not yield to his wife's pressure. The second brother, on the other hand, though living in the village, has become very hard-hearted and money-minded. He is also weak-natured and gives in to his wife's pressure. He is insensitive to the pain that his mother and elder brother are undergoing.
Question (24): Describe Babuli's feelings when, after the partition, Babuli's brother shows him his share of the fields and how this influences the conclusion of the story.
Answer: Babuli's repentance is complete. He sees the fruits of his elder brother's labour in every crop and compares the dewdrops to the sweat of his elder brother. He realises that his only true wealth is his brother from whom he has harvested everything in life. Question (25): Imagine you are the elder brother's wife making a diary entry on the day Babuli has left his share to his elder brother and returned to Bhubaneswar.
Answer:
8.8.2008
Today, I feel ashamed of myself. After reading Babuli's letter, I feel so bad. My sister-in-law and I fought over a trivial matter that finally ended in this partition. I am older and I should have behaved in a more mature manner. I realise the depth of love that lies between the brothers. The same love lies dormant in the second brother and needs to be wakened.
I must undo the wrong I have done. I will apologise to my sister-in-law, and talk about getting back together. I will beg for forgiveness from Ma. How sad she must be feeling! I know my husband is very hurt and sad, but he doesn't express anything. Babuli's letter has really opened my eyes. If he feels so much for his brother, who am I to come between them. We will look after Babuli's share of property and send him the returns.
God, forgive me for my behaviour! My repentance will be complete when I get the family back together. How glad the children will feel! They love their cousins, but for my sake, they have stopped talking to them. God, give me the strength to rebuild the family, which means so much to my husband and my children!
Question (26): Imagine you are Babuli's second brother and make a diary entry on the day after the partition.
Answer: I was surprised to know of Babuli's decision. I thought he had become a 'City Babu' and thought only about his share. Yet, his offering his share to elder brother has surprised me. I offered him money, but he refused to sell his share. It's strange how money holds no value for him. His love and respect for brother is so much that he could give up his entire share! And that too, despite sister-in-law's pressure! This has set me thinking. Was I right in what I did? I have followed what my wife advised. I was fed up of the petty quarrels between my wife and my sister-in-law. The partition of property seemed the only solution to be happy. Yet, can we really be happy without elder brother's love and encouragement? He has actually done so much for us. He has been like a parent. I know he is upset with the partition. He never expresses his feelings. Babuli has left me thinking. It is too late to patch up. Maybe I will ask for forgiveness from mother and brother. If we all try, we can reunite. I will have to talk to my wife. I hope I can convince her. God give me strength! Question (27): You are the second brother's wife and write a diary entry on the day of the partition.
Answer:
8.8.2008
I had been waiting for this day. At last, I have managed to have my way. My husband was so much under the influence of his elder brother, that it took me some time to bring him to my way of thinking. Anyway, I always felt that elder brother was partial towards Babuli. My heart filled with triumph and joy as the partition details were discussed. We got whatever we wanted. Only Babuli refused to sell his share. He is a stubborn man.
How I hate my mother-in-law and sister-in-law! Now, the children are on my side and hate them too. With the land we have got, we can lead a happier and more comfortable life. I can start my life now without bothering about others.
Thank you, God.
Question (1): What does the word 'petite' mean?
1. strong
2. small
3. neat
4. clean
Ans: 2
Question (2): What was almost a routine affair for Babuli during his student days?
1. working in the city
2. writing to his elder brother
3. going home in the rickety bus
4. reading big books
Ans: 3
Question (3): What was written in the elder brother's letter?
1. That they were missing him in the village
2. That there was to be a partition
3. That there was a festival
4. That he would get money
Ans: 2
Question (4): How many days were left for the partition?
1. A week
2. A month
3. A day
4. Three days
Ans: 1
Question (5): How much money was expected for Babuli's land?
1. Seven thousand
2. Twenty thousand
3. Ten thousand
4. Forty thousand
Ans: 2
Question (6): What makes Babuli think of the butcher?
1. Hunger
2. Wife's heartlessness
3. The innocent lamb
4. The partition
Ans: 2
Question (7): What was the first thing the elder brother did when Babuli reached the village?
1. He took Babuli's heavy briefcase
2. He scolded Babuli
3. He carried Babuli on his shoulders
4. He walked in front of Babuli
Ans: 1
Question (8): When Babuli reached home he was received by
1. his mother
2. an abominable Lull
3. his sister-in-law
4. his niece and nephew
Ans: 2
Question (9): Why did elder brother shed tears when he placed the wrist watch on the pile?
1. It was an expensive watch
2. He was attached to the watch
3. He was snapping his attachment to the past
4. He had mortgaged it
Ans: 3
Question (10): Which of these words best describes the elder brother?
1. Calm and composed
2. Uncaring
3. Greedy
4. Slow
Ans: 1
Question (11): Babuli had not bothered to even replace the elder brother's tattered blanket after he found a job. What does this show?
1. Babuli's laziness
2. Babuli's ingratitude
3. Babuli's busy schedule
4. Babuli's poverty
Ans: 2
Question (12): What did Babuli finally do with the land?
1. Sold it to a brother
2. Gave it to his wife
3. Gifted it to elder brother
4. Harvested crops
Ans: 3
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Playwright : Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) was a great English novelist and a very popular writer even in his time. Dickens was a keen observer of human nature. He sympathised with the poor and helpless and mocked the greedy and the cruel.
As a young boy Dickens had to work in a London factory pasting the labels on bottles of shoe polish. His father, a clerk had to go through the misfortune of being penniless and in prison. His father was able to later send Charles Dickens to school where he wasn't very happy. All these experiences lend colour to the various characters and situations portrayed lovingly by Charles Dickens. Some of his more famous books are - Pickwick papers, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations. He has to his credit 15 novels, 5 short novels, sketches, travel books and some non-fiction.
INTRODUCTION
'A Christmas Carol' is one of the most famous novels of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens was the most popular novelist of his time.
The novel is set in the time of Christmas and celebrates the joy of 'giving' and 'loving'.
The novel has been re-written and presented as a play. You must remember that this was written as a Radio Play.
___________________________________________________________________________
'A Christmas Carol'
'A Christmas Carol' is a one-act play that is supposed to be 'enacted' over the radio. So, the play depends largely on the language and the sounds.
Scrooge is a miser. He makes his clerk, Bob Cratchit work hard for him, but pays him very less. In fact, he hates giving him a holiday even for Christmas. He does not believe in Christmas and calls it 'humbug' (meaning 'nonsense').
Scrooge's partner, Jacob Marley, is dead. His ghost appears in front of him on the night before Christmas. Jacob Marley wants to 'reclaim' Scrooge. He wants to make him a better person. So, he sends three ghosts to help him perceive life differently.
The first ghost comes to him at the stroke of one. He represents Scrooge's past. He shows him scenes from his younger days.
When Scrooge sees himself as a young boy in school and later as the brother of 'sweet Fan', he repents for not having treated Fan's son Fred in a better way. He also sees Belle, whom he refused to marry, as he loved money more.
The Second Ghost represents the present. He shows Bob Cratchit's family to Scrooge. He is impressed by their love for each other. He is touched that even though he pays Bob very less, Bob prays for him. At dinner, they all drink a toast to the health of Scrooge. Bob's fifth child, Tim, is a cripple. Scrooge feels sorry for him. The Second Ghost taunts him. Scrooge repents his actions in the past. He would like to change his way of life.
The Third Ghost shows him scenes of the future. When Scrooge is shown his own death, he feels pained. He does not wish to die a hated man. He wants to become kind and loving. He wishes to change himself.
Soon, the Ghosts leave. It is the dawn of Dec 25th (Christmas). Scrooge remembers all the visions he saw the previous night. He is a changed man.
He sends a surprise gift of a huge turkey to Bob's house. He decides to increase Bob's salary, take care of Tim's medical expenses and visit Fred.
Thus, Scrooge is reclaimed. He is transformed into a soft hearted and compassionate human being.
Today, a person who is cruel and hates the joy of Christmas is often called a 'Scrooge'. Next time you read of someone who is selfish, money-minded and cruel, you could say, 'He is a Scrooge'!
Questions & Answers
Question (1): 'Despite the bitterly cold weather, all of London is in a festive mood. But there is no happy expression on Ebenezer Scrooge's lined face.'
a) What does this show of Scrooge?
b) What would the reaction of the society be to such a man?
Answer: a) Scrooge is not religious. He hates Christmas as he is expected to give charity and give Bob Cratchit a holiday.
b) Society will not respect such a man. Question (2): 'You're nothing but an undigested bit of meat Blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese.'
a) Who is being described here?
b) Why has the person made his appearance?
Answer: a) Scrooge describes Jacob Marley's Ghost.
b) Jacob Marley is in Chains. These chains represent the selfish acts done in his days on earth. Jacob has come to scrooge as a Ghost to try and correct him. Question (3): 'Another idol has displaced me, a golden one.'
a) Who is speaking to whom?
b) Why does the speaker say this?
c) Reflect on the character of the person spoken about.
Answer: a) Belle to Scrooge.
b) He does not marry Belle as a family involves expenditure and he hates spending money.
c) Scrooge is mean and cruel right from his youth. He holds gold and money in greater importance than necessary. Emotions and feelings mean nothing to him. Question (4): 'To them, that meagre goose is a sumptuous feast.'
a) What festival are they celebrating?
b) What lesson did Scrooge learn here?
Answer: a) Christmas.
b) Scrooge learnt that love, charity and togetherness are more important than money.
Question (5): Gentlemen: Most of them would rather die than do that.
Scrooge: Then let them do that and help decrease the surplus population
a) Why has the gentleman come?
b) Who are they talking about?
c) What character of Scrooge is revealed here?
Answer: a) To collect some money for charity.
b) They are talking about the poor and needy, who do not have a great income, but will not take any assistance from warehouses.
c) Scrooge is very proud of the money he has. He is cruel, hard hearted and unsympathetic towards the poor.
Question (6): I was glad to be able to go to church. That's because I wanted the people to see that I'm a cripple.
a) Why does Tim want the people to see him?
b) What future does the second ghost predict for him?
c) What actually happened?
Answer: a) Tim wants the people in the church to pray for him.
b) Tim would die as Bob has no money for his treatment.
c) Scrooge is transformed. From a cruel and selfish man he becomes kind. He pays for Tim's treatment and Tim recovers.
Question (7): Cratchit: My dear, remember, Christmas day.
Mrs. Cratchit: I'm sorry. Very well. I'll drink to his health.
a) Why does Cratchit reprimand (scold) Mrs.Cratchit?
b) What character of Bob is revealed here?
Answer: a) Mrs. Cratchit is upset that Scrooge pays Bob very less and so she says something harsh about Scrooge. Bob does not approve of such talk on Christmas Day and therefore reprimands her.
b) Bob is a hardworking clerk who is a sincere worker. He is also a true Christian. He does not like talking ill of Scrooge, instead he drinks to his health.
Question (8): Third Ghost: That tombstone... Read the name on it.
Scrooge: Before I do, answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that may be only?
a) Whose tombstone was it?
b) What does Scrooge mean by this question? Does this reveal a change?
Answer: a) Ebenezer Scrooge
b) Scrooge does not wish to die as a miser and a cruel man. He would like to know if it was possible to change the course of the future. Yes, we see a change in Scrooge. Perhaps he has realised his mistakes and would like to be a good Christian.
Question (9): Do you know the poulterer's in the next street?
a) What is the purpose of this question?
b) How successful has Jacob Marley been?
Answer: a) These lines are by Scrooge to a young boy on Christmas day. He is asking him to take the large Turkey in the poulterers to Bob Cratchit's house as a surprise gift.
b) Jacob Marley had come to Scrooge and sent the 3 ghosts only to transform him into a loving compassionate person. We find that in the end he has been successful.
Question (10): From now on I am going to be one of your most persistent guests.
a) What character of the speaker is revealed here?
b) Is Fred worthy of this attention?
Answer: a) Scrooge has realised that he has done Fan (his sister) a great wrong. He would like to correct his mistake. He therefore begins to renew his relationship with Fred his nephew.
b) Fred has been respectful and affectionate towards Scrooge. He had come to invite him for Christmas. So he is worthy of this attention from Scrooge.
Question (11): How does the entry of the Gentleman introduce the theme?
Answer: The Gentleman asks for money for charity during Christmas. Though Christmas is a season of giving, Scrooge refuses to give money. This introduces the audience to the stingy nature of Scrooge and to the fact that it is Christmas.
Question (12): Why has Jacob Marley come?
Answer: Jacob is in chains that he forged by his selfish deeds.
He has come to transform Scrooge and tell him that he will also be in chains if he continues to be selfish.
He wants to reclaim Scrooge and make him kind and religious.
Question (13): What did Scrooge regret when he saw the School Boy scene (first ghost)?
Answer: He regretted not giving some thing to the boys who sang Christmas carols.
Question (14): Who is Belle?
Answer: Belle was a nice girl who had wanted to marry Scrooge. But Scrooge rejects her, as he loves money more. Belle marries another man and leads a loving and caring family life with five children.
Question (15): What opinion of Bob Cratchit have you formed?
Answer: i) Sincere and hardworking
ii) Loyal to his master
iii) Good husband and father
iv) Takes care of Tiny Tim
v) Religious.
Question (16): How important is the role of Tiny Tim?
Answer: Tiny Tim has a gentle nature.
He has faith in God and the power of prayer.
When Scrooge sees him, he feels sorry for him. This begins the reformation of Scrooge.
Question (17): Describe Scrooge as a sinner.
Answer: i) Scrooge is harsh towards Bob Cratchit.
ii) He never gives charity.
iii) He does not believe in Christmas.
iv) He is a miser and very selfish.
Question (18): Describe Scrooge the 'saint'.
Answer: Scrooge is totally transformed by the end of the story.
He vows to take up the medical expenses of Tiny Tim.
He raises Bob Cratchit's salary.
He often visits Fred his nephew.
On Christmas Day, he sends a gift of a large Turkey to Bob's house without revealing his identity.
Question (19): What changed Scrooge from a Sinner to a Saint?
Answer: Marley's Ghost began the transformation by telling him that Mankind was more important than money.
The first Ghost began his feeling of regret by showing him his childhood and youth.
The second ghost showed him scenes of a happy family and his own loneliness. This brought repentance.
The third ghost showed him the future, his lonely dead body lying unmourned by anyone. This finally transformed him.
Question (20): Mention the various methods used to make us think of Christmas.
Answer: i) Christmas Carols.
ii) Church bells.
iii) Dinner in Bob's house.
iv) Idea of charity and happiness.
v) Sailors on the ship saying 'Merry Christmas'.
Question (21): Do you think scrooge would have needed to the three ghosts without the appearance of Jacob Marbey's ghost.
Answer: No. Scrooge would not have needed to the ghost had Jacob marley not appeared. Jacob Marley appears in chains and shows scrooge what suffering there would be after his death if scrooge did not change his way of life. He warns scrooge of the arrival of the three ghosts and tells him to listen to their advice if he wishes to escape Jacob marley's miserable fate.
Question (22): What is the theme of the play "The Christmas Carol"?
Answer: The theme of the play is that people should honor the spirit of christmas. Christmas is the time of caring and sharing and this should be observed. The drama traces the change of scrooge from a stingy, hard, unfeeling man to a generous, loving man, this transformation is possible because of the three ghosts who show his past, present and the future.
Question (23): Why do you think scrooge was what he was?
Answer: He had a very harsh childhood and had not enjoyed the love of his family. He was sent away to a boarding school by a very strict father, for four years. As a result he was an unfeeling man. He was not allowed to celebrate Christmas at home.
Question (24): Second ghost: Its all bob cratch it can afford.
1) Who is bob cratch it? What can be afford?
2) Does his family complain?
3) What is his reaction towards him employer? Hoe is it different from his wife's?
Answer: 1) Bob cratch it is an underpaid clerk in scrooge's office. He could only a small goose for Christmas.
2) His family does not complain. To them the meager goose is a grand meal. They are content with what they have and do not complain.
3) How is it different from his wife's? Bob cratch it is loyal and grateful towards Mr. Scrooge his employer. He raises a toast to his health. On the other hand his wife is bitter and angry with scrooge. She thinks he is a hard, stingy unfeeling ma
Question (25): Scrooge: Let me see some tenderness connected with a death.
1) Who is Scrooge speaking to? What has scrooge just seen?
2) What is Scrooge shown later?
Answer: 1) Scrooge is speaking to the third ghost. Who is showing him his future. Scrooge had just seen a lonely unclaimed dead body which he recognizes as his own. He has seen two men refusing to go for his funeral unless they get a free meal.
2) Later the third ghost shows scrooge bob cratchit's house where all of them are mourning tiny tim's death. Tony tim is missed by everybody after his death. Then the ghost shows scrooge a tombstone with his name written on it.
Question (26): What does scrooge mean when he says "I will live in the past, the present and the future"?
Answer: Scrooge has realized that he has been a hard stingy and unfeeling man. He promises not to repeat the mistakes of the past, change his present attitude so that his future will be happier and he will not die lovely and unmourned.
Multiple Choice Questions
Question (1): Which of these is not associated with Christmas?
1. Holly
2. Carols
3. Charity
4. Muffler
Ans: 4 Question (2): Why does scrooges dislike Christmas?
1. It's too cold
2. Christmas can be expensive
3. Christmas is noisy
4. He dislikes the pudding
Ans: 2 Question (3): Fred has come to Scrooge's home to
1. invite him home
2. wish him
3. ask for money
4. have dinner with him
Ans: 1 Question (4): How many days of Christmas vacation does Cratchit get?
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
Ans: 1 Question (5): Marley the Ghost visits Scrooge to
1. take revenge
2. scare him
3. warn him
4. entertain him
Ans: 3 Question (6): The first Ghost is the Ghost of Christmas past and is
1. like a child with white hair
2. like a giant
3. like a fairy with wings
4. like a baby with golden hair
Ans: 1 Question (7): The first ghost takes Ebenezer to his
1. home
2. old school
3. church
4. girl friend
Ans: 2 Question (8): Fan is Fred's
1. sister
2. mother
3. friend
4. aunt
Ans: 2 Question (9): Why does scrooge tell the first Ghost that he does not wish to see anymore?
1. he regrets the past
2. he feels sorry for himself
3. he is tired
4. he is bored
Ans: 1 Question (10): What lesson does Ebenezer learn in Cratchit's house?
1. The Cratchit's are very poor
2. Tim is a cripple
3. Mother is a good cook
4. Mere money does not bring happiness
Ans: 4 Question (11): The third Ghost shows Ebenezer two men discussing his death. They express feelings of
1. regret
2. contempt
3. affection
4. blame
Ans: 2 Question (12): Why was Bob Cratchit left gasping?
1. The winter was too severe
2. His salary was raised
3. He was gifted a turkey
4. Tim became healthy
Ans: 2
Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) was a great English novelist and a very popular writer even in his time. Dickens was a keen observer of human nature. He sympathised with the poor and helpless and mocked the greedy and the cruel.
As a young boy Dickens had to work in a London factory pasting the labels on bottles of shoe polish. His father, a clerk had to go through the misfortune of being penniless and in prison. His father was able to later send Charles Dickens to school where he wasn't very happy. All these experiences lend colour to the various characters and situations portrayed lovingly by Charles Dickens. Some of his more famous books are - Pickwick papers, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations. He has to his credit 15 novels, 5 short novels, sketches, travel books and some non-fiction.
INTRODUCTION
'A Christmas Carol' is one of the most famous novels of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens was the most popular novelist of his time.
The novel is set in the time of Christmas and celebrates the joy of 'giving' and 'loving'.
The novel has been re-written and presented as a play. You must remember that this was written as a Radio Play.
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'A Christmas Carol'
'A Christmas Carol' is a one-act play that is supposed to be 'enacted' over the radio. So, the play depends largely on the language and the sounds.
Scrooge is a miser. He makes his clerk, Bob Cratchit work hard for him, but pays him very less. In fact, he hates giving him a holiday even for Christmas. He does not believe in Christmas and calls it 'humbug' (meaning 'nonsense').
Scrooge's partner, Jacob Marley, is dead. His ghost appears in front of him on the night before Christmas. Jacob Marley wants to 'reclaim' Scrooge. He wants to make him a better person. So, he sends three ghosts to help him perceive life differently.
The first ghost comes to him at the stroke of one. He represents Scrooge's past. He shows him scenes from his younger days.
When Scrooge sees himself as a young boy in school and later as the brother of 'sweet Fan', he repents for not having treated Fan's son Fred in a better way. He also sees Belle, whom he refused to marry, as he loved money more.
The Second Ghost represents the present. He shows Bob Cratchit's family to Scrooge. He is impressed by their love for each other. He is touched that even though he pays Bob very less, Bob prays for him. At dinner, they all drink a toast to the health of Scrooge. Bob's fifth child, Tim, is a cripple. Scrooge feels sorry for him. The Second Ghost taunts him. Scrooge repents his actions in the past. He would like to change his way of life.
The Third Ghost shows him scenes of the future. When Scrooge is shown his own death, he feels pained. He does not wish to die a hated man. He wants to become kind and loving. He wishes to change himself.
Soon, the Ghosts leave. It is the dawn of Dec 25th (Christmas). Scrooge remembers all the visions he saw the previous night. He is a changed man.
He sends a surprise gift of a huge turkey to Bob's house. He decides to increase Bob's salary, take care of Tim's medical expenses and visit Fred.
Thus, Scrooge is reclaimed. He is transformed into a soft hearted and compassionate human being.
Today, a person who is cruel and hates the joy of Christmas is often called a 'Scrooge'. Next time you read of someone who is selfish, money-minded and cruel, you could say, 'He is a Scrooge'!
Questions & Answers
Question (1): 'Despite the bitterly cold weather, all of London is in a festive mood. But there is no happy expression on Ebenezer Scrooge's lined face.'
a) What does this show of Scrooge?
b) What would the reaction of the society be to such a man?
Answer: a) Scrooge is not religious. He hates Christmas as he is expected to give charity and give Bob Cratchit a holiday.
b) Society will not respect such a man. Question (2): 'You're nothing but an undigested bit of meat Blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese.'
a) Who is being described here?
b) Why has the person made his appearance?
Answer: a) Scrooge describes Jacob Marley's Ghost.
b) Jacob Marley is in Chains. These chains represent the selfish acts done in his days on earth. Jacob has come to scrooge as a Ghost to try and correct him. Question (3): 'Another idol has displaced me, a golden one.'
a) Who is speaking to whom?
b) Why does the speaker say this?
c) Reflect on the character of the person spoken about.
Answer: a) Belle to Scrooge.
b) He does not marry Belle as a family involves expenditure and he hates spending money.
c) Scrooge is mean and cruel right from his youth. He holds gold and money in greater importance than necessary. Emotions and feelings mean nothing to him. Question (4): 'To them, that meagre goose is a sumptuous feast.'
a) What festival are they celebrating?
b) What lesson did Scrooge learn here?
Answer: a) Christmas.
b) Scrooge learnt that love, charity and togetherness are more important than money.
Question (5): Gentlemen: Most of them would rather die than do that.
Scrooge: Then let them do that and help decrease the surplus population
a) Why has the gentleman come?
b) Who are they talking about?
c) What character of Scrooge is revealed here?
Answer: a) To collect some money for charity.
b) They are talking about the poor and needy, who do not have a great income, but will not take any assistance from warehouses.
c) Scrooge is very proud of the money he has. He is cruel, hard hearted and unsympathetic towards the poor.
Question (6): I was glad to be able to go to church. That's because I wanted the people to see that I'm a cripple.
a) Why does Tim want the people to see him?
b) What future does the second ghost predict for him?
c) What actually happened?
Answer: a) Tim wants the people in the church to pray for him.
b) Tim would die as Bob has no money for his treatment.
c) Scrooge is transformed. From a cruel and selfish man he becomes kind. He pays for Tim's treatment and Tim recovers.
Question (7): Cratchit: My dear, remember, Christmas day.
Mrs. Cratchit: I'm sorry. Very well. I'll drink to his health.
a) Why does Cratchit reprimand (scold) Mrs.Cratchit?
b) What character of Bob is revealed here?
Answer: a) Mrs. Cratchit is upset that Scrooge pays Bob very less and so she says something harsh about Scrooge. Bob does not approve of such talk on Christmas Day and therefore reprimands her.
b) Bob is a hardworking clerk who is a sincere worker. He is also a true Christian. He does not like talking ill of Scrooge, instead he drinks to his health.
Question (8): Third Ghost: That tombstone... Read the name on it.
Scrooge: Before I do, answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that may be only?
a) Whose tombstone was it?
b) What does Scrooge mean by this question? Does this reveal a change?
Answer: a) Ebenezer Scrooge
b) Scrooge does not wish to die as a miser and a cruel man. He would like to know if it was possible to change the course of the future. Yes, we see a change in Scrooge. Perhaps he has realised his mistakes and would like to be a good Christian.
Question (9): Do you know the poulterer's in the next street?
a) What is the purpose of this question?
b) How successful has Jacob Marley been?
Answer: a) These lines are by Scrooge to a young boy on Christmas day. He is asking him to take the large Turkey in the poulterers to Bob Cratchit's house as a surprise gift.
b) Jacob Marley had come to Scrooge and sent the 3 ghosts only to transform him into a loving compassionate person. We find that in the end he has been successful.
Question (10): From now on I am going to be one of your most persistent guests.
a) What character of the speaker is revealed here?
b) Is Fred worthy of this attention?
Answer: a) Scrooge has realised that he has done Fan (his sister) a great wrong. He would like to correct his mistake. He therefore begins to renew his relationship with Fred his nephew.
b) Fred has been respectful and affectionate towards Scrooge. He had come to invite him for Christmas. So he is worthy of this attention from Scrooge.
Question (11): How does the entry of the Gentleman introduce the theme?
Answer: The Gentleman asks for money for charity during Christmas. Though Christmas is a season of giving, Scrooge refuses to give money. This introduces the audience to the stingy nature of Scrooge and to the fact that it is Christmas.
Question (12): Why has Jacob Marley come?
Answer: Jacob is in chains that he forged by his selfish deeds.
He has come to transform Scrooge and tell him that he will also be in chains if he continues to be selfish.
He wants to reclaim Scrooge and make him kind and religious.
Question (13): What did Scrooge regret when he saw the School Boy scene (first ghost)?
Answer: He regretted not giving some thing to the boys who sang Christmas carols.
Question (14): Who is Belle?
Answer: Belle was a nice girl who had wanted to marry Scrooge. But Scrooge rejects her, as he loves money more. Belle marries another man and leads a loving and caring family life with five children.
Question (15): What opinion of Bob Cratchit have you formed?
Answer: i) Sincere and hardworking
ii) Loyal to his master
iii) Good husband and father
iv) Takes care of Tiny Tim
v) Religious.
Question (16): How important is the role of Tiny Tim?
Answer: Tiny Tim has a gentle nature.
He has faith in God and the power of prayer.
When Scrooge sees him, he feels sorry for him. This begins the reformation of Scrooge.
Question (17): Describe Scrooge as a sinner.
Answer: i) Scrooge is harsh towards Bob Cratchit.
ii) He never gives charity.
iii) He does not believe in Christmas.
iv) He is a miser and very selfish.
Question (18): Describe Scrooge the 'saint'.
Answer: Scrooge is totally transformed by the end of the story.
He vows to take up the medical expenses of Tiny Tim.
He raises Bob Cratchit's salary.
He often visits Fred his nephew.
On Christmas Day, he sends a gift of a large Turkey to Bob's house without revealing his identity.
Question (19): What changed Scrooge from a Sinner to a Saint?
Answer: Marley's Ghost began the transformation by telling him that Mankind was more important than money.
The first Ghost began his feeling of regret by showing him his childhood and youth.
The second ghost showed him scenes of a happy family and his own loneliness. This brought repentance.
The third ghost showed him the future, his lonely dead body lying unmourned by anyone. This finally transformed him.
Question (20): Mention the various methods used to make us think of Christmas.
Answer: i) Christmas Carols.
ii) Church bells.
iii) Dinner in Bob's house.
iv) Idea of charity and happiness.
v) Sailors on the ship saying 'Merry Christmas'.
Question (21): Do you think scrooge would have needed to the three ghosts without the appearance of Jacob Marbey's ghost.
Answer: No. Scrooge would not have needed to the ghost had Jacob marley not appeared. Jacob Marley appears in chains and shows scrooge what suffering there would be after his death if scrooge did not change his way of life. He warns scrooge of the arrival of the three ghosts and tells him to listen to their advice if he wishes to escape Jacob marley's miserable fate.
Question (22): What is the theme of the play "The Christmas Carol"?
Answer: The theme of the play is that people should honor the spirit of christmas. Christmas is the time of caring and sharing and this should be observed. The drama traces the change of scrooge from a stingy, hard, unfeeling man to a generous, loving man, this transformation is possible because of the three ghosts who show his past, present and the future.
Question (23): Why do you think scrooge was what he was?
Answer: He had a very harsh childhood and had not enjoyed the love of his family. He was sent away to a boarding school by a very strict father, for four years. As a result he was an unfeeling man. He was not allowed to celebrate Christmas at home.
Question (24): Second ghost: Its all bob cratch it can afford.
1) Who is bob cratch it? What can be afford?
2) Does his family complain?
3) What is his reaction towards him employer? Hoe is it different from his wife's?
Answer: 1) Bob cratch it is an underpaid clerk in scrooge's office. He could only a small goose for Christmas.
2) His family does not complain. To them the meager goose is a grand meal. They are content with what they have and do not complain.
3) How is it different from his wife's? Bob cratch it is loyal and grateful towards Mr. Scrooge his employer. He raises a toast to his health. On the other hand his wife is bitter and angry with scrooge. She thinks he is a hard, stingy unfeeling ma
Question (25): Scrooge: Let me see some tenderness connected with a death.
1) Who is Scrooge speaking to? What has scrooge just seen?
2) What is Scrooge shown later?
Answer: 1) Scrooge is speaking to the third ghost. Who is showing him his future. Scrooge had just seen a lonely unclaimed dead body which he recognizes as his own. He has seen two men refusing to go for his funeral unless they get a free meal.
2) Later the third ghost shows scrooge bob cratchit's house where all of them are mourning tiny tim's death. Tony tim is missed by everybody after his death. Then the ghost shows scrooge a tombstone with his name written on it.
Question (26): What does scrooge mean when he says "I will live in the past, the present and the future"?
Answer: Scrooge has realized that he has been a hard stingy and unfeeling man. He promises not to repeat the mistakes of the past, change his present attitude so that his future will be happier and he will not die lovely and unmourned.
Multiple Choice Questions
Question (1): Which of these is not associated with Christmas?
1. Holly
2. Carols
3. Charity
4. Muffler
Ans: 4 Question (2): Why does scrooges dislike Christmas?
1. It's too cold
2. Christmas can be expensive
3. Christmas is noisy
4. He dislikes the pudding
Ans: 2 Question (3): Fred has come to Scrooge's home to
1. invite him home
2. wish him
3. ask for money
4. have dinner with him
Ans: 1 Question (4): How many days of Christmas vacation does Cratchit get?
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
Ans: 1 Question (5): Marley the Ghost visits Scrooge to
1. take revenge
2. scare him
3. warn him
4. entertain him
Ans: 3 Question (6): The first Ghost is the Ghost of Christmas past and is
1. like a child with white hair
2. like a giant
3. like a fairy with wings
4. like a baby with golden hair
Ans: 1 Question (7): The first ghost takes Ebenezer to his
1. home
2. old school
3. church
4. girl friend
Ans: 2 Question (8): Fan is Fred's
1. sister
2. mother
3. friend
4. aunt
Ans: 2 Question (9): Why does scrooge tell the first Ghost that he does not wish to see anymore?
1. he regrets the past
2. he feels sorry for himself
3. he is tired
4. he is bored
Ans: 1 Question (10): What lesson does Ebenezer learn in Cratchit's house?
1. The Cratchit's are very poor
2. Tim is a cripple
3. Mother is a good cook
4. Mere money does not bring happiness
Ans: 4 Question (11): The third Ghost shows Ebenezer two men discussing his death. They express feelings of
1. regret
2. contempt
3. affection
4. blame
Ans: 2 Question (12): Why was Bob Cratchit left gasping?
1. The winter was too severe
2. His salary was raised
3. He was gifted a turkey
4. Tim became healthy
Ans: 2
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