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प्रश्न
How does Iswaran describe the uprooted tree on the highway? What effect does he want to create in his listeners?
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उत्तर
Iswaran’s descriptions were greatly influenced by the Tamil thrillers he read. When he came across an uprooted tree on the highway, he said very dramatically that the road was deserted and he was all alone. Suddenly, he spotted something that “looked like an enormous bushy beast lying sprawled across the road.” He was half-inclined to turn and go back. However, as he came closer, he saw that it was a fallen tree with its dry branches spread out.
Even if he was narrating the smallest of incidents, he tried to introduce suspense and a surprise ending to the story.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Answer of these question in two or three paragraphs (100–150 words).
What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that
Margie and Tommy have in the story?
Thinking about Language
Here are some sentences from the text. Say which of them tell you, that the author:
(a) was afraid of the snake, (b) was proud of his appearance, (c) had a sense of humour,
(d) was no longer afraid of the snake.
1. I was turned to stone.
2. I was no mere image cut in granite.
3. The arm was beginning to be drained of strength.
4. I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, ‘O
God’.
5. I didn’t tremble. I didn’t cry out.
6. I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile.
7. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood.
8. I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it!
9. The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness…! The rascal could have taken it and used it
after washing it with soap and water.
10. Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye
shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead?
Now read the poem.
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts, and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No nightingale did ever chant
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt.
Among Arabian Sands
A voice so thrilling ne' er was heard
In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day ?
Same natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
that has been, and may be again ?
Whate'er the theme, the maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;
I listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
About the Poet
William Wordsworth was born on 7th April 1770, in Cockermouth in the Lake District,
England. When many poets still wrote about ancient heroes in their grandiloquent
style, Wordsworth focused on nature, children, the poor, common people and used
ordinary words to express his feelings. He defined poetry as "the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings" arising from "emotions recollected in tranquility". He
died at Rydal Mount on April 23, 1850.
Understanding the Connectors.
Connectors are joining words. They join any of the following:
| 1. One word with another | tired but happy. |
| 2. One phrase with the other | ready to go and eager to start. |
| 3. One clause with another | I went home because I had finished my work. |
| 4. One sentence with another | It was raining along heavily. So we took along an umbrella. |
What does he plant who plants a tree? a
He plants a friend of sun and sky;b
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh;
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard____
The treble of heaven's harmony_____
These things he plants who plants a tree.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
Sibia sprang.
From boulder to boulder she came leaping like a rock goat. Sometimes it had seemed difficult to cross these stones, especially the big gap in the middle where the river coursed through like a bulge of glass. But now she came on wings, choosing her footing in midair without even thinking about it, and in one moment she was beside the shrieking woman. In the boiling bloody water, the face of the crocodile, fastened round her leg, was tugging to and fro, and smiling. His eyes rolled on to Sibia. One slap of the tail could kill her. He struck. Up shot the water, twenty feet, and fell like a silver chain. Again! The rock jumped under the blow. But in the daily heroism of the jungle, as common as a thorn tree, Sibia did not hesitate. She aimed at the reptile’s eyes. With all the force of her little body, she drove the hayfork at the eyes, and one prong went in—right in— while its pair scratched past on the horny cheek. The crocodile reared up in convulsion, till half his lizard body was out of the river, the tail and nose nearly meeting over his stony back. Then he crashed back, exploding the water, and in an uproar of bloody foam he disappeared. He would die. Not yet, but presently, though his death would not be known for days; not till his stomach, blown with gas, floated him. Then perhaps he would be found upside down among the logs at the timber boom, with pus in his eye. Sibia got arms round the fainting woman, and somehow dragged her from the water.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What was the reaction of the crocodile when he saw Sibia?
Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage:
(1) Coming near
( 2 ) Disappeared suddenly
(3) Awakening from sleep
(4) Moved slowly and gradually
Who is Canynge? What scandal is being referred to? Why will it be a scandal?
Discuss in small groups
• If you want to give away something of your own to the needy, would it be better to ask your elders first?
Why was Ravi upset with the elders?
Who was Abbu Khan?
Why is one unable to see a rabbit initially?
What was Patrick’s chief interest?
What does the child think about his/her teacher?
Answer the following question.
Which of the following sums up the story best?
(i) “I also know that you will not kill your conscience for the sake of friendship.”
(ii) “Let no one deviate from the path of justice and truth for friendship or enmity.”
(iii) “The voice of the Panch is the voice of God.” Give a reason for your choice.
Do you think that friendship is not a matter of age but of emotional connect? Give your views with close reference to V.S. Naipaul's short story B. Wordsworth.
Choose the option that lists the sequence of events in the correct order.
- When the rain stopped, they rushed outdoors, forgetting all about Margot in their eagerness to experience the warmth of the sun.
- The children carried the pleading and protesting Margot to the closet and locked her in.
- It was then that they realised with shame that Margot was still locked in the closet; they had deprived her of what she longed for the most-the sun.
- All too soon, the brief summer ended, and the children hurried indoors to escape the heavy rains.
Read the following extract from Norah Burke's short story, ‘The Blue Bead' and answer the questions that follow:
|
On the way back, she met her mother, out of breath, come to look for her, and scolding. "I did not see till I was home that you were not there. I thought something must have happened to you." And Sibia, bursting with her story, cried, “Something did!" |
- What are the tasks that Sibia was required to perform from a very young age? [3]
- What had delayed Sibia and separated her from the other village women on her way home that day?
What was Sibia doing when she heard the Gujar woman's cry for help? [3] - What were the dangers that the crocodile had to overcome before it could grow into the ferocious creature that Sibia encountered? [3]
-
How does Sibia’s knowledge of the ways of the jungle help her fight the crocodile? [3]
-
Compare and contrast the mother’s mood with Sibia's in the given extract. Give one reason to explain why each one of them was feeling this way. [4]
Read the following extract from Maya Angelou’s poem, ‘When Great Trees Fall’ and answer the questions that follow:
| When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. |
- What effect does the falling of a ‘great tree’ have on the creatures of the forest? [3]
- How does the death of a great soul affect the lives of those left behind in the immediate aftermath of their passing? [3]
- What long-term effect does the death of a ‘great soul' have? [3]
- What feeling is being expressed by the following lines/phrases? [3]
- small things recoil into silence
- kind words/unsaid,
- Beand be/better. For they existed
- What is a ‘Great tree’ a metaphor for? [4]
What is the central message of Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall"?
Which natural element plays a crucial role in the end of the story There Will Come Soft Rains?
