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Answer the Following In 125-150 Words: How Did the Peddler Feel After Robbing the Crofter? What Course Did He Adopt and How Did He React to the New Situation? What Does His Reaction Reveal? - English Core

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Question

Answer the following in 125-150 words:  

How did the peddler feel after robbing the crofter? What course did he adopt and how did he react to the new situation? What does his reaction reveal?

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Solution

Immediately after robbing the cobbler, the peddler was very pleased with his own smartness.

He  made his escape through the forest for he dared not take the public highway. However, he soon got lost in the woods and realised that he had been walking around in the same area. Left in despair, he recollected his own thoughts on the world being a giant rattrap. A sudden realisation came to him that he had finally got himself caught in the rattrap because he allowed himself to be tempted by the bait, the thirty kronor bills.

This reveals that the rattrap peddler was not a downright evil character. He was a victim of his situation. His conscience was not dead as yet. He had to resort to beggary and stealing because his business was not profitable enough to make both ends meet. His condition of penury does not allow him to be fully righteous.

shaalaa.com
The Rattrap
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2012-2013 (March) Delhi Set 3

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How did the peddler feel after robbing the crofter? What course did he adopt and how did he react to the new situation? What does his reaction reveal?


Answer the following question in 120-150 words: 

The peddler thinks that the whole world is a rattrap. This view of life is true only of himself and of no one else in the story. Comment.


Answer the following question in 120−150 words:        

The peddler believed that the whole world is a rattrap. How did he himself get caught in the same?  


When and how did the peddler realise that he had fallen into a rattrap ? How could he get out of it ? 


Notice these expressions in the text. Infer their meanings from the context.

  1. keep body and soul together
  2. hunger gleamed in his eyes
  3. plods along the road
  4. unwonted joy
  5. impenetrable prison
  6. nodded a haughty consent
  7. eased his way
  8. fallen into a line of thought
  9. things have gone downhill

Why was he amused by this idea?


Why was the crofter so talkative and friendly with the peddler?


Why did he show the thirty kroner to the peddler?


What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap?


Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and invite him home?


Why did the peddler decline the invitation?


What made the peddler accept Edla Willmansson’s invitation?


Why did Edla still entertain the peddler even after she knew the truth about him?


Why did the peddler sign himself as Captain von Stahle?


The story has many instances of unexpected reactions from the characters to others’ behaviour. Pick out instances of these surprises.


What made the peddler finally change his ways?


How does the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the human predicament?


Discuss the following in groups of four. Each group can deal with one topic. Present the views of your group to the whole class.

The reader’s sympathy is with the peddler right from the beginning of the story. Why is this so? Is the sympathy justified?


Discuss the following in groups of four. Each group can deal with one topic. Present the views of your group to the whole class.

The story also focuses on human loneliness and the need to bond with others.


The man selling rattraps is referred to by many terms such as “peddler, stranger” etc. Pick out all such references to him. What does each of these labels indicate of the context or the attitude of the people around him?


Mjölis is a card game of Sweden.

Name a few indoor games played in your region. ‘Chopar’ could be an example.


If the Christmas spirit is about selflessness, forgiveness and becoming 'better' versions of ourselves amongst other things, Edla Willmansson is the epitome of this spirit. Justify with two points of evidence from The Rattrap.


In Edla's dealing with the peddler, she was compassionate and generous. Discuss with reference to the story "The Rattrap".


What Christmas present did the peddler give Edla? Explain its significance.


Answer the following question in about 40-50 words.

How does the setting of the remote forest location in 'The Rattrap' contribute to the overall tone and mood of the story?


Read the given extract and answer the questions.

“I am thinking of this stranger here,” said Edla. “He walks and walks the whole year long, and there is probably not a single place in the whole country where he is welcome and can feel at home. Wherever he turns he is chased away. Always he is afraid of being arrested and cross-examined. I should like to have him enjoy a day of peace with us here – just one in the whole year.”
  1. Complete the following sentence with the most appropriate option: (1)
    Edla wished the Pedlar to have a peaceful day because ______.
    1. the Pedlar had worked for Edla
    2. the Pedlar had not been released from jail
    3. the Pedlar had been staying at the forge
    4. the Pedlar had always been looked with suspicion
  2. Select a suitable word from the extract to complete the analogy. (1)
    single : multiple :: abroad : ______.
  3. In the above extract, Edla comes across as ______. (1)
    1. conscientious
    2. pretentions
    3. compassionate
    4. selfless
  4. Based on the above extract, choose the statement which is true. (1)
    1. Relationships are rattraps.
    2. Money is important in the world.
    3. Criminal is not born but made.
    4. Christmas is a time of charity.
  5. In the context of the given extract, which day is referred to in the expression 'just one in the whole year'? (1)
  6. What does the expression 'he is cross examined' suggest? (1)

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