Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Tarapada, the central character in the short story, Atithi, is a free soul who cannot be restrained by the bonds of society. Examine this statement in 200-250 words.
Advertisements
Solution
In Rabindranath Tagore's short story "Atithi," Tarapada exemplifies a free soul who cannot be constrained by societal bonds. His love for freedom is evident from his initial departure from home at a young age, driven by an insatiable curiosity and desire to explore the world. Tarapada's interests and activities revolve around wandering and discovering new places, reflecting his inherent restlessness and disdain for a settled life.
Tarapada's attitude towards his family, particularly his mother, is complex. While he cares for his mother, his longing for freedom outweighs familial ties, leading him to leave home without hesitation. This detachment underscores his prioritization of personal liberty over social and familial obligations.
His reaction to music and nature further highlights his free-spirited nature. Tarapada is deeply moved by music, which resonates with his soul and fuels his wanderlust. Nature, too, holds a special place in his heart, offering him solace and a sense of belonging that society cannot provide. His interactions with ordinary people are marked by genuine curiosity and openness, as he does not judge them based on social status but rather appreciates them for who they are.
Tarapada's relationship with Charusashi, the Zamindar's daughter, is marked by affection and mutual understanding. However, even the prospect of a settled life with Charusashi cannot bind him. On the night of their proposed marriage, Tarapada feels an irresistible pull to return to his wandering life, demonstrating that his love for freedom surpasses his emotional attachments.
At the conclusion of the story, Tarapada's return to the world of nature symbolizes his ultimate rejection of societal constraints. Nature represents his true home, a place where he can live unbound and true to his free spirit. This return signifies his acceptance that he cannot conform to societal expectations and must follow his innate desire for freedom.
In summary, Tarapada's character in "Atithi" is a testament to the unyielding human spirit's quest for freedom. His love for exploration, detachment from societal and familial bonds, and deep connection with nature illustrate his inability to be restrained by conventional expectations. Through Tarapada, Tagore beautifully captures the essence of a free soul.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Match the phrases in Column A with their meanings in Column B.
| A | B | ||
| (i) | broke out | (a) | an attitude of kindness, a readiness to give freely |
| (ii) |
in accordance with |
(b) | was not able to tolerate |
| (iii) | a helping hand | (c) | began suddenly in a violent way |
| (iv) | could not stomach | (d) | assistance |
| (v) | generosity of spirit | (e) | persons with power to make decisions |
| (vi) | figures of authority | (f) | according to a particular rule, principle, or system |
Do you think Prashant is good leader? Do you think young people can get together to help people during natural calamities?
To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without regret. Your religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of your God so that you could not forget. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors — the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people.
Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. However, your proposition seems fair and I think that my people will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them. Then we will dwell apart in peace, for the words of the Great White Chief seem to be the words of nature speaking to my people out of dense darkness.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why do the dead of the Tribals never forget them or this beautiful world?
It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridge head 3 beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.’’Where do you come from?” I asked him.
“From San Carlos,” he said, and smiled.
That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.
“I was taking care of animals,” he explained.
“Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.
“Yes,” he said, “I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.”
He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, “What animals were they?”
“Various animals,” he said, and shook his head. “I had to leave them.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why did the old man leave his hometown? Why did he leave it reluctantly?
“So that is what you are doing out here? A marshal!” “My dear Miss Fairchild,” said ’ Easton, calmly, “I had to do something. Money has & way of taking wings unto itself, and
you know it takes money to keep step with our crowd in Washington. I saw this opening in the West, and—well, a marshalship isn’t quite as high a position as that of ambassador, but—” “The ambassador,” said the girl, warmly, “doesn’t call any more. He needn’t ever have done so. You ought to know that. And so now you are one of these dashing Western heroes, and you ride and shoot and go into all kinds of dangers. That’s different from the Washington life. You have been missed from the old crowd.” The girl’s eyes, fascinated, went back, widening a little, to rest upon the glittering handcuffs. “Don’t you worry about them, miss,” said the other man. “All marshals handcuff themselves to their prisoners to keep them from getting away. Mr. Easton knows his business.” “Will we see you again soon in Washington?” asked the girl. “Not soon, I think,” said Easton. “My butterfly days are over, I fear.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What reason does Easton give for not keeping up with their crowd in Wahington?
The boy looked up. He took his hands from his face and looked up at his teacher. The light from Mr. Oliver’s torch fell on the boy’s face, if you could call it a face. He had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round smooth head with a school cap on top of it.
And that’s where the story should end, as indeed it has for several people who have had similar experiences and dropped dead of inexplicable heart attacks. But for Mr. Oliver, it did not end there. The torch fell from his trembling hand. He turned and scrambled down the path, running blindly through the trees and calling for help. He was still running towards the school buildings when he saw a lantern swinging in the middle of the path. Mr. Oliver had never before been so pleased to see the night watchman. He stumbled up to the watchman, gasping for breath and speaking incoherently.
What is it, Sahib? Asked the watchman, has there been an accident? Why are you running?
I saw something, something horrible, a boy weeping in the forest and he had no face.
No face, Sahib?
No eyes, no nose, mouth, nothing.
Do you mean it was like this, Sahib? asked the watchman, and raised the lamp to his own face. The watchman had no eyes, no ears, no features at all, not even an eyebrow. The wind blew the lamp out and Mr. Oliver had his heart attack.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why did Mr Oliver tell the boy that he should not be out at that hour?
Its a cruel thing to leave her so.”
“Then take her to the poorhouse: she’ll have to go there,” answered the blacksmith’s wife, springing away, and leaving Joe behind.
For a little while the man stood with a puzzled air; then he turned back, and went into the hovel again. Maggie with painful effort, had raised herself to an upright position and was sitting on the bed, straining her eyes upon the door out of which all had just departed, A vague terror had come into her thin white face.
“O, Mr. Thompson!” she cried out, catching her suspended breath, “don’t leave me here all alone!” ,
Though rough in exterior, Joe Thompson, the wheelwright, had a heart, and it was very tender in some places. He liked children, and was pleased to have them come to his shop, where sleds and wagons were made or mended for the village lads without a draft on their hoarded sixpences.
“No, dear,” he answered, in a kind voice, going to the bed, and stooping down over the child, “You she’n’t be left here alone.” Then he wrapped her with the gentleness almost of a woman, in the clean bedclothes which some neighbor had brought; and, lifting her in his strong arms, bore her out into the air and across the field that lay between the hovel and his home.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Describe the feelings and plight of Maggie when she was left alone.
Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening— the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast.
One slipper was nowhere to be found; the other had been laid hold of by an urchin, and off he ran with it; he thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he some day or other should have children himself. So the little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold. She carried a quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no one had given her a single farthing. She crept along trembling with cold and hunger—a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Describe the condition of the girl.
Margot stood apart from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering an old or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone. All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun. About how like a lemon it was, and how hot. And they had written small stories or essays or poems about it:
I think the snn is a flower,
That blooms for just one hour.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What had Margot written about the sun in her poem?
Answer the following questions with reference to Jack London's, 'The Call of the Wild'.
(i) How was Thornton talked into a wager that involved Buck, during a conversation in the Eldorado Saloon?
(ii) How did Thornton feel after he had committed Buck to the wager?
(iii) Give a brief description of how Buck managed to win the wager for Thornton.
Answer the following question.
What is “the master call”? Why is it the most important signal for an elephant to learn?
The crocodile lay on the bank of the Limpopo river. Golu thought it was
Complete the sentence below by appropriately using anyone of the following:
if you want to/if you don’t want to/if you want him to
He’ll post your letter___________________.
Answer the following questions.
(i) If someone doesn’t wear a uniform to school, what do you think the teacher will say?
What were the replies the king received for his first question?
Who was Gopal?
What material Mr Gessler used to make the boots?
Why did the author went to the shoe shop for the last time?
In what ways did the bear become the lady’s pet animals?
What was Vijay Singh’s weakness? Which awkward situation did it push him into?
Complete the following sentence
The chatter is electrical because ______
Answer the following question. (Refer to that part of the text whose number is given against the question. This applies to the comprehension questions throughout the book.)
Why did the little man grant Patrick a wish? (2)
How did the Emperor of Japan reward Taro?
Answer the following question:
What does Kalpana Chawla say about pursuing a dream? Do you agree with her that success is possible?
Answer the question.
What does he imagine about
The people with whom they live?
Talk to your partner and say whether the following statement is true or false.
No animal can survive without water.
What does the poem say about the poet’s choice of subject?
The words helper, companion, partner and accomplice have very similar meanings, but each word is typically used in certain phrases. Can you fill in the blanks below with the most commonly used words? A dictionary may help you.
find a good …………..
Complete the following sentence by providing a reason:
Towards the end of the poem Birches, the poet expresses a wish to return to Earth because ______.
Which of the following words does H. W. Longfellow use to describe the movement of the phantoms in his poem, ‘Haunted Houses’?
