Viva Suggestion Masters 2019-20

English Department

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• ভাইভা সাজেশন

এখন পর্যায়ক্রমে এগুলো দেওয়া হলো

Brief Solution

Chaucer

NU Masters 2019-20

 (a) Who is the nun’s priest? 

Ans. The three priests accompanied the Prioress and the second nun. The Host addressed him as Sir John. He tells the story The Nun’s Priest’s Tale.( সেট সাজেশনের টা দিলেও হবে)

(b) what is the name of the host?

Ans. Harry Bailey 

(c) what did chaunticleer dream?

Ans. An animal looking like a dog was trying to seize him and put him to death.

(d) How does the poet describe Criseyde’s beauty?

Ans. Matchless woman of angelic beauty.

(e) Why did Chaunticleer love Pertelote most?

Ans. Because she was the most charming and attractive.

(f)  After Cupid shoots Troilus, what is the first thing he sets his eyes upon?

Ans. Criseyde

(g) what is the setting of “Troilus and Criseyde”?

Ans. Troy

(h)  What was the name of the Colfax?

Ans: Sir Russell 

(i) what is the function of a summoner?

Ans. Summoned offenders before the judge.

(j) What was Pharaoh?

Ans. The ancient Egyptian Kings.

(k) What is courtly love?

Ans. Code of love of aristocratic society of 14th century Europe.( এটা বড় করেও লেখা যাবে)

(l) Who was the wife of bath? 

Ans. Woman from Bath.

Brief Solution of Shakespeare

Master 2019-20

(বিশেষ দ্রষ্টব্য: এই উত্তরগুলো অনেক বড় করে লিখলেও হবে)

1. (a) Why is Fortinbras of Norway preparing for war against Denmark?

Ans: To recover Norwegian lands.

(b) Why and how does Brutus commit suicide? 

Ans: Being certain of defeat, Brutus orders Strato who reluctantly follows the order of Brutus and fatally wounds him.

(C) How did Caesar become the ruler of Rome?

Ans: In 45 BC Caesar inflicted a crushing defeat upon the two sons of Pompey and became the undisputed ruler of Rome.

(d) How does Polonius die? 

Ans: Hamlet draws his sword through the tapestry and kills polonium.

(e) Why did lago envy Othello?

Ans: Because Othello gave promotion Cassio to the post of lieutenant of Othello not Iago.

(f)How does lago obtain Desdemona’s handkerchief?

Ans: Iago snatches away the handkerchief from his wife Emaila who got Desdemona’s handkerchief.

(g) What is Cordelia’s answer to the question of her love to the king, her father?

(h) Why does Edgar pretend to be a bedlam-beggar? 

Ans: To save himself from the men who are trying to track him down.

(i) What kind of play is Measure for Measure?

Ans: Tragedy-comedy.

(j) Who is Sycorax?

Ans: Witch. She was controlling the island before Prospero ‘s arrival.

(k) What request does Miranda make to her father in favour of Ferdinand?

Ans: She begs her father to be merciful to Ferdinand.

(l) What plea does Isabella make to the Duke?

Ans: Mariana begs for Angelo’s life and persuades Isabella to join in the plea, despite Claudio’s death. Isabella begs the duke to spare Angelo.

Modern Poetry Brief Solution

(a) . How does the poet’s self acquire a cosmic dimension in “Song of Myself”? 

Ans. The poet’s ego or self expands, embracing all humanity. He asserts that he is an average American, rough and disorderly, given to the sensual pleasures- eating, drinking and breeding and he is no more modest than immodest.

(b). How does the poet ensure his immortality at the end of “Song of Myself!

Ans. Union with the Divine.

(c) What philosophy of life does Frost give in his poem “After Apple Picking

Ans. Like Adam and Eve, man must continue to work in his life.

(d).Why is Maud Gonne compared with Helen?

Ans.Her personality was high and solitary and most stern like Helen.

(e). How did Yeats receive a piece of “Lapis Lazuli”? 

Ans. With a carving on it, from a man called Harry Clifton.

(f) Who is the “She” in the poem The Shield of Achilles”?

Ans. Thetis, mother of Achilles.

(g) What does Yeats mean by “Lednean body?

Ans. Beautiful figure of Maud Gonne.

(h) How does the poet criticize the role of his society in the poem “Casualty”? 

Ans. Saying that people obeyed the unofficial dictate from the IRA that they stay in doors.

(I) What does the poet mean by “Wintry fever in the poem “The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower”?

Ans. Sickness of old age

(J) what sense, according to Auden, is a modern man prisoner of a system or society?

Ans. Being oppressed and enslaved by social and political systems.

(k) Who is the Tollund Man?

Ans. Who sacrificed to the goddess of fertility in the early iron age.

(l) What does the girl in the poem Punishment symbolize?

Ans.  Ireland 

Modern Drama Brief Solution

Masters 2019-20

a.What is glass menagerie?

Ans: Glass Menagerie is a group of animals made of class, kept privately or for the public to see.

( এখানে the glass menagerie হলে memory play হতো)

b. Who is the protagonist in You Never Can Tell?

Ans: Valentine again in accordance with some critics Mrs. Clandon.

c. What is the real name of Mrs. Clandon? 

Ans. Margaret 

d. What do the Elms Symbolize?

Ans. The dominance of female characters.

e. How does Abbie prove her love for Eben?

Ans. By Killing her son

f. Is Willy Loman a failure?

Ans. Yes. Failure 

g. Where is the dentist’s chamber located? 

Ans. In a watering place on the coast of Torbay in Devon.

h. What was Biff doing in the West?

Ans. He was doing farm work out West.

i. From where does Tom get a letter?

Ans. From Merchant Marine.

j. What does the coffin symbolize in The Glass Menagerie?

Ans. Tom’s life situation

k. Who is Sheriff?

Ans.  A sheriff is a government official, the law-enforcement officer in Desire Under the Elms.

l. What does Happy want to be?

Ans. He says he wants to continue Willy’s legacy. He chooses to live his life more like his father did.

Modern Novel Brief Solution

NU Masters 2019-20

Literature Xpres 

a. Who is Manolin?

Ans. Manolin is a boy about 10 to 12 years and a pupil/student of Santiago.

b) What does Santiago dream of?

Ans. Santiago dreams of when he sailed to Africa on a sailing ship as a boy and saw lions come down and play like cats on the beach.

(c) Who is Lord of the Flies?

Ans. The dead pig’s head. Allegorically Beelzebub.

(d) How old are the boys marooned on the unnamed island?

Ans. Between six and twelve.

 e) What is the significance of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter?

Ans. Symbol of Hester and Dimmesdale’s adultery.

(f) What is the setting of the story of The Scarlet Letter?

Ans. The Scarlet Letter is set in the Puritan Colony of Salem, Massachusetts during the 1640s.

(g) What is the function of Soma? 

Ans. Soma drives away the normal pain and inspires the people of the World State towards sexual activities.

(h) How was John the Savage born?

Ans. John was born to Linda, a woman from the World State, who got pregnant by Tomakin while visiting a savage Reservation.

(i) What kind of world do you find in Brave New World?

Ans. The World State in Huxley’s Brave New World is a world without emotion, religion, or moral values, and human nature is molded by scientific and technological means.

(j) Who is Antoine Roquentin?

Ans. The protagonist and narrator of Nausea.

(k) When does Roquentin’s nausea vanish?

Ans. When the barmaid plays the lyrics, his nausea vanishes 

(l) What is the belief of the existentialists about man’s existence?

Ans. Existentialists believe that man is essentially miserable, lonely and the desire for happiness is a myth.

Prose Brief Solution

NU Masters 2019-20

Literature Xpres 

(a) What does Emerson mean by ” Man Thinking”?

Ans. Emerson uses his concept of Man Thinking to symbolize the ideal scholar who embodies both unity and individuality.

(b) What is Pre-established harmony?

Ans. It is a philosophical doctrine that states that God from the very beginning of His creation ensured the harmony of each monad’s development with that of others.

(c) What was the subject of Thoreau’s lecture delivered before the Concord

Lyceum?

Ans. The Relation of the Individual to the state

 (d) What kind of state does Thoreau dream of?

Ans. Thoreau dreams of a state which treats the individual with respect, and not to interfere with his freedom.

(e) Who was Mr. Oscar Browning?

Ans. A famous figure in Cambridge at one time and used to examine the students at Girton and Newham.

(f)  What does Eliot mean by “tradition”?

Ans. By ‘tradition’, Eliot does not mean to follow the ways of the immediate generation before us”. It involves the historical sense which in its turn, “involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past but of its presence.”

(g) What, according to T.S. Eliot, is the business of the poet?

Ans. The business of the poet is not to find new emotions, but to use ordinary ones, and in working them up into poetry.

(h) What is the main job of an American Scholar?

Ans. The office or main job of a scholar is to cheer, raise, and guide men by showing them facts amid appearances.

(i) What is “Marxist Literature”?

Ans. A type of literary criticism based on the writings of German philosopher Karl Marx.

(j) Who is John Bunyan?

Ans. John Bunyan was an English writer, remembered as the author of the religious/Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, 

(k) Why does Leavis consider the phrase “The Romantic attitude’ misleading?

Ans. Because the actual poets of the Romantic period- Wordsworth, Coleridge and others-differed widely among themselves.

(l) Who hopes and who creates according to Emerson?

Ans. Everyone 

Brief Solution

South Asian and African Literature

NU Masters 2019-20 

Literature Xpres 

a. Who is a ‘Bedouin”?

Ans. An Arab semi-nomadic man.

b. What did Khaleque do to collect the blessed water from the pir?

Ans. He had sent his wife’s brother Dhola Mian to the pir.

c. What should a man do to acquire wisdom as suggested in Samyabadi”?

Ans. A man should open his heart through spiritual exercise.

d. Who is Munira?

Ans. A School teacher 

e. How did Sophie Mol die?

Ans. Drowning in the Ayemenem river.

f.  Why didn’t Unoka have a grave?

Ans. Because he died of swelling which was an abomination of the earth goddess and a man who died of swelling was not allowed to die in the house and be buried.

( ছোট করে প্রথম এর অংশটুকু and পর্যন্ত দিলেও হবে)

g. What happened during Easter week? (things Fall Apart)

Ans. The convert/ missionary women went to get clay, chalk and water and were not allowed to get water from the stream.

h. What made Pappachi unhappy in conjugal life? 

Ans. The realization that he is 17 years older than his wife. He is now an old man but his wife is still young.

i. Why did Baby Kochamma fail in love?

Ans. The priest Mulligan remains inaccessible to her. That’s why she failed in her love.

j. When will the rebel rest in quiet?

Ans. When he would find the sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed.

k. Why was Okonkwo ashamed of his father? 

Ans. Because his father was heavily in debt.

l. Whom did Ammu see in her dream?

Ans. Velutha

Viva Suggestion

NU Masters 2019-20

Literature Xpres

হ্যান্ড নোট ফ্রি তে পাবেনঃ www.literaturexpres.com এবং 

আমাদের ফেসবুক গ্রুপেঃ Nu English Literature Hand Notes 

বাংলা সামারিঃ www.lxnotes.com 01706-711622

Chaucer

The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Q.1. What is the masterpiece of Chaucer? 

Ans. The Canterbury Tales is the masterpiece of Chaucer.

Q.2. What is The Canterbury Tales?

Ans. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories strung around the central idea of a pilgrimage from London to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. 

Q.3. How many pilgrims are described in the General Prologue?

Ans. Twenty-nine pilgrims are described in the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales and Chaucer himself was the 30th Pilgrim.

Q. 4. What was the proposal of Harry Bailey?

Ans. Harry Bailey proposed a story telling contest: each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back and whoever tells the best story will be given a free meal.

Q.5. How did the narrator describe the Knight?

Ans. The narrator describes the Knight as a worthy man of high status. He fought in the Crusades in numerous countries and he had been always honoured for his worthiness and courtesy.

Q.6. How is the Knight dressed?

 Ans. The Knight is dressed in a fustian tunic which is stained by the rust from his coat of chain mail.

Q.7. How many battles did the Knight fight? 

Ans. The Knight fought fifteen mortal battles.

Q.8. How old was the Squire?

Ans. The Squire was about twenty years old. 

Q.9. What is the function of a yeoman?

Ans. A yeoman was an attendant in a noble household. In military context yeoman was the rant of the third order of fighting men below knights and squires.

Q.10. Who accompanied the Prioress? 

Ans. The Prioress was accompanied by a nun who was her chaplain and three priests. 

Q.11. What was inscribed on the brooch of the prioress?

Ans. The words “amor vincit omnia was inscribed on the brooch of the prioress.

Q12. What type of person the Merchant was?

Ans. The Merchant had a habit to express his views pompously. He was clever in business transactions. He was dignified in his dealings, in his bargains and money lending. 

Q.13. How did the Clerk of Oxford look?

Ans. The Clerk of Oxford looked lean and serious.

Q.14. What was the Sergeant of Law?

Ans. The Sergeant of Law was a judge at the session of the law courts. 

Q.15. What type of person was the Plowman?

Ans. The Plowman was a good and faithful worker. He lived a life of peace and charity. He always remained devoted to God

Q.16. What type of man the Host was?

Ans. The Host was bold of speech, sensible and well educated. He had a jovial temper. According to Chaucer, the Host did not lack in any quality of real manhood.

Q.17. Why did people travel to Canterbury?

Ans. They are going to the Shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury to receive special blessings.

Q.18.What is the job of a Reeve?

Ans. A Reeve was a manager and accountant of a lord. 

Q.19. Who is the owner of the Tabard Inn?

Ans. The owner of the Tabard Inn is the Host, Harry Bailey. 

Q.20. Name some of the great personalities referred to in “Prologue to the Canterbury Tales”.

Ans. The Knight, the Squire, the Prioress, the Monk, the Sergeant of Law etc. 

Q.21. What does the Host of Tabard Inn propose to pass the time?

Ans. Each pilgrim would tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the trip home.

Q.22. Where did the pilgrims assemble?

Ans. The pilgrims assembled at Tabard Inn which is situated in Southwark.

More Brief:

Q.1. What is a pilgrimage?

Ans. A pilgrimage is a religious journey undertaken for penance and grace. 

Q.2. What was the Friar’s name? 

Ans. The name was Hubert.

Q.3. How were the teeth of the wife of Bath?

Ans. The wife of Bath was gap-toothed.

Q.5. Who was the Wife of Bath?

Ans. She was a woman from Bath.

Q.6. How many times did the Wife of Bath marry?

Ans. The Wife of Bath married five times.

Q.7. What was the occupation of the Wife of Bath?

Ans. The Wife of Bath was an expert in weaving cloth. 

Q.8. What is the name of the Prioress? 

Ans. The Prioress was known as Madam Eglantine.

Q.9. What is the name of the Host?

Ans. The name of the Host is Harry Bailey.

Q.10. Why did the Doctor of Physic love gold? 

Ans. Chaucer ironically commented that as gold is an ingredient in preparing certain medicines, the Doctor of Medicine loved gold specially.

Q.11. What is Canterbury?

Ans. Canterbury, a cathedral city in southeast England, was a pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages. 

The Nun’s Priest’s Tale

Q.1. What is the Nun’s Priest’s Tale?

Ans. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is a story in verse included in The Canterbury Tales which was written by Geoffrey Chaucer. 

Q.2. Who told the Nun’s Priest to tell a story?

Ans. The Host whose name was Harry Bailey asked the Nun’s Priest to tell a story. He called the priest Sir John.

Q.3. Where did the widow live?

Ans. The widow lived in a narrow cottage by the side of a grove of trees which stood in a valley.

Q.4. Name the cock kept by the widow.

Ans. The widow kept a cock named Chaunticleer. 

Q.5. How was Chaunticleer’s bill?

Ans. Chaunticleer’s bill was black and it shone like jet.

Q.6. Who was Madame Pertelote?

Ans. Madame Pertelote was the name of a hen. Chaunticleer loved her intensely. 

Q.7. Who is Doctor Augustine?

Ans. Doctor Augustine refers to Saint Augustine (334-430 AD) who is one of the four original doctors of the Church. 

Q.8. When did Sir Russell seize Chaunticleer?

Ans. As soon as Chaunticleer closed his eyes and began to crow, Sir Russell leaped up and seized him by the throat. 

Q.9. What moral lesson does Chaunticleer utter?

Ans. Chaunticleer utters the following moral lesson: “Anyone who wilfully shuts his eyes when he ought to keep them wide open will be forsaken by God”.

Q.10. What is a mock-heroic poem?

Ans. A mock-heroic poem is a form of satire which is written in the style of an epic but deals with a trivial subject. 

Q.11. What did Pretelote advise Chantecleer to take?

Ans. Pertelote advises him to eat some earth-worms to remove his choler and to eat some herbal lore such as laurel, centaury, fumitory, hellebore, catapouse, berries etc.

Q.12. Which incident is “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” based on? 

Ans. “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is based on an incident in the Reynard cycle.

Q.13. What is the extraordinary talent of Chunticleer? 

Ans. Chauntecleer has no peer in crowing.

Q.14. What is the job of a Pardoner?

Ans. A pardoner is a trafficker in papal pardon or indulgences.

Q.17. What is the moral of the poem ‘The Nun’s Priest’s Tale? 

Ans. The moral of the story is never to trust a flatterer. 

Q.18. What is a beast fable?

Ans. A beast fable is a moralistic prose or verse in which animals speak and act like human beings.

More Brief

Q.1. What type of life did the widow lead? 

Ans. The widow led a very simple and patient life because her property and her income was meagre

Q.2. How many pet animals did the widow have?

Ans. The widow had three large female pigs, three cows and one sheep. 

Q.4. What remedy does Pertelote offer to “purge’ Chaunticleer of his nightmare? 

Ans. Pertelote advised Chaunticleer to take a laxative that could purge himself of choler and melancholy.

Q.5. Who was Andromache?

Ans. Andromache was the wife of the Trojan hero, Hector, At one night, she dreamt that her husband would be killed if he went into battle on the following day.

Q.6. Who was Priam?

Ans. Priam was the King of Troy. When Troy was captured, he was slain by Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles.

Q.7. Who was Sinon?

Ans. Sinon was a Greek who tricked the Trojans into admitting the wooden horse into their city.

Q.8. Who was Cato?

Ans. Cato was a Roman statesman and historian. His full name was Marcus Porcius Cato.

Q.9. What, according to Chaunticleer, Andromache dreamt? 

Ans. According to Chaunticleer, Andromache dreamt that her husband would lose his life if he went to the battlefield that day.

Q.10. How was the cock’s colour?

Ans. The cock’s colour was like burnished gold. 

Q.11. What is a tale?

Ans. A tale is a fictitious or true narrative or story, especially one that is imaginatively recounted.

Troilus and Criseyde

Q.1. Who is Criseyde?

Ans. Criseyde, the heroine of the poem, Troilus and Criseyde, is the daughter of Calchas, a great divine, who left her in Troy when he secretly left the beleaguered city.

Q.2. What is meant by ‘the double sorrow’ of Troilus?

Ans. Troilus suffered twice for the love of Criseyde first, to win her love and secondly after her departure from Troy when she forsook him.

Q.3. What was Troy?

Ans. Troy, a city state of the ancient age, stood on the shore of the Aegean sea in the north-west of modern Turkey. 

Q.4. Who was Calchas?

Ans. Calchas was a divine of Apollo and father of Criseyde. He left Troy secretly knowing from Apollo that Troy would be burnt leaving Criseyde adrift. 

Q.5. What is Palladium? 

Ans. It is a festival observed in the honour of Pallas Athena in her temple.

Q.6. What did Criseyde dream in her dream at night?

Ans. Criseyde dreamt at night that an eagle with his long claws took away her heart from her breast and put Troilus’ heart in the gap but she did not feel any pain nor was hurt at all in this heart transplantation.

Q.7. Who is Venus?

Ans. Venus, the Roman goddess of love, is Aphrodite in Greek mythology. 

Q.8: Who is Antenor?

Ans. Antenor was one of the elders of Troy during the siege of the Greeks and in favour of restoring Helen to the Greeks.

Q.9. What oath does Criseyde take about her return to Troy?

Ans. Criseyde takes the oath that if she does not return, or marry any other, let Juno Cause her to dwell eternally in Styx.

Q.10. Who are the three Percae?

Ans. The Percae are the three sisters Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, who control the fate of man just at birth.

Q.11. What does Diomede tell Criseyde about the future of Troy?

Ans. Diomede tells Criseyde that Troy will be demolished and no Trojan will be kept alive. 

Q.12. Who is Penelope?

Ans. Penelope, wife of Odysseus, King of Ithaca and a Veteran of the Trojan war, is most remarkable for her allegiance to her husband because she remained faithful to him for long twenty years facing serious troubles.

Q.13. What is ‘Pagan’?

Ans. Pagan means the worshippers of the gods and goddesses of the mythological past.

Q.14. Who is the father of Criseyde?

Ans. Calchas is the father of Criseyde.

Q.15. How does the Book III of “Troilus and Criseyde” open?

Ans. Book III opens with a prayer to Venus.

Q.16. Who was Diomede?

Ans. Diomede, the son of Tydeus and King of Argos, is a hero in the Trojan war and he seeks Criseyde’s love and ultimately wins it.

 Q.17. How will Troilus avenge his sorrow? 

Ans. As Troilus is gentle and tender hearted that he will avenge his sorrow not with anything else but death.

Q.18. Who was Pandarus?

Ans. Pandarus was the uncle of Criseyde and friend of Troilus.

Q.19. What is the subject-matter of Troilus’ song?

Ans. The subject matter of the long lyric sung by Troilus is the different aspects of love.

More Brief:

Q.1. To which century does Chaucer belong?

Ans. Chaucer belongs to the fourteenth century.

Q.2. When did the Hundred Years’ War take place?

Ans. The Hundred Years’ War started in 1338 and continued even after the century. 

Q.3. Who is Tisiphone?

Ans. Tisiphone is a cruel fury who torments the human heart. 

Q.4. What does “the black sea” symbolize? 

Ans. The tumultuous despair which Troilus experienced in his love for Criseyde symbolizes the black sea. 

Q.5. Who is Troilus?

Ans. Troilus is the youngest son of King Priam, and wooer of Criseyde 

Q.6. How did Criseyde welcome Diomede?

Ans. Criseyde welcomed him and sat him down beside her and entertained him with spices and wine and had a friendly talk with him.

Q.7. Who was Deiphebus?

 Ans. Deiphebus was the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. He was famous for his natural love of honour and generosity.

Q.8. Who was Horastes?

Ans. Horastes was a young man with whom Criseyde was falsely reported to be in love with.

Q.9. Whom did Troilus mark out as his enemy? 

Ans. Troilus found that none but fortune was his enemy. 

Q.10. What is the speciality of fortune?

Ans. The wheel of fortune must always be turning bringing either joy or sorrow, if at any time, the wheels of fortune cease to move, it ceases to be fortune.

Q.11. Why is month of May called the mother of the happy months?

Ans. May is so called because in this month nature renews her beauty with the budding of flowers killed in winter. 

Q.12. Who is Mars?

Ans. Mars the son of Jove is the god of war in Greek and Roman mythology.

Q.13. How did Troilus win the love of Criseyde?

Ans. By degrees and good service Troilus gradually won her love.

Q.14. How does the poet describe Criseyde’s beauty?

Ans. The poet describes her as a matchless woman of angelic beauty and calls her a perfect heavenly being sent down to earth in scorn of Nature.

Q.15. Who is Hector? 

Ans. Hector is the eldest son of Priam and commander-in-chief of the Trojan army. He is famous for his nobleness and bravery.

Q.16. What gifts Criseyde gives to Diomede as love-tokens? 

Ans. Criseyde gives a bay steed and a brooch as tokens of love to Diomede.

Q.17. What does Troilus dream at night about Criseyde?

Ans. While he was wandering in a forest, Troilus saw a boar which enfolded Criseyde tightly in his arms, and was frequently her.

Must Watch and justify yourself-12 Brief

a.) What does spring symbolize in “The Prologue”?

Ans: Spring symbolizes rebirth and Fresh beginnings in the Prologue.

b.) How does Chaucer praise April?*

Ans: Chaucer praises April as it is the rebirth and renewal.

c.) What was the destination of the pilgrims?

Ans: shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury.

d.) What is a Prologue?”

Ans: A piece of writing found at the beginning of a literary work.

e) How many wives does Chaunticleer have?

Ans: Seven wives.

f) What is Partelote’s theory of dreams?

Ans: Dreams are caused by indigestion from overeating.

g) What kind of poem lis”The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”?

Ans. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is a beast fable.

h)Whom does Chaucer invoke at the beginning of “Troilus and Criseyde”?

Ans. Tisiphone, one of the Greek Furies, to be his mouse.

i)Where did Crisyde see Troilus at first?

Ans. At the temple of Apollo.

j)What was the favorite pastime of the Monk?

Ans. The favourite pastime of the Monk is hunting.

k)Where did Pandarus put Criseyde at night?

Ans.Pandarus puts Crisyde in a private chember.

I)Who is Madame Eglantine?

Ans. Name of The Prioress.

Shakespeare

Brief Suggestion

Hamlet 

Q.1. What was the original title of the play Hamlet?

Ans. The original title of the play, Hamlet, was The Tragical (Tragicall) Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

0.2. Who is Claudius?

Ans. Claudius is the present King of Denmark, the antagonist and uncle of Hamlet. 

Q.3. What prevents Hamlet from committing suicide?

Ans. Hamlet would have committed suicide, if self-murder were not a violation of canon law .

Q.4. What is the significance of the expression, “Frailty, thy name is woman’!”

Ans. Hamlet leaps from the single example of his mother’s impulsive behaviour, her remarriage with Claudius, and condemns all women of all times saying, a woman is an embodiment of weakness.

Q.5. When does the Ghost appear for the second time? 

Ans. The Ghost appears for the second time in Act I, Scene 4.

Q.6. How does the Ghost identify itself to Hamlet?

Ans. The Ghost identifies itself to Hamlet as his father’s spirit forced to wander by night and to suffer purgatorial fires by day until his sins have been forgiven.

Q.7. Who, according to the Ghost, is responsible for his sudden death?

Ans. The Ghost tells Hamlet that although his sudden death was blamed on a serpent sting, he, in fact, was murdered by Claudius, the present King.

Q.8. Why is Ophelia distressed and frightened?

Ans. Ophelia is distressed and frightened, as she reports to her Hamlet.

Q.9. How does Hamlet plan to entrap King Claudius?

Or, How does Hamlet plan to prove Claudius’ guilt?

Ans. Hamlet outlines his plan to have the players perform The Murder of Gonzago before the King and his court, and watch his reaction to a particular scene to establish his guilt. 

Q.10. What is the meaning of “To be or not to be that is the question”?

Ans. The vital question of life is whether it is better to continue to live on earth or to put an end to this earthly existence.

Q.11. Why does Hamlet advice Ophelia to go to a nunnery?

Ans. In order to save Ophelia from the cruel hands of the wicked, Hamlet advises Ophelia to join a nunnery which is free from corruption.

Q.12. How is Claudius’s guilt confirmed? 

Ans. When Hamlet is informed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that the King is indisposed, his guilt is confirmed. 

Q.13. Why does Hamlet fail to kill the king at prayer? 

Ans. Hamlet, a man of religion and morality, thinks that if he kills the King at prayer and sends him to heaven it is not a revenge but a reward. So he fails to kill him.

Q.14. Why does the Queen fail to see the Ghost?

Ans. The Queen has deviated from the path of honour and chastity by her incestuous relation (remarriage) with Claudius and so she fails to see the Ghost which is a spiritual vision.

Q.15. What is the king’s motive in sending Hamlet to England? 

Ans. The king’s motive in sending Hamlet to England is an intrigue to have him killed there. 

More Brief

Q.1. What does Hamlet do when the pirates attack his ship?

Ans. When the pirates attack Hamlet’s ship. Hamlet boards the pirates’ ship without delay and is taken prisoner.

Q.2. Who was Yorick?

Ans. Yorick was the King’s jester who died 23 years ago. He was Hamlet’s childhood favourite who played games with him. 

Q.3. What is the last intrigue of Claudius against Hamlet?

Ans. The last intrigue of King Claudius against Hamlet is his arrangement of a fencing-match between Hamlet and Laertes.

Q.4. How does the Queen die?

Ans. During the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes in the final Scene the Queen picks up the cup of poisoned wine and drinks from it; a little later she faints and falls.

Q.5. How does Hamlet kill the King at last?

Ans. Knowing the treachery of Claudius from Laertes, Hamlet turns quickly to the King and strikes him with his poisoned sword and also makes him drink poisoned wine left by his mother.

Q.6. What kind of funeral is given to Hamlet’s dead body?

 Ans. Hamlet, the tragic hero, is given a military funeral with all the due honours at the orders of Fortinbras, the young Prince of Norway, who ascends the vacant throne of Denmark.

Q.7. How is Hamlet betrayed by Ophelia?

Ans. Ophelia betrays Hamlet by returning Hamlet’s gifts to her and by acting as a decoy of her father. 

Q.8. At which university in Germany had Hamlet been studying?

Ans. Hamlet had been studying at Wittenberg University in Germany.

Q.9. What is the famous line spoken by Horatio when Hamlet dies? 

Ans. When Hamlet dies Horatio speaks, “Now cracks a noble heart…good night, sweet Prince.” 

Q.10. Who becomes the King of Denmark at the end of the play “Hamlet”?

Ans. Fortinbras

Q.11. Who remains alive in the last scene of the drama ‘Hamlet”?

Ans. Horatio

Q.12. What is comic relief?

Ans. In a tragedy, a humorous incident, action, or remark that relieves emotional tension, is called ‘comic or dramatic relief, 

Q.13. Who says “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”?

Ans. Marcellus says this in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.

Q.14. Who informs Hamlet of the appearance of the ghost? 

Ans. Horatio informs Hamlet of the appearance of the ghost.

Q.15. Who is Fortinbras? 

Ans. Fortinbras is the young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet).

Q.16. What is the setting of the play, Hamlet?

Ans. The setting of Hamlet is the royal castle at Elsinore on the rocky sea-washed Danish coast during winter.

Q.17. What is “The Mouse Trap”? 

Ans. When Claudius questions Hamlet about the name of the ‘play-within-play, he answers that its name is “The Mouse trap”.

Othello Brief Suggestion

Q.1.  What was the source of Othello?

Ans. The plot of Othello was borrowed from the seventh novel, The Moore of Venice’, written by Geraldi Cinthio, a Sicilian novelist.

Q.2. Who is Roderigo?

Ans. Roderigo is a rich young Venetian. He is a fool and a ridiculous example of a soldier and for Iago’s purpose a perfect dupe. 

Q.3. Who is Cassio? 

Ans. Cassio is a professional soldier, lieutenant to Othello, the Moorish general of the Venetian army. 

Q.4. Why and how does Roderigo wake Desdemona’s father from sleep late at night?

Ans. Roderigo at the direction of lago wakes Brabantio, Desdemona’s father from sleep late at night by making a noisy clamour.

Q.5. How is Othello received by the Duke at his court?

Ans. The Duke greets Othello first, immediately enlisting his services against the Turkish threat.

Q.6. What intrigue does lago think of in his soliloquy against Othello?

Ans. Left alone, lago in his soliloquy intends to poison Othello’s ears Cassio by telling him that he is too familiar with his wife.

Q.7. When does Desdemona offer his handkerchief to Othello?

Ans. When Othello pretends to have a severe Desdemona offers him her handkerchief to rub his face.

Q.8. What is special of the handkerchief?

Ans. Desdemona’s handkerchief is a a very special handkerchief embroidered with strawberry pattern, and was Othello’s first presen to Desdemona.

Q.9. How does Iago hatch an intrigue with Desdemona’s handkerchief?

Ans. lago places the handkerchief of Desdemona in Cassio’s room, for this would confirm the suspicions of the jealous Othello. 

Q.10. What is Desdemona’s reaction to Othello’s charge against her chastity?

Ans. Desdemona is dazed with the suddenness and violence of Othello’s accusation and is too terrified to utter even a single word in her defence. 

Q.11. How is Desdemona killed by Othello? 

Ans. Out of his jealous passion Othello strangulates Desdemona to death in her bed.

 Q.12. Who reveals the wickedness of lago?

Ans. Emilia relates the whole story and reveals the wickedness of lago with the handkerchief before Montano, Gratiano and others. 

More Brief

Q.1. How does Othello die?

Ans. Othello, a heart-broken man at last, stabs himself and dies with a last kiss on the chaste, cold lips of Desdemona. 

Q.2. What is the ultimate fate of lago, the villain of the play Othello.

Ans. lago, the villain, is arrested by Montano but he refuses to his lips and it is decided that he would be tortured and made to confess.

Q.3. When and where does the play ‘Othello’ open?

 Ans. Othello opens late at night in a Venetian street outside the house of the Senator Branbantio.

Q.4. Why is Cassio grief-stricken?

Ans. Having lost his lieutenantship and being disgraced by Othello, Cassio is grief-stricken.

Q.5. What is Othello-syndrome?

Ans. Jealousy in love is Othello-syndrome. 

Q.6. What was the original title of the play “Othello”? 

Ans. The original title of the play Othello was “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”.

Q.7. What is Othello’s tragic flaw? 

Ans. Othello’s credulity, his simplicity, the frankness and honesty of his heart are the tragic flaws of his character.

Q.8. Why did Othello go to Cyprus from Venice? 

Ans. Othello went to Cyprus from Venice to defend the island against an expected invasion by the Turks.

Q.9. How did Desdemona fall in love with Othello? 

Ans. She says she fell in love with him because of the stories he told her about his adventures as a military man. She loves him for his “qualities,” such as courage and honor.

King Lear Brief Suggestin

Q.1. What is the full title of the play King Lear?

Ans. The full title of King Lear is The Tragedy of King Lear.

Q.2. Who are the good characters in King Lear? 

Ans. The good characters in King Lear are Lear, Cordelia, Kent, Edgar, Albany, Gloucester, Fool, etc.

Q.3. Why does King Lear decide to divide his kingdom among his three daughters?

Ans. As Lear has become very old, he wants to withdraw from the affairs of the state and leave the ruling of his kingdom to his daughters and their husbands. So, he has decided to divide his kingdom among his three daughters.

Q.4. How does Goneril profess her love for her father, King Lear?

Ans. Goneril tells in a high-flown language before the court that She loves the king, her father more than words can express, and that he is dearer to her even than her eyesight and her freedom.

Q.5. What does the tragedy of King Lear represent?

Ans. The tragedy of King Lear represents the victory of love over hatred, of invincible filial gratitude over monstrous filial ingratitude.

Q.6. How does King Lear react to Cordelia’s expression of love for him? 

Ans. Lear is enraged at Cordelia’s blunt and unemotional of love for him, immediately disowns her by dividing her portion of the land between her two sisters and declares that he will provide no dowry for her.

Q.7. Why is Kent banished by the king?

Ans. Kent is immediately by King Lear for making an attempt to dissuade Lear from carrying his threat to Cordelia unjustly. 

Q.8. Who persuades Lear to enter a hovel during storm?

Ans. Kent is able to persuade Lear to enter a hovel during storm. 

Q.9. How is Cordelia put to death in the prison?

Ans. Cordelia is hanged in the prison by a secret order of Edmund.

Q.10. Why does Regan die? 

Ans. Regan dies because Goneril has poisoned her.

Q.11. How is King Lear transformed into a man?

Ans. The proud King Lear has been transformed into an ordinary man through a process of sufferings and madness. 

More Brief

Q.1. How does King Lear curse Goneril? 

Ans. Lear curses Goneril, expressing a wish that she should become barren and that even if she does bear a child, the child should live to be a source of perverse and unnatural torment to her.

Q.2. How does Lear comfort his daughter Cordelia in the prison? 

Ans. While in the prison Cordelia expresses her concern about her father, Lear tries to comfort her by saying that they will both live together in the prison and sing like birds in a cage.

Q.3. Who said, “I am more sinned against than sinning”? 

Ans. King Lear said this in the play of the same name.

Q.4. Who was Cordelia’s husband?

 Ans. The King of France was Cordelia’s husband.

Q.5. Why does Goneril commit suicide?

Ans. After Regan dies, Goneril kills herself. There is little explanation for her suicide, but it is implied that the cause of her suicide is a mixture of the thwarting of her plans and her confession to poisoning Regan.

Q.6. Who are the suitors of Cordelia? 

Ans. The Duke of Burgundy and the King of France are the suitors of Cordelia

Q.7. Who is the bastard son of Gloucester? 

Ans. Edmund is the bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester.

The Tempest Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What is the source of The Tempest?

Ans. According to most of the critics, the hints for the story of The Tempest have been taken from an old German play The Fair Sidea, though the shipwreck of the sea-venture in 1609 on the Bermudas and passages from Arthur Golding’s Ovid and John Florio’s Montaigne contribute details to the play. 

Q.2. What kind of play is The Tempest?

Ans. The Tempest is a romantic drama in classical form.

Q.3. What is the purpose of the Epilogue to The Tempest?

Ans. In the Epilogue to The Tempest Shakespeare offers his personal apologies to the audience in the person of Prospero. He requests them to applaud him by clapping and pray for him so that he may break his magic spell.

Q.4. What do you mean by the term “The Tempest”? 

Ans. ‘The Tempest’ means ‘a violent storm’.

Q.5. Who is Gonzalo?

Ans. Gonzalo is an honest old counsellor of the King of Naples. 

Q.6. Who is Prospero?

Ans. Prospero is the exiled Duke of Milan. He has been dethroned and banished by his own wicked brother, Antonio.

Q.7. Why does Miranda feel pity at the sight of the shipwreck?

Ans. Miranda, who witnesses the shipwreck during the stort feels pity for the ship’s passengers who seem to have perished. 

Q.8. Who is Ariel?

Ans. Ariel is a spirit of air, first a servant to Sycorax and after her death renders valuable services to Prospero. 

Q.9. How and why was Ariel imprisoned by Sycorax?

Ans. Ariel was imprisoned by Sycorax in the hollow of a pine tree for having been disobedient to her in carrying out her evil plans. 

Q.10. Who is Caliban?

Ans. Caliban, the human son of the witch Sycorax, is employed by Prospero for menial service but he obeys him most grudgingly only under fear of physical torment.

More Brief

Q.1. Who raises storm in the sea and how? 

Ans. Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan raises storm in the sea with the help of his magical power.

Q.2. Why does Miranda offer to carry the logs herself for Ferdinand?

Ans. Miranda offers to carry the logs for Ferdinand in order to allow him rest for a while, but he refuses, for he is a patient logman only for her sake.

Q.3. What is masque?

Ans. A masque is a popular courtly diversion in the form of a mini play, consisting of songs, poetry, recitations and dances by brightly costumed players who represent mythological characters.

Q.4. What resolution does Prospero take at the end of the play?

Ans. At the end of the play Prospero solemnly resolves to break- his magic-staff and drown his magic book deep into the sea.

Q.5. How does Antonio conspire against Prospero? 

Ans. Taking the advantage of his position as the administrator of the dukedom, Antonio with Alonso, the King of Naples to dethrone Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan.

Q.6. What is the setting of the play “The Tempest”?

Ans. The setting of The Tempest is a remote, unknown and “uninhabited island” or “a country of the mind’, although several critics associate it with ‘Bermudas’ or a small island between Malta and the coast of Africa.

Q.7. How are Caliban and Ariel different?

Ans. Ariel, made of air and fire, is a sylph, refined and ethereal Caliban, on the other hand, a misshapen monster, half man, half-fish, is the son of Sycorax, a witch, begotten by a demon.

Q.8. What does Ariel do for Gonzalo? 

Ans. He prevents Gonzalo from being killed while asleep by Antonio and Sebastian, by singing in his ear and waking him.

Q.9. What does Prospero tell Miranda about the shipwreck? 

Ans. Prospero assures Miranda that no one was harmed and tells her that it’s time she learned who she is and where she comes from.

Q.10. What is the name of Caliban’s mother? 

Ans. The name of Caliban’s mother is Sycorax.

Measure for Measure Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What kind of punishment is imposed upon Lucio by the Duke? 

Ans. The Duke passes an order that Lucio must first marry the girl whom he had made pregnant, and that Lucio should then be whipped and hanged. But soon afterwards his whipping is withdrawn.

Q.2. Who does replace Isabella in the ‘bed-trick’ with Angelo? 

Ans. Mariana replaces Isabella in disguise in the ‘bed-trick’ with Angelo.

Q.3. Who asks Isabella to surrender her body to save her brother’s life?

Ans. Angelo asks Isabella to surrender her body to save her brother’s life.

Q.4. Who is the speaker of the words, “We must not make a scarecrow of the law”?

Ans. Angelo, the deputy of the Duke of Vienna is the speaker of the words, “we must not make a scarecrow of the law”.

Q.5. Why does Lucio condemn Angelo? 

Ans. Lucio condemns Angelo for his severity.

Q.6. What is the final judgment on Angelo?

Ans. Angelo is finally pardoned by the Duke.

Q.7. What punishment does Lucio suffer?

Ans. The punishment which Lucio receives is that he must marry the girl whom he had made pregnant and who had given birth to a child by him.

Q.8. What is the reason for Claudio’s failure to marry Juliet? 

Ans. Claudio regards Juliet as his wife but he had not been able to marry her because her marriage dowry was in the possession of some of her relatives who would have opposed the marriage and deprived her of her dowry.

Q,9. What, according to Isabella, is tyrannical for a man of authority?

Ans. Isabella argues before Angelo saying that it is good for a man to possess a giant’s strength but it is tyrannical for him to use it blindly like a giant. 

Q.10. How does Isabella define mercy?

Ans. Isabella defines mercy as a quality which becomes a powerful man more than any symbol of authority. 

Q.11. When does the Duke withdraw his death-sentence against Angelo?

 Ans. When the Provost produces the living Claudio before the Duke, he withdraws the sentence of death against Angelo.

More Brief

Q.1. What judgment is passed upon Claudio by the Duke? 

Ans. The Duke forgives Claudio, asking him to marry Juliet and look after her well.

Q.2. What proposal does the Duke make to Isabella?

Ans. The Duke proposes marriage to Isabella who has impressed him greatly by her purity and sympathetic mind. 

Q.3. What is Shakespeare’s message in Measure for Measure?

Ans. Shakespeare’s intention in Measure for Measure is to emphasise mercy. According to him, when justice is tempered with mercy forgiveness is possible and this is a Christian virtue. 

Q.4. What is the name of the hangman in Measure for Measure!

Ans. Abhorson is the name of the hangman in Measure for Measure.

Q.5. What is the literal meaning of the title “Measure for Measure”?

Ans. The term “measure for measure” means “justice for justice”. That is when a person commits a crime he or she should be made to pay.

Q.6. Why was Claudio given death sentence?

Ans. Claudio was, given death sentence on the charge of have made a girl. Juliet, pregnant without having married her.

Q.7. Whom does Isabella call a “Virgin violater”?

Ans. Isabella calls Angelo a virgin-violater.

Q.8. Which plea does Isabella make to the Duke?

Ans. Isabella begs him for justice.

Q.9. Who is Mistress Overdone?

Ans. Mistress Overdone is a brothel madame.

Q.10. Why is Claudio imprisoned?

Ans. Claudio is imprisoned for fornication with a girl, Juliet who has become pregnant..

Q.11. Who is appointed ‘The deputy of Duke Vincentio”?

Ans. Lord Angelo is appointed the deputy of the Duke of Vienna in his absence.

Q.12. What type of comedy is ‘Measure for Measure”?

Ans. Measure for Measure is a tragi-comedy.

Julius Caesar Brief Suggestions

Q.1.What kind of play is Julius Caesar?

Ans. Julius Caesar is a Roman tragedy, a historical play, based on ancient Roman history.

Q.2. What is Brutus’s last big mistake?

Ans. Overruling Cassius, Brutus makes his last big mistake by insisting that they should advance across the Dardanelles to Macedonia and meet Antony and Octavius at Philippi.

Q.3. How did Pompey die? 

Ans. Pompey was murdered by some of his own friends.

Q.4. What is “Lupercalia”?

Ans. “Lupercalia” refers to a festival, the day of the feast of Lupercal, celebrated by the Romans in honor of the god of fertility and plenty.

Q.5. What do you mean by “Tribunes”?

Ans. The Tribunes are the high officials, city magistrates who look after the welfare of the common people of Rome.

Q.6. What led Brutus to commit suicide?

Ans. Being certain of defeat, Brutus persuades one after another of his men to kill him but they all refuse. At last Strato reluctantly consents to hold Brutus’s sword with which he fatally wounds himself. 

Q.7. What does the Ides of March’ refer to?

Ans. The Ides of March’ refers to the 15th day of the month of March, which is regarded as ominous.

Q.8. How does Portia prove her self-control? 

Ans. Portia shows Brutus a wound which she had voluntarily inflicted upon her thigh on one occasion, just to prove her will-power and self-control.

Q.9. What is Caesar’s attitude to death?

Ans. According to Caesar, since death is inevitable, a brave man never fears death while a coward experiences the fear of death at every step in the course of his life.

Q.10. Who is Artemidorus?

Ans. Artemidorus is a teacher of rhetoric or the art of oratory. He is a well-wisher of Caesar. 

Q.11. How does Antony describe the assassins?

Ans. Antony describes the assassins as noble and honourable persons. He repeats the word honourable until the ironic use he is making of it has sunk consciously or unconsciously into the very system of his hearers.

Q.12. What is the significance of the appearance of Caesar’s ghost to Brutus? 

Ans. The appearance of the ghost of Caesar reminds the audience that Nemesis is still pursuing the assassins, and gives the audience a foreboding as to what the outcome will be.

Q.13. Why does Cassius commit suicide?

Ans. Cassius feels deeply disappointed and dejected at the fleeing away of some of his soldiers from the battlefield and at the capture of Titanius by the enemy troops. So he commits suicide.

More Brief

Q.1. How does Cassius commit suicide?

Ans. Feeling deeply disappointed Cassius hands over his sword to Pindarus and orders him to thrust it into his (Cassius’s) body. Pindarus has no alternative but to carry out Cassius’s order.

Q.2. How is the march of Nemesis complete in Julius Caesar?

Ans. In Julius Caesar the march of Nemesis is completed by the defeat and death of the last conspirator, Brutus. 

Q.3. Why is young Cato introduced in the last act?

Ans. Young Cato is introduced in the last act to provide an example, closely related to Brutus, of the type of old Roman republican party which is disappearing.

Q.4. What was the ambition of Caesar?

Ans. Caesar’s ambition was to be the absolute king of his country with unlimited power and with the Senate completely subservient to him.

Q.5. What is the second mistake of Brutus?

Ans. The second mistake of Brutus is his vetoing the inclusion of Cicero, the one orator who might have neutralized the effect of Antony’s oration that makes the slippery path to their doom. 

Q.6. What is Brutus’s most glaring mistake as the leader of the conspirators?

Ans. The most glaring mistake of Brutus as the leader of the conspirators is his allowing of Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral, because this speech brings about the ruin of the conspirators.

Must Watch and justify yourself- 12 Brief

a) What does Caesar say when he falls to death?

Ans.Ceasers last words, “Eu TU Brute?”, meaning “You too,Brutus”?

b)What is the cause of Brutas’s mental conflict?

Ans.Brutas is mentally broken between his loyalty to Caesar as friend and his duty to the Roman people to save from Caesar’s tyranny.

c)What is the play within play in ‘Hamlet’?

Ans. The play-within-play in Hamlet is called both The Murder of Gonzalo and the Mousetrap.

d)Why was Claudio imprisoned?

Ans.Claudio was imprisoned for forcination with a girl called Juliet who became pregnant.

e)How does Issabela threaten Angelo?

Ans. To expose his wicked design if he does not sign an immediate pardon for her brother.

f) What is the main theme of “Measure for Measure”?

Ans. Measure is the temperance of justice with mercy.

g)How does Lear curse Goneril?

Ans. By expressing a wish that she should become barren and that even if she does bear a child, the child should live to be a source of perverse and unnatural torment to her.

h)What is meant by the sentence “Ripeness is all”?

Ans. Men must endure there going hence, even as their coming hither.

i)How did Gonzalo help Prospero in his calamity?

Ans.Gonzalo helped Prospero and Miranda escape Milan.He filled their low boat with food, clothing and opened books on the magic arts. 

j)How does Caliban use the language taught by Prospero?

Ans. Prospero,as a mark of his kindness taught Caliban in his own language but now the best use he can make of it is to curse Prospero.

k)Who is called a woman of the world in “Othello”?

Ans. Emilia.

I)Why does Roderigo intend to commit suicide?

Ans. Failing to win Desdemona’s love, Roderigo in a hopeless and frustrated mood intends to commit by drowning.

Modern Poetry

Viva Suggestion

Walt Whitman 

Q.1. What is “Song of Myself”?

Ans. “Song of Myself”, written by Walt Whitman, is the longest poem in the volume of poems, The Leaves of Grass.

Q.2. What is the theme of “Song of Myself”?

Ans. Idea of self

Q.3. How does the poet realize the immortality of the soul?

Ans. Death is not the end of life but a transformation into an eternal life.

 Q.4. What does the spear of grass symbolize?

Ans. Symbolizes the generating power of Nature.

Q.5. What is Walt Whitman’s idea of the immortality of the soul? 

Ans. He believes that the souls unite with the Divine Soul after death.

Q.6. What is Whitman’s attitude to sex or procreative ‘urge”?

Ans. As sex is natural, it cannot be evil.

Q.7. In what sense does grass symbolize democracy?

Ans. The grass knows no discrimination by growing at all places, it grows among black and also among white people. Thus it symbolizes democracy. 

Q.8. What according to Whitman, is “the handkerchief of the lord”? 

Ans. The grass.

Q.9. How does Whitman show the equality of the body and the soul?

Ans. Both are equally important for gaining immortality.

Q.10. How does Whitman become a believer in democracy?

Ans. By realizing that all men are his brothers and all women are either his sisters or his beloveds.

More Brief

Q.1. What does the lonely young woman of twenty-eight watch from her window?

Ans. Watch twenty-eight handsome young men bathing near the seashore. 

Q.2. What is the meaning of “unscrew the locks from the doors”? 

Ans. The poet does not like those obstacles which come in the way of the union of souls. 

Q.3. What is Whitman’s idea of ‘eternity’?

Ans. Eternity is made up of years of processes happening over and over again.

Q.4. Why is the poet not afraid of death?

Ans. Because he has realized the mystic truth that death is not the end of life; rather it is a birth into eternal life. 

Q.5. What does the “spotted hawk” symbolize for the poet? 

Ans. The “spotted hawk” symbolizes the poet’s soul.

Q.6. What is the basic symbol in the poem ‘Song of Myself?

Ans.  “I” 

Q.7. Where and when does Whitman behold God? 

Ans. Everywhere, twenty-four hours and each moment. 

Q.8. What does Whitman mean by the word en masse?

Ans.  Democracy.

Q.9, How many sections are there in Song of Myself? 

Ans. Fifty-two.

W B Yeats All Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What is the theme of the poem “When You Are Old”?

Ans. unrequited love/ Fleeting nature of love 

Q.2. What do you mean by “the pilgrim soul”?

Ans. “The pilgrim soul” refers to a pure soul.

Q.3. What is the theme of the poem “The Man Who Dreamed of Fairyland”?

Ans. Deals with an Irishman who is always trying to escape from hard realities into a world of imagination.

Q.4. What is the poem “No Second Troy” about? 

Ans. “No Second Troy” is about Maud Gonne.

Q.5. What kind of beauty, according to Yeats, does Maud Gonne possess?

Ans. like a tightened bow.

 Q.6. What is the theme of the poem “September 1913”? 

Ans.  Expression of the poet’s anger and bitterness at the stupidity of the Irish people, and his tribute to the Irish patriot O’Leary.

Q.7. How does the poet see present Ireland?

Ans. Romantic and rebellious Ireland has been replaced by a land of materialism.

Q.8. How does Yeats pay tribute to O’Leary? 

Ans. Saying, “Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone/ It’s with O’Leary in the grave”.

Q.9: What do you mean by “Kiltarton’s Cross”?

Ans. Refers to a village in West Ireland.

Q.10. What is the name of W.B. Yeats’s daughter? 

Ans. Anne Butler Yeats.

Q.11.What kind of husband does Yeats wish for his daughter?

Ans.  An aristocratic husband 

Q:12. What were Yeats’s views on life-patterns?

Ans. W.B. Yeats was a great upholder of formal courtesy and customary graces of the great aristocratic households. 

Q.13.. What is the theme of the poem “The Tower”?

Ans. The poet’s raging against old age.

Q.14. What is the theme of the poem “Leda and the Swan”? 

Ans. The birth of Homeric Greece.

Q.15. What is the meaning of the phrase “Honey of generation”? 

Ans. The happy incident of birth.

More Brief

Q.1. What is Byzantium?

Ans. Byzantium was the old name of Constantinople or Istanbul, the capital of the Roman Empire. It was an ideal place of art, culture and wisdom. 

Q.2. What is the theme of the poem “The Gyres”? 

Ans. The cyclical order of history or the rise and fall of civilization.

Q.3. What is the poet’s opinion about fine arts? 

Ans. The study of fine arts is not useless even in a time of crisis. Their study enables us to face the tragic realities of life courageously.

Q.4. Why, according to Yeats, is art useful?

Ans. Because Art generates the quality of self control.

Q.5. What is the poet’s view on the rise and fall of civilization? 

Ans. The eternal laws of nature. 

Q.6. What is “The Countess Cathleen”?

Ans. “The Countess Cathleen” is a play written by Yeats for Maud Gonne. 

Q.7. What does Yeats mean by “masterful images”?

Ans. The foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart formed through imagination, grows completely in a pure mind, and thus becomes “masterful images’ ‘.

Q.8. Who does W.B. Yeats address in “When You are Old”?

Ans. Maud Gonne

Q.9. What is “Spiritus Mundi”?

Ans. Yeats defines Spiritus Mundi as “a universal memory and a muse of sorts that provides inspiration to the poet or writer.”

 Q.10. Whom does the poet address as he lands on the shore of Byzantium?

 Ans. The golden smithies of the Emperor.

Q.11. What does falcon symbolize in the poem The Second Coming? 

Ans. Intellect.

Q:12. What does the ‘golden bird’ symbolize to Yeats?

Ans. The liberated soul.

Q.13. What is “intellectual hatred”?

Ans. Hatred of an educated and conscious person. 

Robert Frost All Brief Suggestion

Q.1. Why does the wife hate her husband in ‘Home Burial’? 

Ans. Because he had been unfeeling enough to dig his own baby’s grave.

Q.2. What does the poet assert in the poem ‘Fire and Ice’?

Ans. Fire, symbolizing the intensity of passion or desire, is as destructive as ice, symbolizing the cold of hatred. 

Q.3. What is the moral of the poem ‘Mowing”?

Ans. The value of hard work.

Q.4. What is the meaning of the line, “The fact is the sweetest dream that labour knows”?

Ans. A labourer does not try to escape into a world of dream or fancy from hard reality. He finds the greatest pleasure in his work, honestly and sincerely.

Q.5. What kind of poem is “Mending Wall”?

Ans. “Mending Wall” is a dramatic monologue. 

Q6. Who is the speaker of “Mending Wall”?

Ans. A young man, probably the poet himself.

Q.7. What is the issue of quarrel between the two neighbours in “Mending Wall”? 

Ans. To repair a stone wall that separates their properties.

Q.8. What kind of poem is “The Death of the Hired Man”?

Ans.  Dramatic lyric. 

Q.9. Where is the dramatic action in “The Death of The Hired Man”?

Ans. The change of attitude of the husband towards the hired man.

Q.10. What is the central theme of the poem “The Death Of The Hired Man”?

Ans. The transformation of the stubborn husband.

Q.11. How does Mary define a home?

Ans. According to Mary, home is a place where one does not have to justify oneself as in the outside world, but where one is accepted lovingly for what one is. 

Q.12. What kind of poem is “Home Burial”?

Ans. Dramatic dialogue of blank verse.

Q.13. What is the difference between husband and wife in “Home Burial” in the face of their griefs?

Ans. Amy, the wife, lets grief become her whole world, while her husband has strongly suppressed grief and immersed himself in the world.

Q.14. What philosophy of life does Frost give through his poem  “After Apple-picking”?

Ans. Like Adam and Eve, the man must continue to work in his life. 

Q.15: What is the theme of the poem “The Road Not Taken”?

Ans. The problem of making a choice in life.

More Brief

Q:1. What is the message of the poet in “The Oven Bird”?

Ans. Oven Bird sings of a diminished life, followed by death. Represents the passage of time and the change it brings about.

Q.2. What is the theme of the poem “Birches”?

Ans. The relationship between the real and the ideal worlds, between fact and fancy.

Q.3. To which is life compared in “Birches”?

Ans. Pathless wood.

Q.4. What causes the fatal accident of the boy at the “buzz-saw”?

Ans. When the boy’s sister calls him for supper, his attention is diverted from his work for a second and in that fatal moment his hand was caught by the machine and chopped off by the saw.

Q.5. What is the theme of the poem “Fire and Ice” and how is it presented?

Ans. The destructive force of human passions, love and hatred. 

Q.6. What kind of poem is “Come In”?

Ans. Personal lyric.

Q.7. How did the poem “The Gift Outright” gain popularity? 

Ans. Since its recitation by the poet at the opening ceremony of the late President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Q.8. What do the Americans feel now about their duties to the motherland?

Ans. With courage and determination they could wage the war of independence, and fight for their motherland.

 Q.9. What is the name of the wife in the poem ‘Home Burial”?

Ans. Amy. 

Q.10. What is the central theme of the poem “Mowing”? 

Ans. The vision of New England.

Q.11. What does the wall stand for in “Mending Wall”? 

Ans. The wall stands for barriers.

Q.12. How does Warren define a home? 

Ans. Home is a place where one is forced to meet responsibilities, no matter how unwillingly. It is not a place where one has a sense of love and companionship.

W H Auden All Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What is the theme of the poem “Lullaby”? 

Ans. The need of love between lovers.

Q.2. Who is Venus?

 Ans. Venus in Roman mythology is the goddess of love and beauty (Greek Aphrodite).

Q.3. How does Auden show the permanence of art? 

Ans. Auden says that W. B. Yeats died. But his poems, his art will live on because art is not affected by his death.

Q.4. How does Auden estimate Ireland?

Ans. Auden opines that the political conditions of Ireland, the movements of her people and the climatic condition are still the same as before because of the poetry of W. B. Yeats. 

Q.5. What is intellectual disgrace?

Ans. ‘Intellectual disgrace’ refers to people’s hatred of one another because of the hostile feelings.

Q.6. What is the underlying meaning of “a voice without a face”?

Ans. It refers to the military commanders who speak to the people over radio. Only their voice is heard but their face is not seen.

Q.7. What is the theme of the poem, “Petition?”

Ans. A diagnosis of modern ills, an analysis of their symptoms and a prayer to God to cure them.

Q.8. What are the modern diseases for the cure of which Auden seeks ‘sovereign touch’?

Ans. Psychological diseases like Neurosis, nervous break-down, sore throat, and maladjustment caused by emotion or desire for love and sex. Auden seeks sovereign touch to cure these diseases.

Q.9. How, according to Auden, is a change of society possible?

Ans. Under God’s guidance only through “a change of heart”.

Q.10. What is “Brueghel’s Icarus”?

Ans. “Brueghel’s Icarus” refers to a painting by Pieter Brueghel. Icarus, a boy falling into the sea. 

Q.11. What is the theme of the poem “Musée des Beaux Arts”?

Ans. The human position of suffering in this world. 

Q.12. Why are the limestone men “unable to conceive a god”? 

Ans. Lack the faculty to imagine God. 

Q.13. Who are the best’ and ‘the worst”?

Ans. According to Auden, the best and the worst are the saints (good people) and the Caesars (the bad and ambitious people). 

Q.14. What do the “granite wastes” symbolize?

Ans. Symbolizes Saints-to-be.

Q.15. What is “anti-mythological myth”?

Ans. The myth out of the realities of life, and not out of the imaginary doings of gods and goddesses: 

More Brief

Q.1. What lesson does Auden provide in his poem “In Praise of Limestone”?

Ans. One should accept the reality of life and face it boldly.

Q.2. What does the title “Lullaby” signify? 

Ans. Title indicates the song of the poet to send his beloved to sleep with her head on his arm.

Q.3. Whom does Achilles refer to?

Ans. Achilles refers to the modern man who is unable to exist in a world of cruelty, violence and cowardice.

Q.4. What is Auden’s message in “Lullaby”?

Ans. Eros (Physical love) should be transformed into Agape (universal love and charity).

Q.5. Who ‘according to Auden’ dies morally?

Ans. People who fail to oppose the cruelty of the despotic rulers, die morally because of their cowardice.

Q.6. What is Auden’s message in Lullaby?

Ans. Eros (Physical love) should be transformed into Agape (universal love and charity) .

Q.7.Who is the mother of Achilles?

Ans. Thetis, a sea-nymph, according to Greek mythology.

Q.8. What is the source of the title of the poem ‘Out, Out’?

Ans. The title “Out, Out-” has been taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Q.9. Why does Auden call the lover faithless?

Ans. Because he is a human being with necessary human imperfections and as such he is bound to be inconstant in his love.

Q.10. What does the title “The Shield of Achilles” signify?

Ans. It symbolizes art or image of the human condition in the contemporary world.

Dylan Thomas All Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What is the source of the poem “The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flowers”?

Ans. The first two Swansea Notebooks which Dylan had begun at the age of 15.

Q.2. What is “crooked rose”?

Ans. “Crooked rose” refers to Blake’s poem “The Sick Rose” in which the rose is diseased because it is eaten away by canker.

Q.3. What does the ‘fountain-head’ symbolize?

Ans. It symbolizes the womb, the fountain-head of life, from which Time sucks (dries up) the newly born.

Q.4. What do you mean by “spittled eyes”?

Ans. The pretentious mourners were rubbing their eyes with spit to make them look as though they had been crying. 

Q.5. How is the boy Dylan shaken with grief at the death of his aunt?

Ans. He feels as if he should cut his throat and kill himself. 

Q.6. How does Thomas estimate his aunt?

Ans. Ann Jones, Thomas’ aunt, was an epitome of love and generosity which flowed out like the spring of water gushing out of a fountain. 

Q.7.What made Dylan Thomas a poet?

Ans. His love for his aunt, her death, and writing an elegy in memory of her, have made him a poet in the real sense. 

Q.8. What is ‘Zion”?

Ans. ‘Zion’ means Jewish. It is also the name of a small hill in Jerusalem.

Q.9. What is the poet’s idea of death in the poem “A Refusal to Mourn the Death By Fire of a Child in London”? 

Ans. Death is not the end of life but a beginning.

Q.10. What is the theme of the poem, “In My Craft or Sullen Art”?

Ans. Thomas says about his poetic manifesto, giving an exposition of his artistic process. 

More Brief

Q.1. When does Thomas exercise his poetic art?

Ans. In the calm and quiet night.

Q.2. In what sense the poet’s art is unrewarding or sullen? 

Ans. Because of no reward or praise even from those for whom he writes.

Q.3. What is the meaning of green age?

Ans.  Boyhood or the youthful period of life.

Q.4: What does “The Force’ signify?

Ans. “The Force” refers to some powerful energy. It may be the “Life-Force” of Bernard Shaw or sexual urge or simply the process of Time. 

Q.5. What does the poet mean by ‘Wintry fever”?

Ans. Refers to sickness of old age. 

Q.6.What does Thomas mean by “Spindrift pages”?

Ans. The short-lived nature of his poems. 

Q.7. What does Dylan Thomas mean by Green fuse?

Ans. ‘Fuse’ suggests explosive force or energy or power. It is called ‘green’ because it is at work in Nature which is green.

Q.8. What kind of poem is After the Funeral?

 Ans. “After the Funeral” is an elegy written in memory of Ann Jones, the poet’s maternal aunt.

Q.9.What are “mule praises”?

Ans. The hypocritical mourners grief for the death of the poets aunt are not only conventional but also stupid. So he calls their mourning ‘mule praises”.

Q.10. What are “stuffed foxes and stale fern”

Ans. The stuffed fox and stale fern” refer to various articles of decoration in Aunt Jones’ room.

Seamus Heaney All Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What is the theme of the poem “Death of a Naturalist”?

Ans. The loss of childhood innocence and the initiation into adulthood.

Q.2. Who was Miss Walls? 

Ans. Miss Walls was the school teacher teaching the children about the frog’s reproductive system.

Q.3. What is the theme of the poem “Follower”? 

Ans. The parent-child relationship.

Q.4. What was the ambition of the poet in his boyhood? 

Ans. To be as fine a ploughman as his father. 

Q.5. What is the theme of the poem “Requiem For the Croppies”?

Ans.  Tribute to the patriotic Irish rebels..

Q.6. Who is the speaker of the poem “Requiem for the Croppies”?

Ans. The narrator who is one of the rebels.

Q.7. What does “Croppies” refer to?

Ans. “Croppies” refers to the ‘croppy boys’.

Q.8. Who is the Tollund Man?

Ans. He was sacrificed to the goddess of fertility in the early Iron Age.

Q.9. What does Seamus Heaney’s own Catholic ritual and the sacrifice of the victims’ fate of the Tollund Man represent? 

Ans. Represents the pagan sacrifice, by the modern men of violence on the altar of nationalism.

Q.10. What is the theme of the poem “Punishment”? 

Ans. The troubles of the present Ireland.

Q.11. Who is the girl referred to in the poem “Punishment”? 

Ans. In 1950 some Danish farmers discovered some bodies of women few thousand years old, preserved perfectly in the peat. The girl in the poem “Punishment” is one of them. She was brutally killed (punished) for adultery,

Q.12. What truth does the poet realize in “Punishment”?

 Ans. He would have remained quiet when the little girl was punished in the long past, because he stands “dumb” now when the girls of his neighborhood are tortured for their friendship with British soldiers.

More Brief

Q.1. What kind of man was the fisherman in the poem “Casualty”?

Ans. The fisherman spoke little and cared little for the rules of society.

Q.2. How does the poet criticize the role of his society in “Casualty”?

Ans. People obeyed the unofficial dictate from the IRA that they stay in doors. 

Q.3. What is the message of the poem “Casualty”?

Ans. The dead fisherman knew the solution to the problems of Ireland. 

Q.4.. What is the theme of the poem “Funeral Rites”?

Ans.  A satisfactory burial for those who have been killed in the violence of Northern Ireland.

Q.5. What is the message of the poet in “Funeral Rites”?

Ans. The poet in his poem “Funeral Rites” calls upon his countrymen (Irish people) to stop the feuds between Catholics and Protestants.

Q.6. What is surrealism?

Ans. Surrealism is a style in art and literature in which ideas, images, and objects are combined in a strange way, like in a dream. 

Q.7. What is the theme of the poem ‘Digging”?

Ans. The poet’s choice of a career to dig up the perfect words with his pen. 

Q.8. What does the girl in the poem ‘Punishment’ symbolize? 

Ans. The girl in the poem, “Punishment” symbolizes Ireland as she, like Ireland, was murdered at the hand of a group of oppressors. 

Q.9. How was young Heaney alienated from his father?

Ans. Because of his ineptitude and because he interfered with his serious work on the land.

Q.10. What kind of farm life does Heaney portray in the poem Digging?

Ans. Heaney portrays the hard life of the farmers who have to work in an unfavourable situation.

Must Watch and justify yourself-12 Brief

a) Where does Whitman behold God?

Ans. He feels the presence of God everywhere each hour of the twenty four and each moment.

b) How many sections are there in the poem, “Song of Myself?

Ans.52 sections.

c)What kind of husband does Yeats wish for his daughter?

Ans. He prays that his daughter be married to a good husband who takes her to a home with aristocratic values and traditions.

d)Whom do ‘Leada’ and ‘the swan’ represent?

Ans.Leada represents a Greeck woman and the swan represents the Zeus (or Jupiter)

e) Who is the speaker in the poem, “Mending Wall”?

Ans. The speaker says it all of his point of view in a first person narrative.

f) What is ‘Horn of Plenty’?

Ans.Coruncupia comes from Latin cornu copiae, which translates literally as ‘horn of Plenty’.

g)What does inner weather symbolize? 

Ans. The spiritual anguish,doubts and conflicts by which the poet is torn and tossed.

h)Who was Achilles?

Ans.Achilies refers to the modern man who is unable to think in a world of cruelty, violence and cowardice.

i)Who is Harlod Wilson?

Ans. A young school boy.

j)To which life is compared in ‘Briches’?

Ans.Life is compared to a pathless wood.

k)What is the meaning of green age?

Ans. Boyhood or the youthful period of life.

I)Who is a Miss Wall?

Ans. Miss Wall is a school teacher.

Modern Drama 

Viva Suggestion

You Never Can Tell Brief  Suggestion

Q.1. What is the subject of the play You Never Can Tell?

Ans. A dentist falls in love and a family accidentally meets the father they have never known. 

Q. 2. What is the theme of the play You Never Can Tell?

Ans. None can tell what will happen in the future.

Q.3. What is the setting of the play You Never Can Tell? 

Ans. The play is set in an English seaside resort one day in August 1896. 

Q.4. Who is Mrs. Clandon?

 Ans. She is the mother of Dolly, Philip, and Gloria, and the estranged wife of Mr. Crampton. She is feminist who is the author of a number of modern feminist tracts.

Q.5. Who is Valentine?

Ans. Valentine is the young dentist who falls in love with Gloria and finally marries her.

Q.6.. Who is Dolly?

Ans. Dolly is the daughter of Mrs. Lanfrey Clandon and twin sister of Philip Clandon. She is eighteen years old and has “a rapidly clearing cloud of Spartan obstinacy on her tiny firm set mouth and quaintly squared eyebrows.” 

0.7. What is the hire-purchase system?

 Ans. Hire-purchase system is the system of buying a thing paying part of the price at the first installment and the rest in the subsequent installments.

0.8. How old is Valentine?

Ans. Valentine is thirty-one years old.. 

Q.9. What is Dialectical Society?

Ans. It is a philosophical society discussing problems of philosophy, science etc.

Q.10.What is The Origin of the Species?

Ans. The Origin of Species is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology.

Q.11. How does the waiter console Valentine at the end of the drama?

 Ans. He consoles him by saying that Gloria may prove an ideal wife to him and their married life may be one of ideal bliss and felicity

Q.12. What is synonymous with life force? 

Ans. Nature is synonymous with life force.

Q.13. What is the duel of sex?

Ans. The duel of sex refers to men’s making devices to win the hearts of women and women’s attempt to resist the love by rationality.

Q.14. What is a hedonist?

Ans. A hedonist is a person who believes that pleasure or happiness is the most important goal in life. 

Q.15. What was Valentine’s tragedy?

Ans. It was Valentine’s tragedy that he could not stir Gloria’s heart while he himself was stirred to the depth.

More Brief

Q.1. What is the New Drama?

Ans. The New Drama is a type of drama which started at the end of the 19th century and which deals with realistic social issues instead of the idealism of the traditional drama.

Q.2.Who is Walter Boon? 

Ans. He is the head waiter at the Marine Hotel. He is the father of “Bohun”, an eminent barrister.

Q.3. What is Fabian Society?

Ans. Fabian Society is socialist society founded in 1884 in London, having as its goal the establishment of a democratic socialist state in Great Britain. The Fabians put their faith in evolutionary socialism rather than in revolution.

Q.4. What kind of drama is ‘You Never Can Tell”?

Aas. The play You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw is set on the coast of Torbay in Devon, England. 

Q.5. Who is Mr. Crampton?

Ans. Mr. Fergus Crampton is the long-estranged husband of Mrs. Lanfrey Clandon; he is father to Gloria, Philip and Dolly -Mrs. Clandon’s three children.

Q.6. Where is the dentist’s camber located? 

Ans. The dentist’s chamber is situated in a watering place on the coast of Torbay in Devon.

Q.7. Who is Gloria?

Ans. Gloria is the attractive daughter of Mrs. Clandon. She has been raised to be like her mother but unlike her mother she is a passionate girl.

Q.8. What is Mr. Crampton’s view on marriage? 

Ans. His view on marriage is: “Marry and be miserable”.

Q.9. Who is the old friend of Mr Crampton?

Ans. McComas 

Q.10. What kind of man is Mr. McComas?

Ans. McComas was a forward young man, a disciple of Herbert Spencer, an agnostic in religion and a radical in politics.

Q.11. What is New Theatre?

Ans. It is a theatrical organization which was established in London in 1891 in order to popularize the intellectual dramas of Ibsen and Shaw.

Q.12. Why is valentine called a five shilling dentist?

Ans. Valentine is called a five-shilling dentist because he charges five shillings for everything such as extracting teeth, giving gas etc. 

Q.13. What is the message of the drama You Never Can Tell?

Ans. The message of the drama is that young men and women at the point of marrying regard marriage as a source of dread but after all marriages are not so unhappy and uncomfortable as they think.

Desire Under the Elms Brief Suggestion

Q.1. Who is Eben?

Ans. Eben is the third son of Ephraim Cabot by his second wife. He is twenty-five years old and good-looking. He makes love to his stepmother to take revenge on his father. 

Q.2. Who is Abbie Putnam?

Ans. Abbie Putnam is a sensual woman of thirty-five. She passionately falls in love with Eben but later on her passion turns into true love.

Q.3. Who is Simeon?

Ans. Simeon is the first son of Cabot by his first wife. He is firty-nine years old, a hard and squat man.

Q.4. Who are the three sons of Cabot? 

Ans. His three sons are Simeon and Peter by his first wife and Eben by his second wife.

Q.5. What is the name of Simeon’s wife?

Ans. The name of his wife is Jenny. 

Q.6. What is meant by the line “No one never killed nobody”?

 Ans. By the line Simeon in Desire Under the Elms means that no one ever killed anybody. He means that a killer is always something, not somebody. 

Q.7. What is a parlour? 

Ans. A parlour is a room in a house which has comfortable chairs and is used for meeting guests. 

Q.8. What kind of room is the parlour in Cabot’s house?

Ans. It is a grim, repressed room like a tomb. 

Q.9.Why does Abbie fall in love with Eben?

 Ans. Abbie falls in love with Eben for two reasons: (i) her passion for him and (ii) she wants to have a son so that she can possess the farm. 

Q.10. Who is the biological father of Abbie’s son?

Ans. Eben is the biological father of Abbie’s son. 

Q.11. Why does Abbie win our sympathy at the end of the play? 

Ans. She wins our sympathy by her firm stand that she must accept the punishment for killing her baby.

Q.12. Why does Eben win our sympathy at the end of the play? 

Ans. He wins our sympathy by voluntarily sharing Abbie’s punishment on the grounds that he had a hand in committing the murder.

Q.13. How old is the third wife of Ephraim Cabot?

Ans. She is thirty-five years old.

Q.14. Why does Abbie marry old Cabot? 

Ans. She marries old Cabot for financial security.

Q.15. Who is compared to a ripe fruit? 

Ans. Cabot is compared to a ripe fruit.

More Brief

Q.1. Who is Maw?

Ans. Maw the deceased of Eben.

Q.2. What does the Sheriff desire? 

Ans. The Sheriff wishes that he owned the Cabot farm.

Q.3. How does Abbie kill her little son? 

Ans. Abbie kills her little son by suffocating it by putting a pillow over its face.

Q.4. How old is Cabot?

Ans. Cabot was seventy-five years old.

Q.5. What do the elms symbolize in “Desire Under the Els”? 

Ans. The elms symbolize the dominance of female characters They are the symbols of maternal forces in the life of some of the characters in the play. 

Q.6. Why do Simeon and Peter go to California?

Ans. They want to go to California in order to seek gold, that is, to become rich. 

Q:7. Why does Eben fall in love with Abble?

Ans. Eben falls in love with his stepmother, Abbie for two reasons: (i) his passion for her and (ii) his desire to take revenge on his father on his mother’s behalf.

Q.8. Who is Rachel?

Ans. Rachel was the daughter of Laban and the younger sister of Leah, Jacob’s first wife. Jacob fell in love with her and married her but she was unable to conceive. When she prayed to God for a child, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

Death of a Salesman Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What are the themes of the play Death of a Salesman?

Ans. The American Dream; abandonment; betrayal

Q.2. Who is Willy Loman? 

Ans. Willy Loman is an aging salesman. He suffers from depression and anxiety as a result of his dissipating career, his estranged relationship with his oldest son, Biff, and his guilt over an extramarital affair.

Q.3. Who is Happy Loman? 

Ans. Happy Loman is the Lomans’ younger son. He is thirty-two years old. He is a womanizer driven by his sexuality. He works as an assistant but exaggerates his position and his authority.

Q.4. Who is Bernard?

Ans. Bernard is Charley’s son and an important, successful lawyer.

Q.5. Who is Uncle Ben?

Ans. He is Willy’s older brother. He made a fortune in the African jungle by the time he was 21 years old. He once offered Willy a job in Alaska. 

Q.6. Who is Howard Wagner?

 Ans. He is Willy’s boss. Howard inherited the company from his ther, whom Willy regarded as “a masterful man” and “a prince.” 

Ans. New England

Q. 7. What is New England?

Ans. It refers to the five Eastern states of: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. 

Q.8. What is the American Dream Willy believes in? 

Ans. Willy wholeheartedly believes in the American Dream that states a hard working man with personal attractiveness certainly achieves success in life.

Q.9. Why does Willy thank God?

Ans. He thanks God for building his two sons like Adonis, handsome young man in Greek mythology, loved by Venus, the goddess of beauty.

Q.10. What is open sesame?

Ans. It is any unfailing means of gaining admission or achieving some other end; these words were spoken to open the door of the thieves’ den in the story of Ali Baba in The Arabian Nights. 

Q.11. What is Casino?

Ans. It is a card game in which eleven points are played, the ten of diamonds counting two and the two spades one.

Q.12. How did Willy try to kill himself? W

Ans. When Willy had his car accident in February, a woman saw that he deliberately smashed into the bridge railing to drive his car into the river to commit suicide. Willy has also tried to use the gas line to kill himself.

Q.13. What does the Woman represent?

Ans. The Woman merely represents Willy’s discontent in life.

 Q.14. Who is Dave Singleman?

Ans. Dave Singleman is a mythic salesman whose success inspired Willy to become a salesman.

Q.15. What is the name of Biff’s math teacher?

Ans. Birnbaum

Q.16. What does the stocking symbolize?

Ans. The stockings are a symbol of Willy’s infidelity to his wife, Linda

Q.17. Who is compared to a little boat in Death of a Salesman? 

Ans. Linda compares Willy to a little boat which is looking for a harbour.

Q.18. What does gardening symbolize? 

Ans. The gardening symbolizes Willy’s success and failure.

More Brief

Q.1. What do the seeds symbolize?

Ans. The seeds symbolize something permanent for his family.

Q.2. What is Willy’s “proposition”?

Ans. His “proposition” refers to his plan to kill himself in order to leave Linda and Biff with $20,000 of insurance money. 

Q.3. What does a dime a dozen’ mean?

Ans. The expression ‘dime a dozen’ refers to something available in large quantities. It suggests that the item is not rare and so it is not of great value. So, a dime a dozen means a person who is ordinary, not special or extraordinary.

Q.4. Who convinces Willy to commit suicide?

Ans. Ben convinces Willy to commit suicide.

Q.5. How does Willy kill himself?

Or. How does Willy die?

Ans. Willy kills himself by purposely crashing his car.

Q.6. Who is Willy’s true friend?

Ans. Charley is Willy’s only true friend in Death of a Salesman, and he recognizes Willy’s need for acknowledgment and appreciation. Hoillo 

Q.7. Do you justify Willy’s suicide? Why?

Ans. Willy’s suicide cannot be justified because it defies his own intentions. Willy believes his suicide will resolve the disorder in his life. By committing suicide, he will be able to pacify Linda, win Biff’s respect and display his popularity as a salesman and an individual. But what happens after his death is just the opposite. 

Q.8. What is an American Dream?

Ans. An American Dream is a set of ideals that are thought to create equal opportunity for prosperity and success for the citizens. It is a sharp contrast to the reality of Willy’s life in Death of a Salesman. In fact, America is not a place for easy opportunity and success. 

Q.9. What is the full title of Death of a Salesman?

Ans. The full title is Death of a Salesman: Certain Private . Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem.

Q.10. What is the amount of Willy’s life-insurance?

Ans. $20,000

Q.11. What is a requiem?

Ans. Requiem is a funeral hymn or dirge for the dead. 

Q.12. Who is Linda?

Ans. Linda is Willy Loman’s loyal and loving wife. She has murmured the family through all of Willy’s misguided attempts at success, and her emotional strength and perseverance support Willy until his collapse.

Q.13. What is Happy’s real name?

Ans. His real name is Harold.

Q.14. In what sense is Biff a failure?

Ans. Biff is aimless. He is not able to hold a real job. He hops from job to job after high school and is concerned that he has wasted his life. He has had twenty or thirty different types of jobs since he left home before the war, and everything turns out the same.

Q.15. What are the symbols used in the play Death of a Salesman?

Ans. Seeds, diamonds, Linda’s and The Woman’s stockings, the rubber hose.

Q.16. Why did the Salesman die?

Ans Willy commits suicide to provide his family with financial security and to make Biff succeed in business.

The Glass Menagerie Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What is the original title of The Glass Menagerie? 

Ans. The original title of the play was The Gentleman Caller. 

Q.2. What type of drama is The Glass Menagerie?

Ans. It is a family drama.

Q.3. Who is Amanda?

Ans. Amanda Wingfield is the mother of Tom and Laura. She spent her youth in the south, and in a way she continues to live there, endlessly telling her children stories of her life back in those days.

Q.4. Who is Tom?

Ans. Tom Wingfield is the narrator of the play The Glass Menagerie as well as a character in it. He is Amanda’s son and Laura’s brother. Tom is a poet, and he feels stifled by his unrewarding job at the warehouse and the tense situation at home.

Q.5. Who is Laura?

Ans. Laura Wingfield is Amanda’s daughter. She is an extremely shy young woman in her early twenties. Following a childhood illness she is crippled, and wears a leg brace.

Q.6. What is a fire escape?

Ans. The fire escape is structure that serves as an entrance to and exit from the Wingfield apartment. 

Q.7. What does the fire escape symbolize?

Ans. The fire escape is a physical symbol of being trapped or a method of escape. It represents exactly what its name implies: an escape from the fires of frustration and dysfunction that rage in the Wingfield household. Williams describes life in these tenements as the constant burning of the “slow and implacable fires of human desperation.” 

Q.8. Who is the poet in The Glass Menagerie? 

Ans. Tom Wingfield is the poet in The Glass Menagerie.

Q.9. What kind of play is The Glass Menagerie?

Ans. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play. 

Q.10. What is a memory play?

Ans. A memory play is a kind of play that tells a memory that goes back in time.

Q.11. What is a gentleman caller? 

Ans. A gentleman caller is a boyfriend or a marriage partner. It is a person who tries to win a girl’s hand in marriage.

Q.12. Who is the fifth character in The Glass Menagerie? 

Ans. Tom’s father, Mr. Wingfield, is the fifth character in the play. 

Q.13. Why does Mr. Wingfield abandon his family?

Ans. He abandons his family because of his love of travel and adventure.

Q.14. Why did Jim used to call Laura ‘Blue Roses’?

Ans Jim was Laura’s high school friend. Once she told him that she had been away from school because of her illness with an attack of pleurosis. He heard it as Blue Roses. Since then he began to call her Blue Roses.

Q.15. What was Soldan?

Ans. Soldan is the name of the high school at which Laura studied.

Q.16. What is The Homemaker’s Companion?

Ans. The Homemaker’s Companion is a magazine for women. 

Q.17. Does Tom like his job?

Ans.. Tom does not like his job. He continues his job against his will. He hates going to the warehouse. Instead of going to the warehouse he likes his brains to be smashed with a crowbar. 

Q.18. Who broke some of Laura’s glass menagerie?

Ans. Tom broke some of Laura’s glass menagerie.

More Brief

Q.1.How is life according to Amanda?

Ans. She tells Tom that life is not easy as he wishes it to be. According to her life should be led like the Spartans who lived a life. of frugality and strict self-discipline.

Q.2. What is “Annunciation”?

Or, What does “Annunciation” suggest?

Ans. “Annunciation” simply means announcement. It also refers to the Catholic celebration of God’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she is pregnant with Jesus Christ. Jim, in the play, may be seen as a savior for Laura and for the entire family.

Q.3. What is the full name of the gentleman caller? 

Ans. His full name is James D. O’Connor. (The D. is for Delaney) 

Q.4. Why does Jim nickname Tom “Shakespeare”?

Ans. Jim called Tom “Shakespeare” because of his habit of writing poems in the warehouse bathroom when work was slow..

Q.5. How is Jim different from Laura? 

Ans. Jim is a representative from the “world of reality.” Whereas Laura’s life is built around glass, Jim plans to build his life around the “social poise” that consists of knowing how to use words to influence people. 

Q.6. What is Laura’s favourite figurine?

Ans. Her favourite figurine is the unicorn.

0.7. How is the horn of the unicorn broken?

Ans. While they dance, Jim accidentally bumps the table on which the glass unicorn rests. The unicorn falls and its horn is broken off.

Q.8. What is Jim’s view of democracy?

Ans. According to Jim, money is the means of gaining power. It is the cycle, he says, on which democracy is built. Thus, he calls money and power the cycle on which democracy is built. 

Q.9. “Yes, I know the tyranny of women!”- Who says this?

Ans. Amanda in The Glass Menagerie says this to Jim.

Q.10. What was Tennessee William’s real name?

Ans. His real name is Thomas Lanier Williams.

Q.11. Who was Midas?

Ans. Midas was a legendary King of Phrygia whose touch turned everything to gold. 

Q.12. Why does Amanda consider Tom as her right-handed bower?

Ans. She looks upon Tom as her right-hand bower that is the Jack of trumps in a card game called Euchre. In Euchre, Jack is the highest-ranking trump card. By calling Tom ‘right-hand bower”, she refers to him as the main support of her life.

Q.13. What does the broken unicorn symbolize? 

Ans. The broken unicorn may be taken as Laura’s broken hopes. We may also say that the broken unicorn is no longer unique like Laura but instead it is ordinary like Jim. It may represent her broken hopes for love and romance, and she gives the symbol of her love to Jim to take away with him since he has broken her as well as her unicorn.

Q.14. What is a Merchant Marine?

Ans. The Merchant Marine is the fleet of ships that carries imports and exports during peacetime and becomes a naval auxiliary during wartime to deliver troops and war materials.

Must Watch and justify yourself-12 Brief

a)Who is the twin brother of Dolly?

Ans.Philip.

b)How old is Mr. Crampton?

Ans. Nearly 60 years old.

c)What is Fabian society?

Ans. A socialist society founded in 1884 in London.

d) Who is Semion?

Ans. The first son of Cabot by his first wife.

e) How old is Cabot?

Ans. 75 years old.

f)Why is Eben hostile to his step brothers?

Ans. Because they do not protest when their father makes Eben’s mother work hard like a slave.

g)Who is Linda?

Ans. Willy Loman’s loyal and loving wife.

h)In what city does Willy Loman live?*

Ans.In New York City.

i)What is Willy’s ‘proposition’?

Ans. His plan to kill himself in order to leave Linda and Biff with $20,000 of insurance money.

j)What was Tennessee Williams real name?

Ans. Thomas Lainer Williams.

k)Why was Laura dropped out of college?

Ans. As she was simply too nervous to cope with the typing course she was taking there.

I)Where does Tom Wingfield work?

Ans.In a shoe factory.

Modern Novel 

Viva Suggestion

The Old Man and The Sea 

Q.1. What is the theme of The Old Man and the Sea? 

Ans. The Old Man and the Sea deals with man’s struggle with the natural world.

Q.2. What is the meaning of Santiago? 

Ans. The name Santiago means Saint James, a central figure in the traditions of Spanish (and Latin American) Catholicism, and himself a fisherman.

Q.3. How many days does Santiago fail to catch any fish in the sea? 

Ans. Eighty-four

Q.4. Who is Joe DiMaggio? 

Ans. Joe DiMaggio was a great American baseball player.

Q.5. How does Santiago become sure about the Marlin getting hooked?

Ans. When Santiago feels a heavy pull upon the line, he becomes sure of the marlin getting hooked. 

Q.6. What do you mean by “the rapier bill”?

Ans. “The rapier bill” refers to the Marlin.

Q.7. What is the choice of the old fisherman? 

Ans. The old fisherman’s choice is to go out to find a fish “beyond all people”. 

Q.8. How does Santiago capture the great Marlin?

Ans. After a lot of struggle the great Marlin at last comes to the side of the skiff and Santiago drives his harpoon into its heart and kills it.

Q.9. What weapons does Santiago use to fight against the sharks?

Ans. Santiago uses his harpoon, knife, the gaff, the two oars, the tiller, the short club etc to fight against the sharks. 

Q.10. How long is the Marlin and who measures it? 

Ans. One of the fishermen measures the length of the Marlin’s skeleton which is eighteen feet.

More Brief

Q.1. What is Gulf Stream?

Ans. The Gulf Stream is a major sea-current that flows eastwards off the north coast of Cuba.

Q.2. What does the “sea” in The Old Man and the Sea stand for? 

Ans. Represents the Universe and Santiago’s isolation in the Universe.

Q.3. How does Santiago kill the Mako shark?

Ans. Santiago hits the Mako shark with his harpoon.

Q.4. Who is the protagonist of the novel The Old Man and the Sea?

Ans. Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman. 

Q.5. What is the most tragic moment of Santiago’s life? 

Ans. The most tragic moment of Santiago’s life comes when on the way of his getting back to his shack he stops for a moment and looking back sees in the reflection of the port lights, the great tail of the great Marlin, a mere skeleton standing up behind the skiff’s stern.

Q.6. What is the “Virgin of Cobre”?

Ans. “The Virgin of Cobre” is a sacred figure worshiped on the island of Cuba.

Lord of the Flies Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What attitude to the beast is shown by Ralph and Jack? 

Ans. Ralph and Jack dismiss the idea of the “beastie” as ridiculous. 

Q.2. What are the three categories of boys on the island?

Ans. The boys of the island fall into three broad categories: ‘the biguns (Ralph, Jack, Piggy and Simon); middle category (Robert and Maurice) and the ‘littluns’ (boys of around six years of age). 

Q.3. What does the pig dance symbolize?

Ans. The new way of life that is replacing the organized society of Ralph. 

Q.4.What makes Jack disregard Ralph as the leader of the boys?

Ans. Jack’s contempt for Piggy and his lack of respect for the authority of Ralph.

Q.5. When does the second mock hunt occur?

Ans. The second mock hunt is held by the boys (Jack and his hunters) in the course of their search for the beast.

Q.6. What is the significance of the second mock hunt?

Ans. The second mock hunt tends to deteriorate into a primitive ritual.

Q.7. What is Castle Rock?

Ans. Jack and his new tribe plan to build a new camp in the area of the island called Castle Rock.

Q.8. Where is the climax of the novel, Lord of the Flies?

Ans. The killing of the sow by Jack and his hunting tribe is the climax of the novel, Lord of the Flies.

Q.9. When does the third mock hunt take place? 

Ans. The third mock hunt takes place later in the story after Jack has established himself as the chief of a large number of Biguns (Big boys) who have deserted Ralph. 

Q.10. What discovery has Simon made?

Ans. There was no beast on the mountain top but only the dead body of a parachutist.

Q.11. What irony of fate does Simon suffer?

Ans. Simon himself is taken to be the beast and becomes the victim of their cruelty-he is killed.

Q.12. What does Piggy’s death symbolize?

Ans. Piggy’s death symbolizes the obliteration of intellect and reason from the island.

 Q.13. Why is Ralph alone at the end of the story?

Ans. After the death of Simon and Piggy, his strong supporters, he is alone against his enemies. 

Q.14. What is a conch?

Ans. A conch is the shell or outer covering of the body of a kind -fish. 

More Brief

Q.1. How is Piggy killed?

Ans. Roger pushes a huge boulder down the slope toward Piggy. As a result he and the conch are both crushed beneath the great rock. 

Q.2. Who discovered the conch?

Ans. Ralph.

Q.3. Who are littluns?.

Ans. The littluns are the younger boys who are treated as almost one character and are often dominated by the older boys. 

Q.4.Who is the Christ-like figure in ‘Lord of the Flies”?

Ans. Simon

Q.5. Which devil in the Bible does the title ‘Lord of the Flies’ refer to?

Ans. Beelzebub.

Q.6. Why does Piggy teach Ralph to blow the conch shell? 

Ans. Piggy teaches Ralph to blow the conch shell so that he can assemble them. 

Q.7. How did the children make fire on the mountain in Lord of the Flies?

Ans. Using Piggy’s glasses.

Q.8. What does the pig’s head on the stick signify?

Ans.  Symbol of evil. The head is the embodiment of the actual beast on the island, the darkness that lives within all people, original sin, and human nature itself.

Q.9. What does the destruction of the conch signify?

Ans. The destruction of the conch signifies the end of all civilized behaviour, and democracy.

Q.10. What is Peggy’s attitude to the beast on the island?

Ans. Using his knowledge of science and natural logic, Piggy dismisses the notion of the beast, being a creature of the imagination.

The Scarlet Letter Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What moral does the narrator of The Scarlet Letter say, is central to the story?

Ans. “Be true! Be true! Be true!”. The inability of Dimmesdale to be honest is pointed to as the central cause of his ongoing distress.

Q.2. What promise does Chillingworth exact from Hester?

Ans. Hester promises to keep her husband’s identity a secret.

Q.3. How is Pearl described by the author?

Ans. Pearl is described by the author as wild, defiant, moody, exuberant, undisciplined, perceptive, and perverse.

Q.4. How does Pearl play with the scarlet letter? 

Ans. One afternoon Pearl pelts the spot of the scarlet letter on her mother’s breast with wild flowers, while Hester endures the emotional pain.

Q.5. Why does Dimmesdale cry out while on the scaffold?

Ans. At the thought that his guilt is exposed to the universe.

Q.6. When is Hester untrue to the scarlet letter?

Ans. Hester becomes untrue to the scarlet letter when she lies to Pearl. 

Q.7. What rumour has Pearl overheard at a house, visited by Hester?

Ans. That her mother regularly meets a devil in the forest. 

Q.8. What is Dimmesdale’s estimate about Chillingworth?

Ans. According to Dimmesdale, Chillingworth has committed the vilest sin, because he has sought continual revenge in a calculated manner, while the two lovers, though sinners, have no intention to harm anybody.

Q.9. What does Pearl’s washing off of Dimmesdale’s kiss signify?

Ans. An eventual acceptance of his kiss in the climatic scene of the novel.

Q.10. What is the irony of the situation on the day of the Election Sermon?

Ans. While Hester and her scarlet letter are the centre of attention of one crowd, Dimmesdale with the burden on his chest. ironically is the centre of another group. 

0.11. Where are the four major characters during the final scaffold scene?

Ans. Hester Prynne, Pearl. Arthur Damesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.

More Brief

Q.1. What is a scaffold?

Ans. It is a raised wooden platform used formerly for the public execution of criminals.

Q.2. What is “The Scarlet Letter”?

Ans. The Scarlet Letter’ is a novel of historical fiction written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

The scarlet letter “A,” formerly worn by one convicted of Adultery.

Q.3. Why does Hester prefer to accept her fate?

Ans. To protect Dimmesdale.

Q.4. Who is Pearl in The Scarlet Letter? 

Ans. Pearl is Hester’s illegitimate daughter.

Q.5. Who is Chillingworth?

Ans. Roger Chillingworth is actually Hester’s husband in disguise.

Q.6. Where does Hester spend the last part of her life?

Ans. Several years later Hester returns to Boston and spends the last part of her life.

Q.7. What does the letter ‘A’ stand for in The Scarlet Letter?

Ans. Originally the letter ‘A’ stands for  adultery. 

Q.8. Why is Chillingworth called a ‘leech”?

Ans. In ancient times doctors used leeches to draw out bad blood from the human body and similarly Chillingworth is also trying to bring out the secret from Dimmesdale of his adultery with Hester.

Q.9. What is the effect of Dimmesdale’s confession on Chillingworth?

Ans. Frustrated by Dimmesdale’s confession and death, Chillingworth withers away and dies within a year.

Brave New World Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What is the theme of Brave New World?

Ans. Contemporary trends of British and American society.

Q.2. What is the setting of Brave New World?

Ans. Brave New World is set in the fictional year of A.F. 632. In this fictional world A.F. stands for “After Ford”, which translates to 632 years after the invention of the first Model T. car by Henry Ford, the American industrialist.

Q.3. What does the World State refer to?

Ans. The World State refers to a fictional state by Huxley in Brave New World. 

Q.4. How does John the Savage die?

Ans. He commits suicide out of guilty conscience. 

Q.5. When and where does the story of Brave New World take place? 

Ans. The story of Brave New World takes place in the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre in the year A. F. (After Ford) in 632.

Q.6. Who is the ‘God’ of the World State society? 

Ans. Henry Ford হবে। মোস্তফা মন্ড নয়।

Q.7. What kind of man is Mustapha Mond?

Ans. Mustapha Mond, the World Controller is a consummate hypocrite, a liar and a fraud.

Q.8. Who is Lenina Crowne?

Ans. Lenina Crowne is a vaccination worker at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. 

Q.9.Who is Linda?

Ans. Linda is John’s mother, and a perfect Beta-minus. While visiting the New Mexico Savage Reservation, she becomes pregnant with the Director’s son. 

More Brief

Q.1. How did Linda die?

Ans. Linda overdosed with Soma and died.

Q.2. What is Alpha-plus? 

Ans. Alpha-plus is one of the castes in the story of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Q.3. Who is Mustapha Mond?

Ans. Mustapha Mond is one of the ten controllers and the most powerful person of the World State.

Q.4. Why is Henry Ford an idol of the World State?

Ans. For industrial production.

Q.5. How does Mustapha Mond begin his lecture to the students?

Ans. With the reference of Ford’s famous statement that “history is bunk”.

Q.6. What kind of novel is Brave New World?

Ans. Huxley’s Brave New World is a dystopian or anti-utopian novel.

Q.7. What is Soma in Huxley’s Brave New World?

Ans. Soma is a kind of drug.

Q.8. What is the motto of the World State?

Ans. The motto of the World State is community, identity and stability. 

Q.9. Why and how does John undergo penance?

Ans. John has a guilty conscience over the way Linda (his mother) died and whips himself doing penance.

Nausea Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What makes Roquentin worry about life and the world?

Ans. Losing his interest in his historical research and his Nausea.

Q.2. What, according to Roquentin, is the possible cause of nausea?

Ans. The “nothingness” of existence and the realization of this truth-existence is the possible cause of his nausea.

Q.3. When does Roquentin feel nauseous?

Ans. When Roquentin finds that he can no longer recognize people but only sees hands, eyelids, hair, cheeks, dirty skin, and

“enormous nostrils”, he feels nauseous.

Q.4. Who is Anny?

Ans. Anny is an English actress with whom Roquentin was in a love relationship for three years. 

Q.5. What is the belief of the Self-Taught Man?

Ans. The Man believes that all rational behaviour Can be explained by man’s love for his fellow men and that as a socialist he loves every man and woman in the world.

Q.6. Why does Sartre use the theme of ‘contingency”? 

Ans. To criticize humanism’s emphasis on a rational world with human existence as its focus and purpose.

Q.7: What is Phenomenology?

Ans. Phenomenology, a branch of philosophy which deals with consciousness, thought and experience.

Q.8. What is bad faith?

Ans. “Bad faith” according to Sartre, is a kind of pretension, lie or self-deception that emerges from an attempt to escape from freedom and responsibility.

Q.9. What kind of novel is Nausea?

Ans. Nausea (La Nausee, 1938) is a philosophical novel of Jean- Paul Sartre. 

Q.10. Who is the self-taught man?

Ans. The Self-Taught Man, whom Roquentin meets at the Bouville library, is trying during his free time to read all the books there in alphabetical order.

More Brief

Q.1. What is Sarte’s concept of ethics?

Ans. Sartre believes in the essential freedom and responsibility of the individual. In his moral philosophy ethics are always first and foremost a matter of subjective individual conscience.

 Q.3. What is ‘existentialism ‘?

 Ans. Existentialism is a philosophical concept according to which man’s existence precedes his essence, i.e. the body is more important than the soul. 

Q.4. How does the novel ‘Nausea’ open?

Ans. Nausea opens with an “Editor’s Note” claiming that the following pages, presented in a diary format, were found among the papers of Antoine Roquentin.

Q.5. Why does Roquentin ridicule the Self-Taught Man?

Ans. Roquentin ridicules the Self-Taught Man for loving symbols and labels that are just essences and do not really exist.

Q.6. Who is the narrator of the novel Nausea?

Ans. Antoine Roquentin.

Q.7. What is the cause of Roquentin’s uneasy feeling of Nausea?

Ans. The “nothingness” of existence and the realization of this truth-existence is the possible cause of his nausea.

Must Watch and justify yourself-12 Brief

a)What does the ‘Sea’ in “The Old Man and the Sea”?

Ans. All of life on which man must sail.

b) What is the most tragic moment of Santiago’s life in ‘The Old Man and the Sea”?

Ans. His excessive pride and determination to keep going, even when it is too dangerous.

e) What does Piggy’s death symbolize?

Ans. The destruction of intellect and reason from the island.

d)Why is Ralph alone at the end of the story Lord of the Flies?

Ans. As a result of Jake’s absolute power and authority on the island Ralph becomes an outcast.

e) What is the setting of the story The Scarlet Letter?

Ans. In the Puritan Colony of Salem, Massachusetts.

f) What does the letter ‘A’ stand for in The Scarlet Letter?

Ans. While the ‘A’ initially symbolizes adultery’, later various people assign meanings such as ‘able” or ‘angel’. 

g)What is the theme of the novel, Brave New World?

Ans. The author questions the values of 1931 London,using satire and irony to portray a futuristic world in which many contemporary trends in Britain and American society have been taken to extremes.

h)Who is the God of the World State society?

Ans. A man named Mustofa Mond or better known as his “Fordship”.

i.) What is the belief of the Self-Taught Man?

Ans. All rational behavior can be explained by man’s love for his fellow man.

j)What is ‘Bad faith’ according to Sartre?

Ans. A kind of pretension,lie or self-deception that emerges from an attempt to escape from freedom and responsibility.

k) Why does Dimmesdale cry out while on the scaffold? 

Ans.Dimmesdale strikes out of horror at the thought that his guilt is exposed to the view of the universe.

I)What was the length of the fish Marlin?

Ans.14 feet.

Prose 

Viva Suggestion 

The American Scholar Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What philosophy of Emerson does the essay embody? 

Ans. It embodies Emerson’s philosophy of what an American Scholar’s profession should be like. 

Q.2. What does Emerson mean by the “sere remains of foreign harvests”?

Ans. He means the useless knowledge acquired by other countries, especially the European countries. 

Q.3. What does Emerson compare the emerging American poetry with?

Ans. Emerson compares American poetry with Vega, the fourth brightest star of the heavens. 

Q.4. What is the Root of both Nature and the human mind? 

Ans. The Root of both Nature and the human mind is the soul of soul. 

Q.5. Why is the pleasure from books remarkable?

Ans. Because books impress us with the conviction that one nature wrote and the same reads. 

Q.6.What notion is mischievous? 

Ans. The notion that we come late into nature, and that the world was finished a long time ago, is mischievous.

Q.7. What is the traditional notion about a Scholar?

Ans. He should be a recluse, a valetudinarian, as unfit for any handiwork or public labour as a penknife for an axe.

Q.8. What does the writer mean by the “dumb abyss”?

Ans. The wide world around us.

Q.9. Who has the richest return of wisdom?

Ans. The man who has put forth his total strength in fit actions has the richest return to wisdom. 

Q.10. What do you understand by the principle of Undulation in Nature?

Ans. The law in Nature makes the opposite phenomena in Nature.

Q.11. What should be the shame of the Scholar?

Ans. if his tranquility, amid dangerous times, arises from the presumption that like children and women, he is a protected class.

More Brief

Q.1. How does Emerson assess Swedenborg’s philosophy?

Ans. Emerson thinks that Swedenborg showed the mysterious bond that allies moral evil to the foul material forms, and has given a theory of insanity, of beasts, of unclean and fearful things. 

Q.2. What is the remedy for the deplorable conditions of the youths of America?

Ans. The young man should plant himself indomitably on his instincts and should abide there. 

Q.3. What was the occasion on which Emerson gave his speech “The American Scholar”?

Ans. On the occasion of the recommencement of the college year which usually began at Harvard College.

Q.4. “There is one man of genius” – Who does Emerson say this about? 

Ans. Emanuel Swedenborg. 

Q.5. What is a scholar in the right state of society? 

Ans. In the right state of society, a scholar is the Man Thinking. 

Q.6.What is the “Other me”?

Ans. The wide world around us is the other me. 

Q.7. What is neoclassicism?

Ans. Neoclassicism is the Western movement in the arts, music, and literature that draw inspiration from “classical” art and culture.

Q.8 What must the Scholar read? 

Ans. The scholar must read history and exact science.

Civil Disobedience Brief Suggestion

Q.1.What is the logical corollary or conclusion of the motto, “That government is best which governs least”?

Ans. “That government is best which governs not at all.”

Q. 2. What was happening with the American government of Thoreau’s time?

Ans. Was losing integrity every moment.

Q 3. Why is the majority permitted to rule for a long time? 

Ans. Because they are in the right, or fairest to the minority and physically the strongest.

Q.4. How do heroes, patriots, martyrs, and reformers serve the state, according to Thoreau?

Ans. With their conscience. 

Q.5.How do feelings about sins progress from one state to another?

Ans. After the first blush of sins comes to its indifference, and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral, and not quite unnecessary to live that we have made.

Q.6. When does a man meet an everlasting death?

Ans. When conscience is wounded, Through this wound a man’s real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to everlasting death.

Q.7. How many years did the author not pay the poll tax? 

Ans. For six-years.

Q.8. Why was the author imprisoned for one night?

Ans. As he did not pay the poll-tax. 

Q.9. Why does the writer refuse to pay the tax-bill?

Ans. Not because of any particular item in it, but because he simply wishes to refuse allegiance to the state and stand aloof from it.

Q.10. What is the author’s opinion about those who pay the tax? 

Ans. They abet injustice to a greater extent than the state requires.

Q.11. What does Thoreau say about legislators of genius?

Ans. Thoreau says that no man with a genius for legislation has yet appeared in America.

More Brief

Q.1. How do the reformers serve the state?

Ans. Reformers want to change for the betterment of the people.

Q.2. When is a minority powerless?

Ans. while it conforms/abides by (মেনে চলা) to the majority.

Q.3. Who uses their conscience to serve the state?

Ans. Very few people such as heroes, patriots, martyrs, and reformers.

Q.4.What is the result of an undue respect for law?

Ans. In undue respect for the law is the creation of a fete of soldiers, colonel, and captain.

Q.5. Who, according to Thoreau, are the enemies of the state? 

Ans. Heroes, martyrs, patriots, and reformers are regarded as enemies of the state. 

Q.6. What kind of state does Thoreau dream of?

 Ans. Thoreau dreams of a state which treats the individual with respect, and not to interfere with his freedom.

Q.7. In Thoreau’s opinion, what action is essentially revolutionary?

Ans. The perception and performance of the right changes in things and relations; are essentially revolutionary.

Q.8. What is Thoreau’s opinion regarding voting?

Ans. Thoreau regards voting as a sort of gaming like checkers and backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it. It is playing with right or wrong.

Shakespeare’s Sister Brief Suggestion

Q.1. Why does the author say that fiction (imaginative work) is like a web?

Ans. A spider’s web is a complicated structure. Fiction is likewise, a very complicated thing, and has to be connected with the deep recesses of life.

Q.2. What kind of an affair was marriage during the Elizabethan age in England?

Ans. Marriage was an affair of family avarice, particularly in the chivalrous upper classes.

Q.3. What was the position of women during the time of the Stuarts? 

Ans. Women’s position did not change even during the next two hundred years. Still, the women of the upper and middle classes were not allowed to choose their own husbands.

Q.4. What intellectual status of women is found in fiction and in reality?

Ans. In fiction, some of the most inspired words fall from her lips and most profound thoughts come from her, but in reality, she could hardly read and spell words.

Q.5. What did an old bishop remark about women?

Ans. It was impossible for any woman, past, present, or future, to have the genius of Shakespeare.

Q.6. Why does the writer think the genius of women could not be born during the Elizabethan age?

Ans. Because Elizabethan women were forced to marry and start family life very early in life.

Q.7. What does the author say about Shakespeare’s state of mind when he wrote his dramas? 

Ans. Shakespeare never said anything. 

Q.8. What were the things that a girl was debarred from?

Ans. She was debarred from such alleviations as a walking tour, or a little journey to France to get shelter from the tyrannies of her family.

Q.9. What was the experiment of the dairy company?

Ans. They experimented with the effect of ordinary milk and Grade A milk on the rats. 

Q.10. What was Mr. Oscar Brwning’s opinion about women? 

Ans. The best woman was intellectually inferior to the worst man.

Q.11. What did Lady Bessborough write to Lord Granville Leveson-Gower?

Ans. She wrote that no woman had any business to meddle with that or any other serious business, further than giving her opinion.

Q.12. What are modern girl students likely to say?

Ans. Genius should disregard any dishonourable opinion.

Q.13. What is feminism?

Ans. Feminism is political, ideological, and social movement that share a common goal to establish equal political, economic, and social rights for women. 

Q.14. What is the name of Shakespeare’s imaginary sister? 

Ans. Judith 

Q.15.. How does Mr. Oscar evaluate a woman’s intellect?

Ans. The best woman was intellectually inferior to the worst man. 

More Brief

Q.1. What does Virginia Woolf want to know from the historians?

Ans. She wanted to know under what conditions women lived in England in the Elizabethan period.

Q.2. Women of what particular period does Virginia Woolf attack in ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’?

Ans. Elizabethan Period. 

Q.3. How were women treated by men in the essay ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’? 

Ans. Women were locked up and beaten.

Q.4. What does Virginia Woolf refer to by the phrase “that extraordinary literature”? 

Ans. The literature of the Elizabethan period of England. 

Q.5. What question does Virginia Woolf raise about the Elizabethan age?

Ans. Why the Elizabethan women not write poetry or fiction in the Elizabethan age?

Tradition and Individual Talent Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What do every nation and every race have?

Ans. Every nation and every race has its own creative, as well as critical turn of mind.

Q.2. Tradition is a matter of much wider significance than what? 

Ans. Merely following the immediate predecessors blindly. 

Q.3. How does the writer define the historical sense?

Ans. To the writers, the historical sense is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal, and the timeless and the temporal together.

Q.4. What must the poet be conscious of?

Ans. The poet must be conscious of the main current.

Q.5.What does Eliot call this theory of poetry? 

Ans. “impersonal theory of poetry”.

Q.6. How does the mind of the mature poet differ from that of the immature one?

Ans. Not in any valuation of personality, but in the capacity for becoming a medium for the expression of feelings and emotions.

Q.7. What is the mind of a poet?

Ans. The mind of a poet is a receptacle for storing up numberless feelings, phrases, and images.

Q.8. What does the author comment on Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale”?

Ans. He says the ode contains a number of feelings, which have nothing to do with the nightingale, but that the nightingale served to bring together because of its name and fame.

Q.9. How does Eliot define his theory of the creation of poetry?

Ans. “poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.’’

Q.10. “Emotions recollected in tranquility” whose poetic theory is it?

Ans.  William Wordsworth.

Q.11. What does Eliot comment on a bad poet?

Ans. A bad poet is usually unconscious.

More Brief

Q.1. How can tradition be obtained?

Ans. It must be obtained by hard labour, meaning by serious study and research.

Q.2. How is the emotion of art according to Eliot?

Ans. Impersonal. 

Q. 3. What is the ‘impersonal theory of poetry”?

Ans. The personal feelings and emotions of a poet should be absent in composing poems. 

Q.4. What is the function of a catalyst?

Ans. A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction. 

Q.5. What does Eliot mean by ‘tradition”?

Ans. By ‘tradition’, Eliot does not mean to follow the ways of the immediate generation before us”. It involves the historical sense which in its turn, “involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past but of its presence.”

Q.6. What does Eliot mean by a continual extinction of personality?

Ans. Depersonalization. 

Q.7. When should ‘tradition’ be positively discouraged?

Ans. if it meant blindly following.

Q.8. How is the mind of a poet like a catalyst?

Ans. The mind of a poet is a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, and images.

Literature and Society Brief Suggestion

Q.1. What does all of Mr. Eliot’s early prose lay stress on?

Ans. Mr. Eliot’s early prose lays stress on other things besides individual talent.

Q.2. Who formulated the idea of Tradition? 

Ans. T.S. Eliot formulated the idea of Tradition.

Q.3. Which phrase used by Leavis might be called misleading? 

Ans. The phrase “the Romantic attitude”, 

Q.4. What did the Augustan tradition originate in? 

Ans. The great changes in civilization.

Q.5. Whom does Leavis regard as such a genius in the late 18th century?

Ans. William Blake.

Q.6. What did Blake essentially do?

Ans. Blake essentially reversed for himself the shift of stress that occurred at the Restoration.

Q.7. What did not make Blake prosperously self-sufficient?

Ans. The measure of collaboration and support.

Q.8. What was Bunyan’s aim in The Pilgrim’s Progress?

Ans. To preach his Puritan religious outlook. 

Q.9. How did the Southern Appalachians acquire the culture?

Ans. The cycle of Generation/ Generation after generation.

Q.10. What does Bunyan himself show?

Ans. Bunyan himself shows how popular culture could merge with literary culture at the level of great literature.

More Brief

Q.1. How does Wordsworth differ from Blake? Or, In which respect is Wordsworth and Blake different?

Ans. Blake and Wordsworth are different from each other in respect of the kind of interests they had. Blake showed interest in the people or “folk”, whereas Wordsworth showed interest in something felt as external to the world.

Q.2. What can only the trained frequentation of literature bring?

Ans. The sensitizing familiarity with the subtleties of language.

Q.3. What are the “Other things” that Leavis say “were present in Literary history and criticism”?

Ans. The “Other things” are influences, environments, and the extra-literary conditions of literary production.

Q.4. What did the romantic critical tradition lay stress on?

Ans. Inspiration and individual genius.

Q.5. What is “The Pilgrim’s progress”?

Ans. The Pilgrim’s Progress is the most widely read book in English and the greatest work of John Bunyan.

Q.6. What should the poet be alert of?

Ans. He must be aware of the obvious fact that art never improves, but that the material of art is never quite the same.

Q.7. Who is the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress”?

Ans. John Bunyan.

Q.8. What did romantic poets lay stress on, according to Leavis?

Ans. Inspiration and individual genius. 

Q.9. What was Mr. Eliot’s early prose directed against, according to F.R. Leavis?

Ans. Against the Romantic tradition.

Q.10. What does F.R. Leavis call the Romantic tradition of criticism?

Ans. An atmosphere of the unformulated and vague.

Must Watch and justify yourself-12 Brief

a)In The American Scholar’, why does Emerson believe that books can be dangerous?

Ans. Because they tempt the scholar away from original thought.

b)What, according to Emerson, is our dictionary?

Ans. According to Emerson,Life is our dictionary.

c) When is a minority powerless?

Ans. While it conforms to the majority.

d)Why does the writer refuse to pay thetax-bill?

Ans. Not because of any particular item in it, but because he simply wishes to refuge allegiance to the state, to withdraw and stand aloof from it.

e)How did Mr. Oscar evaluate women’s intellect?

Ans. His opinion about women was that the best of women was intellectually inferior to the worst man.

f)Why do the mighty poets die in misery?

Ans. Due to the world’s notorious indifference.

g)What is feminism?

Ans. The belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power and privileges in society as men and be treated equally with men.

h)Why was Thoreau imprisoned for one night?

Ans.As he did not pay the poll-tax.

i.Whom does Leavis consider as a genius in the late eighteenth century?

Ans. William Blake.

j)What does Eliot say about a bad poet?

Ans. Eliot says that a bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be unconscious and conscous where he ought to be unconscious.

k)How can tradition be obtained?

Ans.Tradition must be obtained by hard labour meaning by serious study and research.

I)When can a man become a patriot of another man’s thinking?

Ans. Man thinking recognizes the interconnectedness of all things and that anything they do should be for the betterment of society as a whole.

South Asian and African Literature

Viva Suggestion

Tree Without Roots

Q.1. When did Waliullah’s literary activities begin?

Ans. when, as a student at Feni High School, he edited a hand-written magazine called, Bhorer Alo.

Q.2. What was the name of the English journal that Waliullah published briefly? 

Ans. Contemporary.

Q.3. What is name of the Bengali original of the novel Tree Without Roots?

Ans. Lal Shalu. 

Q.4. What is the meaning of the Bangla title Lal Shalu?

Ans. The word ‘lal’ in Bangla means ‘red’ and ‘shalu’ means ‘a piece of cloth’. Therefore, the Bangla title Lal Shalu means a piece of red cloth. 

Q.5. Why does the raped and ravaged land yield no more?

Ans. because it is ploughed and reploughed, sown and resown all the year round but it gets almost no nourishment but the silt from floodwater.

Q.6. How does the muezzin appear to the hunter at the Garo Hills?

Ans. with loneliness in his eyes 

Q.7. When and where do the two brothers Taher and Kader see the stranger? 

Ans. by the side of Matiganj Road while fishing 

Q.8. With what does the writer compare Majeed’s entry into Mahabbatpur village?

Ans. with that of a huge tree striking roots deep into the soil of it. 

Q.9. How does the ordinary grave take the shape of a mazar?

Ans. Majeed appears in the village and clears the grave.Its upper surface is covered with the red cloth. 

Q.10. How does the pir’s fame grow?

Ans. Countless tales about the pir’s marvelous powers passed from mouth to mouth from village to village and even from one region to another. 

Q.11. Why did Majeed take a wife?

Ans. For maintaining the household activities, he badly needs a wife. So, he wants a wife to do his household activities.

Q.12. Why did Amena desperately want some blessed water from the pir.

Ans. To conceive.

More Brief

Q.13. What did Majeed say to Khaleque about Khaleques wife?

Ans. He told him that she has coils in her belly. He said that where a woman has coils in her womb, no child is conceived. 

Q.14. How did Amena feel in the Mazar room?

Ans. Amena felt somewhat comfortable as the atmosphere of the Mazar room was quiet. 

Q.15. Why was Rahima concerned about Amena?

Ans. Rahima was concerned about the activities of Majeed. 

Q.16. Why does Majeed call Rahima the pillar of his house?

Ans. She works hard to satisfy Majeed. She speaks gently and obeys the order of Majeed. She always tries to remove the sorrows of Majeed. But she has no child In case, she does not give any blame to Majeed. She loves Jamila like a mother. She teaches her Muslim customs. For this reasons, Majeed metaphorically calls her the pillar of his house.

Q.17. What was Majid’s occupation in Garo Hills?

Ans. In Garo Hills, Majid was a muezzin.

Q.18. What is the central theme of “Tree Without Roots”? 

Ans. The central theme of the novel is the struggle for survival.

The God of Small Things

Q.1. Who are the central figures in the novel The God of Small Things?

Ans. Estha and Rahel..

Q.2. What was the discovery of Pappachi as an entomologist?

Ans. a new moth/ species

Q.3. In what sense is Velutha a social rebel?

Ans. Velutha was never a criminal or a party to evil but he committed what society would call an anti-social act. Society was never kind to him like a true rebel he sought his philosophy in himself and acted never bothering about the consequences.

Q.4. How did Pappachi behave with his wife? 

Ans. Pappachi beat his wife Mammachi every night with a flower vase, even without any cause. 

Q.5. What were Mammachi’s feelings after her husband’s death?

Ans. she cried. This indicates that she was an obedient wife who was crying more because she was used to him than because she loved him.

Q.6. What was the real name of Baby Kochamma? 

Ans. Navomi Ipe.

Q.07. How did ‘Navomi Ipe’ become Baby Kochamma?

Ans. Navomi Ipe was called ‘Baby’ by everybody in her childhood and she became Baby Kochama “when she was old enough to be an aunt”. 

Q.08. What did Baby Kochamma do to attract the attention of Father Mulligan, the young priest?

Ans. In order to attract Father Mulligan’s attention Baby Kochamma would forcibly bathe a poor peasant kid in the public well every Thursday morning so that the young priest might consider her generous and fall in love with her.

Q.10. Who is Chacko in The God Of Small Things?

Ans. Chacko is the son of Pappachi (Bennan Ipe) and Mammachi (Soshamma) 

Q.11. What were Chacko’s favourite items of food?

Ans. chicken roast, finger chips, sweet corn, chicken soup, parathas, ice-cream, chocolate sauce etc.

Q.12. What was the last blow for Chacko in his life?

Ans. Sophie Mol’s death 

Q.13. What is Chacko’s attitude to life?

Ans. Chacko’s attitude to life may be marked in his exchanges pleasantries with the twins-human beings are prisoners of war belonging to nowhere, sailing unanchored on troubled seas, etc.

Q.14. When did Ammu give birth to the twins, Estha and Rahel?

Ans. In 1962 

Q.15. Why did Ammu divorce her husband?

Ans. When the twins were two years old, Baba, Ammu’s husband, lost his job and he told her he could keep his job if she agreed to sleep with his boss. Ammu vehemently protested, divorced her husband, and came back to her parent’s home at Ayemenem with twins.

Q.16. What made Ammu love Velutha by night?

Ans. Being a young divorcee Ammu became restless and a reckless rage of suicidal tendency was battling inside her. This eventually led her to love by night Velutha the untouchable man her children loved by day.

Q.17. Where did Ammu die?

Ans. Ammu died in a grimy room of the Bharat Lodge (hotel) in Alleppey.

More Brief

Q.19. Is Velutha a tragic hero?

Ans. The way Velutha is put to death by the police is inhuman and he is certainly a martyr in the hands of the protectors of law.

Q.20. What kind of relation did Sophie Mol establish with the twins?

Ans. Sophie Mol was able to establish a strong and intimate friendship with the twins, Estha and Rahel soon after her arrival in Ayemenem.

Q.21. Where did the three children go for a holiday excursion?

Ans. Meenachal river. 

Q.22. Who had been put in charge of the formal education of Estha and Rahel?

Ans. Baby Kochamma 

Q.23. What happened to Rahel after the death of her mother? 

Ans. She drifted from school to school. She was largely neglected and ignored by Chacko and Mammachi.

Q.24. Whom did Rahel marry?

Ans. Larry McCaslin.

Q.25. Why did Rahel’s married life come to an end?

Ans. Larry liked Rahel very much but when they made love he was offended by her eyes which, empty and indifferent, were searching for another, perhaps her twin brother Estha. So they were soon divorced.

Q.26. What is the setting of the novel The God of Small Things?

Ans. Ayemenem 

Q.27. Why did Ammu Choose Velutha as her lover?

Ans. Velutha is untouchable. Ammu is also regarded as untouchable as she has divorced her husband at the age of twenty- seven. So, she chooses Velutha as her lover.

Q.28. Who molested Estha?

Ans. Estha was molested by the Orangedrink Lemondrink man.

Q.29. Why did Baby Kochama convert to Roman Catholicism? 

Ans. To win the heart of Father Mulligan.

Q.30. Who is Pappachi?

Ans. Pappachi, father of Ammu and Chacko, is a famous entomologist.  

Kazi Nazrul Islam

Q.1. When was Nazrul awarded the citizenship of Bangladesh?

 Ans. February, 1976.

Q.2. Where was Nazrul’s body buried?

Ans. Beside a mosque on the campus of the University of Dhaka.

(Samyabadi)

Q.3. In which poem of Samyabadi does Nazrul express his mais idea of equality?

Ans. Of Equality and That Happy Land” (originally Samyabad) 

Q.4. What, according to the poet, is the source of truth and wisdom?

Ans. According to the poet, one’s self or soul is the source of truth and wisdom of all ages.

Q.5. Where did the Darling of Arabia receive the message of equality from Allah?

Ans. Heart or soul 

Q.6. How does the poet conclude his poem “Of Equality and That Happy Land”?

Ans. Saying that he is speaking the truth. No temple or house of God is greater than the heart of man.

Q.7. Which poem of Nazrul does reveal his mysticism?

Ans. Among the poems of Samyabadi, the poem “Samyabadi” (Of Equality and That Happy Land) reveals the poet’s mystic mind in the best way.

“Manush” (Man)

Q.8. Why was the Mollah at the mosque happy?

Ans. The Mollah at the mosque was overjoyed because of the huge amount of leftovers of meat and bread from the previous day’s offerings, and this would be in his possession.

Q.9. What is Nazrul’s message through the poem, “Manush” (Man)?

Ans. Unless people could be uplifted by the higher ideals of humanism, mere visits to the shrines and worshiping places would be of no use.

 Q.10. Why did the priest/Mollah drive away the hungry traveller at last?

Ans. When the hungry traveller told that he did not say a prayer in his life.

“Kandari Hushiar” (Beware My Captain)

Q.11. What is the main theme of Nazrul’s “Kandari Hushiar (Beware My Captain)?

Ans. Hindu-Muslim unity.

Q.12. In what sense is “Kandari Hushiar” (Beware My Captain) an allegorical poem?

Ans. Allegorically the long struggle for India’s freedom from the British colonial rule has been compared to a journey by boat over a turbulent ocean with the Congress leaders as the captain and boatmen and the passengers the Indians irrespective of caste, creed or colour

Q.13. What does the storm symbolize?

Ans. The storm symbolizes the Hindu-Muslim communal riots that were interrupting the freedom struggle of India.

Q.14. Who, according to the poet, sang the victory of life?

 Ans. The heroic martyrs.

Bidrohi

Q.1. Point out some of the words that refer to end or destruction.

Ans. All the natural calamities, pestilence, death, grave-yard, Israfil’s bugle, shooting star and so on refer to end or destruction

Q.2. Who is the king of truth?

Ans. Judhisti 

Q.3. Flute plays an important role in the poem ‘The Rebel’. Mention two of the prominent flute players mentioned in the poem?

Ans. Orpheus from Greek Literature and Shyam or Sri Krishna, from Bengali tradition.

Q.4. How does the rebel bring peace and harmony by killing warriors? 

Ans. Like Parshurama did by killing Kshatriya.

Q.5. Why does the poet compare him with the plough of Balarama? 

Ans. Balarama fought with plough in the battle and was invincible. The poet will also uproot all misery from earth like Balarama effortlessly.

Q.6. How does the poet address the readers in his poem “Man”? 

Ans. as “comrades”.

Q.7. What do you mean by “tender flute’ in one hand and war bugle’ in the other?

Ans. The flute represents creation and the war bugle represents destruction. So, the image suggests that idea of creation and destruction.

Q.8. What is the basic principle of Nazrul’s sense of equality? 

Ans. Love for mankind.

Q.9. What does the “Thunder in the Sky” symbolize?

Ans. The threat of the British Imperialist rulers.

Things Fall Apart

Q.1. How widely was Okonkwo well-known?

Ans. He was well-known throughout the nine villages and even beyond.

Q.2. Who was Okoye?

Ans. Okoye was a neighbour of Unoka, 

Q.3. What did Okonkwo do with Ikemefuna?

Ans. Okonkwo handed Ikemefuna to his senior most wife, and told her to look after him. 

Q.4. What was the Feast of the New Yam for? Or, What was the objective of the feast of the New Yam? 

Ans. To honour the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. 

Q.5. Where and how was Ikemefuna killed? 

Ans. When the group of men reached a forest outside Umuofia, of them struck Ikemefuna with his matchet, then Ikemefuna cried out. “My father, they have killed me”, and as he ran towards Okonkwo, Okonkwo cut him down with his machete.

Q.6. How was Okonkwo received in Mbanta? 

Ans. Well-received 

Q.7. What did Okonkwo wonder about Nwoye, his son?

Ans. Okonkwo was called “Roaring Flame”. He wondered how a flaming fire like himself could beget a woman-like son like Nwoye. 

Q.8. Who was Akunna?

Ans. Akunna was one of the great men of a neighbouring village. 

Q.9. How does Okonkwo die?

Ans. Commits suicide by hanging.

Q.10. What is the setting of Things Fall Apart?

Ans. The novel is set in lower Nigerian villages, Iguedo and Mbanta in particular in the 1890s.

Q.11. What was the Oracle called in Things Fall Apart? 

Ans. Agbala.

Q.12. Does Achebe borrow the title of his novel from? 

Ans. “The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats.

Q.13. What special musical skill did Unoka have?

Ans. He was a great flute player.

Q.14. Why was the wrestler Amalinze nicknamed ‘the cat’? 

Ans. because his back would never touch the earth, that is, he was never defeated.

More Brief

Q.1. What is the source of the title of the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’?

Ans. The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats.

Q.2. Why did people laugh at Unoka?

Ans. Because he was poor, a “loafer,” and borrowed money without paying it back.

Q.3. Who was Amalinze?

Ans. Amalinze was a great wrestler. He had been unbeaten for seven years.

Q.4. What is the Yam festival?

Ans. It is the festival of the feast held every year before the harvest time to honour the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan.

Q.5. When was the feast of the New Yam held every year in Umuofia?

Ans. Every year before the harvest began.

Q.6. What is Surrealism?

Ans. Artistic attempt to bridge together reality and the imagination.

Petals of Blood

Q.1. What do you know about the Mau Mau revolt? 

Ans. The Mau Mau revolt or Mau Mau uprising was an armed resistance against the British colonizers led by Dedan Kimathi between 1952 to 1960.

Q.2. Who is Godfrey Munira?

Ans. Godfrey Munira is a school teacher of Ilmorog.

0.3. Who is Abdulla?

Ans. Abdulla is an ex-Mau Mau fighter who now runs a shop for survival.

Q.4. Who is Joseph?

Ans. Joseph is the adopted brother of Abdulla.

Q.5. Who is Wanja?

Ans. Wanja is the granddaughter of Nyakinyua. After working as a barmaid in the town she has returned to her grandmother Ilmorog. 

Q.6. What is Wanja’s new job? 

Ans. Wanja’s new job at Ilmorog is as a barmaid.

Q.7. What do you know about Wanja’s first love? 

Ans. Wanja’s first love is with one of her high school friends. However, once she was seen with him and was severely beaten by her father.

Q.8. What do you know about Kamwane Cultural Organization?

Ans. Kamwane Cultural Organization or KCO is a government sponsored cultural organization which arranges a tea party Gatunda to make people take oath in favour of the government

Q.9. Why is the feast called Abdulla’s feast?

Ans. Because Abdulla kills an antelope with his catapult and in this arranges meat for the feast. 

Q.10. What is the name of the festival that follows harvest? 

Ans. The circumcision festival is held after the harvest.

Q.11. Why does Karega return to Ilmorog again?

Ans. as he is fired from the factory in the town. 

Q.12. How does Wanja receive Abdulla’s proposal of marriage?

Ans. Wanja rejects Abdulla’s marriage proposal.

More Brief

Q.1. What information does the girl give to Karega in his prison? 

Ans. The girl informs him that the workers at Ilmorog are all united and arranging a massive strike. 

Q.2. What is Munira’s attitude toward the love affair of Wanja and Karega?

Ans. jealous 

Q.3. Who are the Samaritans?

Ans. A Samaritan is a charitable person. Munira, Abdulla and Karega are called Good Samaritans because they have taken measures to help the people of Ilmorog in a time of drought.

Q.4. Who is Mwathi?

Ans. Mwathi is the town’s prophet and medicine man. 

Q.5. What is the consequence of Wanja’s love with Kimeria?

Ans. Wanja got pregnant by Kimeria who refused to take her.

Q.6. Why does Munira develop a relationship with Julia?

Ans. with an intention to make Wanja jealous.

Q.7. Which government project brings development  Ilmorog?

Ans.The Trans-African Highway 

Q.8. How is Ilmorog modernized?

Ans. Ilmorog is modernized with the building of the Trans-Africa road that connects it with the rest of the world. 

Q.9. Who sets fire to Wanja’s brothel?

Ans. Munira sets the fire at Wanja’s brothel out of his jealousy. 

Q.10. What is the background of the novel ‘Petals of Blood”?

Ans. Kenyan independence after the Mau Mau revolution.

Must Watch and justify yourself-12 Brief

a)Why is Amena Begum punished?

Ans. She wanted to get some water blessed by the new pir so that she could conceive.Majeed took it as an insult.So,he punished her.

b)Why does Majeed call Rahima the pillar of the house?

Ans. Majeed considers his first wife an ideal housewife. Through she has no child. In that case,she does not give any blame to Majeed.She loves Jamila like a mother. She teaches her Muslim customs.50, Majeed calls Rahima as the pillar of the house.

c) What was the political ideology of Velutha?

Ans. Ammu-Velutha love relationship operates on a qualitatively different ideological and political plane.

d)Why was Mollah happy in the ‘Man’?

Ans. Because of the huge amount of leftovers of meat and bread from the previous days offerings and this would be in his possession.

e)Who is the captain in the poem ‘Beware My Captain’?

Ans. The Captain whom the poet warms refers to the National Congress of India.

f) What is the source of the title ‘Things Falls Apart’?

Ans. From The Second Coming.

g) What was the Mau Mau Revolt?

Ans. Armed resistance against the British colonizers led by Dedan Kimathi.

h)How was Abdullah’s donkey killed?

Ans. A plane crash in the nearby field causes the death of Abdullah’s donkey.

I. What is the setting of the novel Things Falls Apart’?

Ans. In lower Nigerian villages Iguedo and Mbanta. 

j) How did Pappachi treat his wife? 

Ans. He beats his wife every night with a flower vase, even without any cause.

k) what will make the Rebel pacified?

Ans. When he would find the sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed.

I)What is Entomology?

Ans. The scientific study of insects.

কিছু কথা

আমরা সারা বাংলাদেশে প্রাতিষ্ঠানিক ভাবে ইংলিশ লিটারেচার পড়িয়ে থাকি। আমাদের ইউটিউব চ্যানেল, ফেসবুক পেজ, ফেসবুক গ্রুপ, মেসেঞ্জার স্টাডি গ্রুপ রয়েছে। চাইলেই আমাদের সাথে যুক্ত হয়ে নিতে পারেন। বাংলাদেশে আমরাই প্রথম জাতীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের ইংরেজি বিভাগের শিক্ষার্থীদের জন্য পয়েন্ট আকারে কোটেশান সহ হ্যান্ড নোট এনেছি যা স্টাডি গাইডের থেকে সম্পূর্ণ আলাদা। আপনাদের পড়াশোনাকে সহজ করাই আমাদের মূল উদ্দেশ্য। 

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