The Old Man and The Sea All Brief
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.
Notes: The Old Man and the Sea
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).
Notes: Lord of the Flies
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.
Notes: The Scarlet Letter
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.
Notes: Brave New World
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.
Notes: 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.
