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प्रश्न
Narayan has created a memorable character in Muni. Discuss.
उत्तर
Muni is memorable because he is realistic and also comical. The reader can sympathize with Muni because he is faced with the real life struggles of poverty. He sometimes is ridiculed by others in the village, and has insecurities about being able to provide for himself and his wife.
Muni is old and very poor. Although Muni is initially described as poor, the author then goes on to say that he wasn’t always as poor as he is. “In his prosperous days Muni had owned a flock of forty sheep and goats and sallied forth every morning driving the flock to the highway a couple of miles away. There he would sit on the pedestal of a clay statue of a horse while his cattle grazed around. He carried a crook at the end of a bamboo pole and snapped foliage from the avenue trees to feed his flock
More is revealed about Muni during his conversation with the American tourist. His dialogue with the tourist is sincere but amusing at the same time since neither understands much of what the other is saying. They both ramble on as if they understand each other. The only real connection that is made (which also ends in a misunderstanding) is that the American wants to buy something. He wants the statue but Muni thinks he wants the goats.
Since the American is financially sound enough to be able to make trips to India, he is the rich character and Muni is clearly poor by comparison and poor relative to the other villagers. This story becomes like a fairy tale where the poor man stumbles onto some fortune. So, Narayan makes us root for Muni. We sympathize with him and want him to find some success in life.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
In the following items, sentence A is complete, while sentence B is not. Complete sentence B, making it as similar as possible to sentence A. Write sentence B.
(A) He is so old that be cannot remember events of the past.
(B) He is too ............................................................................
Read the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (c) that follow :
(1) At the Literary Society’s meeting, Isola read out the letters written to her Granny Pheen, when she was but a little girl. They were from a very kind man – a complete stranger. Isola told us how these letters came to be written.
(2) When Granny Pheen was nine years old, her cat died. Heartbroken, sitting in the middle of the road, she was sobbing her heart out.
(3) A carriage, driving far too fast, came within a whisker of running her down. A very big man in a dark coat with a fur collar, jumped out, leaned over Pheen, and asked if he could help her. Granny Pheen said she was beyond help. Muffin, her cat, was dead.
(4) The man said, ‘Of course, Muffin’s not dead. You do know cats have nine lives, don’t you?’ When Pheen said yes, the man said, ‘Well, I happen to know your Muffin was only on her third life, so she has six lives left.’ Pheen asked how he knew. He said he always knew - cats would often appear in his mind and chat with him. Well, not in words, of course, but in pictures.
(5) He sat down on the road beside her and told her to keep still – very still. He would see if Muffin wanted to visit him. They sat in silence for several minutes, when suddenly the man grabbed Pheen’s hand.
(6) ‘Ah – yes! There she is! She’s being born this minute! In a mansion – in France. There’s a little boy petting her, he’s going to call her Solange. This Solange has great spirit, great verve – I can tell already! She is going to have a long, venturesome life.’
(7) Granny Pheen was so rapt by Muffin’s new fate that she stopped crying. The man said he would visit Solange every so often and find out how she was faring.
(8) He asked for Granny Pheen’s name and the name of the farm where she lived, got back into the carriage, and left.
(9) Absurd as all this sounds, Granny Pheen did receive eight long letters. Isola then read them out. They were all about Muffin’s life as the French cat − Solange. She was, apparently, something of a feline musketeer. She was no idle cat, lolling about on cushions, lapping up cream – she lived through one wild adventure after another – the only cat ever to be awarded the red rosette of the Legion of Honour.
(10) What a story this man had made up for Pheen – lively, witty, full of drama and suspense. We were enchanted, speechless at the reading. When it was over (and much applauded), I asked Isola if I could see the letters, and she handed them to me.
(11) The writer had signed his letters with a grand flourish :
VERY TRULY YOURS,
O.F. O’F. W.W.
It was highly possible that Isola had inherited eight letters written by Oscar Wilde, for who else could have had such a preposterous name as Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Willis Wilde.
Adapted from : The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society – By Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
(a) (i) Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage :[4]
(1) adventurous
(2) cat-like
(3) appreciated
(4) received something on someone’s death
(ii) For each of the words given below, write a sentence of at least ten words using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage :[4]
(1) kind (line 2)
(2) mind (line 13)
(3) still (line 15)
(4) sounds (line 26)
(b) Answer the following questions in your own words as briefly as possible:
(i) Where did Isola get the letters from to read at the Literary Society’s meeting?[2]
(ii) Who consoled Granny Pheen when she was heart-broken? What did he say about Muffin’s lives?[2]
(iii) What did the man say when Granny Pheen asked him how he knew about cats’ lives?[2]
(iv) According to the man, what was Muffin’s new fate?[3]
(c) In not more than 100 words, summarise why the eight letters were a treasure to Granny Pheen. (Paragraphs 2 to 10). Failure to keep within the word limit will be penalised. You will be required to write the summary in the form of a connected passage in about 100 words.[8]
What are the fears of the caged bird? Answer with examples from Maya Angelou’s poem.
Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun
To give it my loving friends to keep!
Naught man could do,have I left undone:
And you see my harvest, what I reap
This very day, now a year is run.
Read the above lines and answer the question that follow.
Explain with reference to the context.
The eight other runners pulled up on their heels
The ones who had trained for so long to complete
one by one they all turned around and went back to help him
And brought the young boy to his feet.
Then all the nine runners joined hands and continued
The hundred-yard dash now reduced to a walk
And a banner above that said (Special Olympics)
Could not have been more on the mark.
That's how the race ended, with nine gold medals
They came to the finish line holding hands still
And a standing ovation and nine beaming faces
Said more than these words ever will.
Read the lines given above and answer the following question:
How would the nine contestants have felt when they all reached the finish line together? Which words indicate this? Do you think they were happy because they had won the gold medal? Why?
Don John: Come, let us to the banquet
[Exeunt all but Claudio]
Claudio: Thus answer 1 in name of Benedick,
But hear this ill news with the ears of Claudio. 'Tis certain so; the prince woos for himself. Friendship is constant in all other things Save in the office and affairs of love. Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues. Let every eye negotiate for itself, And trust no agent; for beauty is a witch Against whose charms faith melteth into blood. This is an accident of hourly proof, Which I Mistrusted not. Farewell, therefore, Hero.
[Enter Benedick]
Benedick: Count Claudio?
Claudio: Yea, the same.
(i) Where are the speakers? Describe Claudio's state of mind?
(ii) What has Don John just revealed to Claudio?
(iii) Explain the lines:
"Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues.
Let every eye negotiate for itself,
And trust no agent;"
(iv) How does Don John succeed in conveying his thoughts to Claudio? What is his intention in doing so?
(v) Why is 'beauty' said to be a 'witch'? Which aspect of Claudio is seen here?
(vi) Give the meanings of the following words as they are used in the context of the passage: ill; save; office;
Explain the following phrase
Turned to dust
Use it in a sentence of your own.
The extract deals with the atmosphere of two homes. Collect the words associated with - Home.
Write an appreciation of the sonnet. Refer to the points to be covered for appreciation.
- About the poem/poet/title
- Theme
- Poetic devices, language, style
- Special features/novelties/focusing elements
- Values, message
- Your opinion about the poem
Now make sentences using some of the above words.
