MLL for Class XI for PA 1

MINIMUM LEVEL OF LEARNING MATERIAL

Sub : English Core Class XI

THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY     by Khuswant Singh

(Q.1) Everybody including the sparrows mourned grandmother’s death. Elaborate.

Ans)  The day the grandmother died, thousands of sparrows came and sat silently around the corpse of the grandmother as if they too, had come to mourn the death of the old woman. They did not even eat the breadcrumbs scattered by the author’s mother.

(Q.2) Give a description of Khushwant Singh’s grandmother according to his earliest memory of her?

Ans) The author felt that his grandmother had always looked the same for the twenty years that he had known her. He felt she was always old, short, fat and bent. Her face was covered with wrinkles. She wore only white and walked with a stoop.

(Q.3) What did Khushwant Singh’s grandmother think of education in the city school?

Ans) She disapproved of city schools as they taught only English and Science. There was no religious teaching and the worst was when she learnt that they taught music in the city school. Music was meant for harlots and beggars according to her. This distressed her.

(Q.4) The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?

Ans)  The three stanzas depict the first phase, i.e. the mother’s childhood, the second phase is the mother’s adulthood and the third phase is the poet’s own adulthood where he is nostalgically remembering his mother who is no longer alive.

(Q.5) What details in the story create the impression that the grandmother was religious minded?

Ans)  The grandmother’s lips constantly mumbled some silent prayers. Her fingers would also keep moving the beads of a rosary. She would recite prayers while getting the author ready for school. While the author would be studying in school, she would be in the temple reading religious scriptures.

(Q.6)  The grandmother was a kind-hearted woman. Give examples in support of your answer.

Ans)  The grandmother was very kind hearted and compassionate. She would feed stale chapattis to the village dogs everyday while leaving her grandson to school. In the city, she continues this practice but would feed sparrows with breadcrumbs, in the courtyard of the house.

(Q.7) Draw a comparison between village school education and city school education.

Ans)  In the village school the author learnt his native language and the morning prayer. In the city school there was only English alphabet, no religious teachings. There was more emphasis on Science, English, Maths and also music. Grandmother did not approve of his learning music at school.

(Q.8)  Which activity did the grandmother find most relaxing when she lived in the city?

Ans)  The grandmother would feed the sparrows daily in the verandah of the house. She used to let them perch on her shoulders and would talk  to them. She had made it a daily ritual and she found it very relaxing. 

A PHOTOGRAPH   by Shirley Toulson

(Q.1)  Who were the three girls in the photograph?

Ans : The three girls in the photograph were the poetess’ mother, her cousins Betty and Dolly Who together had gone out for a sea holiday.

(Q.2)  Why did the three girls stand still?

Ans : The three girls stood still because they were being photographed by their uncle in the Sea.

(Q.3)  What did the poetess say about her mother?

Ans : The poetess said that her mother had a sweet face and she was very beautiful before the poetess was born.

(Q.4)  Whose feet were transient and who was intransient according to the poem?

Ans : The Poetess’ mother, her cousins being human beings were transient and the is referred to as intransient.

(Q.5)  Why did the poetess and her cousins go to the sea beach?

a)They went to the sea beach for celebrating the holiday by paddling in the sea.

(Q.6)  The cardboard shows me how it was,
When the two girl cousins went paddling,
Each one holding one of my mother’s hands.
And she the big girl – some twelve years or so.

a) Name the poem and the poet.

b) What does the ‘cardboard show’? What occasion does it portray?

c) Who was the ‘big girl’? What do you learn about her?

 (Ans) 
a) The poem is ‘A Photograph’ and the poet is Shirley Toulson.
b) The ‘cardboard’ shows the picture of three girls, the poet’s mother and her two cousins, Betty and Dolly. The occasion was when they had gone for a beach holiday.

c) The ‘big girl’ was the poet’s mother. We learn that she was a joyful, bubbly girl of twelve who had been excited about her beach holiday.

(Q.7)  All three stood still to smile through their hair
At the uncle with the camera. A sweet face,
My mother’s, that was before I was born.
And the sea, which appears to have changed less,
Washed their terrible transient feet.

a) Who were the ‘three’?

b) Why did they stand still and smile?

c) Why has the poet referred to the sea?

d) What do you understand by ‘terribly transient feet’?

  (Ans)  

a) The three were, the poet’s mother and her two cousins, Betty and Dolly.

b) They stood still and smiled because they were posing together for a photograph clicked by the uncle from his camera.

c) The sea referred to by the poet suggests that the sea has not changed, but change comes in the lives of people.

d) 'Terribly transient feet' refers to the ever changing imprints of feet on the seashore. The sea does not change but the human life is transient.

(Q.8)  Some twenty – thirty –years later;
 She’d laugh at the snapshot, “See Betty
And Dolly”, she’d say, “and look how they
Dressed us for the beach”. The sea holiday
Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry
With her laboured ease of loss.

a) Who is ‘she’? When would she laugh and why?

b) Which event does she refer to?

c) What does the poet compare ‘her laughter’ to and why?

d) Explain “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss’.

 (Ans)  

a) ‘She’ is the poet’s mother. She would laugh when she would look at the snapshot years later.

b) She would refer to the incident of the beach holiday when she had gone with her cousins, Betty and Dolly. Her uncle had taken a photograph.

c) The poet compares ‘her laughter’ to her own past when she remembers her mother’s laughter. Mother’s sea holiday was her past and the poet’s past is the mother’s holiday.

d) Both, the mother and daughter remember some pleasant incidents of the past. For the mother it is the holiday, while for the poet it is her mother’s laughter. It is with a sense of loss that she remembers her mother and the expression on the face is that of grief and helplessness.

(Q.9)   Now she’s been dead nearly as many years

As that girl lived. And of this circumstance

There is nothing to say at all.

Its silence silences.

a) How long do you think has she been dead?

b) What does ‘this circumstance’ refer to? What does the poet say about it?

c) Explain ‘its silence silences’.

 (Ans) 

a) The poet’s mother seems to have been dead for twelve years.

b) The circumstance is the death of the mother and the poet’s loss.

c) The death of the poet’s mother brings a sense of grief within her and she has no words to express her grief. The death’s silence silences. It is final. One is helpless before it.

THE SUMMER OF A BEAUTIFUL WHITE HORSE by William Saroyan

(Q.1)   Why did Aram and Mourad return the horse?

Ans :  Aram and Mourad realized that the master of the horse had come to know that his horse was with them. Moreover as their tribe was popular for trust and honesty they did not want to bring bad name to their tribe. So they finally returned the horse to its original owner.

(Q.2)   What conflicting thoughts passed through the narrator’s mind on seeing Mourad on a beautiful white horse early one morning?

 Ans)  The narrator was surprised. He knew that his cousin Mourad couldn’t have bought the horse. He obviously must have stolen it. However, family pride came in the way. He refused to believe that Mourad was a thief.

(Q.3)   What traits of the Garoghlanian family are highlighted in the story?

 Ans)  The Garoghlanian family though now poor was famous for their honesty even when they were wealthy. They were proud first, honest next and after that they believed in right and wrong. None of them would take advantage of anybody in the world. They would not steal. No member of this family could be a thief.

(Q.4)   What two character traits of Mourad are mentioned by the narrator in the initial part of the story?

 Ans)  Mourad was considered crazy by everybody who knew him except the narrator. He was impulsive, daring and reckless. He followed his heart more than his mind. He was quite crazy about horses and had a way with animals. Secondly, he enjoyed being alive more than anybody else.

(Q.5)   Why had Mourad and Aram taken the horse? Why did they return it?

 Ans)  They had taken the horse with the intention of riding it and also they were too poor to buy it. They loved riding but since they were not thieves, they had no desire to sell it. They returned the horse because they became conscious of their reputation of honesty and realised their mistake.

(Q.6)    Do you think John Byro recognized his horse? Why did he not accuse the boys of stealing the horse?

 Ans)  Yes, John Byro did recognize his horse. He examined his teeth and knew for sure that the horse was his own. He did not accuse the boys and indirectly told them that it was wrong to steal. He talked about the family’s reputation for honesty and said that he would never suspect them of stealing.