Answer any four of the following questions in 30 – 40 words each :

(a) How were the parents and M. Hamel responsible for the children neglect of the French language?

(b) How did Douglas introduction to YMCA pool revive his childhood fear of water?

(c) In the last line of the poem, ―My Mother at Sixty-six, why does the poet use the word ―smile repeatedly?

(d) How is total inactivity on the Earth in the winter months full of life? (Keeping Quiet)

(e) When did the Maharaja decide to double the land tax for a village?

(f) What kind of garden does Mr. Lamb have? Why does he like it?

(a) In the story ‘The Last Lesson’ by Alphanso Daudet we see how the students and the teacher M. Hamel are filled with guilt and regret of not taking their French lessons seriously. From the next day Prussians were taking over Alsace and Lorraine and French language would no longer be taught. But it was not the fault of student’s alone in not having a grip on their own language. It was due to the neglect on the part of both parents and teacher as well. The parents were not too anxious to let their children learn their own language. Instead they would put their children to work on their farms or their mills and think that they would study some other day. At the same time, M. Hamel would also call off classes when he wanted to go for fishing or would send his students to water his plants.

(b) Douglas had developed a fear for water since his childhood misadventure of drowning in the water at the beach where he went with his father. He had summed up all his strength and decided to learn swimming. He was sitting at the deep end of the swimming pool and paddling his leg in the water when suddenly an elder boy came towards him and bullied him for his skinny legs and pushed him into the pool. Since no one was around he couldn’t even ask for help. He gradually sank towards the surface of the pool but did not lose consciousness and also planned his journey upwards. He decided that once he reached down he would push himself upwards come to the top of the water take a breath and swim towards the shallow end. This reminded him of his childhood fear of water.

(c) The poet who is unable to bear the pain and find a solution to her fear and pain, bids goodbye and ultimately puts a fake smile on her face. The stanza is quite ironic and so are the things that the poet does. She says ‘see you soon, Amma’ though she is not sure that she be able to see her again. The repetition is used to show how she managed to hide her feelings. Through the course of the poem, the poet has stirred some deep-seated fears of losing her mother, and has brought to the fore the troubling relationship we humans share with the idea of death and ageing with regard to our loved ones. Additionally, from denial the poem shifts towards a calm acceptance and resignation, evoked beautifully through the poet’s action of breaking into a long smile as she watched her mother depart. There is a slight hint of bravery in the way the poet makes peace with what is inevitable through self-comforting smiles.

(d) In the poem ‘Keeping Quiet’ we see the how the poet strives to accomplish his endeavor of achieving a moment of silence. His motive is to unite everyone in this moment of silence and allow some time for quiet self-introspection. He does not want anyone to confuse this moment of silence with death or total inactivity. The total inactivity on the Earth in the winter months is full of life. At this time, the salt gatherers would take some time to look at their wounded hands and fishermen will not harm the fishes in the sea. In this moment, life would be full of peace where no one will think of harming the other person.

(e) The entire life of the Maharaja of Pratibandapuram was driven by the motive of killing 100 tigers. As soon as he was born the astrologers had devised a prophecy that he would be the greatest of all kings and a champion in his life but he would meet his death by the 100^th tiger. He was just a new born when he challenged their prophecy and decided that he would kill 100 tigers. He killed 70 tigers very easily but then tigers starting to diminish from his territory. Seeing this he decided to get married to a Princess from a place where he could find the remaining tigers. He successfully killed 99 tigers but the quest for the 100^th tiger kept expanding. In rage he decided to double the land tax for the village. Soon he got the news that sheep and goats were disappearing from a nearby village and thought that it must be because of the presence of a tiger. In his excitement he announced tax exemption for this village.

(f) Mr. Lamb stayed in isolation spending time in maintaining his gardens making candies etc. The children used to call him ‘lamey lamb’ but he never mind them. He owned an apple garden and left the gates open all the time to welcome visitors. He loved nature and embraced it in all its forms because of which he likes his garden too. This was also a regular activity for him and kept him consumed as he would maintain his garden and spend time in picking apples when it was time. He also made jelly out of these apples and offered it to the children who came to visit him. He was fond of reading books too and often did it by facing towards his garden.