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

(a) What articles do we find on the walls of the elementary school classroom? Why cannot the students relate to them?

(b) What is Mukesh’s dream? How can he achieve it?

(c) How is Jansie wiser than Sophie?

(d) How did the Governor describe Evans to the Secretary of the Examination Board?

(e) Apart from treating a fellow human being, for what other reason did Dr.Sadao decide to operate on the wounded American soldier?

(f) Why was Roger Skunk’s mother furious when he returned from the wizard? What did she do?

(a) The children in the slum only have the facility of going to an elementary school. The description of the classroom states that the walls are quite dirty. The board is covered up somehow with the different types of charts and posters which have been donated by people. Among these posters, is a picture of Shakespeare but to them he is a ‘wicked man’. There is a world map too but it has a different meaning for these children as for them there world is confined to their slums and refer to the area which they can see from outside their classroom window. There is a beautiful picture of the Tyrolese valley put up on the board which has a number of beautiful churches and flowers in it. But this picture is completely opposite to their current situation. Their faces are dull which reflect hopelessness and dismay for the future.

(b) Mukesh belonged to the family of bangle makers who resided in Firozabad. They lived in poor conditions as his father was unable to give them a better standard of life. He did not even have the facility to go to school. All bangle makers in Firozabad were caught in a vicious circle of the middlemen. If they lodged a complaint with the police even then they would be the ones who had to suffer. Mukesh tells about his dream of becoming his own master as he wishes to become a motor mechanic and also wants to drive a car. In his current functions, it was like a mirage.

(c) Sophie and Jansie are in sharp contrast with each other personalities. Being best friends, Jansie wants Sophie to come out of her world of fantasy and face the reality. She accepts that they are destined to work in the biscuit factory and earn a living. Sophie dreams of owning a boutique or becoming an actress or a fashion designer but doesn’t realise that all that requires money and from the socio-economic background where she comes from. Jansie has a practical approach in life and doesn’t have far-fetched dreams that cannot be achieved. Sophie faces disappointments as she becomes a victim of her own fantasies.

(d) Evans had tried to escape the prison thrice before finally being put into the Oxford prison. After his third attempt of escape, he was shifted to the most secured establishment in the North wing of the prison. The Governor described Evans to the Secretary of the Examination Board as ‘Evans the break’. He told the Secretary that he was not dangerous and just a kleptomaniac. Evans wanted to take an O level examination in German but the Governor doubted his intentions and warned him not to try to escape again.

(e) Dr. Sadao and his wife Hana found a wounded American soldier on the coast and faced a dilemma in deciding whether to treat him or put him back into the sea. After all the contradictions, Dr. Sadao decided to operate on the wounded American soldier as a fellow human being. At the same time he fulfilled his duty as a doctor who pledges to treat any patient who requires medical help. He didn’t even fail at his responsibilities as a father, husband or a citizen. He made sure to inform the General about the incident and make arrangements for his departure and when the plan was not executed as they had decided, he let the soldier sail to a nearby island and told the General that he escaped from his home.

(f) The story that Jack narrated was about a little creature named Roger Skunk who had a foul smell because of which he couldn’t make any friends in the jungle and felt lonely. So he visited the owl for advice who directed him to the wizard. The wizard casted a spell and turned his foul smell into that of roses. When he returned home, Mommy Skunk didn’t appreciate his odour and became furious. She took him back to the wizard, hit him with a stick and asked him to return Roger’s natural odour. The wizard took back her spell and gave Roger his smell back.