Q1 of 18 Page 60

Discuss in pairs and answer each question below in a short paragraph (30 − 40 words).

“The sound was familiar one.” What sound did the doctor hear? What did he think it was? How many times did he hear it? (Find the places in the text.) When and why did the sounds stop?

The doctor lived in a small room. He heard the sound of rats. He knew there was a regular traffic of rats to and from the beam. He heard it thrice. The sound stopped suddenly as the rats had seen a snake.


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1

Discuss in pairs and answer each question below in a short paragraph (30 − 40 words).

What two “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions did the doctor take while he was looking into the mirror?

 1

Discuss in pairs and answer each question below in a short paragraph (30 − 40 words).

“I looked into the mirror and smiled,” says the doctor. A little later he says, “I forgot my danger and smiled feebly at myself.” What is the doctor’s opinion about himself when:


(i) he first smiles, and


(ii) he smiles again? In what way do his thoughts change in between, and why?

 2

This story about a frightening incident is narrated in a humorous way. What makes it humorous? (Think of the contrasts it presents between dreams and reality. Some of them are listed below.)

1. (i) The kind of person the doctor is (money, possessions)


(ii) The kind of person he wants to be (appearance, ambition)


2. (i) The person he wants to marry


(ii) The person he actually marries


3. (i) His thoughts when he looks into the mirror


(ii) His thoughts when the snake is coiled around his arm


write short paragraphs on each of these to get your answer.

 1

Here are some sentences from the text. Say which of them tell you, that the author:

(a) was afraid of the snake, (b) was proud of his appearance, (c) had a sense of humour, (d) was no longer afraid of the snake.


1. I was turned to stone.


2. I was no mere image cut in granite.


3. The arm was beginning to be drained of strength.


4. I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, ‘O God’.


5. I didn’t tremble. I didn’t cry out.


6. I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile.


7. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood.


8. I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it!


9. The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness…! The rascal could have taken it and used it after washing it with soap and water.


10. Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead?