CLASS 9 THE BESTSELLER- O HENRY QUE/ANS

Answer the following.

1.   One day last summer the author was travelling to Pittsburgh by chair car.  What does he say about his co-passengers?

Ans. One day last summer, the author was travelling to Pittsburgh by chair car on business.  The chair car was well-filled with the people one usually sees on chair cars.  Most of the passengers were ladies.  They were in brown-silk dresses cut with square yokes, laces and doted veils.  There were men who looked as if they might be in almost any business.  However, his attention was drawn by the black, bald-spotted head just visible above the back of seat No. 9.

2.   Who was the passenger of chair No. 9?  What did he suddenly do?

Ans. John A. Pescud was the passenger of chair No.9.  Suddenly he hurled a book to the floor between his chair and the window.  The book was named “The Rose Lady and Trevelyan”.  It was one of the best-selling novels of the present day. 

                                          

3.   What was John A. Pescud’s opinion about best sellers?  Why?

Ans.  John A. Pescud didn’t hold a very high opinion about best sellers.  The fiction writers are not consistent with their scenes and characters.  They are far removed from reality.  Their account is highly unreal, exaggerated and romantic.  Sometimes the American hero falls in love with a royal princess from Europe and follows her to her father’s kingdom.  But in real life people choose life-partners belonging to their own status.

4.   What did John say about himself since his last meeting with the author?

Ans.  The author asked John how he was getting along with the company.  John replied that he was getting on pretty well. He had his salary raised twice since they met last time.  He got a commission too.  He had bought a neat slice of real estate.  The firm was going to sell him some shares of stock.  He was in ‘on the line of General Prosperity’.  He also broke the news that he got married eighteen months ago.

5.   How did John’s first meeting with Jessie’s father go?  What did the author tell him?

Ans.  John met Jessie’s father at his ancestral house.  At eleven sharp, he rang the bell.  After about three quarters of an hour an old man about eighty showed up and asked what he wanted.    John showed him his business card.  First, he got nervous but soon he got his nerves back and told him how he followed his daughter from Cincinnati, his business, salary and prospects.  Then the old man related anecdotes and humorous occurrences.  The Colonel expressed that he had never been so fortunate as he felt after meeting him. 

6.   Why did John get off at Coketown?

 Ans.  John got ready to get off at Coketown.  The author was surprised as the place didn’t hold much prospect for selling plate-glass.  However, John told that while coming back from Philadelphia, Jessie saw some petunias in a pot in one of the windows there.  She used to raise such flowers in her old Virginia home. 

So he thought of getting off there to dig up some of

 the cutting or blossoms for her.

7.  John is a hypocrite.  Do you agree with this statement?  Substantiate your answer. 

Ans.  John is a hypocrite.  What he says, he does the opposite.  He expresses his uncharitable views regarding the best-sellers as they are far removed from reality.  They are too romantic.  One can find an American hero falling in love with a royal princess from Europe.  But in real life people marry somebody in the own station.  A fellow usually picks up a girl who went to the same high-school and belonged to the same singing society that he did.  But John is another Trevelyan.  He is just a commercial traveller but runs after Jessie whose father is a lineal descendent of belted earls.  

NCERT QUESTION ANSWERS

7.Song of the Rain  (poem) – by  Kahlil Gibran

Answer the following:

1.Why is the rain divine?

Ans. Rain is divine because it falls from the heaven (the sky) and fills the earth with joy and beauty.

2. In the universe, rain performs many functions.  What are those?

Ans.    i. Rain quenches the thirst of fields.

       ii. It fills fields and valleys with a new life.

       iii. It produces sweet music as it beats against windows and the leaves of trees.

       iv. It fills every heart with joy.

3.    “When I cry the hills laugh,

       When I humble myself the flowers rejoice;

       When I bow, all things are elated.”

Cry, humble and bow indicate different intensity with which the rain falls.  Explain the three in context.

Ans.  Cry: When the rain falls heavily on the hills, they produce the sound of laughter.

       Humble: When the rain falls gently and softly, the flowers bloom and rejoice.

       Bow  : When the rain changes itself into a soft drizzle, all things are elated.

4. How do you think the rain quenches the thirst of the fields and cures cloud’s ailment?

Ans. The heat of summer parches the fields.  They become dry and thirsty.  When it rains, their thirst is quenched. 

       When the clouds become too much saturated with water, they fall down as rain.  Thus the rain cures the ailment (the obesity) of the clouds. 

5.  Think about a million little ways in which the rain embraces the trees.  Mention a few of them.

Ans. The embrace of the rain produces

the actual poem

innumerable musical strains.  The embrace produces a different strain in every tree.  The embrace makes some trees wet; some trees get soaked; others begin to glisten; some get washed away or become sticky.  In fact, the list can be endless.

6.  ‘------------------ All can hear, but only

       The sensitive can understand’

What does the poet want to convey?

About the poet.

Ans.  Everyone can hear the sounds produced by rain as it falls on various things.  But not many can understand the true significance and value of rain.  Only feeling hearts can sense it.

7. Notice the imagery built around ‘sigh of the sea’, ‘laughter of the field’ and ‘tears of heaven’.  Explain the three expressions in context of rain.

Ans.  ‘Sigh of the sea’ is a brilliant image.  It creates an image of the soft, gentle and tender movement of the sea when the rain falls in it. 

       ‘Laughter of the field’ is a beautiful image.  It creates an image of the happiness of the field when the rain falls on it and quenches its thirst. 

       ‘Tears of heaven’ is a subtle image.  It creates an image of the drops of the rain falling from the sky on the earth when the cloud bursts.  When the cloud bursts, it dies.  So the drops of rain are referred to as the tears of heaven.

8. ‘I am like earthly life…………’

Why does the poet call rain as earthly life?

Ans. The poet calls rain as earthly life because the fate of the rain is like that of the man on earth.  When the child is born, it grows up into a young man and then an old man, and then it dies in the end.  Similarly the rain is born in the form of a cloud in the sky.  When the cloud bursts, it dies. 

9. Explain the ending of the poem.

Ans.  At the end of the poem, the rain declares affectionately that it is the sigh of the deep sea, the laughter of the colourful fields and the tears of the sky.  When the rain falls in the sea, it (the sea) sighs.  When the rain falls on the fields and quenches their thirst, the fields rejoice, become colourful and feel happy.  When the cloud bursts, it becomes rain.  The cloud dies and the drops of rain (tears of the heaven) fall on the earth.

Read the lines given below and answer the questions that follow.

1. I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the

Crown of Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn

To embellish the gardens.

a)Who is ‘I’ referred to here?

Ans. ‘I’ here is the rain.

b) What is the tone of the speaker?

Ans. The tone of the speaker is of pride.

c) What do you mean by Ishtar?

Ans. Ishtar is the goddess of fertility, love, war and sex.

2.The voice of thunder declares my arrival;

The rainbow announces my departure.

a)When do we learn that the rain has come?

Ans. We learn about the arrival of the rain when we hear the voice of the thunder.

b) When does the rainbow appear in the sky?

Ans. The rainbow appears in the sky after the rain has stopped.

3.I quench the thirst of the one;

I cure the ailment of the other.

a)Who is the speaker in these lines?

Ans. The rain is the speaker in these lines.

b) Who is referred to the ‘other’ here?

Ans. The ‘other’ here is the cloud.

c) State one function of the rain.

Ans. The rain quenches the thirst of fields.

4.I emerge from the heart of the sea and

Soar with the breeze

a)What is the origin of the rain?

Ans. The sky is the origin of the rain.

 b) In what form does rain soar towards the sky?

Ans. The rain soars towards the sky in the form of water vapours.

5. I am the sigh of the sea

The laughter of the field

The tears of heaven

a)When does the sea seem to sigh?

Ans. The sea seems to sigh when water vapours rise from it to the sky.

b)When does the field laugh?

Ans. The field laughs when rain falls on it and quenches its thirst.

c) What do ‘the tears of heaven’ signify?

Ans. ‘The tears of heaven’ signify rain drops that fall from the sky down on the earth.