Father to Son Extra Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why is the father unhappy with his son?

Ans. The father is unhappy with his son as there is no interaction between the two. They don’t understand each other and are like strangers. Though they live under the same roof, yet they have nothing common between them. Their thinking and outlook are totally different. So they remain separated from each other. So, the father is deeply troubled.

Q2. What does the father long for?

Ans. The father is much more tense and upset. He fails to see where he made a mistake. He wants to make peace with his son and keep him in the same house. He is willing to forget and forgive the boy. He is only waiting for an excuse.

Q3. Can you suggest a solution to the widening gap between father and son?

Ans. The tussle between the aged and the youth is very old and universal. Elders see young ones as their property and try to impose their will on them. As a result the son revolts. The father must try to understand and respect the demands of the son. Not rod but the language of love can bridge the gap and avert the clash.

Q4. Who do you sympathize with—the father or the son?

Ans. Being a youngster, I also often revolt against the authoritarian attitude of elders. They have ego problem. They demand total obedience from young ones. I know that the relationship between father and son is strong yet delicate as well. I would humbly advise grown-ups to be a bit more flexible and liberal in their attitude. In bending, they both will win.

Q5. How is the father’s helplessness brought out in the poem?

Ans. The father is not only sad but also angry. But he feels helpless. He is ready to patch up with the son, forgive him and bring him back home at any cost. He wonders why they have now become strangers. He is ready to overlook his son’s wasteful habits. He is extending his empty hand to get an excuse to welcome the boy into his old home. But the son looks adamant. Ego problem persists.

Q6. Why is the father unable to understand his son in Father to Son”?

Ans. The father is unable to understand his son due to generation gap. It is a psychological and emotional gap between parents or elder people and the young ones. This creates misunderstanding and lack of attachment between the parents and children. The success lies in how effectively the parents can avoid the generation gap or ignore difference with their children.

Q7. ‘I would have him prodigal’. What does the father mean by this?      

Ans. Prodigal means wastefully extravagant. In the Bible there is a story, where a father inherits property and gives it to his sons. The younger son wastes a lot but returns to his father’s home. His father forgives him and takes him back home. Here in the poem the father is ready to accept his prodigal son and he may start living with him under the same roof.

Q8. What does the poet mean by `silence surrounds us?

Ans. The father is troubled because there is no interaction between them. Though they have been living under the same roof for years but they do not understand each other and live like strangers. Their outlook and temperament are different. They have a communication gap along with the generation gap. So both are unhappy and want to come closer but they can’t help it.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why in your view has a sense of distance arrived in the modern youth?

Ans. The present era has lost all its ancient moral, ethical, social and cultural values. The deep sense of joint family system is diminishing to a large extent. The newly married couple wants to lead a life to its own freedom duly away from the parents. They think that the joint family or parents living with them will put a restraint on their freedom.

They fail to understand the real worth of their parents and long to have a deeper distance from them. The media and the western civilization have surrounded their ideology. They do not care for the civility in any sense. Thus the distance is taking its deep root among the youths. They do not realize their duties for the old aged parents rather they consider it an extra burden upon them. Thus a sense of distance has become in vogue among the modern youths.

Q2. The poem reflects the realities of the modern times. The aged persons face problems and there is no end to it. How do you feel?

Ans. The breaking-up of the joint family system and the change in our value system have created serious problems for the aged persons. They are denied physical, moral, financial and emotional support because their children are grossly involved in their own affairs. A feeling that they are unwanted persons has gripped the aged. The attitude towards the aged is marked by hatred, disregard, apathy and insults. This drowns them in the fathomless chasm of depression. Above all, elderly persons having no source of income are the worst sufferers. Growing materialism is the main culprit. Blood is no longer thicker than water. An elderly person who stands between the heirs and his wealth becomes a thorn in their flesh. Many start torturing the aged to death.

The aged persons require nothing but love, affection and respect. So the children must change their attitude. They must not neglect the very source of their existence. Accept the aged happily and see the blessings of God showering in rapid succession.

Father To Son NCERT Solutions

Page No: 86

Think It Out

1. Does the poem talk of an exclusively personal experience or is it fairly universal?

Answer

 

The poem does talk of an exclusively personal experience. However, we can also call it fairly universal because a conflict like this is quite common in many households. It is also known as generation gap.

2. How is the father’s helplessness brought out in the poem?

Answer

 

The helplessness of the father is highlighted through the depiction of the emotional struggle that he undergoes. He is aware of the problem and is willing to resolve it, but is unable to do so. He regrets the lack of a strong emotional bond and proper communication with his son who is also physically distanced from him.

3. Identify the phrases and lines that indicate distance between father and son.

Answer

Phrases/lines that indicate distance between the father and the son are:

1. ‘I do not understand this child’
2. ‘I know / Nothing of him’
3. ‘We speak like strangers’
4. ‘there’s no sign/ Of understanding in the air’
5. ‘Silence surrounds us.’

4. Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme?

Answer

No, the poem does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

Father To Son Summary

Father to son is a poem describing the troubled relationship between a father and his son, in the present times. The poem emphasises the generation-gap between the father and the son and expresses the father’s pain and helplessness in failing to ‘understand’ his child. The father realizes the distance between them and wishes to bridge the gap.

The father remarks that though they have been living in the same house for years now, he does not understand his son. As he knows nothing about his son, he tries to build the same relationship that he enjoyed when his son was a small child.

The father wonders if he is responsible for destroying the basic personality of his son or if his son now belongs to a world to which his father does not. He regrets their talking like strangers and lack of understanding. The son is much like his father in appearance but they do not share common interest or taste.

 ‘Silence’ is what surrounds their relationship and there is a complete lack of communication between them. The father wishes his son to return to him in his own surroundings rather than see him move out to make his own different world. The father is ready to forgive his son for everything and rebuild the relationship to have a new start.

The father feels that they should live together. He admits that he himself is unable to understand how his grief gives way to anger. They wish to resolve their differences but it seems difficult to live together in harmony.

Childhood Extra Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. How does the poem expose man and presents him in true colours?

Ans. Childhood symbolizes innocence, purity, softness and love. As a child grows, these qualities start receding. Man becomes impure, cunning, shrewd and hypocrite. Grown-ups become blatant liars. They talk of love but practice hatred. They preach brotherhood of mankind but perpetuate hatred and killing. Simplicity and honesty evaporate into thin air, the moment man crosses the threshold of innocent childhood.

Q2. What is the poet’s feeling towards the childhood?

Ans. The poet regards childhood as a period of heavenly innocence. A child sincerely feels that there is god above. He is free from all earthly evils. He believes that there is really a Heaven and a Hell. He is truly religious in his soul. A child knows no hypocrisy. He always means what he says. There is no difference between his thoughts and actions. A child is free from any sense of ego. He does not think himself to be different from or superior to others. In short, childhood is a state of heavenly innocence and purity of heart.

Q3. What according to the poem, is involved in the process of growing up?

Ans. As a person grows up, he becomes a rationalist, an egoist and a hypocrite. He accepts nothing that is not logical. He loses faith in God. He does not believe in Hell or Heaven. He becomes very conscious of his self. He wants to follow his own desires and ideas. He becomes an egoist. He talks of love and preaches of love, but is not so loving in his actions. In short, he loses all his innocence of his childhood.

Q4. How does the poet describe the process of being grown up?

Ans. The process of being grown up develops the critical thinking and analytical point of view in the person. It makes the person rationalized and abled to take his decision by virtue of his seat of reasoning.

Q5. How does the poet repent on his loss of childhood?

Ans. He expresses concern over his childhood’s disappearance. Childhood cannot be regained. It keeps our life aloof from the world of hypocrisy, bitter reality and materialism.

Q6. The poet has asked two questions one is about the time and other is about the place. Why has he used these questions?

Ans. He has used these two questions to interpret the time and place of way of going his childhood away. “When” points out the process of being rational at a particular time and “where” states the place where the innocent world of childhood resides.

Q7. What does the Hell and heaven stand for?

Ans. It stands for the world of imagination that fascinates only small children. These are nothing but the product of our imaginative mind that helps the person to escape from reality.

Q8. What contrast did he find in adult’s behaviour?

They talked of human values but did not practise in their day to day life.

Childhood NCERT Solutions

Page No: 59

Think It Out

1. Identify the stanzas that talks of each of the following.

Individuality                    rationalism                                      hypocrisy

Answer

Individuality- Third stanza
Rationalism- First stanza
Hypocrisy- Second stanza

2. What according to the poem is involved in the process of growing up?

Answer

According to the poem, the process of growing up involves the attainment of mental maturity. A person is said to be grown up when he has become logical, rational and is able to build his own thoughts. A grown up has the power to distinguish between reality and fantasy.
A grown up individual understands the actions of others just as the poet recognises the hiatus between the preaching and the practice of the adults. He realises the hypocrisy and the double standards maintained by the adults. A mature individual also asserts his thoughts and opinions.

3. What is the poet’s feeling towards childhood?

Answer

The poet does not appear to feel sad or upset at the loss of his childhood. He only seems to be puzzled at the disappearance of childhood and the arrival of adulthood. He expresses his confusion when he asks the questions ‘When’ and ‘Where did my childhood go’?

4. Which do you think are the most poetic lines? Why?

Answer

The lines that seem to be the most poetic are:
‘It went to some forgotten place,
That’s hidden in an infant’s face;
That’s all I know.’

These lines sum up beautifully the process of growth and the disappearance of a particular stage of life. These lines express metaphorically that an infant’s innocent face hides many things behind its smiles. Perhaps the childhood also lies hidden somewhere in the child’s consciousness.

Childhood Summary

The poem Childhood begins with the poet pondering over ‘when’ was it that he lost his childhood. He wonders if it was the time when he crossed the age of eleven or the time when he started realizing that there is no real existence of heaven and hell as they could not be geographically located in maps.

He wonders if he lost his childhood the moment he realised that adults were not all they pretended to be or when he recognised that the adults, who spoke and preached of love, themselves ‘did not act so lovingly’.

The poet asks if he lost his childhood when he realised that he has a mind of his own or that he can choose his own way, guided by his mind now capable of producing thoughts and opinions that are different from other people.

The poet speculates as to ‘where’ his childhood disappeared. Though he is not aware of the day he lost his childhood, he knows that it has gone to some forgotten place, in an infant’s innocent face.

The Browning Version Extra Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Where did Taplow meet Frank?

Ans. Taplow had been asked to do some extra work by Mr. Crocker Harris. He was waiting for the master in the school. Frank also came there and met Taplow.

Q2. What subjects does Taplow want to opt for? Why?

Ans. Taplow feels if his grades are good, he would opt for science. He feels science is more interesting than the study of classics.

Q3. What does Mr. Frank suggest Taplow to do because Mr. Crocker Harris is ten minutes late?

                                             

Ans. Frank asked Taplow not to wait for Mr. Crocker Harris and play golf but Taplow is really shocked and is afraid that Mr. Crocker Harris may follow him home or do something else.

Q4. Why does Mr. Frank envy Mr. Crocker Harris?

Ans. Mr. Frank envies Mr. Crocker Harris for the effect he has on the boys in the class. Mr. Crocker Harris does not tell the results before they are officially announced. And in spite of making students take extra work they still like Mr. Crocker Harris.

Q5. How does Mr. Crocker Harris differ from other masters in his reactions towards others?

Ans. Mr. Crocker Harris did not get pleasure out of giving pain. He was not a sadist. In fact he had no feelings. He was all dry like a nut. He seemed to hate the idea of people liking him.

Q6. Who is a sadist? Why is Taplow afraid of Mr. Crocker Harris even though the latter is not a sadist?

Ans. A sadist is a person who gets pleasure while inflicting pain on others. Taplow says that he would not be so frightened of Mr. Crocker Harris if he were a sadist. He would at least show his feelings. Mr. Crocker Harris was indifferent and was like a nut.

Q7. Which incident does Taplow narrate to prove the fact that Crocker Harris does not like ‘being liked’?

Ans. Taplow narrates the incident about one day when Mr. Crocker Harris made one of his classical jokes in the class which no one understood. Taplow laughed out of politeness. Instead of feeling thankful, Mr. Crocker Harris asked Taplow to explain the joke to the class. This incident proved that Mr. Crocker Harris did not like ‘being liked’.

Q8. What is Taplow’s attitude towards Mr. Crocker Harris?

Ans. Taplow is respectful towards Mr. Crocker Harris and likes him even though he is afraid of him and dare not cut the extra work even on the last day of the term.

Q9. Does Frank seem to encourage Taplow’s comments on Crocker Harris?

Ans. Frank encourages Taplow to comment on Mr. Crocker Harris by cleverly asking Taplow several questions. He appreciated Taplow’s imitation of Mr. Crocker Harris and also asks him to repeat it.

Q. Who was Millie Crocker Harris? What was she like?

Ans. Millie Crocker Harris was the young wife of Mr. Crocker Harris. She was a thin woman in her late 30s. She was more smartly dressed than the other school masters’ wives.

Q10. How does Millie Crocker Harris send Taplow away?

Ans. On seeing Taplow, Millie Crocker Harris points out that her husband was at the Bursar’s so he could go away for a quarter of an hour. But Taplow does not move. Millie assures him that she would take the blame. She takes out a prescription and requests him to bring some medicines from the chemist for her.

Q11. How does Taplow react to Millie’s arrival?

Ans. Taplow is nervous. He is unable to control his emotions and whispers to Frank if he thinks she has heard their conversation. Taplow feels that if she tells Mr. Crocker Harris, he would lose his form.

Q12. What do you gather about Mr. Frank from the play?

Ans. Mr. Frank is a young science teacher. He does not like the subject he teaches. He also admits that he tells the result to the students before it is officially announced by the head master. He feels envious of Crocker Harris because Taplow likes him.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. What do you gather about Crocker-Harris from the play?

Ans. Crocker-Harris is a very strict and disciplined teacher. It is his last day at school. He is leaving the school for good. Yet he gives extra work to Taplow who is one of his students. Taplow has missed a day during the week. Crocker wants him to make it up. So he gives him extra work. He tells Taplow that he would come and see his work. Thus we see how strict Crocker is. His students are afraid of him, but they don’t dislike him. Their fear is tinged with respect, not with hatred. He never does any favour or disfavour to a student. He gives what one deserves. He never does anything that goes against the rules of the school. We can say he is an ideal teacher.

Q2. Comment on the attitude shown by Taplow towards Crocker-Harris.

Ans. Taplow is a student of Crocker-Harris. Crocker is a very strict and disciplined teacher. But he has his ownprinciples. He is true to his duty. It is the last day of the term. Crocker is going to leave the school for good. Yet he gives Taplow some extra work to do. He does so because Taplow had missed a day during the week for being ill. Most teachers tell the students about their result before the headmaster declares it. But Crocker never does that. He is a man of principles. Taplow is a little boy. But he understands all this. He has all respect for his teacher. He is afraid of him but he does not dislike him. He loves to go and play but doesn’t dare to leave without Crocker’s permission. His fear is tinged with respect not hatred.

Q3. Does Frank seem to encourage Taplow’s comments on Crocker-Harris?

Ans. Both Frank and Crocker-Harris are teachers in Taplow’s school. Crocker is a very strict and disciplined teacher. He has his own principles. He never does any favour or disfavour to his students. He gives what one deserves. Students are scared of him but they don’t dislike him. They have deep respect for him. Frank feels jealous of Crocker. So he encourages Taplow to say things against Crocker and mock at him. But Taplow does nothing of the kind. His act of imitating Crocker is no sign of disrespect. It is simply an act of mimicry. It is only by way of humour that he does so. There is no disrespect in it. But the way Frank encourages Taplow to do it is not like a teacher. In trying to degrade Crocker-Harris, he degrades himself only.

Q4. Give a brief character-sketch of Taplow.

Ans. Taplow is a student of Mr. Crocker-Harris. He has to stay behind even on the last day of the school. Mr. Crocker-Harris has given him extra work to do because he had been ill for a day during the week and missed the class. It is already very late. Mr. Crocker-Harris has not come yet. But Taplow is afraid of Crocker. He dare not leave the class until Crocker comes. Although he is afraid of Crocker, he doesn’t dislike him. He laughs at Crocker’s poor joke only out of respect. We can say that Taplow is a very obedient student.

Q5. Give a brief character-sketch of Millie.

Ans. Millie is Mr. Crocker-Harris’s wife. She is a thin woman and is in her late thirties. She dresses herself in smart clothes. She sees Taplow imitating her husband’s voice. But she takes it lightly. She finds Taplow waiting for her husband. She can understand very well that Taplow likes to go and play like other boys. She tells him that her husband is at the Bursars. It could take him a lot of time there. Thus she indirecdy hints to Taplow that he could go and play. Even then Taplow dare not go. Then she sends Taplow to a chemist to get some medicine. Her chief purpose is not to get the medicine. She only wants to help the poor boy enjoy his freedom for some time at least. Thus we can say that Millie is a loving and intelligent woman of helping attitude.

Q6. Compare and contrast the characters of Mr. Crocker-Harris and Frank.

Ans. Crocker-Harris and Frank are both teachers in Taplow’s school. But they are poles apart in their characters. Crocker is a very strict teacher. He is a man of discipline. He has his own principles. He is true to his duty. He never does any favour or disfavour to his students. On the other hand Frank is not true to his duty. He teaches science. He himself does not like the subject he teaches, but he calls his students slackers. He is jealous of Crocker. He encourages Taplow to say things against Crocker and mock at him. It does not behave a teacher to encourage a student against another teacher. In trying to degrade Crocker-Harris he degrades himself only.

Q7. Taplow is shown to be a sincere and dedicated student. How far do you agree to it?

Ans. Taplow is a boy of sixteen. He is pure at heart. He is a boy with no whims and fancy of his own. It is his frank nature which make us appreciate him all the more. It is great to watch that even after absenting himself from school for a day, he is ready to wait the next day to meet his teacher. His patience is all the more most attractive feature. Taplow paints before us a picture of a boy with divine nature. Inspite of having many good qualities Taplow is also good at flattery. He is waiting for the teacher because he wants extra marks for the test. Still inspite of follies he behaves in a simple, innocent manner. Infact he has not been touched by modernism and has a pure, serene heart.

The Browning Version NCERT Solutions

Page No: 50

Notice these expressions in the text. Infer their meaning from the context.

Remove
slackers
muck
kept in
got carried away
cut
sadist
shrivelled up

Answer

emove: a division in a school

slackers: unmotivated and lazy students

muck: useless, of no practical good

kept in: grounded, detained, work after the official school hours

got carried away: to get very excited or lose control of your feelings due to strong emotions.

cut: escape, go away without permission.

sadist: a person who gets pleasure out of inflicting pain to others

shrivelled up: having no feelings

Page No: 56

1. Comment on the attitude shown by Taplow towards Crocker-Harris.

Answer

 

Crocker Harris is Taplow’s teacher. According to Taplow and me also; Mr. Crocker Harris is a strict disciplinarian. He was a hard working teacher and fully devoted to his duty as he called Taplow even on the last day of school to make up for his missed class. No student in his entire career has a courage to ‘cut’ Mr. Crocker Harris. He is neither partial nor biased; he will give Taplow whatever he deserves. He tries to maintain an appropriate distance from his students. He never responds the feelings shown by his students and remains shrivel. He is a man of principals and keeps the rules of the school. His students like him even after his strict behavior. His colleagues, even Frank, envy him for the effect he has on the students. He is strict but not a sadist that he seems to be.

2. Does Frank seem to encourage Taplow’s comments on Crocker-Harris?

Answer


Frank encourages Taplow to comment on Mr. Crocker Harris by cleverly askingTaplow several questions. He appreciated Taplow’s imitation of Mr. Crocker Harrisand also asks him to repeat it.

3. What do you gather about Crocker-Harris from the play?

Answer

Mr Harris is a teacher who would not compromise on the rules and regulations to suffice the sentiments of students. He believes in fair assesment of his students and is not swayed by emotions, as the man is hardly human. He is not a sadist, but strict in performance of his sduties. Even on his last day at school, when he is over busy in own affairs he does not neglect his duty towards students.

Talking about the Text

3. Reading plays is more interesting than studying science.

Answer

There is no doubt that reading plays is more interesting than studying science because reading plays makes us imaginative and provides us ideas about human life and behavior. It has good language that is helpful in building our linguistic skills. It is a source of entertainment and enjoyment. Reading science has its own merits. It provides us knowledge and fill us with modern approach. Practical that we do in laboratories are also useful in daily life. Science makes us our future growth possible.

Working with Words

1. A sadist is a person who gets pleasure out of giving pain to others.

Given below are some dictionary definitions of certain kinds of persons.
Find out the words that fit these descriptions.

1. A person who considers it very important that things should be correct or genuine e.g. in the use of language or in the arts: P…

2. A person who believes that war and violence are wrong and will not fight in a war: P…

3.A person who believes that nothing really exists: N…

4. A person who is always hopeful and expects the best in all things: O…

5. A person who follows generally accepted norms of behaviour: C…

6. A person who believes that material possessions are all that matter in life: M…

Answer

1. Perfectionist
2. Pacifist
3. Nihilist
4. Optimist
5. Conventionalist
6. Materialist

The Browning Version Summary

The play presents a conversation between a lower fifth grade science student, Taplow and Frank, a teacher.

A chance meeting between Taplow and Frank

The scene of the play is set in a school. The play opens with a sixteen year old boy, Taplow who has come to do extra work for his teacher, Crocker-Harris. He is waiting for his teacher, who has not yet arrived. Another teacher, Frank, finds Taplow waiting in the room and strikes a conversation with him.

Taplow awaiting his result

From the conversation between Frank and Taplow, we are informed that Taplow is waiting for his result to be declared on the following day. He is keen to specialise in science provided he gets a favourable result. The uniqueness of Mr. Crocker-Harris is hinted as he does not tell the results like the other teachers do. He follows the rule of the headmaster declaring the results on the last day of the term.

Taplow’s views on art and science

Their conversation provides us an insight into the mind of Taplow. He lets Frank know how much he dislikes the play ‘Agamemnon’. He is more interested in science. He admits that though the play is not that bad, the way it is taught is terrible- “Just a lot of Greek words strung together and fifty lines if you get them wrong”.

The question of the “extra work”

Taplow is doing extra work as he had missed a class a week ago. Frank remarks that Taplow will certainly get his “remove” for doing the extra work. But Taplow feels the other way. He asserts such sort of rules do not work with Mr. Crocker-Harris, as he is not like other teachers who appreciate the students who do extra work.

Taplow’s views about Crocker-Harris

As per Taplow, Crocker-Harris is a different kind of teacher. He is too strict and ‘hardly human’. Unlike other teachers, he does not tell his students their result before the judgement day. Taplow had asked Harris about his remove and in response Harris told him that he has given Taplow exactly what he deserves- “No less; and certainly no more”.

Frank’s suggestion to Taplow

After calling Taplow for extra work, Crocker himself is late by ten minutes. Frank points that as Crocker is late, Taplow has a chance to leave and play golf. However, Taplow seems shocked at this suggestion and is scared that Mr. Crocker-Harris might follow him home.

Further contemplation on Crocker-Harris’s character

Frank admits envying Mr. Harris for the effect he has on his students. He asks Taplow if Mr. Harris beats them. However, Taplow tells Frank that unlike one or two of the other teachers, Mr. Harris is not a “sadist”. He is not a sort of a person who would beat students and vent his frustration. He is hard like a nut. He is heartless. He possesses no feelings at all.

Taplow’s unusual liking towards Crocker-Harris

Taplow admits that in spite of all this, he still likes Crocker. The boy narrates an incident when he laughed at a classical joke cracked by Harris, though he had not understood it. It was a gesture from Taplow’s side to be polite to him.

Millie Crocker-Harris

At this point, Millie Crocker-Harris enters the room. She was Mr. Crocker-Harris’s wife. She suggests Taplow to run away for a quarter of an hour and come back. She advises him to leave as Harris has been at Bursar’s and may take quite a time to get back.

The behaviour and attitude of Mrs. Mille Crocker Harris, baffles Taplow. He is not willing to leave for it has been the order of his teacher whom he fears to disobey. Mille assures him that she will take the blame on herself. Proposing an excuse for his absence, she hands Taplow a prescription asking him to take it to a chemist and get it made up for Harris. Convinced Taplow accepts the proposal and leaves Frank and Mrs. Crocker Harris behind.