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.

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.

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 Ailing Planet: the Green Movement’s Role Extra Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why is the earth said to be an ailing planet?

Ans. Due to the insensitive exploitation by humans for their survival and development, the earth has lost almost all its vital resources. With drying rivers, depleted and polluted environment and deteriorated forests and greenery, the earth is now breathing hard for its survival and thus it is an ailing planet.

Q2. What is the significance of Green Movement in the modern world?

Ans. The Green Movement that was found in New Zealand in the year 1972 brought a great awareness to the humanity. It taught us that we are just partners on the earth having equal rights to inhabit this planet as any other living organism has. Having learnt this, human beings worldwide stopped large amount of destruction that it used to cause upon the earth. People realized that the earth’s existence was threatened and began to do whatever was possible by each individual and each nation.

Q3. What did the most dangerous animal on the earth learn in the recent time?

Ans. Man is the most dangerous animal on the earth. He has learnt in the recent years a new lesson that he is not the master of the planet but just one among the rest of the animals and trees, plants and insects, who should live like a partner in survival on the earth.

Q4. What was the question raised by the First Brandt Commission? What does it suggest? What is the significance of this question?

Ans. The first Brandt Report raised the question, “Are we going to leave behind for our successors a scorched planet of advancing deserts, impoverished landscapes and ailing planet?” This question finds an answer in our minds but we quite conveniently forget this answer. It has been proved in the recent years that the earth is becoming hotter planet every year and another ice-age is under way. This question is still significant and will remain significant until the only schooled animal of the earth stops his war against the planet.

Q5. “What goes under the pot now costs more than what goes inside it.” Explain. 

Ans. With a growing population and the pace of the global developments taking wings, the cost of food touched a new height, all time high. Amazingly, the cost of cooking-gas overtook that of food-grains, fish, meat and vegetables, thus the fuel to cook – gas, firewood and electricity – now costs more than the raw-food.

Q6. Why is it said that forest precedes mankind?

Ans. No animal on the planet earth ever caused damage to it but humans have been causing serious destruction upon the earth ever since he had evolved. By cutting down trees for his survival and development humans have established their monopoly over the other species. Thus, with the coming of humans, the existence of forest was threatened.

Q7. What did Lester Brown mean when he said that we have not inherited this earth from our forefathers, we have borrowed it from our children?

Ans. Lester Brown believes that the present population of the earth has no right to think that the earth is its property. Each one has to believe that he is having full responsibility to keep the earth protected from all kinds of misuse. He has to feel that the earth is place that he has to return to the generations to come. Brown further furnishes that human beings have no right to misuse the earth because we are accountable to the new generations after us.

Q8. How is human population explosion the biggest threat to the existence of the ailing earth?

Ans. Human population is the biggest threat to the existence of the earth. Though it reached a billion in a million years, another billion was added to the world population in just another hundred years. Every four or five days the world population increases by one million. The effects of this dangerous increase in world population are endless yet the most catastrophic one is our present struggle for existence.

Q9. What does the empty cage and the board in the zoo in Lusaka mean?

Ans. In a zoo in Lusaka there is a mirror kept in one of the cages that is said to be the cage of the most dangerous animal in the world. The visitor sees his own face in the mirror and realizes that he is that most dangerous animal. The message is that human beings have won the infamous other than that of a zoo animal. The board message conveyed is a warning to the most dangerous animal to come in terms with the earth.

Q10. What are the four principal biological systems? How are they the foundation of the global economic system?

Ans. The four principal biological systems of the earth are fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands. In addition to supplying our food, these four systems provide virtually all the raw materials for industry except minerals and petroleum-derived synthetics.

Q11. Why is tropical forest called the powerhouse of evolution?

Ans. It is in the heart of the tropical forests where newer plants and animals evolve to more adaptable forms.

Q12. How is population responsible for the environment degradation?

Ans. With rising population, space that nature assigned for forests and animals. More population means less forests and animals. Unfortunately man’s first choice is nature and it is sadly vulnerable and an easy prey. When cities and megacities occupy the major portion of the earth, the ecological balance is said to be lost.

Q13. What does more children mean to the poor section of people of India?

Ans. Poverty is directly caused by illiteracy and lack of education. The illiterate and uninformed poor people of India believe that more children is more income. In fact more children means more responsibility and more poverty and an unhealthy family and individual.

Q14. What does Mr. Edgar S Woolard mean by assuming the post of his company’s Chief Environment Officer?

Ans. Mr. Edgar S Woolard, chairman of DuPont, an international manufacturer, by co-assuming the post of the company’s Chief Environmental Officer (CEO), stands a model for the owners and chairpersons of all the industries worldwide. He implies that the chief motive of an industry is to preserve the stability and life of the earth and profit comes next.

Q15. What are our ethical obligation to the ailing planet?

Ans. Human beings have the greatest obligation to the earth to safeguard this planet from all advancing deterioration and keeping it safe so that it can be handed over to the coming generations to inhabit here peacefully and in the midst of abundance.

Q16. How do you explain the concept of sustainable development?

Ans. Sustainable development is the kind development activities that meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This kind of development is expected to be undertaken without stripping the natural world of resources that the future generations would need.

Q17. How do fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands form the foundation of global economic system?

Ans. A majority of the world population depends on sea food for their survival while forests provide firewood, raw materials for production and timber for construction. Grasslands are the destination of cattle and herds of animals and without them, domestic and wild animals, the global economic system cannot survive. Each one is depending on the other while it help the other to survive. There are nations, except the gulf countries that depend on petroleum, that solely depend on forests and fisheries and croplands for trade and sustenance.

Q18. Is Indian constitution capable of safeguarding its forests?

Ans. So far, with all the measures adopted, the government has not been able to safeguard its forests effectively. India’s constitution is ostentatiously rich and effective but when it comes to enforcement, it miserably fails or it is not entirely successful.

Q19. Margaret Thatcher says, “No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy – with full repairing lease.” How is this statement significant today?

Ans. Everyone says, “it is my land” and “that is your land.” People fight for other territories and encroach the neighbor’s land. It is here what British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher’s observation gains importance. We are not supposed to occupy the earth considering that the planet belongs to us and that we can exploit the planet any way we like. We, on the contrary, have to extract the resources so carefully that the generation that comes after us will have a better land and sea, a less dense forest, cleaner water and clearer sky.

Long Answer Questions

Q1. How has the growth of world population affected the environment? Support your answer with suitable arguments?

Ans. The author Nani Palkhivala enumerates some alarming statistics to suggest how the growth of world population has tremendously affected the environment. The population which took a million years to reach the first billion took just another hundred years to reach the second billion. Another century passed it and reached the alarming figure of 3.7 million. Presently it is over 6 million and there is a huge demand on resources, natural or man-made. The resources worldwide are under a lot of stress and pressure. The four principal biological systems i.e. fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands which form the foundation of the global economic system and provide raw materials to the industry are facing a lot of stress. The human demands on these systems are increasing at a rapid speed. Hence, sustainability and productivity are both hampered. When this happens, fisheries collapse, forests disappear, grasslands become wastelands and croplands deteriorate. The need of the hour is to become sensitive towards the needs of the environment to get affected; we will leave behind nothing but an ailing planet for our future generations.

Q2. We have not inherited this earth from our forefathers; we have borrowed it from our children. Discuss.

Ans. Earth’s resources are limited and will not last forever. In the twentieth century, there has been a revolutionary change in human perception. We cannot take the planet for granted. We are mere custodians. We have to take a holistic view of the very basis of our existence. The earth is a living organism of which we are parts. It has its own metabolic needs to stay alive and must be respected and preserved for the future generation. What is required is sustainable development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the destiny of future generation. There are four biological systems, namely fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands. They form the foundation of the global economic system. They supply us food and raw materials for industry. In larger areas of the world, these systems are reaching unsustainable levels. Their productivity is being damaged. The growth of world population is another factor distorting the future of our children. Development is not possible if population increases. In this era of responsibility towards our future generation, population must be controlled. Industries must become environmental friendly. Now many industrialists, politicians and writers have realized their responsibility in preserving the non-renewable natural resources for the future generation.

Voice of the Rain Extra Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this?

Ans. The two voices in the poem are the voice of the rain and the voice of the poet. The lines are “And who art thou? Said I ……..” and ‘I am the poem of Earth’.

Q2. What does the phrase ‘strange to tell’ mean?      

Ans. The phrase ‘strange to tell’ means that it is an unusual and extraordinary answer given by the rain drops to the poet who asked who ‘it was’.

Q3. What is the similarity between rain and music?

Ans. They both return to the place of their origin after fulfilling their tasks.

Q4. How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem?   

Ans. The poet explains that the rain drops in the form of water vapour rise up from land and sea and then descend again on the earth and dry land in order to wash it down and hence comes back to its origin. This is the cyclic movement explained by the poet.

Q5. Why are the last two lines put within brackets?  

Ans. The last two lines are put within brackets because they do not form the voice of the rain or the poet. They only contain a general observation made by the poet about the course of a song.

Q6. What does the rain do to the things day and night?

Ans. The rain falls on the earth, and washes away the drought, it also helps the seeds to germinate and bring forth new life on the earth. Without it, all life on earth would become lifeless.

Q7. What answer did the rain give to the poet about its origin?

Ans. The rain answered that it was the poem of the earth. It rose eternally out of the land and bottomless sea into the sky. There its form changed but essence remained the same.

Q8. On what does the ‘rain descend’? What does it do to the things on which it falls?

Ans. The rain descends on droughts, atoms and dust particles on the surface of the earth. It also falls on everything that is on the earth. It gives life to the things on which it falls. The things that do not get rain remain like seeds latent and unborn.

Q9. ‘Behind the apparent simplicity, the poem hides a deep meaning’. What exactly does the poem convey to the reader?

Ans. The poem conveys that like a poem, the rain is also everlasting and has an unbreakable chain of life cycle. It rises from the earth, comes back to it. The song also issues from its birth place, wanders here and there, whether heeded to or not, returns with love to its own origin.