READINGS ON INDIAN CONSTITUTION, SECULARISM AND
SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT
QUESTION BANK
1. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is chiefly remembered for :
(a) His role in writing the Constitution of free India
(b) Uplifting the Dalits
(c) Embracing Buddhism
(d) None of the above
2. The first Law Minister of the Government of India:
(a) K.P.S. Menon
(b) Dr: Bhimrao Ambedkar
(c) Sardar Vallabai Patel
(d) Subhash C. Kashyap
3. The Draft Constitution of India contains:
(a) 315 Articles and 8 Schedules
(b) 345 Articles and 18 Schedules
(c) 215 Articles and 8 Schedules
(d) 415 Articles and 9 Schedules
4. Under the Presidential system of America, ———- is the chief head of the Executive.
(a) The Prime Minister
(b) The President
(c) The king
(d) None of the above
5. Under the Draft Constitution of India, the President occupies the same position as —–
under the English Constitution.
(a) The King
(b) The Prime-minister
(c) The President
(d) None of the above
6. A ——- must satisfy two conditions: (1) It must be stable and (2) It must be responsible
(a) Democratic executive
(b) Totalitarian ruler
(c) Tyrant
(d) Dictator
7. The two essential characteristics of a Unitary constitution are:
(a) The supremacy of Central Polity and the absence of subsidiary sovereign polities
(b) The Supremacy of subsidiary sovereign polities and the absence of Central Polity
(c) The supremacy of both the central and the subsidiary polities
(d) The absence of both the central and the subsidiary polities
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8. The Dual Polity under the Draft Constitution consists of———
(a) The Union at the Centre and the States at the periphery
(b) The States at the Centre and the Union at the periphery
(c) The Union at the Centre alone
(d) The States functioning as independent sovereign units
9. The American Polity is a ——-
(a) Dual Polity with a Dual Citizenship
(b) Dual Polity with a Single Citizenship
(c) Single Polity with a Single Citizenship
(d) Dual Polity with a Single Citizenship
10.The Indian Polity is a——–
(a) Dual Polity with a Dual Citizenship
(b) Dual Polity with a Dual Citizenship
(c) Single Polity with a Single Citizenship
(d) Dual Polity with a Single Citizenship
11.In normal times, the Draft Constitution of India is framed to work as though it was—–
(a) Unitary System
(b) Federal System
(c) Unitary as well as Federal System
(d) None of the above
12. In order to overcome the issues of rigidity and legalism, the Draft Constitution of India
follows———-
(a) The American Constitution
(b) The Australian Constitution
(c) The British Constitution
(d) The African Constitution
13. The President of the Indian Union, under the Parliamentary system is ——–
(a) Both the head of the State and the head of the executive
(b) Not bound by the advice of the Parliament
(c) The head of the State, but not the head of the executive
(d) None of the above
14. The Non-Parliamentary system tends to be———
(a) Both stable and responsible
(b) More stable than responsible
(c) More responsible than stable
(d) Neither stable nor responsible
15. The Parliamentary System tends to be ——
(a) Both stable and responsible
(b) More stable than responsible
(c) More responsible than stable
(d) Neither responsible nor stable
16. In a ———————Constitution, the Central polity as well as subsidiary polities
exist side by side.
(a) Unitary
(b) Federal
(c) Rigid
(d) Flexible
17.The Draft Constitution has the characteristics of ————
(a) The Unitary polity
(b) The Federal Polity
(c) Neither the Unitary nor the Federal polity
(d) Both the Unitary and the Federal polity
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18.Which among the following are the unique features of the Indian Polity?
(a) Single judiciary; Uniformity in fundamental laws, and a Common All India Civil
Service
(b) Double judiciary; Dual Citizenship and a State Civil Service
(c) Double Polity; Double judiciary and single citizenship
(d) Single Polity; Dual citizenship and a State Civil Service
19.The oldest Constitution still in force is that of ——–
(a) Massachusetts
(b) India
(c) Britain
(d) Australia
20. The largest written Constitution is that of ——–
(a) India
(b) Britain
(c) America
(d) Australia
21.Who is the author of the work “Parliament of India-Myths and Realities”
(a) Ambedkar
(b) Mahatma Gandhi
(c) Subhash C. Kashyap
(d) Neera Chandoke
22. “Salient Features of Constitution” is a Chapter from :
(a) Parliament of India-Myths and Realities
(b) History of Parliament of India
(c) Delinking Religion and Politics
(d) Our Constitution: An Introduction to India’s Constitution and Constitutional Laws
23. Which among the following statements, is true:
(a) Indian Constitution is an unwritten Constitution
(b) Indian Constitution is a rigid Constitution
(c) Indian constitution is neither federal nor unitary
(d) Indian Constitution is a blend of written and unwritten; rigid and flexible; federal
and unitary and Presidential and Parliament forms of Government
24. Fundamental duties were added to the Indian Constitution by the ———
(a) 42nd Amendment
(b) 76th Amendment
(c) 43rd amendment
(d) None of the above
25. Which among the following is not included in the Fundamental Rights
(a) Right to Equality
(b) Right against Exploitation
(c) Right to freedom of Religion
(d) Right to private property
26. What does the word “Franchise” mean?
(a) A statutory right to vote
(b) Population
(c) Sovereignty
(d) A statutory right to equality
27. The legal phrase “Ultra vires” means:
(a) Beyond the scope of legal power
(b) Within the purview of law
(c) Ignorance of law
(d) Among other things
28.Which among the following proposed a federal government at the centre and provincial
governments with a large measure of autonomy
(a) Wood’s Despatch
(b) Charter Act
(c) Pitt’s India Act
(d) Government of India Act 1935
29.Fundamental duties are included under Articles
(a) 51A
(b) 229
(c) 227
(d) 275
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30.The classic example of a federal constitution is
(a) The U.S. Constitution
(b) The Indian Constitution
(c) The Constitution of U.K
(d) The Australian Constitution
31.The Classic example of unitary constitution is
(a) The U.S Constitution
(b) The Indian Constitution
(c) The Constitution of U.K
(d) The Australian Constitution
32. Which among the following statements is true
(a) The Indian Constitution is a Federal one
(b) The Indian Constitution is a Unitary one
(c) The Indian Constitution is neither Unitary nor Federal
(d) It is difficult to put our Constitution in any strict mould of a federal or unitary type
33.Who said that rigidity and legalism were the two serious weakness of federalism?
(a) Ambedkar
(b) Gandhiji
(c) Madan Mohan Malavya
(d) Subhash C. Kashyap
34. Under article—— the Union Parliament in India can invade the State List
(a) 249
(b) 275
(c) 44
(d) 42
35.The Directive Principles of our State Policy was inspired by:
(a) The Irish model
(b) The Australian Model
(c) The British model
(d) The American model
36. ————-are guidelines to the central and the state governments to bear in mind
while framing laws and policies
(a) Directive principles of State Policy
(b) Fundamental Rights
(c) Fundamental Duties
(d) None of the above
37. Fundamental Duties were added to the Constitution by the 42nd amendment in the year:
(a) 1970
(b) 1977
(c) 1996
(d) 1976
38. Who is the author of “Beyond Secularism”
(a) Neera Chandoke
(b) Subhash. C. Kashyap
(c) Bertrand Russel
(d) Ambedkar
39. The extract “Why is Secularism Important for India” is taken from:
(a) Beyond Secularism
(b) Contemporary India: Economy; Society and Politics
(c) Mapping Histories
(d) None of the above
40. In the West the concept of Secularism means:
(a) The sphere of politics and that of religion is separated
(b) The state will not adopt a religion as the state religion
(c) No one shall be discriminated against on the grounds of religious affiliation
(d) All the above
41. Two-nation theory was an ideology propounded by:
(a) Muhammed Ali Jinnah
(b) Subhash C. Kashyap
(c) Neera Chandoke
(d) Mauntbatten
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42. The western conception of secularism is a ———————-
(a) Total rejection of religion from the sphere of politics
(b) Politicization of religion
(c) Equal treatment of all religion
(d) All the above
43.Indian concept of secularism implies
(a) Total rejection of religion from sphere of politics
(b) Politicization of religion
(c) Equal treatment of all religion
(d) All the above
44. The doctrine of “Sarva dharma samadbhava” in Indian secularism is a contribution of :
(a) Nehru
(b) Ambedkar
(c) Mahatma Gandhi
(d) Vatmiki
45. The doctrine of “Dharma nirapekshata” in Indian secularism is associated with
(a) Nehru
(b) Gandhiji
(c) Ambedkar
(d) None of the above
46.The doctrine of “Sarva Dharma Samadbhava” implies:
(a) All religions should be treated equally
(b) State would not be influenced by religious considerations in policy making
(c) Religion should be separated from politics
(d) All the above
47. The doctrine of “Dharma Nirapekshata” implies:
(a) All religion should be treated equally
(b) State would not be influenced by religious considerations in policy making
(c) Religion should be separated from politics
(d) None of the above
48. The concept of secularism is derived from:
(a) Freedom movement
(b) The principles of democratic equality
(c) Religious equality
(d) Religious fanaticism
49.Which among the following components do the concept of secularism that emerged in
India possesses:
(a) The State will not attach itself to any one religion
(b) All citizens are granted the freedom of religious belief
(c) The minorities will not be discriminated against
(d) All the above
50.What is Vinayak Damodars Sarvarkar’s name associated with?
(a) Two-nation theory
(b) Drain theory
(c) Die-hard theory
(d) Hindutva
51. Article 29 and Article 30 of the Fundamental Rights chapter of the Constitution deal with:
(a) Adult Franchise
(b) Women empowerment
(c) The grant of minority rights
(d) None of the above
52. Which among the following pose a major threat to the secular fabrics of the country?
(a) Communalism
(b) Casteism
(c) Untouchability
(d) All the above
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53. Bertrand Russell is :
(a) An American essayist
(b) French essayist
(c) English essayist
(d) German dramatist
54. “Human Knowledge, Its Scope and Limits” is authored by
(a) Francis Bacon
(b) Robert Lynd
(c) Bertrand Russell
(d) Rachel Carson
55.Russell received the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year——
(a) 1950
(b) 1955
(c) 1960
(d) 1965
56. Russell’s “Limits of Human Power” is a chapter from:
(a) Human Knowledge, Its Scopes and Limits
(b) New Hopes For a Changing World
(c) The Problems of Philosophy
(d) Knowledge and wisdom
57. According to Russell, the two very different elements in science are:
(a) Knowledge and wisdom
(b) Observation and experiment
(c) Scientific knowledge and scientific technique
(d) Scientific theory and law
58. According to Russell, ——–are interested in scientific technique
(a) Theorists
(b) Researchers
(c) Technocrats
(d) All the above
59. ———-are concerned to discover natural laws
(a) Scientific theorists
(b) Philosophers
(c) Technocrats
(d) The government
60.Which among the following is a statement made by Russell
(a) Man is both impotent and omnipotent
(b) Man is neither impotent nor omnipotent
(c) Man is both omnipotent and omniscient
(d) Man is either impotent or omnipotent
61.Russell considers man as being neither impotent nor omnipotent because:
(a) His powers are great
(b) His powers are infinite
(c) His powers are great and infinite
(d) His powers are not great and infinite as he wishes
62. “Our Plundered Planet” is a book by:
(a) William Vogt
(b) Bertrand Russell
(c) Fair Field Osborne
(d) John Osborne
63. “Road to Survival” is a book by
(a) William Vogt
(b) Bertrand Russell
(c) Fair Field Osborne
(d) John Osborne
64. The word ‘Politbureau’ is a
(a) A compound word
(b) An archaic word
(c) A blend
(d) An acronym
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65. “Politbureau” is a contraction of:
(a) Politics and bureau
(b) Political bureau
(c) Political bureaucracy
(d) None of the above
66.What does “megalomania” mean?
(a) Humility
(b) Mental disorder marked by excessive desire for power and authority
(c) Nervousness
(d) Omnipotence
67. Present industry, in fact, is a ‘kind of rape’……….depends upon irreversible process, it
all uses up the ‘earth’s capital’, is a ‘spendthrift’. Where does this passage occur?
(a) Limits of Human Power
(b) Knowledge and Wisdom
(c) The Obligation to Endure
(d) None of the above
68. What is the full form of DDT?
(a) Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane
(b) Diphenyl-Dichloro-trichloro-ethane
(c) Dichloro-dimethel-trichloro-ethane
(d) None of the above
69. DDT was discovered by
(a) Swiss Chemist Paul Muller
(b) Madam Curie
(c) Charles Elton
(d) None of the above
70. The concept of the Survival of the fittest is related to:
(a) Charles Elton
(b) Charles Darwin
(c) Charles Dickens
(d) Paul Muller
71. Rachel Carson is
(a) An American
(b) A French
(c) A German
(d) A British
72. “Silent Spring” is a work authored by:
(a) Bertrand Russell
(b) Rachel Carson
(c) Arundhathi Ray
(d) Vandhana Shiva
73. “Obligation to Endure” is the second chapter from ———-
(a) Waldon
(b) The God of Small Things
(c) Silent Spring
(d) Gift in Green
74. According to Rachel Carson, the most alarming or all man’s assault upon the environment is :
(a) Deforestation
(b) Urbanisation
(c) Urban sprawl
(d) The contamination of air, earth, rivers and sea with lethal elements
75. Strontium 90 is a——-
(a) Radioactive isotope of strontium
(b) A substance dispensed from aerosol
(c) An insecticide
(d) None of the above
76. A branch of zoology that deals with insects:
(a) Etymology
(b) Ethnology
(c) Entomology
(d) Epistemology
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77. Insecticides used for killing insects are really biocides because:
(a) They are not selective killers; they kill all life
(b) They are harmful to ecology
(c) They are harmful to human beings
(d) They kill all insects
78. Chemical war on insects is never won because
(a) The insecticides are ineffective
(b) The insects develop immunity through generations
(c) The insecticides are biocides
(d) None of the above.
79. Jean Rostand is ——
(a) French Biologist
(b) German Biologist
(c) American Biologist
(d) British Biologist
80. The Ecology of Invasions is a book by
(a) Charles Darwin
(b) Charles Elton
(c) Rachel Carson
(d) Albert Schweitzer
81. The Green Revolution in the third world countries was meant to provide———
(a) More and better food
(b) More and better education
(c) More and better plants and trees
(d) More and better chemicals and fertilizers
82. Manushi is ———
(a) an organization of thinking women,
(b) A feminist movement,
(c) An environmental movement,
(d) A trade organisation.
83. Manushi was founded by ——–
(a) Vandhana Shiva,
(b) Sarrah Joseph,
(c) Arundhathi Ray,
(d) Kamala Das
84. Sarrah Joseph won the Kendra Sahithya Academmy Award and Vayalar Award for her
Novel——
(a) Paapathara.
(b) Alahayude Penmakkal .
(c) Othappu.
(d) Manassile Thee Mathram
85. Which among the following is not a short story by Sarrah Joseph?
(a) Shabdikkunna Kalappa,
(b) Kadinte Sangeetham,
(c) Manassile Thee Mathram,
(d) Nilavu-Nirayunnu
.
86. The story ‘A Night Never to be Lost’ is a part of—————
(a) Silent spring,
(b) Silent Song,
(c) Gift in Green,
(d) Under the Green wood Tree
87. Sarah Joseph’s “Gift in Green” is a —————-
(a) Novel,
(b) Short story,
(c) Book of stories and story tellers,
(d) One Act play
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88. Which among the following is not the source of “ Gift in Green” ?
(a) The Bible,
(b) The Holy Quran,
(c) Events attributed to the life of St.Francis,
(d) Jathaka Tales
89. ————– is the fictitious place where “ Gift in Green” is set
(a) Mellstock,
(b) Malgudi
(c) Adhi
(d) Mayyazhi
90. “God duals in its throat” who said so ? To whom?
(a)Noor mohammed to his beloved
(b) St.Francis to his disciple,
(c) Vatmiki to the Nishadha
(d) St.Francis to Noor muhammed.
91. What happened to the bird before St. Francis could complete his sentence?
(a) Flew away in ecstacy
(b) Flew away in terror
(c) Fainted from the branches of the tree and died
(d) None of the above.
92. What happened to the bird in St. Francis’s story in the end?
(a) It was caged
(b) It died
(c) It flew away
(d) It migrated.
93. Noor Muhammed was singing ————-
(a) A patriotic song
(b) A love song
(c) A marriage song
(d) A funeral song
94. The rustic girl in ‘A Night Never to be Lost’ was ——————
(a) Catching fish
(b) Gathering mussels
(c ) Removing the Garbage
(d) Reaping
95. Where was the rustic girl going with the garbage she collected?
(a) To a small village
(b) To a small uninhabited island
(c) To a market place
(d)To the forest
96.’ Aren’t holy trails meant to be followed ?’ W ho is under reference?
(a)Noor Muhammed
(b) St. Francis
(c) Leola
(d) The rustic girl
97. The rustic girl dumped the garbage in to —————
(a) A deep pit on the surface of an island
(b)The sea
(c) A pond
(d) Athi
98. ‘Did the way I spend the night ,/ prepare me for peace ?’ Where do these lines occur.?
(a) The Talking Plough
(b) A Night Never To Be Lost
(c) Another Community
(d) Abhignanasakuntalam
99. The first collection of short stories by Ponkunnam Varkey
(a) Thirumulkahzcha
(b) My turning point
(c) Shabdikkunna Kalappa
(d) None of the above
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100. Sahitya Pravathaka Sahakarana Sangam is associated with
(a) Ponkunnam Varkey
(b) Sarah Joseph
(c)R.K Narayan
(d) Vikom Muhammed Basheer
101. Purogamana Sahatya Sangatana is ——————-
(a) An association of progressive writers
(b) An association of thinking women
(c) An association of feminist writers
(d) An association of post modern writers
102. Which of the following won for Ponkunnam Varkey an award from Madras Government
(a) Thirumulkahzcha
(b) My turning point
(c) Shabdikkunna Kalappa
(d) None of the above
103. Which among the following is the Autobiography of Ponkunnam Varkey ?
(a) My Idea of Success
(b) My Turning Point
(c) The Turning Point in My Life
(d) None of the above
104. What did the other farmers call Ouseph?
(a) Paachan.
(b) Kannan.
(C) Bullock-Mad.
(d) None of the above.
105. Why did the other farmers call Ouseph ‘Bullock-mad’?
(a) he was always trouled by the bullocks.
(b) He ran mad due to the fear of bullocks.
(c) He loved the bullocks so much that he would forget everything.
(d) none of the above.
105. Ouseph talked to Kannan as he talked to a ——
(a) friend
(b) Son
(c) a member of family.
(d) a daughter
106. As soon as the ploughing was over————————
(a) Kannan would be allowed to graze freely,
(b) Kannan’s body would be washed,
(c) Kannan would be fed.
(d) all the above.
107. Kannan disliked———
(a) alap
(b) Being washed.
(C) Being fed,
(d) Paachan
108. How did Kannan respond when Paachan started an ‘alap’?
(a) by giving Paachan a sharp kick,
(b) By silently listening to the ‘alap’,
(c) By raising his voice
(d) by shaking his head.
109. How long did Kannan work for Ouseph?
(a) 12 months,
(b) 12 years,
(c) 12 days, and 12 months,
(d) 12 days 12 months and 12 years.
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110. How did Kannan behave at the time of his sale?
(a) He expressed his hatred in leaving,
(b) He lifted his head and looked all around to see whether his master was there,
(c) He lowed once or twice,
(d) all the above.
111. How did Ouseph behave at the time of kannan’s sale?
(a) He left the scene,
(b) He stood under the southern jackfruit tree,
(c) He silently wiped his tears
(d) All the above.
112. How long had Ouseph worked?
(a) 12 years,
(b) 21 years,
(c) 20 years ,
(d) 22 years.
113. Ouseph’s Malabar trips got postponed because
(a) He wanted to sell his bullock,
(b) He wanted to sell the little plot of land at a reasonable price.
(c) He longed to the see the little face of his grandchild that would soon be born,
(d) Both ‘b’ and ‘c’.
114. What did Ouseph see outside the municipal building?
(a) Kannan grazing,
(b) Kannan ploughing,
(c) Kannan among other bullocks branded for slaughter,
(d) His wife and daughter.
115. Which among the following is the major symbol in “The Talking Plough”?
(a) The jack fruit tree,
(b) The bullock,
(c) The cob web-ridden plough ,
(d) The alap.
116. Before the mechanisation of agriculture, farming was inextricably linked with—–
(a) Cattle,
(b) Pesticides,
(c) Fertilizers,
(d) Tractor
117. Ouseph’s relation to the soil and bullock is ————
(a) Utililitatian,
(b) Epicurian,
(c) Libertarian,
(d) Not utilitarian
118. Ouseph had to mortgage his paddy field to———–
(a) buy a bullock,
(b) buy insecticides and pesticides,
(c) meet the expenditure on irrigation
(d) find dowry for the marriage of his daughter.
119. Ouseph had to sell his bullocks including Kannan to———-
(a) buy a plot of land,
(b) meet the expenditure of irrigation,
(c) find dowry for the marriage of his daughter,
(d) meet the expenses of the wedding of his daughter.
120. Kathrikutty is Ouseph’s———
(a) daughter,
(b) wife,
(c) Sister,
(d) sister-in-law
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121. Maria is Ouseph’s ——–
(a) daughter,
(b) wife,
(c) Sister,
(d) sister-in-law.
122. The poor beasts told him the ‘poverty of man’s kindness to living things’. What does
‘poverty’ in this context mean?
(a) want of money,
(b) Carelessness,
(c) Absence
(d) state of being poor,
123. Why did Maria and Kathrikutti scold Ouseph?
(a) Ouseph sold Kannan,
(b) Ouseph took Kannan home,
(c) Ouseph could not purchase new clothes for Kathrikutty,
(d) both ‘b’ and ‘c’
124. Where his own family failed to understand Ouseph, the poor beast——–
(a) also failed,
(b) succeeds,
(c) Indifferent,
(d) none of the above.
125. The plough is an important——-in the story “The Talking Plough”
(a) simile,
(b) metaphor,
(c) personification,
(d) sign.
126. After he lost the paddy field, Ouseph’s heart burns at the sight of the——
(a) kannan,
(b) jack fruit tree,
(c) cob web-ridden plough,
(d) the lost field.
127. At the end of the story “The Talking Plough” we see ——
(a) the cob web-ridden plough,
(b) the new talking plough,
(c) the resting plough,
(d) the plough in the field.
128. What is the writers observation about the death of Kannan?
(a) the poor beast died of broken heart at the misery of his master,
(b) the poor beast died of starvation,
(c) the poor beast was slaughtered,
(d) its death was natural.
129. What did Ouseph do to save Kannan from the butchers?
(a) He gave them another bullock,
(b) He bought Kannan back with the money his wife had managed through a chitti.
(c) He stole away with Kannan,
(d) He sold his paddy field.
130. ———is a concept which is based on the holistic world view that sees the world as
an integrated whole.
(a) National integration,
(b) secularism,
(c) deep ecology,
(d) social solidarity.
131. The setting for most of R. K. Narayan’s story is —–
(a) Mangala,
(b) Malgudi,
(c) Nizamudhin,
(d) Jaipur.
132. Malgudi is a ——-
(a) a real town,
(b) an imaginary town,
(c) a slum area,
(d) a metropolitan city.
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133. Which among the following is not a work by R. K. Narayan?
(a) The Guide,
(b) The Untouchability,
(c) Swami and Friends,
(d) Financial Expert.
134. Which among the following is a novel by R. K. Narayan?
(a) The Parrot’s Training,
(b) The Guide,
(c) Fifteen Years,
(d) The Flavour of Coconut
135. ————-is the story of a man’s supreme self-sacrifice to save his community from
communal violence
(a) Fifteen Years,
(b) Another Community,
(c) Parrot’s Training,
(d) The Flavour of Coconut
136. Which among the following is not a work by R.K, Narayan?
(a) Another Community,
(b) My Days,
(c) Flavour of Coconut,
(d) Fifteen Years.
137. Which among the following is R. K. Narayan’s Memoirs?
(a) MY Diary,
(b) My Life,
(c) My Days,
(d) My Reflections.
138. The hero of the story “Another Community” is——-
(a) Raju,
(b) Bakha,
(c) a Judge,
(d) unnamed.
139. What was the job of the hero in “Another Community”?
(a) A Railway booking clerk,
(b) a vendor,
(c) a bookseller,
(d) a clerk in an insurance company.
140. The hero in “Another Community” is—-
(a) young,
(b) middle-aged,
(c) adolescent,
(d) aged.
141. The time referred to in “Another Community” is
(a) August 1947,
(b) September 1947,
(c) October 1947,
(d) November 1947.
142. “Another Community” describes the pangs of ordinary man in the wake of ———
(a) natural calamity,
(b) political upheaval,
(c) communal violence,
(d) none of these.
143. “Let us not cut each others throats, it does not matter who cuts whose, it is all same
to me”. Where does this line occur?
(a) Another Communiity
(b) The Talking Plough
(c) The Night Never To Be Lost
(d) None of the above
144. The community to which the hero of “Another Community” belongs.
(a) Mahar
(b) Natar
(c) Brahmin
(d) not mentioned.
145. “But the button did get pressed” The implication is
(a) The button of a nuclear bomb was pressed
(b) The button of a calling bell was pressed
(c) The button of a communal violence was pressed
(d) none of the above.
School of Distance Education
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146. What happened to the hero in the end of “Another Community’?
(a) died of pneumonia
(b) killed in a cycle accident
(c) Killed in communal violence
(d) fled from communal violence
147. How could the police identify the body of the hero in ”Another Community”?
(a) by a scar on his face
(b) Through the kerosene ration coupon in his pocket
(c) through his passport
(d) through his driving license.
148. “Had he been able to speak again, our friend would have spoken a lie and saved the
city” Who is the friend under reference?
(a) Noor Muhammed
(b) The rustic girl
(c) The hero in another community
(d) Anasooya. S
149. The unnamed hero’s body was found in ——-
(a) ditch
(b) on the sea shore
(c) in a forest
(d) by the side of the municipal building
150. “The English Teacher” is a novel by
(a) R. K. Narayan
(b) Mulk Raj Anand
(c) Raja Rao
(d) Girish Karanad
151. Which among the following is not a poem by Gieve Patel?
(a) On Killing a Tree
(b) Poison Tree
(c) Nargol
(d) Commerce
152. The message of the poem “On Killing a Tree” is
(a) it tells us how to kill a tree
(b) it is indifferent to killing of trees
(c) it tells us we should never harm trees
(d) none of the above
153. It takes much time to kill a tree because
(a) the tree is tall
(b) the tree is rigid
(c) a tree takes so many years to grow
(d) none of the above.
154. What are the possible interpretations of the poem “On Killing A Tree”?
(a) Deep roots are not easy to be pulled out , so we have to be well rooted in life
(b) Nature has the spirit of resilience, no matter how much we harm it.
(c) the poem is a metaphor for rooting out the evil that has taken deep roots.
(d) All the above.
155. The poem “Factories are Eye-sores” was written by
(a) Gieve Patel
(b) Baldoon Dingnra
(c) kamala Das
(d) Nizzim Ezekiel
156. Which among the following is not a collection of poem by Baldoon Dingra?
(a) Symphony of love
(b) Beauty’s Sanctuary
(c) Bird Sanctuary
(d) Comes Ever the Dawn
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157. The Factories are eye-sores because
(a) They cause eye-sores
(b) Factories burn and tickles eyes
(c) The black smoke emanating from the factories blackens the landscape
(d) all the above
158. ‘The iron lines against the sky standing to eastward’ suggest
(a) The iron gates of the factories
(b) The smoke emanating from the chimneys
(c) The machines
(d) None of the above
159. How do thing of ugliness turn bright according to Baldoon Dingra?
(a) When the bright rays of the Sun touches the chimney shaft
(b) with the help of imagination
(c) when portrayed by fanciful painters
(d) none of the above
160. The labourers are weary and desperate because
(a) They are working day and night
(b) they are working in mines
(c) they are lazy
(d) the atmosphere of the factory is grim with smoke and soil
161. The word ‘scintillation’ means
(a) Oscillation
(b) A flash or sparkle of light
(c) Cancellation
(d) Decoration
162. Calude Monnet is a
(a) Italian poet
(b) French painter
(c) German playwright
(d) Greek Sculptor
163. In which of the following poems does the allusion to Claude Monnet occur?
(a) Factories are Eye-sores
(b) On Killing a Tree
(c) In the Sanatorium for Trees
(d) None of the above
164. The poem “In The Sanatorium for Trees” was written by——
(a) Baldoon Dhingra
(b) Veeran Kutty
(c) K.M Sherrif
(d) Gieve Patel
165. Which among the following is not authored by Veerankutty?
(a) Manassile Thee Matram
(b) Manthrikam
(c) Jalabhoopadam
(d) Nalumanipookkal
166. Who translated Veerankutty’s “Marangalude Ashupathri” into English?
(a) K.M. Sherrif
(b) Sir William Jones
(c) Narayana Menon
(d) None of the above
167. Who translated Ponkunnan Varkey’s “Shabdhikkunna Kalappa” into English?
(a) K.M. Sherrif
(b) Sir. Villiam Jones
(c) Narayana Menon
(d) None of the above
168. The word sanatorium means
(a) a lunatic asylum
(b) a bird sanctuary
(c) an establishment for medical treatment of people suffering from chronic illness
(d) a planetarium
School of Distance Education
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169. The word probation means
(a) Proscription
(b) Prescription
(c) A process of testing or observing the character or abilities of a person who is new
to a role
(d) None of the above
170. The treatment of cancer by the use of chemical substances like cytoxic and other drugs
(a) Chemotherapy
(b) Alchemy
(c) Physiotherapy,
(d) None of the above.
171. “In The Sanatorium for Trees” shows a poignant awareness of ——-
(a) The impact of globalization
(b) Killing of trees
(c) The destruction of environment by human predator
(d) None of the above.
172. A man can be at peace only when he ———– himself to the life with nature.
(a) Sentences
(b) Convicts
(c) Confirms
(d) Warns
173. In the poem “In the Sanatorium for Trees”, the poet requests us to walk gently through—–
(a) The wards
(b) The forest
(c) The vestibule,
(d) The narrow lane.
174. We can walk without fear in the sanatorium because
(a) There is no one in the sanatorium
(b) There are no wild animals in the sanatorium,
(c) The plants and the trees in the sanatorium paralyzed with the concoctions which
the human predators have poured into them,
(d) The sanatorium is well protected.
175. ————–are on chemotherapy.
(a)The pappayas,
(b) The pannagas,
(c) The jackfruit tree,
(d) The mallica plant.
176. The word concoction means
(a) Connotation
(b) Conviction
(c) Confession
(d) A mixture of various elements.
177. “You are sentenced to life with the Sun, the rain and the wind” where does this line
occur?
(a) In the Sanatorium for Trees
(b) On Killing a Tree
(c) Abhijnana Sakuntalam
(d) The Talking Plough.
178. There is no return from the sanatorium because
(a) Man can be at peace only when he sentences himself to life with nature
(b) Man is undergoing a medical treatment.
(c) Man is undergoing punishment.
(d) None of the above.
179. What does the moon do in the Sanatorium for Trees?
(a) Rubs its a balm on barren heads,
(b) Rehydrates parched desires,
(c) Decongests swollen memories,
(d) Rushes in with tincture and cotton wool.
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180. What does the rain do in the Sanatorium for Trees?
(a) Rubs it’s balm on barren heads,
(b) Rehydrates parched desires,
(c) Decongests swollen memories,
(d) Rushes in with tincture and cotton wool.
181. What does the Sun do in the Sanatorium for Trees?
(a) Rubs its balm on barren heads,
(b) Rehydrates parched desires,
(c) Decongests swollen memories,
(d) Rushes in with tincture and cotton wool.
182. What does the wind do in the Sanatorium for Trees?
(a) Rubs its a balm on barren heads
(b) Rehydrates parched desires
(c) Decongests swollen memories
(d) Rushes in with tincture and cotton wool.
183. “Abhijnanasakuntalam” of Kalidasa is ——-
(a) An epic
(b) A myth
(c) A legend
(d) A drama
184. Who among the following translated “Abhijnanasakuntalam” into English?
(a)William Empson
(b) William Jones
(c) William Wordsworth
(d) William Logan.
185. Who referred to Kalidasa as ‘The Indian Shakespeare’ ?
(a)William Logan
(b)William Wordsworth
(c) William Empson
(d) William Jones.
186. The story of the Play Abhijnanasakuntalam appears in the ——-of The Mahabharatha.
(a)The Adi parva
(b) The Karna Parva
(c) The Sthree Parva
(d) The Drona Parva
187. The story of “Abhijnanasakuntalam” is originally told in ———
(a) The Mahabharata
(b) The Ramayana
(c) The Panchathantra,
(d) None of the above.
188 Shakuntala is the daughter of —–
(a) Viswamitra
(b) Durvasav
(c) Kanva,
(d) Dushyanta.
189 Which among the following epithet is apt for Durvasa?
(a) Angry-prone
(b) Adamant
(c) Haughty
(d) All the above.
190. The dominant rasa in the play “Abhijnanasakuntalam”
(a) Haze
(b) Sringara
(c) Karuna
(d) Soka
191. Kanva is Shakuntala’s ——-
(a) Father
(b) Master
(c) Teacher
(d) Foster Father
Reading on Indian Constitution, Secularism and Sustainable Environment 2012 Admission Page 18
192. “Who would pour boiling water on the blossom of a tender Mallica?”What does
boiling water stand for in the context?
(a) Durvasa’s curse,
(b) Dushyantya’s forgetfulness,
(c) Viswamitra’s negligence,
(d) Sakuntala’s melancholy.
193. Who among the following gives the description of the rising of the Sun and the
setting of the Moon at the same time in the play “Abhijnanasakuntalam”?
(a) a pupil of Kanva,
(b) Dushyanta,
(c) Shakuntala,
(d) Anasooya
194. The moral conveyed by the description of the rising of the Sun and the Setting of the
Moon?
(a) Men should be equally firm in prosperous and in adverse fortune.
(b) Prosperity and adversity are natural like the rising and the setting of the Sun
and the Moon
(c) Prosperity and adversity are like the spokes of a wheel.
(d) All the above.
195. Who are referred to in the play Abhijnanasakuntalam as ‘Misracesi’?
(a) Anasooya and Priyanvada,
(b) Sarngavara and Saradwata,
(c) both ‘a’ and ‘b’,
(d) none of the above.
196. What leads to Dushyanta’s forgetfulness of Shakuntala?
(a) Dhushyantya’s amorous life,
(b) His absent-mindedness,
(c) Durvasa’s curse ,
(d) mental illness.
197. The only cure for Dushyanta’s forgetfulness is—
(a) Nagacesara,
(b) Leading a pious life,
(c) The signet ring,
(d) Sleeping one night in the robe of a wise man.
198. The ring is lost when Shakuntala is——-
(a) Sleeping,
(b) Collecting flowers in the garden,
(c) While crossing the river
(d) Playing with her hand-maids
199. The ring is discovered by—–
(a) Gauthami,
(b) Anasooya,
(c) Priyamvade,
(d) The fisher man.
200 Act IV of Abhijnanasakuntalan brings home the truth that:
(a) Separation is always melancholic,
(b) Adversity and prosperitiy in life are only natural,
(c) Man can be at peace only when he conforms himself to life with nature,
(d) All the above.
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ANSWER KEY
1 A 46 A 91 C 136 A 181 C
2 B 47 B 92 B 137 C 182 D
3 A 48 B 93 B 138 D 183 D
4 B 49 D 94 C 139 D 184 B
5 A 50 D 95 B 140 B 185 D
6 A 51 C 96 D 141 C 186 A
7 A 52 D 97 A 142 C 187 A
8 A 53 C 98 B 143 A 188 A
9 A 54 C 99 A 144 D 189 A
10 C 55 A 100 A 145 C 190 B
11 A 56 B 101 A 146 C 191 D
12 B 57 C 102 A 147 B 192 A
13 C 58 C 103 B 148 C 193 A
14 B 59 A 104 C 149 A 194 D
15 C 60 B 105 C 150 A 195 B
16 B 61 D 106 A 151 B 196 C
17 D 62 C 107 B 152 C 197 C
18 A 63 A 108 A 153 C 198 D
19 A 64 A 109 B 154 D 199 D
20 A 65 C 110 D 155 B 200 D
21 C 66 B 111 D 156 C
22 D 67 A 112 C 157 C
23 D 68 A 113 D 158 B
24 A 69 A 114 C 159 A
25 D 70 B 115 C 160 D
26 A 71 A 116 A 161 B
27 A 72 B 117 D 162 B
28 D 73 D 118 D 163 A
29 A 74 D 119 D 164 B
30 A 75 A 120 A 165 A
31 C 76 C 121 B 166 A
32 D 77 A 122 D 167 C
33 A 78 B 123 D 168 C
34 A 79 A 124 B 169 C
35 A 80 B 125 B 170 A
36 A 81 A 126 C 171 C
37 C 82 A 127 A 172 A
38 A 83 B 128 A 173 A
39 B 84 B 129 B 174 C
40 A 85 A 130 C 175 B
41 A 86 C 131 B 176 D
42 A 87 C 132 B 177 A
43 C 88 D 133 B 178 A
44 C 89 C 134 B 179 A
45 A 90 B 135 B 180 B
Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 1
II Semester
Common Course for B.A/B.Sc./B.Com
READING LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Question Bank & Answer Key
Choose the correct Answer from the bracket.
1. Charles Lamb is best known for his ________.
a. Essays of Edison b. Essays of Selina
c. Essays of Elia d. Essays of Addison.
2. What was Charles Lamb’s grandmother’s name?
a. Field b. Gable
c. Aan d. Jane.
3. In the essay Dream Children, grandmother Field died of________.
a. Pneumonia b. Tuberculosis.
c. Cancer. d. AIDS.
4. What is the name of the river the children had to cross in order to be born again?
a. Thames b. English Channel.
c. Lethe d. Nile.
5. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was the ________ President of India.
a. 13th b. 14th
c. 11th d. 12th
6. According to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam till the age of 15 every student can take their
__________ and ____________ as their role models.
a. Parents and teachers. b. Teachers and friends
c. Siblings and friends. d. None of the above.
7. Give us a Role Model is taken from A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s book named _________.
a. Wings of Fire. b. Judicious decisions.
c. None of the above. d. Ignited Minds.
School of Distance Education
Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 2
8. Which of the books given below belong to J.B. Priestley’s collection of essays?
a. Apes and Angels b. Distant Sorrow.
c. A Journey Down Memory’s Lane. d. None of the above.
9. ‘On Travel by Train’ is a humorous account of the English ___________.
a. Capabilities. b. Eccentricities.
c. Realities. c. Employability skills.
10. According to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam it is the _____________ who generates
creativity in the child.
a. Doctor b. Teacher
c. Parent d. None of the above.
11. In the stories in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, the battle took place
between______________and ________________.
a. Black and white b. Justice and injustice
b. love and hatred. c. Good and evil.
12. The _____________ is one of the four books that have influenced him A.P.J. in his
a. Davinci Code b. Holy Quraan
c. Secret Seven d. None of the above.
13. According to the boy A.P.J. Abdul Kalam met at Ananad , Gujarat; our greatest
enemy is___________.
a. Poverty b. Liberty
c. Hatred d. None of the above.
14. The most offensive traveller in J. B. Priestley’s ‘On Travel by Train’ is ___________.
a. The teacher b. The carpenter
c. The middle-aged woman d. None of the above.
15. Bertrand Russell received the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year________.
a. 1960 b. 1940
c. 1950 d. 1970
16. According to Bertrand Russell Knowledge without wisdom can be ____________.
a. Beautiful b. Harmful.
c. Enchanting d. Ugly
17. Men who have knowledge and have no feelings lack _________.
a. Education b. Bravery
c. Information d. Wisdom.
18. According to Russell, wisdom is needed in personal life to avoid _____________ for
a. Dislike b. Love
c. Affection d. None of the above.
School of Distance Education
Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 3
19. ________________ can be taught as a goal of education says Russell.
a. Education b. Wisdom
b. Dislike d. Compassion.
20. Let me not to the marriage of true minds is Sonnet___________.
a. 116 b. 118
c. 120 d. 111
21. The structure and form of Sonnet 116 are a typical example of the _____________.
a. Ballad b. Lyric
c. Petrarchan sonnet d. Shakespearean sonnet
22. A sonnet is a ____________ line verse form.
a. Eighteen b. Fourteen
c. Sixteen d. Twelve
23. Sonnet was introduced by the Italian poet named______________.
a. Peter b. Petrarch
c. Penguin d. Punich
24. William Blake is known as a _______ Poet.
a. People’s b. Pleasant
c. Prophetic d. None of the above.
25. William Blake has written Songs of Innocence and ____________.
a. Songs of Experience b. Songs of Expression
c. Songs of Experiments d. None of the above
26. In the poem ‘A Poison Tree’, the poison tree is a metaphor of
a. Love b. Anger
c. Wisdom d. Fear
27. The original title of the poem ‘A Poison Tree’ was____________.
a. Christ in pain b. Christian Forbearance
c. Christian Tolerance d. None of the above
28. In the poem ‘A Poison Tree’, the enemy slowly entered into the garden of the speaker
and _____________ the apple.
a. Ate b. Kissed
c. Stole d. None of the above.
29. The Lyrical Ballads was published in the year__________.
a. 1798 b. 1764
c. 1789 d. 1770
School of Distance Education
Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 4
30. Lucy Gray’s parents traced the trail of her foot steps to the middle of a little________.
a. House b. bridge
c. river d. None of the above
31. Lucy Gray is written imitating the 18th Century ___________ form.
a. Sonnet b. Epic
c. Elegy d. Ballad
32. The poem Lucy Gray narrates the sad incident of Lucy Gray’s____________.
a. Death b. Life
c. Missing d. Lonely life
33. Robert Frost is a well known _______ poet.
a. Afro American b. American
c. English d. Irish
34. The ‘Yellow wood’ shows that it is the season of __________.
a. Summer b. Winter
c Spring d. Autumn
35. The traveller in the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ chose the path that
a. More used b. Effectively used
c. Less used d. None of the above
36. ‘There is Certain Slant of Light’s is a poem written by_________
a. Sri Aurobindo b. Emily Dickinson
c. Robert Frost d. None of the above
37. Oppresses, like the weight of cathedral tunes; what is the figure of speech used here in
the poem ‘There is Certain Slant of Light’?
a. Simile b. Metaphor
c. Personification d. None of the above
38. In the line ‘On the look of death’ from the poem ‘There is Certain Slant of Light’,
death is ____________.
a. Used as a Simile b. Used as metaphor
c. Personified d. None of the above.
39. A figure of speech in which human traits like qualities, feeling or characteristics are
given to non-living objects is __________.
a. Metaphor b. Simile
c. Strophe d. Personification
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Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 5
40. A figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared in a phrase using the
words ‘like’ or ‘as’ is called ______________.
a. A Strophe b. Simile
c. Metaphor d. None of the above.
41. The first Nobel Laureate of Asia in Literature was
a. Shashi Tharoor b. Rabindranath Tagore
c. Bertrand Russell. d. None of the above
42. Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year _________.
a. 1930 b. 1918
c. 1913 d. 1980
43. ‘Heaven of Freedom’ is taken from _____________a collection of 103 English poems
of Tagore translated by himself from Bengali.
a. Gitanjali b. Kheya
c. Naivedya d. Gitimalya
44. The poem ‘Heaven of Freedom’ is like an_____________, a prayer where the poet
prays for a country which is a heaven of freedom.
a. Song to God b. An offering to God
c. A complaint to God d. A suggestion to God
45. Indians had lost their freedom in all spheres under the __________rule.
a. Irish b. Spanish
c. British d. None of the above
46. The poet, in the poem ‘Heaven of Freedom’ is referring to a nation where the people
can hold their head high with dignity and ____________.
a. Self respect b. Self contempt
c. Self disgust d. None of the above,
47. In the heaven of freedom imagined by Rabindranath Tagore people belonging to any
section of the society will have __________to education.
a. No access b. Little access
c. Free access d. None of the above
48. In the poem, ‘Heaven of Freedom’, Tagore addresses _________as the Father of the
a. Man b. Society
c. Himself d. God
49. ________________composed the national anthem of our country.
a. William Blake b. W.B. Yeats
c. Rabindranath Tagore d. R.K. Narayan
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Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 6
50. Kamala Das is a prominent Indian English writer who was later known by the name
a. Kamala Sundhya b. Kamala Surayya
c. Kamala Sershain d. None of the above.
51. Kamala Das wrote under the name ___________.
a. Madhava Menon b. Madhavi Menon
c. Madhavi Amma d. Madhavi Kutty.
52. Her poems are mostly ____________ in nature.
a. Confessional b. Confidential
c. Contradictory d. None of the above.
53. _____________ was Kamala Das’s Major work.
a. My life b. My history
c My story d. None of the above.
54. ______________ is a poem written by Kamala Das
a. Middle women b. Middle life
c. Middle stance d. Middle Age
55. In the poem ‘Middle Age’, the poet discusses the life of a______________.
a. Daughter b. Father
c. Sister d. Mother.
56. According to the poet, Kamala Das, children wear a stern face in order to show that
they are ____________ and_____________.
a. Sincere and faithful b. Matured and serious
c. Happy and jovial d. None of the above
57. ‘The Astrologer’s Day’ is a short story written by______________.
a. S.K. Pottakadu b. W. B. Yeats
c. R.K. Narayan d. O.N.V. Kurup.
58. R.K.Narayan’s famous work ___________was awarded the Sahithya Academy
Award in 1958.
a. Swami and Friends b. The Guide
c. The Financial Expert d. None of the above
59. Swami and friends, The Financial Expert and The Guide are works written by
a. R. K. Narayan b. Sarojinui Naidu
c. Kamala Das d. Rabindranath Tagore.
60. R. K. Narayan’s stories uphold the _____________ culture.
a. American b. African
c. English d. Indian
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Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 7
61. Under what tree is the Astrologer sitting in the story, ‘The Astrologer’s Day’?
a. Oak tree b. Tamarind tree
c. Banyan tree d. Bodhi tree
62. How much money had the stranger promised to give the astrologer if he gave right
answers?
a. 9 annas b. 10 annas
c. 8 annas d. None of the above
63. How much money did the astrologer have to pay if his answers went wrong?
a. 17annas b. 18annas
c. 20annas d. 16annas
64. For how much money did the astrologer finally agree to speak?
a. 2 rupees b. 1 rupee
c. 50 paise d. None of the above
65. What was the name of the stranger who sat before the astrologer?
a. Guru Sampat b. Guru Veeran
c. Guru Nayak d. Guru Kripa
66. The astrologer advices the man to go back to his home town and never travel
a. Southwards b. Northwards
c. Eastwards d. Westwards
67. The vendor who called his product by different names each day sold_____________.
a. Ground nuts b. areca nuts
c. almonds d. None of the above
68. The astrologer tells the stranger that the man he is looking for is ____________.
a. Sitting before him b. Has run away from the village
c. Is no longer alive d. None of the above,
69. The stranger had come in search of the man who tried to kill him in order to
a. Congratulate him b. Embrace him
c. Scold him d Take revenge.
70. Did the stranger identify the astrologer?
a. No a. Yes
c. Not sure d. None of the above.
71. O. Henry is the pen name of_____________.
a. William Words worth b. William Henry
c. William Shakespeare d. William Sydney Porter
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Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 8
72. The Last Leaf is a Short story written by
a. H.H. Munro b. W.H. Longfellow
b. O. Henry c J.K.Rowling
73. What is the name of the old artist who helped the two girls in the story, ‘The Last
Leaf’?
a. Benjamin b Bernad
c. Behrman d Benoy
74. What is the disease mentioned in the story, ‘The Last Leaf’?
a. Pneumonia b. Tuberculosis
b. Flu d. HIV
75. Who was ill with pneumonia?
a. Sue b. Behrman’s sister
c. Johnsy d. None of the above.
76. ‘The Last Leaf’ is a story of ____________ done by an old man.
a. Self esteem b. Self sacrifice
c. Love d. Reunion
77. Johnsy had associated her life with falling of the leaves from a ___________.
a. Pine tree b. Oak tree
c. Ivy vine d. None of the above.
78. The last leaf ___________ on the night of the storm.
a. Fell a. Did not fall
c Changed its colour d None of the above.
79. Johnsy wanted to paint ______________ as her masterpiece.
a. The Bay of Bengal b The Mexican Coast
c. The Bay of Naples d None of the above.
80. Behrman died of ______________.
a. Cholera b Tuberculosis
c. HIV 10. Pneumonia
81. ‘The Rising of The Moon’ is a play written by______________.
a. Anton Chekov b. W.B.Yeats
c Lady Gregory d. Henrik Ibsen
82. Lady Gregory was the co- founder of the ___________theatre.
a. Golden b. The Rose
c Abbey d. None of the above
School of Distance Education
Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 9
83. ‘The Rising of The Moon’ is a __________ .
a. Tragic-comedy b. Comic play
c Tragedy d Political Play
84. The play begins with a sergeant and two policemen __________a notice or a placard
with physical details of the escaped prisoner.
a. Planning b Pasting
c Tearing d Discussing
85. The escaped prisoner in ‘The Rising of The Moon’ was an important _____________.
a. Cinema actor b Political Leader
c Gang leader d None of the above.
86. What is the amount the authorities put as prize money for the head of the escaped
prisoner?
a. Two hundred pounds b Three hundred pounds
c Six hundred pounds d Hundred pounds
87. Who was the person who came along when the policeman was alone guarding the
harbour?
a. A beggar b A ballad singer
b A fortune teller d A hungry old man
88. The Rising of the Moon is a symbol of _______________.
a. Irish folk tradition b Irish independence
c English rule d None of the above.
89. Lady Gregory is ____________ playwright .
a. American b African
c English d Irish
90. The play ‘The Bear’ is written by________________.
a. W.B. yeats b Tagore
c Anton Chekov d Lady Gregory
91. Anton Chekov is a prominent figure in __________ literature.
a. Russian b American
c Indian English d Irish
92. The main Character in this play is
a. Madame Leobev b Madame Vanya
c Madame Popova d Madame Curie
93. Smirnov tells Madame Popova that her late husband owes him a sum
of_________ roubles.
a. 1600 b 1200
c. 1300 d 1700
School of Distance Education
Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 10
94. What does Popova call Smirnov when they argue?
a. A Cat b A Mouse
c A Bull d A Bear.
95. Grigory Stepanovitch Smirnov was a ______________
a. Banker b Lieutenant
c Tenant d None of the above
96. Popova was mourning the death of her_____________.
a. Daughter b Husband
c Sister d Father
97. Charles Lamb worked as a clerk at _____________.
a. East coast company b East India House
c East Forte Company d None of the above.
98. Mary Lamb was Charles Lamb’s _______________.
a. Mother b Sister-in-law
c Sister d Daughter
99. Mary Lamb was insane and ____________Lamb’s mother.
a. Looked after b Beat
c Hit d Killed
100. ‘ Give us a Role Model’ begins with a quotation by _____________.
a. Sri Aurobindo b Sri Narayana Guru
b Rabindranath Tagore d Mahatma Gandhi
Reading Literature in English 2012 Admn. 11
ANSWER KEY
1 c 15 c 29 a 43 a 57 c 71 d 85 b
2 a 16 b 30 b 44 b 58 b 72 c 86 d
3 c 17 d 31 d 45 c 59 a 73 c 87 b
4 c 18 a 32 a 46 a 60 d 74 a 88 b
5 c 19 b 33 b 47 c 61 b 75 c 89 d
6 a 20 a 34 d 48 d 62 c 76 b 90 c
7 d 21 d 35 c 49 c 63 d 77 c 91 a
8 a 22 b 36 b 50 b 64 b 78 a 92 c
9 b 23 b 37 a 51 d 65 c 79 c 93 b
10 b 24 c 38 c 52 a 66 a 80 d 94 d
11 d 25 a 39 d 53 c 67 a 81 c 95 b
12 b 26 b 40 b 54 d 68 c 82 c 96 b
13 a 27 b 41 b 55 d 69 d 83 d 97 b
14 c 28 c 42 c 56 b 70 a 84 b 98 c
99 d 100 d
Abhijnanasakuntalam- Act IV- Kalidasa.
Translated by Sir William Jones
Kalidasa is one of the greatest poets of India and of the world. According to tradition, Kalidasa was one of the nine gems (Navaratnas) in the court of Vikramadithya. There is no authentic information regarding the date and personal history of Kalidasa. Some scholars assign him to the period of Chandraguptha II of the fourth century A.D. Others take him back to the first century B.C which appears to be more probable. We can infer from his works that he was a man of liberal education and culture and that he was well acquainted with the people and geography of India. He had absolute faith in the Vedic religion and he attached great importance to the observance of Dharma as laid down in smrithis and Dharma sastras. The works that are generally accepted as the genuine production of Kalidasa arethe two Mahakavyas – “Raghuvamsha” and “Kumara-Sambhava”, one Khandakavya – “The Meghadutam” and the three plays – “Malavikagnimitram”,”Vikramorvashiyam” and “Sakuntalam”.
ABOUT THE PLAY
The legend of Shakuntala is originally told in the Adi Parva of ‘The Mahabharata’. Kalidasa has woven the plot of his play by making slight changes in the original story. He has taken significant liberties in his version.
THE LEGEND OF KING DHUSHYANTHA AND SHAKUNTHALA
Dushyantha, the king of Hastinapura goes hunting to the forest. Having chased a stag for a long distance, he becomes tired and chances upon the hermitage of sage Kanva. Kanva and the other elders of the hermitage are away on a pilgrimage. On enquiring who inside the hermitage is, Shakuntala, the adopted daughter of sage Kanva, enters and greets the king in royal style. Though simple and humble, she is endowed with ethereal beauty. The king understands that the sage and the other elder inmates of the hermitage are away. He also comes to know that Shakunthala is the daughter of sage Vishwamithra and the Apsaras Menaka and that sage Kanva has adopted her. Enticed by her beauty and feminine graces, the king falls in love with her prima facie. He is too passionate in his love for her to wait for the arrival of Kanva and insists on courting her as per the Ghandarva mode of marriage. Shakunthala demands that the son born to them should succeed Dushyantha as Yuvaraja. Dhushyantha is so overcome with emotion that he fails to refuse her demand. He also promises her to be taken to his palace without delay. He has then to leave to take care of the affairs in the capital. When Kanva returns from the forest, Shakunthala is reluctant to go in front of him on account of her coyness. However the sage realizes what has happened with the help of his divine vision. He does not chastise her but approves of what she has done since the Gandharva mode of vivaha is dharrmic as per the Shastras. He consoles her saying that Dushyantha is a king who treads along the path of Dharma. Shakunthala gives birth to a son endowed with all the credentials required for a potential Yuvaraja.
When the boy attains adult hood worthy of being anointed as Yuvaraja, Kanvas sent Sakuntala with her son, accompanied by the Munijanas to the court of Dhushyantha. Kalidasa’s dramatic version and the legend bear no difference in any respect at all up to this juncture. However, in the legend, it is not the pregnant Shakuntala, but the mother Shakuntala accompanied by her son, who approaches the palace of Hasthinapura. In the play it is the pregnant Shakunthala who approaches Dushyantha . This is the major difference between the legend and Kalidasa’s dramatic version.
The legend goes as follows: on having arrived at the palace of Hastinapura and pays homage to the king, Sakuntala unwinds the reel of her past but her words fall upon the deaf ears of the king, and he affirms that he remembers no such incident happened in his life. On hearing this, Shakunthala collapses. Finally gathering all courage and controlling the fire of her rage, she accuses him in bitter words “Thou affect ignorance inspite of thy knowledge.” Dushyantha remains unshaken. Exhibiting his mastery over repartee, he asks her “How can I believe the words of a woman like you? Is not your mother Menaka who has won ill fame for having shaken sage Vishwamitra from his ascetic glory with her enticing dance? Is not your father Vishwamitra who was born as a Kshatriya, converted to live the life of a Brahmin. It is impossible for me to believe the words of a girl with such a parentage.”
On hearing her parents being abused, Sakuntala loses all her restraints and she burns with rage. She claims that her parentage is better than that of Dushyantha in every respect. She turns to take leave consoling her at the thought that her son will become the Yuvaraja without Dushyantha’s blessings. Just then an oracle is heard in the palace: “He is the son born of Dushyantha”. The oracle convinced all those who assembled in the court of the real parentage of the son.
1. The oracle which exhorts Dushyantha to accept his son is the symbolic representation of the public being convinced of the truth. His guilt is that he is a self – conceited amorous tyrant. However in the legend everything ends well.
Marriage to a woman with whom one is in love as per Ghandharva mode is traditionally considered dharmic kind of marriage which is not a taboo for kings. On hearing the oracle Dushyantha makes it clear: “Oh Shakunthala! The world has not come to know of my infatuation for thee and it is on account of the same that I put thee to a trial only to prove to the world how pure thou art.” Thus
everything ends well in the legend. However the legend lacks the ups and downs required for a play. Kalidasa has endowed the same with his dramatic version in abundance.
The Plot Of The Play
The love story of Dushyantha and Shakunthala has nowhere attained as much sublimity as in the hands of Kalidasa. In the legend, Dushyantha could win over the heart of Sakunthala with as much few words as he could and she surrenders herself totally to him. Likewise, Dushyantha also surrenders himself later to her when she accuses him with a few words of his falsehood in having purposefully forgotten and deserted her. But in the play, the situation is entirely different. The background which Kalidasa has designed for feeding the amorous rasa step by step leading the same to a plane perfectly enjoyable is undoubtedly wonderful.
In the legend, Shakunthala approaches Dushyantha at a time when her son has attained adulthood worthy of becoming the Yuvaraja. But in the play it is not so. Sakuntala’s kins i.e. the inmates of the ashram undergo untold anxiety when they come to know that she is going to be a mother. Their anxiety is quite natural and it enhances when she is not sent for to be brought to Dhushyantha’s palace as she has been promised by him. Other additions in the play are the curse of sage Durvasav which causes Dushyantha’s forgetfulness and the missing of Mudramothira, the Signet ring which is the token of love Dushyanta had given her (i.e. the ring embedded with gem
with Dushyantha’s name inscribed thereon.) The angry-prone Durvasa arrives when Shakuntala is lost in her fantasies.So she fails to attend to him, and he curses her by bewitching Dushyanta into forgetting her existence. The only cure for Sankutala is to show him the signet ring that he had given. She later travels to meet him, and has to cross a river. The ring is lost when it slips of her finger when she dips her hand in the water playfully. On arrival the king refuses to acknowledge her. Shakuntala is abandoned by her companions who return to the hermitage.
Fortunately, the ring is discovered by a fisherman in the belly of a fish and Dushyanta realises his mistake. But it is too late then. The newly wise Dushyanta defeats an army of Asuras, and is rewarded by Indra with a journey through heaven. On his return to earth years later Dushyanta finds Shakunthala and their son by chance and recognizes them. The fisherman’s retrieval of the ring and Dusyantha’s revival of his memory on seeing the same adds much to the dramatic effect. Dushyantha’s forgetfulness and Shakunthala’s humility are the most striking aspects of the play.
IMPORTANT INCIDENTS IN ACT IV OF SHAKUNTHALAM
Act IV of “Shakunthalam” contains the most touching scenes in the play. The act brings home the truth that separation is always melancholic. Accompanied by Gautami, Shargavara and Shardvata, Shakunthala is being sent by Tata Kanva to Dushyantha’s
palace at Hastinapura. She is bidding farewell to the plants, trees, birds and animals and to her hand maids at the ashram, Anasooya and Priyamvada whom she has so far treated as her own sisters and with whom she has lived without being separated even for
a single moment in her life. Even sage Kanva is so overcome with emotion that his voice staggers. He is seen behaving as if he were a Grihasthasrami (Head of House Hold). It is in this act that Kalidasa has endowed the young one of the stag Deegapanga and the
wild Jasmine plant, Vana Josna with sensations and emotions of human beings. The act begins with a conversation between Anasooya and Priyamvada. They are talking about Dushyantha Maharaja who has courted Shakunthala as per Gandharva mode of vivaha. They are anxious that nothing is heard about the king who has gone to his palace to take care of the affairs in the capital after the Yaga having been performed.
In the meanwhile, it appears that a guest has arrived at the hermitage. The maids console themselves at the thought that Shakunthala will be at the hermitage to welcome the guest. By this time, the guest burns with rage and goes away showering words of curse upon Shakunthala “Thou hath failed to see me on account of thy fantasies. So let him, whom thou hath been thinking of, forget thee.” The handmaids realize with a shock that Shakunthala is unaware of Durvasav’s arrival as she has been lost in day dreams. Anasuya requests Priyamvada to follow Durvasa and to entreat him to pardon Sakunthala.
On seeing Anasooya’s humility, Duravasa sympathizes a little. He allows a concession that the curse will be lifted on showing the signet ring that Dushynta had given her as a token and that he will be released of his forgetfulness. It is only out of sheer luck that such a concession is granted by Durvasav who is adamant and hot tempered by nature.
After all, Anasooya and Priyamvada make up their mind not to let Sakunthla know anything about the curse and the means for lifting the same. Their decision has a great dramatic significance. Sage kanva who has returned from the forest comes to know of Sakunthala’s Ghandharva Vivaaha with Dushyanta with the help of his divine vision. He makes arrangements for Shakunthala to be sent to the palace of Dushyantha, along with the inmates of the hermitage. While Anasooya and Priyamvada brings in garlands made of elanjhi flowers, and mixtures of sandals and kunkumas for Shankuthala to be adorned with, the young disciples of Kanwa brings in silken clothes and ornaments given by the forest nymphs with words of blessings. The pieces of advice and words of consolation that Kanva gives Sankunthala when she turns to prostrate before him is a real blessing. The permission that the flora and fauna of the hermitage grant Sankuthala to take leave is echoed in the songs of shama birds. When she tries to set out, the tip of her garment is stuck on something. When she turns and looks back she finds that it was the fawn (the young one of the stag) called Deergapanga. When Sankunthala is gone, the dejected Kanva returns to the hermitage accompanied by Anasooya and Priyamvada. He feels relieved as though a great debt had being paid off.
Explanation of important passages in Act IV of Shakuntalam
1. Maharshi Durvasav’s curse.
We hear the intense curse showered upon Shakuntala by Sage Durvasa who is burning with rage on account of the fact that she failed to greet him as she is lost in fantasies. Shakuntala who has courted Dushyantha as per the Gandharva mode of vivaha remains lost in thought the very moment when the angry-prone Durvasav pays a visit to Kanvaasram. Durvasav showers a curse on Shakuntala by bewitching Dushyanta in to forgetting her. The curse runs as follows. ‘Let him ,whom thou hath been thinking of, forgetful of everyone else and fails to see me who is a sage, be forgetful of thy existence even when he is reminded of, like a lunatic who is not able to recollect anything that has happened before”. [It is because Shakuntala has been lost in thoughts about Dushyantha that she failed to see sage Durvasa, when he visits the hermitage. The sage becomes so angry that he curses her that Dushyanta will forget her, even when he is reminded of her.His forgetfulness will be that of a mad man who cannot recollect anything that has happened in his life before he runs mad]
2. The picture of the morning as painted by the disciple of Kanva.
The disciple of Kanva gives a beautiful description of the setting of the moon and the rising of the sun simultaneously and the moral conveyed by the sight. On the one side, the moon is seen sinking and on the other side the sun, being driven in chariot by his chariot driver Aruna, is being manifested on its own. Does the rise and fall of the two jyotis i.e. the sun and moon, at the same time tell the word of the universal law that change of fortune (i.e. change from one dasha to another) is indispensable? With the setting of the moon, the night flower pleases no more. The ruddy morning impurples the dew drops on the branches of Vadari. The peacock, shaking off sleep, hastens from the cottages of hermits. The antelope, springing hastily from the place of sacrifice, raises himself on high, and stretches his graceful limbs. The moon has fallen from the sky with diminished beams. It seems to the disciple that the moon and the sun the two great men of this world ascend with extreme labour to the summit of ambition only to descend from it easily and quickly
3. Melancholy of Kanva at the thought of separation from his daughter
The intense sorrow that engulfs Kanva on account of the thought of separation from his daughter Shakuntala is dealt vividly in Act IV of ‘Shakunthalam’. He is anxious on account of the thought of separation from his daughter. His eyes are filled with tears, and the throat stammers. His sight is paralysed with thoughts. He asks, “If the condition of a tapasi like me is this, what would be the condition of a father who leads the life of a grihasthasrami, on thinking of separation from the daughter for the first occasion.
4. The advice Maharishi Kanva gives to Shakuntala before her departure to Hastinapura.
When Shakuntala prostrates in front of Kanwa, he blesses her with his advice and words of consolation. He says “Let you be worthy of being adorned by your husband as Sharmishta by Yayathi [as per the legend ,the real wife (i.e. patta maharshi) of king Yayathi is Devayani, however,his son born of Sarmishta is proclaimed as the Yuvraj even though Yayathi is married to Sharmishta only through the Gandharva mode. The implication is that Sakuntala’s son also, in due course, would become Yuvraj.] Kanva advises Sakuntala as to the duties she has to perform and the norms she has to observe on reaching her husband’s home. “Look after the parents of your
husband. Treat your co-wives as if they were your own friends with love and respect and faith. Even when your beloved is displeased, do not be displeased. Be sympathetic to the servants. Never be proud of your luck. It is thus that the young wife becomes a real
house wife who is able to look after the affairs of the household in a better way. Those who behave in contradiction to the norms are sure to bring about destruction to the kula”
5. Personification of the flora and fauna in the hermitage.
Act IV of “Sakunthalam” contains the most touching scenes in the play. The act brings home the truth that separation is always melancholic. Accompanied by Gautami, Shargavara and Shardvata, Shakunthala is being sent by Tata Kanva to Dushyantha’s palace at Hastinapura. She is bidding farewall to the plants, trees, birds and animals and to her hand maids, Anasooya and Priyamvada whom she has so far treated as her own sisters and with whom she has lived without being separated even for a single moment in her life. Even sage Kanva is so overcome with emotion that his voice staggers. He is seen behaving as if he were a Grihasthasrami
(Head of House Hold). It is in this act that Kalidasa has endowed the fawn(the young one of the stag) Deegapanga and the wild Jasmine plant, Vana Josna with sensations and emotions of human beings. Kanva requests the plants and trees of the Tapovans
to grant Sakuntala permission to take leave of. He says to them: “She who refuses to take any drink without you being watered and she who is hesitant to pluck tender buds and she who celebrates it a festivity, when you blossom for the first time that Sakuntala is leaving for her husband’s palace. Let everyone grant her permission to take leave of.”It seems to Sakuntala that something hinders the tip of her silken clothes when she is about to set out to Hasthinapura. She turns and looks back. Then Kanwa tells her it is the young one of the stag named Deergapanga,whose mouth ,when injured with the dharbha grass, she smeared with a herbal oil and
cured the wound and whom you have fed with the chama rice asif it were your own most beloved young one.
6. Kanva’s message to Dushyanta
Before sending Sakuntala to Dushyanta’s palace at Hastinapura, Kanva sends the King a message requesting him to acccept Sakuntala and protect her properly. “Considering hermits as virtuous and considering your own high birth retain your
love for this girl, which arose in your bosom without any knowledge of her kindred; and look on her among thy wives with the same kindness which they experience: more than that cannot be demanded; since particular affection must depend on the
will of God.
7. Kanva’s relief in the end of the Act.
Having sent Shakunthala along with the munijanas to the palace of her husband, Dushyantha, feels relieved as if from a great debt. (To a father, his own daughter (kanyaka) is a wealth belonged to another man. Therefore he feels relieved only when he sends away his daughter to the one she is married to)”I feel relieved as if the pawned wealth has been returned to its owner”-says kanwa
Another Community- R.K. Narayan
R.K. Narayan, (1906- 2OO1) one of the early figures of Indian literature in English, is known for his fiction set in the imaginary town called Malgudi. His works include “Swami and Friends”, “The Bachelor of Arts”, “The English Teacher”, “Financial Expert”
and “The Guide.
“Another Community” is the story of man’s supreme sacrifice to save his city from the madness of communal violence. The unnamed hero could not ultimately save the city, because the button of communal hatred was pressed by the force of evil. Had he lived, he would have spoken a lie and saved the people. For him there is no such thing as your community or mine. We are all of this country. I and my wife and children.You and your wife and children. Let us not cut each others throats. It doesn’t matter who cuts whose: it’s all the same to me. But we must not, we must not, we must not. Rumours, half truths and even untruths kindle the most sensitive communal issues and blow them up beyond one’s control to prevent the outbreak of arson, rape and mindlelss killing of innocent people. Communal tension and riots are still the curses of the Indian society.
R.K.Narayan treats a sensitive issue in a balanced manner. The caste or community of the hero is deliberately not mentioned. The time is October 1947, soon after independence and partition of the sub-continent. The pangs of an ordinary person in the wake of communal tension are descrribed convincingly without sentimentality.
‘Another Community is the story of a man’s supreme self sacrifice to save his city from communal violence. The hero of the story is unnamed so as to keep his community and caste unidentified. The hero worked as a clerk in the office of an insurance company for a monthly payment of Rs 100. His passage from youth to the middle age was at the same seat in his office. He lived in a little house which was sufficient for his wife and four children. Yet he felt perplexed when some guests came to stay with him. His life was on the whole peaceful and happy until the October of 1947 when people began to behave like savages.
The author ironically states that some one or some body of men killed a body of men a thousand miles away and the result was that they repeated the evil here and wreaked their vengeance around. The author remarks that an evil action in a far off place always
found a corresponding echo. The tempers of the neighbours rose when they read the newspaper each day. They eagerly waited for vengeance. People who were friends behaved in a new way: We are of one community and they are of another community. All
these troubled the hero. He visualised the madness of communal violence unleashed on innocent lives like that of his colleagues’s little daughter. Such fantasies made the hero whisper under his breath constantly” “God forbid”. He tried to console his friends by
telling them that such deeds of violence would not happen in their locality. But his men were organizing themselves for violence. All these sounded ghastly to the hero’s sensitive temperament. Life seemed to become unbearable to him. People seemed to him
secretive. Everyone seemed to him a potential assassin. The atmosphere was surcharged with fear and suspicion. The hero avoided meeting anyone lest they should spread wild stories. They always talked about someone stabbed in the street or a woman
attacked. Such talks made our hero nervous and he lost his relish for food and sleep.
Whenever he looked at his wife and children he was racked by the fear that some peril was in store for them. He visualised the terrified scream of his daughter and wife. He kept falling off into half sleep and kept awake. He shuddered even at the slightest sound
and went up to the window to see if any violence was committed. It was then that people mentioned the coming wednesday, the 29th of the month as a critical day. The communal issue was supposed to be settled for ever on that day.
Every one spoke of the 29th. The hero’s uncle who is a leader of their community claimed that the tension would settle for ever that day. He was determined to wipe the town clean off the other community as they were only a minority. He began to make frenzied calculations. He eagerly waited for the zero hour ( i.e. the hour at which a significant event is scheduled to take place). He wondered whether one community member would slap the cheek of another. After all his community would not take the initiative. Our hero raised his doubt: “Suppose nothing happen?” But his uncle told him that it was not possible. His justification was that the other community was holding secret meetings at midnight.
The hate-charged communal propaganda went on. Our hero’s uncle said “We don’t ask for trouble. But if anything happens, we will finish them off….. It will work like a push button arrangement. But we will avoid the initiative as far as possible”. On the 29th, most of the shops and the schools remained closed as a precaution. Children remarked with coolness that there would be a fight on that day. The hero’s wife tried to dissuade him from going to office on that day. But he laughed off her warning but suggested to her to keep herself and her children indoors. Most of the colleagues at the office were on leave under several pretexts. The few who came discusssed the frightful possibilities of the day. Our hero hated such talks. He plunged himself in work. It was getting dark when he got up from his seat. He was anxious about reaching home. The usual route seemed to him laborious. So he took the short cut laden with gutters and and threatened by street dogs. The cyclist who came up halted his progress. He ran his wheels between our hero’s legs. The hero had to exchange words with the cyclist. The cyclist lost his temper and hit the hero on the face.
Somebody among the crowd assembled shouted that the cyclist dared to attack the hero in their own locality. They decided to teach the other fellows a lesson. Shouts and screams increased. Somebody hit the hero. He saw a knife flashing out. He felt his end had come. He tried to lecture to the crowds the futility of violence and wanted them to stop the fight all at once. But it was too late. He was surrounded, His eyes dimmed and he felt very light. He mumbled that he would never tell his uncle of what had happened lest he should responsible for starting the trouble. He would tell his uncle that he fell down the office staircase and hurt himself. The unnamed hero could not ultimately save the city from violence because the button of communal hatred got pressed by the forces of evil. If he had lived he would have spoken a lie to the leaders of the community and thereby saved them from self
destruction.
The Talking Plough – Ponkunnam Varkey
PonkunnamVarkey (1910-2004) was a prominent figure among the progressive writers of Kerala. His first collection of short stories “Thirumulkazhcha” won him an award from the Madras Government in 1939. He was the secretary of Purogamana Sahithya Sangatana. He was one of the founders of Sahithya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sangham. He was honoured with Ezuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary award instituted by the Government of Kerala.
“THE TALKING PLOUGH” is a translation of Varkey’s “SabdikkunnaKalappa”. It tells the story of Ouseph, a poor farmer and Kannan , his bullock. For the poor farmer, Kannan is a member of the family. The pull of social forces and new ways of exploitation did not spare Ouseph. He had to mortgage his paddy field and sell his bullock to find dowry and the expenses for the wedding of his daughter. Ouseph’s unexpected meeting with Kannan among the bullocks branded for slaughter, kept outside the Municipal building, shocked him. He takes Kannan home only to be scolded by his wife and daughter. The poor animal died in the dead of night because he could not bear to see the family hurting Ouseph
Ouseph, the poor farmer loved his bullock,Kannan so much that he would forget everything else. The other farmers, therefore, used to call him‘bullock- mad’. Kannan was a true bullock. Every one marvelled at his prowess and stature. Both Ouseph and Kannan could understand each other’s language and thoughts. Ouseph would never use the whip or raise his voice on Kannan. He talked to Kannan as if he were a friend.Kannan needed no prompting in the ploughing field. He knew how and when everything
had to be done. He understood everything that he was told. After the ploughing was over, he would be allowed to graze freely. But he would never touch the banana trees or the young coconut plants. As soon as the ploughing was over, Kannan’s body would be
washed. He disliked being washed, but he would give way as he loved his master so much. Ouseph would feed Kannan gently with a handful of green grass and a few banana peels. He would pat Kannan affectionately and the bullock would begin to lick
the dry sweat from his master’s body.
Kannan always insisted on Ouseph being at the plough. He would forget the pain and work listening to the ‘alap’ (music without words or sentences) sung by Ouseph. One day when Ouseph was in bed due to fever, Pachan, another farmer accompanied Kannan at the plough and started to sing an ‘alap’. But Kannan registered his protest by giving a severe kick on the man’s right leg. Kannan had worked for Ouseph for twelve years without rest. But Ouseph could gain nothing out of it. The pull of social forces and fresh ways of exploitation under a decadent feudal system did not spare Ouseph. The unfortunate farmer had to mortgage
his paddy field to find dowry for the marriage of his daughter, katrikutti. He was also forced to sell the bullocks, including Kannan for meeting the wedding expenses.
Ouseph was not present at the time of Kannan’s sale. He left the scene with tears. Kannan hated leaving the premises. He looked all around to see if his master was there. Ouseph was standing under the jackfruit tree silently wiping his tears. When Ouseph fell on his bad days, the other farmers suggested him to try his fortune in Malabar. But his Malabar trips got postponed every day. He wanted to sell the small plot of land that was left at a reasonable price. Besides, he would like to see the little face of the baby that would be born to his daughter shortly.
After Ouseph lost his field, his plough,cob web-ridden, lay resting in the stable. Looking at it, he wished he were again in the field at the plough. He yearned for a pair of bullocks like Kannan and some acres of land. Ouseph’s wife Mariya reproached him for not fulfilling the parental duty of sending their daughter to her husband’s home with new clothes. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had begun to taunt her. But Ouseph had no money. Luck came in the form of a chitty that his wife Maria had managed to
come into. With the money Maria gave him.
Ouseph went to the town to buy his daughter some new cloths. The sight he saw outside the Municipal building was a big shock to him. He met his Kannan with other bullocks that had been branded for slaughter. The poor beasts told him of the poverty of man’s kindness to living things. He bought Kannan back with the money meant for buying new clothes for his daughter. He took Kannan home. Maria and Katri who were eagerly awaiting Ouseph’s return from the market was distressed to see him come back empty handed followed by Kannan. Katri accused him of having cheated her. Ouseph tried to console her and told her that for
him, Kannan had been a member of his family. But all his excuses fell on the deaf ears of the mother and the daughter. They began to taunt him. Where his own family failed to understand him, the poor beast succeeds. It died in the dead of the night because it
could not bear to see the family hurting Ouseph. At the end we see the cob web-ridden plough above Kannan’s dead body and above Ouseph’s broken heart.
The Obligation to Endure- Rachel Carson
Rachel Louise Carson (27 May, 1907 -14 April, 1964) was an American marine biologist, science writer and conservationist. Her “Silent Spring” and other writings are credited with advancing the global environment movement. She became a full time nature writer in the 1950s. Her sea trilogy “The sea Around Us” “The Edge of the Sea” and “Under the Sea Wind” explore ocean life from the shores to the depth.
‘The Obligation to Endure’ is the second chapter from “Silent Spring”, a book on the ill-effects of pesticides on environment. Man’s assault upon environment has done irreparable damage to air, earth, rivers and the seas. Chemical pesticides have changed the very nature of the world and the life it supports. They linger in the soil, air and water, and enter into living organisms, creating a chain of disaster and deaths. Insecticides used for killing insects, weeds, rodents and other ‘harmful’ organism are really biocides, they are not selective killers; instead they kill all life. Chemical warfare on insects is never won as they develop immunity through generations. Chemicals can bring about even gene mutation. The writer is not unaware of the insect problem and does not deny the need to control insects. However, she asserts that ‘control must be geared to realities, not to mythical situations, and the methods employed must be such that they do not destroy us along with the insects’.
Under the primitive agricultural practices with crop diversity, there were few insect problems. Man is tampering with the built-in-check of nature by devoting immense acreages to a single crop. Import of plants from abroad is another cause of the spread of insects. The decision makers are ignorant of the potentials of chemical insecticides to harm life. Rachel Carson concludes the chapter by saying that if the people have an obligation to endure the risks and hazards involved in the use of insecticides, they certainly have the right to know the true facts.
SUMMARY OF THE PASSAGE
Rachel Carson says that the history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their environment. To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth’s vegetation and its animal life have been moulded by the environment. Recently human beings have acquired significant power to alter the nature of the environment. Man’s assault upon the environment has done irreparable damage the environment. The most alarming of all man’s assault upon the environment is the pollution of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and lethal materials. Rachel Carson says that the pollution for the most part is irrecoverable because the chain of evil it initiates in the very nature of the world and the life it supports is irreversible. For instance, Strontium 90, released through the nuclear explosion, lingers in the soil, air and water, and enters into living organisms, creating a chain of disaster and deaths.
The new chemicals for killing insecticides are produced in laboratories in large amounts and they find their way into actual use. Many of them are used in man’s war against nature. Insecticides used for killing insects, weeds, rodents and other ‘harmful’ organisms are really biocides, says the author. They are not selective killers; instead they kill all life, good or bad, though their target is only a few weeds or insects. Thus they become agents of poisoning and death. People have to develop deadlier and more toxic chemical materials to combat pests because insects have evolved super races immune to the particular insecticide used. In other words the destructive insects develop immunity through generations. Chemicals can bring about even gene mutation. The harmful insects often undergo resurgence, after spraying, in numbers. Thus the chemical war against the insects is never won.
The central problem of our age has become the contamination of man’s total environment with deadly materials. The writer is pretty well aware of the insect problem. She does not deny the need to control insect. However, she asserts that ‘control must be
geared to realities and the methods employed must be such that they do not destroy us along with the insects.
More than half a million species of insect have come into conflict with human welfare in two principle ways: (i) as competitors for the food supply and (ii) carriers of human disease. Disease carrying insects become important where human beings are crowded in conditions such as that of poverty and natural calamities. Then control of some sort becomes necessary however the method of massive comical control has had only limited success. It may also worsen the condition.
The insect menace started with the intensification of agriculture in modern times. Under the primitive agricultural practices with crop diversity, there were few insect problems. Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape. But man is tampering with the built-in -checks and balances of nature by devoting immense acreages to a single crop. One important natural check is a limit on the amount of suitable habitat for each species. Obviously then, an insect that lives on wheat can build up its population on a farm devoted to wheat than on one in which wheat is intermingled with other crops to which the insect is not adapted. The same thing happens in other situations. For example, when the US towns lined their streets with elm trees, the beauty they hopefully created is threatened with complete destruction as disease sweeps through the elms, carried by a beetle that would have only limited chance of survival if the elms were intermingled with other plans.
Import of plants from abroad is another cause of the spread of insects. Nearly half of the major insects which are harmful to plants in the US are accidental import from abroad. Importation of plants spread insect species because quarantine (restraint upon the transport of goods to prevent the spread of disease or pests) and massive chemical campaigns are expensive. Decision makers are ignorant of the potential of chemical insecticides to harm life. The author does not argue that the chemical insecticides must never be used. But she is against the indiscriminate use of poisonous and biologically potent chemicals totally ignorant of their potential for harm. Rachel Carson concluded the chapter by saying that if people have an obligation to endure the risks and hazards
involved in the use of insecticides, they certainly have the right to know the true facts
The Bear- Anton Chekov
ANTON CHEKHOV: (1860-1904)
Chekhov is a dramatist and short story writer who is one of the greatest figures in Russian literature. He was the son of a merchant and belonged to a family that could buy their freedom with money. He was fortunate enough to get good education and graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of Moscow. It was in order to support his family that he started writing stories and
jokes which he published under strange pen-names like ‘The Doctor without Patients’, ‘My Brother’s Brother’, etc.
The theatre had always attracted Chekhov especially the light musical comedy known as Vaudeville. This influenced him to write his comedies, ‘The Bear’, ‘The Proposal’ and ‘The Wedding’. Some of his major plays are ‘The Sea –Gull’, ‘Uncle Vanya’ and ‘The Cherry Orchard’. These plays give a very good picture of Russia immediately before the revolution.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Although the plot is simple Chekhov has shown his excellence in the creation of the atmosphere and the delineation of the character. He described the play as a ‘jest’ and was very much surprised when it turned out to be highly successful and profitable. It is a relatively simple kind of comedy which is not concerned with any serious idea. It presents a simple but amusing situation which ends in a delightful conclusion. Madame Popov is a pretty widow who has shut herself up in mourning for a husband who was never faithful to her. A boorish creditor, who is a retired lieutenant of artillery, comes on the scene, bullies her, challenges her to a duel and finding
her spirited and brave ends up proposing to her. The characters are well drawn, and the dialogue is brilliant and full of delightful surprise.
The play takes place in the drawing room of Elena Ivanovna Popova’s estate on the seven month anniversary of her husband’s death. Since her husband died, Popova has locked herself in the house in mourning. Her footman, Luka, begins the play by begging Popova to stop mourning and step outside the estate. She ignores him, saying that she made a promise to her husband to remain forever faithful to his memory. Their conversation is interrupted when Grigory Stepanovitch Smirnov arrives and wishes to see the Elena Popova. Although Luka tells Grigory Smirnov to leave, he ignores Luka’s requests and barges into the dining room. Popova agrees to meet him and Smirnov explains to her that her late husband owes him a sum of 1,200 roubles. Because he is a landowner, Smirnov explains that he needs the sum paid to him on that same day to pay for the mortgage of a house due the next day. Popova explains that she has no money with her and that she will settle her husband’s debts when her steward arrives the next day. Smirnov gets angered by her refusal to pay him back and mocks the supposed ‘mourning’ of her husband.
Smirnov decides that he will not leave the estate until his debts are paid off, even if that means waiting until the next day. He and Popova get into another argument when he starts yelling at the footman to bring him kvass or any alcoholic beverage. The argument turns into a debate about true love according to the different genders. Smirnov argues that women are incapable of loving “anybody except a lapdog,” to which Popova argues that she wholeheartedly loved her husband although he cheated on her and disrespected her. The argument deteriorates into another shouting match about paying back the debt. During this argument Popova insults Smirnov by calling him a bear, amongst other names, saying, “You’re a boor! A coarse bear! A Bourbon!
A monster!”
Smirnov, insulted, calls for a duel, not caring that Popova is a woman. Popova, in turn, enthusiastically agrees and goes off to get a pair of guns her husband owned. Luka overhears their conversation, gets frightened for his mistress, and goes off to find someone to help put an end to their feud before anyone gets hurt. Meanwhile, Smirnov says to himself how impressed he is by Popova’s audacity and slowly realizes that he has actually fallen in love with her and her dimpled cheeks. When Popova returns with the pistols, Smirnov makes his love confession. Popova oscillates between refusing him and ordering him to leave and telling him to stay. Eventually, the
two get close and kiss each other just as Luka returns with the gardener and coachman.
The Rising of the Moon
CAS ENGLISH DEPARTMENT 