1bmkq12sr 627005 PDF

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Key to Flamingo and Vistas

Answers to Textual Questions
SAPTARSHI MAJUMDER
saptarshirm@gmail.com
First Edition
June 2017
Price Rs 100
Copyright © Saptarshi Majumder 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permission of
the copyright owner.
About the Book

This book attempts to give suitable answers to the textual questions. The curriculum
prescribes two textbooks in English for all the students enrolled in Class XII in the
schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education. The books are Flamingo,
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Textbook in English for Class XII and Vistas, Supplementary Reader in English for Class
XII. The books are a collection of lessons. There are a set of questions after every lesson
which helps to test the student’s understanding of the lesson and also helps the student
to better comprehend the narration, the characterisation, and the theme. In this book
suggestive answers are given to all those textual questions. These answers will help the
student to figure out the lesson. This book also contains innovative ways to understand
and remember the lessons.
The lessons are like coded puzzles and this book contains the clues to decipher the
puzzle. The poets and the writers have presented their ideas in their own unique way.
They have through their writing shared with the reader their understanding of life. They
have suggested ways to make life better. They have raised moral questions and
highlighted socio-economic and socio-cultural problems. The student may find it difficult
to grasp the thought of the writer and the poet. This book has the purpose of showing
the student an easy way out of that maze of thoughts and emotions. The book is like a
ladder or a collection of stepping stones guiding the student to a more profound
understanding of the lesson.
Apart from the answer to the textual questions, the book also suggests innovative
strategies to tackle the lessons. The book provides meaning of difficult words and thus
helps the student to enrich the vocabulary. The book can also be a useful help to the
teacher. The answers, the suggestions, the strategies given in the book will help the
teacher to better explain the ideas, thoughts and emotions reflected in the lessons. The
book contains reference material which will help the teacher to motivate the student and
draw the attention of the student to the core concepts discussed in the lessons.
The content of this book will help teachers to make their lesson plans and help students
to go beyond the text and build their answers. The book complements the textbook and
provides a helping hand to the teacher and a supportive structure to the student. The
lessons in the textbook must be read in details and then this book should be consulted.
Without knowledge of the chronology, the narration and the facts encapsulated in the
lessons in the textbooks; this book will be nothing but a collection of words. In order to
realise the true merit of this book, the reader must first go through the lessons in
Flamingo and Vistas. This book makes the lessons more interesting by providing an
insight into the mind of the writer and the poet. This book is not a book unto itself but it
has to be read with a reading of the lessons in the Textbook in English for Class XII and
Supplementary Reader in English for Class XII.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Mrs. Debarati Homroy Majumder, my spouse for her constant
encouragement. My parents are also responsible for teaching me the courage required
for this attempt. My extended family, my cousins, my niece Ms. Reetuparna Dey, and my
friend, Mr. Anwar Hussain Majumder also played very important roles in motivating me
and paved the way for this journey to reach its destination. Perhaps the greatest credit
for this endeavour goes to my students. As I tried to explain the lessons in the textbook
to my students, they asked me questions and made me define my approach to the
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lesson. In my attempt to elucidate the lesson to their formative minds and inquisitive
hearts, I began to see light and that light is translated into words in this booklet.
Contents
Contents
The Books and The Lessons ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Flamingo Prose ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
The Last Lesson - Alphonse Daudet ............................................................................................................................. 6
Lost Spring – Anees Jung ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Deep Water - William Douglas .................................................................................................................................. 10
The Rattrap - Selma Lagerlof .................................................................................................................................... 13
Indigo – Louis Fischer ................................................................................................................................................ 17
Going Places – A. R. Barton ....................................................................................................................................... 20
Flamingo Poetry ........................................................................................................................................................ 23
My Mother at Sixty-six - Kamala Das ......................................................................................................................... 23
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum – Stephen Spender ................................................................................. 25
Keeping Quiet - Pablo Neruda ................................................................................................................................... 31
A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever – John Keats ......................................................................................................... 37
Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger - Adrienne Rich......................................................................................................................... 39
Vistas Prose .............................................................................................................................................................. 42
The Tiger King – Kalki ................................................................................................................................................ 42
The Enemy – Pearl S. Buck ........................................................................................................................................ 45
Should Wizard Hit Mommy – John Updike ................................................................................................................ 47
On the Face of It – Susan Hill ..................................................................................................................................... 49
Evans Tries an O-Level – Colin Dexter ........................................................................................................................ 50
Memories of Childhood - Zitkala-Sa & Bama ............................................................................................................. 52
The Books and The Lessons
Flamingo, Textbook in English for Class XII
Flamingo Prose
The Last Lesson – Alphonse Daudet
Lost Spring – Anees Jung

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Deep Water – William Douglas
The Rattrap – Selma Lagerlof
Indigo – Louis Fischer
Going Places – A. R. Barton
Flamingo Poetry
My Mother at Sixty-six – Kamala Das
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum – Stephen Spender
Keeping Quiet – Pablo Neruda
A Thing of Beauty – John Keats
Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger – Adrienne Rich
Vistas, Supplementary Reader in English for Class XII
Vistas Prose
The Tiger King – Kalki
The Enemy – Pearl S. Buck
Should Wizard Hit Mommy – John Updike
On the Face of It – Susan Hill
Evans Tries an O-level – Colin Dexter
Memories of Childhood
The Cutting of My Long Hair – Zitkala-Sa
We Too Are Human Beings – Bama
Flamingo Prose
The Last Lesson – Alphonse Daudet
Deep Water – William Douglas
The Rattrap – Selma Lagerlof
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The Last Lesson - Alphonse Daudet
Page 7
Q1. What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?
A. Franz was expected to be prepared with the rule for the particles for school that day.
Q2. What did Franz notice that was unusual about school that day?
A. Franz noticed that the school was very quiet and the students were not making any
noise. Further, he also noticed that M. Hamel was wearing his best dress. Moreover, he
also noticed that the village elders were sitting on the back benches.
Q3. What had been put up on the bulletin-board?
A. The order from Berlin that only German will be taught in Alsace and Lorraine had
been put on the bulletin board.
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Q1. What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day?
A. The changes that the order caused in the school that day were that the students were
very attentive and the French language teacher taught lessons with a lot of patience and
involvement. The village elders and M. Hamel became very emotional. M. Hamel said to
all those assembled in the classroom that they must hold on to their language because
that was the key to their freedom.
Q2. How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and school change?
A. Franz thought of M. Hamel as a cruel taskmaster and hated his textbooks. He

thought of the school as a burden. All that changed on the day of the last lesson. He felt
sorry for M. Hamel and regretted not completing his lessons on time. He began to feel
that his text books were his friends.
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Q1. The people in this story suddenly realise how precious their language is to them.
What shows you this? Why does this happen?
A. We know that from the behaviour of the people. The village elders came to attend M.
Hamel’s class along with the children. The children listened attentively to M. Hamel’s
teaching. All of them regretted the fact that M. Hamel was going on exile.
This happened because they were French citizens and they were forced to learn the
language of their enemy after the defeat of their country in a war with Germany.
Q2. Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?” What could
this mean? (There could be more than one answer.)
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A. Language can never determine political boundaries and inside one political boundary
if required different languages should be respected and given an equal opportunity to
develop and prosper. Diversity makes the world interesting and keeps it going. The very
basis of life and its continuation is based on the concept of accommodating and
accepting diversity. We cannot make everybody or everything speak the same language
or our own language because that will be very unnatural and against nature.
Q. How many languages can you understand?
A. English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Assamese are the languages which I can
understand.
Q. How many languages can you speak?
A. I can speak English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese.
Q. How many languages can you read?
A. I can read English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali and Assamese.
Q. How many languages can you write?
A. I can write English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Bengali.
Q. Which languages have you learnt in the school?
A. I have learnt English, Hindi and Sanskrit.
Q. Which one is your favourite language?
A. My favourite language is Bengali.
Q. What is that reason for one language being your favourite. Give four points in
support.
A. 1. Bengali is my mother tongue and therefore near to my heart.
2. In Bengali I can express better my feelings and emotions.
3. I didn’t learn this language in the school but I learnt it my observing my mother.
4. Bengali is one of the sweetest languages in the world.
Q. In school which one would be a better option – Sanskrit/ German/ Chinese/

Japanese/ Mother-tongue/ Any other regional language
A. Sanskrit as it is the mother of all Indian languages
Q. Do you like English?
A. Yes, of course.
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Q. Do you feel that English is the language of the British rulers and since we got
independence in 1947, therefore we should stop using the language of the colonial
rulers?
A. No, I don’t feel like that.
Draw or print a map of France and Germany and highlight Alsace and Lorraine.
Write a notice informing the villagers of Alsace about German language being taught in
place of French. The notice is issued by The Prussian Government. You are Bismark,
Secretary in ministry of languages.
P – 17
Q1. What was Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he
come from?
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A. Saheb is looking for thrown away money and things like glass and plastic which can
be used in the re-clycling industry, in the garbage dumps. He is in Seemapuri, a slum
near New Delhi, and he is from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Q2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
A. The explanation that the author gives is that it is a tradition for children for not to
wear footwear and the tradition might have resulted from an attempt to hide poverty and
the inability of the parent’s to buy footwear.
Q3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
A. Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall because he is no longer his own master.
P – 20
Q1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
A. The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangle making industry.
Q2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
A. The hazards of working in the glass bangles making industry is that the worker often
go blind by the time they reach middle age.
Q3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
A. Mukesh’s attitude to the situation is different from that of his family because he
dares to dream to be a motor car mechanic instead of following his family tradition of
making bangles.
Understanding the text
Q1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
A. The reasons for migration of people from village to city are
i) the city provides better job opportunities
ii) the city provides more career options
iii) the city life with all its shining neons and bill boards appear more tempting than the
underdeveloped villages
iv) good educational institutions are located in the city
v) better medical infrastructure are found in the city
Q2. Would you agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept? Why do you
think this happens in the incidents narrated in the text?
A. Yes, we would agree that the promises made to poor children are rarely kept. It
happens like that because of the evil nexus between the executive, legislature and
judiciary. Laws are made but not enforced. Injustices are done but not corrected. The
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extremely long judicial process often discourages people from appealing in the court.
Unfair business practice prosper because of the corrupt politician and the corrupt
policeman. This also results because of the obsession of the middle class with itself and
because of its hypocrisy which conveniently shuts its eyes to broken promises made to
the poor.
Q3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in
poverty?
A. A vicious circle of the Shahukars (money lenders), the middle man, the police man,
the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians conspire to keep the workers of
the bangle making industry of Firozabad in poverty.
Deep Water - William Douglas
Refer to Tagore’s poem ‘Freedom’ esp. the first two lines; to Munna Bhai (Hindi Film) esp.
the song ‘ Marne se pahale jina to shiklo (Learn to live before you die) and also to ‘We
shall overcome some day’.
Human determination can do miracles and the fear of defeat is a fearsome adversary or
enemy because it breaks our spirit.
What is phobia?
An extreme or irrational fear or dislike of something, from Greek ‘phobos’ – fear.
Deep Water, the title – deep rooted fear, a fear that is inexplicable and more perceived
than real, a personal experience generates a moral lesson, subjective to objective,
personal to general.
Some Phobias
Acrophobia (heights), Cyberphobia (computers), Gynophobia (woman), Nyctophobia

(darkness), Phasmophobia (ghosts), Gamophobia (marriage), Geraphobia (old age),
Ophidiophobia (snake), Arachnophobia (spider), Hydrophobia (water), Claustrophobia
(confined space),
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Q1. What is the ‘misadventure’ that William Douglas speaks about?
A. The misadventure that William Douglas speaks about is that when he was 10 years
old, he was about to get drowned in a swimming pool because he didn’t know how to
swim and an irresponsible teenager threw him into the swimming pool.
He didn’t know swimming and he was thrown into the swimming pool by a bully. He was
about to drown because of that. It was in fact a near death experience for him.
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Q2. What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was
thrown into the pool? What plans did he make to come to the surface?
A. Douglas experienced fear in the beginning. The fear changed to terror when he could
not get out of the water. After that he started to panic as he realised that he is going to
drown. Finally, he felt peaceful and relaxed just before losing his consciousness.
He planned that as soon as he would hit the bottom of the pool, he would jump back to
the surface of the water and somehow swim to the edge of the pool and then he would
come out of the water. He tried that strategy repeatedly but in vain as he did not know
how to swim.
Q3. How did this experience affect him?
A. This experience affected him very deeply and he developed a phobia of activities in
water. That day he felt weak and could not eat his dinner. He also cried for many days
as he was haunted by the experience.
P 29
Q1. Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?
A. Douglas was determined to get over his fear of water because he wanted to enjoy
outdoor water activities like fishing, canoeing, boating and swimming.
Douglas was determined to get over his fear of water in order to get his confidence back,
to defeat the terror that prevented him from living a normal, healthy life, to prove to
himself that he was not unworthy of the water and last but not least to bring home the
point that where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Q2. How did the instructor ‘build a swimmer’ out of Douglas?
A. The instructor taught him the tricks of swimming, such as how to exhale under water
and raise the nose and inhale; one at a time and gradually made him understand that
the fear of swimming was just a mental block and also the fact that practice makes a
man perfect.
The instructor built a swimmer out of Douglas by means of a very practical approach.
The instructor tried a rope around Douglas and fixed it in such a way that Douglas hung
over the swimming pool. The instructor held one end of the rope in one hand and slowly
lowered Douglas into the pool. Whenever Douglas got afraid, the instructor would pull
him up. After that the instructor held him bodily and allowed him to kick in the water.
Thus the instructor trained Douglas carefully by exposing him gradually to water.
Q3. How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?
A. Douglas at first swam alone in the pool and then he tried and succeeded swimming in
the lake. After that he swam across a big natural lake. His systematic exposure to his
element of fear under the guidance of an instructor and his sincere efforts helped him to
conquer the old terror.
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Understanding the Text
Q1. How does Douglas make clear to the reader the sense of panic that gripped him as
he almost drowned? Describe the details that have made the description vivid.
A. Douglas makes it clear by repeated use of words like fear, terror and tremble etc. He
also pointed out the way his body was reacting and how slowly in a painful way he was
losing control of his body. The author has very beautifully drawn word pictures of
helplessness. When he was drowning, he was not able to breathe and it seemed to him
that time was moving at a snail’s pace. In order to describe all that he pointed out that
the 9 feet depth of the pool felt like 90 feet. He further talked about a great force pulling
him under water and the he also presented his helplessness by saying that he was
paralysed. When he was losing consciousness, the thoughts were coming in broken
pieces which were beautifully described by the use of ellipses.
Q2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
A. Douglas hired an instructor and the instructor taught him the tricks of swimming and
gradually made him understand that the fear of swimming was just a mental block.
He built a swimmer out of Douglas by means of a very practical approach. The instructor
tried a rope around Douglas and fixed it in such a way that Douglas hung over the
swimming pool. The instructor held one end of the rope in one hand and slowly lowered
Douglas into the pool. Whenever Douglas got afraid, the instructor would pull him up.
After that the instructor held him bodily and allowed him to kick in the water. After
many days of practice, Douglas swam alone in the pool and then he tried and succeeded
swimming in the lake.
His final victory over his terror happened, when he swam across a big natural lake.
Thus, it can be said that his systematic exposure to his element of fear under the
guidance of an instructor and his sincere efforts helped him to conquer the old terror.
Q3. Why does Douglas as an adult recount a childhood experience of terror and his
conquering of it? What larger meaning does he draw from this experience?
A. Nothing is impossible once we set our mind to it. Every battle is worth a fight and the
fear of defeat paralyses us and prevents us from acting and half the battle is won when
the fear is conquered. Here we might recollect Wiston Churchill’s providential statement,
“ Never never never give up.”
Douglas as an adult recounted a childhood experience of terror and his conquering of it

because childhood experiences make us what we are. The experiences of Douglas
affected him deeply and changed his personality. Finally, he was able to conquer his fear
by making a lot of mental and emotional effort and also by repeated physical practice.
The larger meaning that he draws from his experience is that if we try hard then we can
achieve the impossible. He also learns that life is very uncertain and can end anytime.
Therefore, we must live fully every moment of our life. He also realised that the best
thing is to conquer fear because when we conquer fear we get real freedom.
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Yakima River, Y.M.C.A Swimming Pool, Lake Wentworth, Warm Lake
1st Attempt - Going down 1st time and trying to jump and slowly coming up – ‘frightened
but not yet out of my wits’
2nd Attempt – Going down a 2nd time and trying to jump up and slowly coming up, eyes
were out of water - ‘And the sheer, stark terror seized me’
3rd Attempt - Going down a 3rd time and gave up all attempt to jump out and began to
drown and lose consciousness – ‘It wiped out fear; it wiped out terror. There was no
more panic. It was quiet and peaceful.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkagEv8M_xI
The Rattrap - Selma Lagerlof
Sweden officially the Kingdom of Sweden is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe.

It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in
the southwest by abridge-tunnel across the Öresund. Sweden is the seventh-richest
country in the world in terms of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita and a high
standard of living is experienced by its citizens.
kronor – currency of Sweden
plural - kroner
1. Poor rattrap seller, beggar, thief, vagabond, tramp
2. Thought of the world as rattrap.
3. Took shelter in an old man’s house.
4. Old man showed him where he kept the money.
5. Next morning he stole the money.
6. To hide he went into a forest.
(a) He lost his way.
(b) He felt like a rat caught in a trap.
(c) He was feeling cold, hungry and tired.
(d) He heard sound from an iron mill.
(e) He went to the iron mill for shelter.
7. Ironmaster mistakes him for a friend (Nils Olof/ Captain von Stahle a retired soldier).
8. Ironmaster requests him to stay with him in his manor house and he refuses.
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9. Ironmaster sends his daughter (Edla Willmansson) to persuade him.
10. Ironmaster recognises him and asks him to leave, but his daughter asks him to stay.
11. They heard about the vagabond being a thief.
12. He gave the 30 kronor notes with rattrap as a gift to the girl and a letter in which he
confesses his crime and asks for forgiveness.
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Q1. From where did the peddler get the idea of the world being a rattrap?
A. The idea of the world being a rattrap came from the unhappy circumstances of his
life.
Q2. Why was he amused by the idea?
A. He was amused by this idea because the world was not kind to him and it gave him
pleasure to think bad of the world.
Q3. Did the peddler expect the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter?
A. No, the peddler did not expect the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter.
Q4. Why was the crofter so talkative and friendly with the peddler?
A. The crofter was talkative and friendly with the peddler because he was a very lonely
man and did not have a family to talk to.
Q5. Why did he show the thirty kroner to the peddler?
A. He showed the thirty kroner to the peddler because he trusted the peddler and did
not expect him to steal the money as he had been very kind to the peddler.
Q6. Did the peddler respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter?
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A. No, the peddler did not respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter.
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Q1. What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap?
A. The peddler thought that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap because he was unable to
find his way out of the forest.
Q2. Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and invite him home?
A. The ironmaster spoke kindly to the peddler and invited him home because he thought
that the peddler was his friend, Nils Olof.
Q3. Why did the peddler decline the invitation?
A. The peddler declined the invitation because he was a wanted man who had stolen
money and he did not want to come to the limelight.
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Q1. What made the peddler accept Edla Willmansson’s invitation?
A. The peddler accepted Edla Willmansson’s invitation because she was very friendly
with him and said that he would be allowed to leave freely after Christmas Eve.
Q2. What doubts did Edla have about the peddler?
A. Edla thought that the peddler was either a thief or an escaped convict.
Q3. When did the ironmaster realise his mistake?
A. The ironmaster realised his mistake when the peddler stood before him in broad
daylight and when he was properly groomed.
Q4. What did the peddler say in his defence when it was clear that he was not the
person the ironmaster had thought he was?
A. The peddler said that it was not his fault and the ironmaster himself mistook him for
someone else.
Q5. Why did Edla still entertain the peddler even after she knew the truth about him?
A. Edla entertained the peddler because she thought that it would not be right to ask
him to leave as she and her father had persuaded him to come to their house and
celebrate Christmas Eve with them.
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Q1. Why was Edla happy to see the gift left by the peddler?
A. Edla was happy to see the gift left by the peddler because it proved that there was
goodness in the heart of the peddler and he did not betray her faith on him.
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Q2. Why did the peddler sign himself as Captain von Stahle?
A. The peddler signs himself as Captain von Stahle because by returning the stolen
notes, he proved himself to be as honest and as dignified as any army officer.
Q1. How does the peddler interpret the acts of kindness and hospitality shown by the
crofter, the ironmaster and his daughter?
A. The peddler interprets the acts of kindness shown by the crofter, the ironmaster and
his daughter differently. His behaviour towards them brings to light the difference. He
steals from the crofter and that shows that he did not think very high of the kindness
showed by the crofter. He was suspicious of the kindness showed by the ironmaster
because he knows that the ironmaster has mistaken his identity. He was grateful to the
kindness showed by the ironmaster’s daughter because she was kind to him in an
unconditional way. The crofter was kind to him out of his loneliness. The ironmaster was
kind to him because he thought he was his friend. The ironmaster’s daughter was kind
to him because she had a good heart and she was kind to him in spite of suspecting that
he was an escaped criminal.
Q2. What are the instances in the story that show that the character of the ironmaster is
different from that of his daughter in many ways?
A. The character of ironmaster is different from that of his daughter because the
ironmaster had a practical and pragmatic heart but his daughter had a kind and
trusting heart. She was a true Christian believing in charity and compassion. The
ironmaster was good only to his friends and family; and to the stranger, the ironmaster
was a selfish and self centred man. He was also prejudiced against the poor and he
thought that a bad man can never do well. His daughter believed in the innate goodness
of human heart.
Q3. The story has many instances of unexpected reactions from the characters to others’
behaviour. Pick out instances of these surprises.
A. Some instances are as follows
1. The peddler stole from the crofter in spite of the fact that the crofter was very
nice
2. The ironmaster invited the peddler to his home mistaking him for a friend
3. The peddler giving to the ironmaster daughter the stolen money as Christmas
gift
Q4. What made the peddler finally change his ways?
A. The peddler finally changed his ways because of the unconditional love of Edla. She
suspected from the very beginning that the peddler was an escaped criminal but in spite
of that she convinced her father to allow him to spend Christmas Eve in their house. She
trusted him no because of some need but because of the goodness of his heart. She
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changed the peddler by her goodness and by her belief that in spite of being a criminal,
he is capable of goodness. Her trust and her faith compel the peddler to change his
ways.
Q5. How does the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the human predicament?
A. The metaphor of the rattrap serves to highlight the human predicament very
beautifully. The rat is either hungry or greedy and that’s why it is trapped. It is tempted
by the bait because of greed in its heart. It human society money serves the purpose of
the bait. Some people are trapped, so they are tempted to do wrong things because they
are poor and they see a society which is unequal. Some people also tempted because
they want more and more and they are never satisfied with what they have.
Q6. The peddler comes out as a person with a subtle sense of humour. How does this
serve in lightening the seriousness of the theme of the story and also endear him to us?
A. The peddler has a great sense of humour. He compares the world with rattrap. All the
comfort and the luxuries of the world act as a bait. After he steals from the crofter and
loose his way in the forest, he compares himself to a rat trapped in a rattrap. There are
many other instances which vividly present the peddlers great sense of humour- his
reaction to the ironmaster when he says that he would hand him over to the sheriff; his
signing of the letter to Edla as captain von Stahle. The story is also about how to reform
a criminal by means of love, the peddler and his sense of humour lightens this theme
and makes him a more real human being full of flaws but having the potential to be
better.
Plot
1. Gandhi meets Rajkumar Shukla, a poor sharecropper from Champaran – Dec 1916
2. Shukla convinces Gandhi to visit Champaran.
3. Gandhi visits Rajendra Prasad’s house in Patna. Servants treat him badly thinking of
him as a poor farmer.
4. Gandhi goes to Muzzafarpur and meets Professor J. B. Kriplani – 15 April 1917
5. Gandhi stays in Muzzafarpur for two days. He meets local lawyers and chides them
for taking money from the poor peasants.
6. He then visited the secretary of British landlord’s association. The secretary refused to
cooperate with him saying that he was an outsider.
7. After that he met the British commissioner of Tirhut division in which lay Champaran
district. The commissioner bullied him and ordered him to leave Tirhut.
8. Gandhi went to Motihari.

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9. Next morning he proceeded to a village near Motihari to see for himself the
exploitation of peasants by the landlords.
10. He was stopped on the way by the SP’s messenger.
11. The messenger gave him a notice asking him to leave Champaran.
12. Gandhi received the notice but wrote on it that he would disobey it.
13. Gandhi received summons to appear in court next day.
14. Gandhi wrote to Rajendra Prasad and to the Viceroy.
15. Next morning the town of Motihari was full of peasants who had come from far away
to show support to Gandhi.
16. Gandhi helped the English to manage the crowd. Gandhi said that he had disobeyed
the order to leave not because he disrespected the British authority but because of his
voice of conscience.
17. Gandhi was asked to give a bail. Gandhi refused and was released without bail.
18. The judgement was deferred and Gandhi remained at liberty.
19. Rajendra Prasad and other lawyers decided to go to jail if Gandhi was imprisoned.
20. Lieutenant-Governor of the province ordered the case against Gandhi to be dropped.
Why Gandhi is an exemplary leader?
He led by example.
He did not believe in violence.
He overruled divisions and emphasized cohesion.
He tried to solve the day-to-day problems of the poor and tried to give them a better
standard of living.
P-47
Q1. Strike out what is not true in the following
(a) Rajkumar Shukla was (i) a sharecropper (ii) a politician (iii) delegate (iv) a landlord
A. (ii) a politician (iii) delegate (iv) a landlord
(b) Rajkumar Shukla was (i) poor (ii) physically strong (iii) illiterate
A. (ii) physically strong
Q2. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being resolute?
A. Rajkumar Shukla is described as being ‘resolute’ because he followed Gandhiji

throughout the country and did not give up until Gandhi agreed to visit Champaran
where his village was.
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Q3. Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?
A. The servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant because Gandhi looked and
dressed like a poor farmer and he did not tell the servants who he really was.
P-49
Q1. List the places that Gandhi visited between his first meeting with Shukla and his
arrival at Champaran.
A. The places are – Lucknow, Cawnpore, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Patna, Muzzafarpur,

Motihari (Champaran).
Q2. What did the peasants pay the British landlords as rent? What did the British now
want instead and why? What would be the impact of synthetic indigo on the prices of
natural indigo?
A. The peasants cultivated indigo in 15% of their land and surrendered the entire indigo
harvest as rent.
The British wanted the peasants to pay compensation for being released from the 15%
agreement. They wanted that because Germany had developed synthetic indigo.
The synthetic indigo will be cheaper and therefore, it would be in more demand than
natural indigo.
P-51
Q1. The events in this part of text illustrate Gandhi’s method of working. Can you
identify some instances of this method and link them to his ideas of satyagraha and
non-violence?
A. Gandhi did not pick up fights with anybody. He was polite and friendly towards
everybody. He did not resort into any physical violence. Lot of people followed him but he
never incited the crowd of his followers. Whatever he did, the purpose behind his action
was to do justice and improve the standard of living of the poorest of the poor. Gandhi
signed a receipt of the notice from the police and wrote on it and disobeyed the order. He
disobeyed the order to leave because of the voice of his conscience and protested against
the order in a peaceful manner.
P-53
Q1. Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of 25 percent refund to the farmers?
A. Gandhi agreed to 25% refund to farmers because he wanted to resolve the matter and
wanted to prove that landlords could not do whatever they wanted to do and the farmers
need not be afraid of the landlords and their unjust policies towards the farmers.
Q2. How did the episode change the plight of the peasants?
A. The episode drew the attention of the entire country to the under developed region of
Champaran. With the help of volunteers Gandhi started primary education and basic
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health facilities in Champaran. The most important change brought about by the
episode was that in increased the confidence of the farmers.
P-54
Q1. Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning-point
in his life?
A. Gandhi considered the Champaran movement to be a turning point in his life because
he realised that by doing very ordinary things which are just and peaceful, he could
effectively challenge the powers of the mighty British Empire. He also understood that
violence is not needed to defeat the British Raj. Further, he also came to know that the
farmers are neglected and are extremely poor. Moreover, Gandhi also saw the lack of
unity among the Indians and felt the lines of division based on caste loyalties and
economic prosperity.
Q2. How was Gandhi able to influence lawyers? Give instances.
A. Gandhi was able to influence the lawyers as he was working for a good purpose and
as he had the support of the masses. He had the moral authority because he led by
example. He convinced the lawyers that it was their duty to help the poor farmers
because helping the farmers would be the same as working for independence.
Q3. What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities towards the
advocates of ‘home rule’?
A. The attitude of the average Indians in the smaller localities towards advocate of home
rule was that they were afraid to show sympathy lest they should be troubled by the
police for indulging in activities against the British government.
Q4. How do we know that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement?
A. Ordinary people too contributed to the freedom movement because no movement

becomes successful without the support of the masses. Even Rajkumar Shukla was not
a leader of the farmers but just an ordinary farmer. Gandhi would not have succeeded if
farmers had not come to Motihari to show their support to him when the English
administration decided to put him in jail. In every step Gandhi received huge support
from the masses. Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh and their wives were ordinary
people who decided to support Gandhi in his mission.
P-79
Q1. Where was it most likely that the two girls would find work after school?
A. The two girls were supposed to find work in the biscuit factory.
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Q2. What were the options that Sophie was dreaming of? Why does Jansie discourage
her from having such dreams?
A. The options that Sophie was dreaming of were to open a boutique shop; to become a
manager; to become an actress and to become a fashion designer.
Jansie discourages her because she knew that Sophie has neither talent nor financial
support to realize her dreams.
P-81
Q1. Why did Sophie wriggle when Geoff told her father that she had met Danny Casey?
A. Sophie wriggled when Geoff told her father that she had met Danny Casey because
she thought her father would scold her for telling lies.
Q2. Does Geoff believe what Sophie says about her meeting with Danny Casey?
A. Yes, Geoff believes Sophie.
Q3. Does her father believe her story?
A. No, her father does not believe her story.
Q4.How does Sophie include her brother Geoff in her fantasy of her future?
A. Sophie dreams about riding a bike with her brother and she along with her brother
entering an arena filled with audience welcoming them with a thunderous clap.
Q5. Which country did Danny Casey play for?
A. Danny Casey was from Ireland and he played for United.
P-85
Q1. Why didn’t Sophie want Jansie to know about her story with Danny?
A. Sophie didn’t want Jansie to know about her story with Danny because she wanted to
keep it secret.
Q2. Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey?
A. Yes, Sophie met Danny Casey.
Q3. Which was the only occasion when she got to see Danny Casey in person?
A. She met Danny Casey in the arcade while he was standing there for some reason.
Q1. Sophie and Jansie were class-mates and friends. What were the differences between
them that show up in the story?
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A. Sophie and Jansie were classmates and friends but still they were different because of
their attitude towards life. Sophie was extremely impractical while Jansie was very
practical. Sophie lived in a world of dreams but Jansie knew that money was needed to
fulfil dreams. Further Sophie wanted to become a lot of things and was greedy for fame.
Sophie also had a romantic temperament and was living in a world of make belief which
she thought of as true and wanted others to think the same.
Q2. How would you describe the character and temperament of Sophie’s father?
A. Sophie’s father was a poor industrial labourer who was working in a biscuit factory.
He was religious about football. He didn’t pay much attention to personal hygiene. He
was dominating. He knew that Sophie often made up stories and warned her against it.
Q3.Why did Sophie like her brother Geoff more than any other person? From her
perspective, what did he symbolise?
A. Sophie liked her brother Geoff more than any other person because of his lifestyle and
personality. Geoff did not speak much and that added mystery to his character and that
made him interesting to Sophie. Geoff was the only person in the family who travelled a
long distance to his work and thus everyday he made a journey out of the industrial
slum which added an element of romance to his character. This romance resulting from
his journey to the unknown made him attractive to Sophie. He symbolised freedom.
Q4. What socio-economic background did Sophie belong to? What are the indicators of
her family’s financial status?
A. Sophie belonged to the industrial labour class as her father was an industrial worker.
Her family belonged to the lower middle class and her family was above poverty line but
not affluent or rich.
The indicators of her family’s financial status are many. The dialogue between Jansie
and Sophie tells us that they were not rich. Further, when Sophie expresses her wish to
buy a boutique, her father says that they need a decent home. Again it can be seen that
her mother didn’t have any domestic help and her brother worked as a mechanic in a
garage. Moreover, her father rode a bicycle. All the above things do point to the fact that
she belonged to lower middle class.
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Flamingo Poetry
My Mother at Sixty-six – Kamala Das
Keeping Quiet – Pablo Neruda
A Thing of Beauty – John Keats
Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger – Adrienne Rich
My Mother at Sixty-six - Kamala Das
Kamala Surayya (born Kamala; 31 March 1934– 31 May 2009), also known by her one-
time pen name Madhavikutty and Kamala Das, was an Indian English poetess and
littérateur and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. Her
popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her
oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the poems and
explicit autobiography. She was also a widely read columnist and wrote on diverse topics
including women's issues, child care, politics among others.
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Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused
her writing with power, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. On 31
May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Surayya
My Mother at Sixty-six
Driving from my parent's

home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother,
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with
pain
that she thought away, and
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes, but after the airport's
security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan,
pale
as a late winter's moon and felt that
old
familiar ache, my childhood's fear,
but all I said was, see you soon,
Amma,
all I did was smile and smile and
smile
What is the poem about?
It is about a daughter and her fear of losing her mother who is gradually becoming old
and moving towards death. The daughter doesn’t want to lose her mother. However, the
daughter knows that old age and subsequent death is inevitable.
Q1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
A. The kind of pain and ache that the poet feels is psychological and emotional. She is
afraid of losing her mother and of being left alone without anybody to share her
emotions.
Q2. Why are the young trees described as sprinting?
A. The young trees are described as sprinting because the poet was looking at them from
inside a moving car. It could also mean that the trees were young and therefore growing.
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Q3. Why has the poet brought in the image of merry children ‘spilling out of their
houses’?
A. The poet brought in the image of merry children spilling out of their home in order to
draw a contrast between youth and age.
Q4. Why has the mother been compared to ‘late winter’s moon’?
A. The mother has been compared to late winter’s moon because she presents a picture
of a sleepy and thoughtful lady who is ripe with age and who was approaching death.
Q5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
A. The parting words of the poet and her smile signifies an ironic realisation that death
and old age are inevitable but that does not derail or stop the cycle of life. She is hoping
to meet the mother soon but then her statement carries double meaning because it
could also mean that she will be old like her mother very soon and she accepts the
dilemma with a smile.
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE/ Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the
British Empire(28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist, and
essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his
work. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the United States Library
of Congress in 1965.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Spender
It is about underprivileged children who should be empowered by means of education

and who should be given an opportunity to a better life, so that, they can break the
limitations of the slum. It highlights that children are the future of humanity and the
future of humanity depends on how well we treat our children.
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
Far far from gusty waves these children's faces.

Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-
seeming boy, with rat's eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father's gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream
Of squirrel's game, in tree room, other than this.
On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare's head,

Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
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Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future's painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example.

With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal —
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,

This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.
Gusty – blowing in gusts ( a strong, abrupt rush of wind)

Pallor – paleness, want of colour
Stunted – prevented from growing or developing, low height-for-age for a person
Heir – a successor, one who inherits or designated to inherit
Gnarled – knotty (full of knots) and misshapen (having a bad or ugly form, deformed)
Tyrolese valley – of or relating to Tyrol, a place in Central Europe, flowery valley
Capes – a piece or point of land extending beyond the adjacent coast into a sea or lake
Slyly – in a sly manner, secretly
Cramped – uncomfortably restricted in size, overcrowded, congested
Slag – waste material from a coal mine, scum that forms on the surface of molten metal
Peeped – to look esp while trying not to be seen, to begin o appear from concealment
Blot – to obscure, to eclipse, to obliterate, to efface, to impair, to damage, to mar
Doom – an ill fate, a terrible destiny, the last judgement
Catacombs - (often plural) An underground system of tunnels and chambers
with recesses for graves, used (in former times) as a cemetery; a subterranean tunnel
system used for burying the dead, as in Paris or Ancient Rome
Azure – a blue colour, the clear blue colour of the sky, the unclouded sky
P – 93
1. Tick the item which best answers the following
(a) The tall girl with her head weighed down means (i) is ill and exhausted (ii) has her
head bent with shame (iii) has untidy hair
A. (i) is ill and exhausted
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(b) The paper-seeming boy with rat’s eyes means (i) sly and secretive (ii) thin, hungry and
weak (iii) unpleasant looking
A. (ii) thin, hungry and weak
(c) The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones means (i) has an inherited disability (ii)
was short and bony
A. (i) has an inherited disability
(d) His eyes live in a dream, A squirrel’s game, in the tree room other than this means (i)
full of hope in the future (ii) mentally ill (iii) distracted from the lesson
A. (iii) distracted from the lesson
(e) The children’s faces are compared to ‘rootless weeds’. This means they (i) are insecure
(ii) are ill-fed (iii) are wasters
A. (i) are insecure
Q1. What do you think is the colour of ‘sour cream’? Why do you think the poet has
used this expression to describe the classroom walls?
A. The colour of ‘sour cream’ is pale yellow. The poet has used this expression because
the walls of the classroom are not very attractive but bleak. It would also be an ironic
reference to the fact that a cream is attractive and tasty but when sour, its taste
becomes unpleasant and revolting. The dreams displayed on the wall can’t be a reality in
the life of the slum children.
Q2. ‘The walls of the classroom are decorated with pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings
with domes’, ‘world maps’ and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of
these children?
A. The pictures on the wall are the pictures of the happy and free life but the life of the
children is dark, depressing and devoid of opportunities.
Q3. What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made
to change?
A. The poet wants better opportunities for the children of the slum. He wants to free
those children from dark and depressing limitations of the slum. He wants a better life
for the children, so that, they are able to make their own destiny.
The following images explaining the poem, An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum,
are taken from
http://www.slideshare.net/CarlaGrobbelaar/an-elementary-classroom-in-the-slum
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Keeping Quiet - Pablo Neruda
It is about looking inside and finding the goodness locked inside us. It is about trying to
listen to the world around us without being assertive and aggressive and about trying to
understand each other; and thus construct a better world based on understanding and
peace.
Pablo Neruda (/nəˈruːdə/) was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet-
diplomat and politician Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (July 12, 1904 –
September 23, 1973). He derived his pen name from the Czech poet Jan Neruda. Neruda
won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
Neruda became known as a poet when he was 10 years old. He wrote in a variety of
styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a prose
autobiography, and passionate love poems such as the ones in his collection Twenty
Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924). He often wrote in green ink, which was his
personal symbol for desire and hope.
Page 31 of 61
The Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called Neruda "the greatest poet of
the 20th century in any language." Harold Bloom included Neruda as one of the 26
writers central to the "Western Tradition" in his bookThe Western Canon.
The following news is taken from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-

10282499
Hard life of Bolivia's 'salt plains guardians'

By Andres Schipani BBC News,
18 July 2010
Except for the little piles of salt that one can see on the very edge of this salty desert;
and the dark silhouettes of people shovelling the shiny chunks of salt into piles, so that
the salt can dry out under the intense, almost frying, heat of the sun.
They are the salt gatherers, native Quechua people, who for generations have lived harsh
lives picking up salt on the Uyuni salt flats. These are the largest salt plains in the
world, covering 10,000 sq km (3,800 sq miles).
These poor indigenous people have used the same method for hundreds of years to make
out a humble living in this harsh and eerie landscape.
Until not long ago, they used to carry the salt on caravans of llamas, the Andean
relatives of camels, along the vast high plains of the Andes and exchange salt for wool,
metals, food and water.
The Chambi brothers do the same today, but they use an old red and rusty pick-up lorry
instead.
"We've been doing the same for generations, since my ancestors, for hundreds of years,
they used to do the same work as I do today. Then my grandfather, my father, now me,"
says Nirmo, who is 29 and has been picking up salt in the blinding dazzle of this dry,
white ocean since he was 10.
"I feel the salt plains are part of myself and vice-versa. And I feel I'll never leave. But
that's up to destiny," he adds pointing at nowhere, in this remote corner of one of South
America's poorest countries.
Many cover their faces with balaclavas and sunglasses to avoid blindness and sunburn.
For their sweat, they earn an average of $100 (£60) a month.
"It is hard, one gets very tired. It is very hard work, we start very early in the morning
every day. When one is young is fine, but as you grow old you start feeling the
tiredness," says Nirmo's younger brother, Moises, who is holding an old shovel.
"It is back-breaking work, so normally at 35 you have to give up. I am 23, so I still have
plenty of time," he says.
"But even if I feel I have a strong connection with the salt plains, I want my daughters to
study, I want them to have a profession, so they don't have to work here, there's no
future here, only poverty," explains Moises.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/quiet-or-quite
Page 32 of 61
Quiet /kwaɪət/ and quite /kwaɪt/ are spelt and pronounced differently, and have
different meanings.
Quiet is an adjective meaning ‘making very little noise’ or ‘having little activity or
excitement’:
The children are very quiet. I wonder what they’re doing? Shall I go and see?
It’s a very quiet, peaceful village and we love living there.
Quite is an adverb which usually means ‘a little or a lot, but not completely’:
I’ve been quite busy this week. I hope things are not so busy next week.
Keeping Quiet
Now we will count to twelve

and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the earth,

let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment

without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fisherman in the cold sea

would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,

wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused

with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.
If we were not so single-minded

about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
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of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I'll count up to twelve

and you keep quiet and I will go.
keep – To continue in a course or mode of action, to maintain

still – Calm, not moving, uttering no sound, silent
face – Any surface; especially a front or outer one
exotic – Foreign; especially in an exciting way
moment – A brief, unspecified amount of time
rush – General haste
engine – A vehicle, a motor, a mechanical device
sudden – Happening quickly
strangeness – Quality of being strange, unusual, out of the ordinary
harm – Injury, hurt, to cause injury to another
gather – To collect, accumulate, amass
hurt – To be painful, to cause physical pain and/or injury
victory – Instance of having won a competition or battle
survivor – One who survives, one who endures through disaster or hardship
shade – Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked
confuse – To mistake one thing for another
inactivity – Quality of being not active, idle, not functioning
truck – To trade, exchange, deal, to engage with
single-minded – Intensely focused and concentrated on purpose, thinking of only one
goal
silence – The lack of any sound, refraining from speaking, meditative worship
interrupt – To disturb or halt an ongoing process or action by interfering
threatening – To make a threat, expression of intent to injure
quiet – With little or no sound; free from disturbing noise
1. What will counting upto twelve and keeping still help us achieve?
A. Counting upto twelve and keeping still will help us achieve togetherness. It will be a
strange and exotic moment.
2. Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death?
A. No, the poet does not advocate total inactivity and death.
3. What is the sadness that the poet refers to in the poem?
A. The sadness that the poet refers to is the inability to understand others.
4. What symbol from nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under
apparent stillness?
A. The symbol from nature that the poet invokes is that of the cycle of seasons.
5. What will happen if we keep quiet?
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A. According to the poet if we keep quiet, then the following things will happen –
i. we will get time to look inside ourselves;

ii. we will be able to understand our inner self, and the world around us;
iii. we will be able to introspect;
iv. we will be able to unlock the goodness inside us, and become better humans;
v. we will stop harming other creatures of nature;
vi. we will stop exploiting other human beings;
vii. we will stop planning murder by means of war;
viii. we will stop using different languages that highlight our difference;
ix. we will not move our hands and we won’t be assertive and aggressive;
x. we will become less selfish;
xi. we will be able to be happy through peace and togetherness;
xii. we will be able to regenerate and will be
reborn as better human beings.
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A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever – John Keats
John Keats (/ˈkiːts/; 31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an

English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation
of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his
works having been in publication for only four years before his death aged 25 in
the year 1821.
Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his lifetime,
his reputation grew after his death, and by the end of the 19th century, he had
become one of the most beloved of all English poets. He had a significant
influence on a diverse range of poets and writers.
The poetry of Keats is characterised by sensual imagery, most notably in the

series of odes. This is typical of romantic poets, as they aimed to accentuate
extreme emotion through the emphasis of natural imagery. Today his poems and
letters are some of the most popular and most analysed in English literature.
Some of the greatest works of Keats are "I Stood Tip-toe Upon a Little Hill", "Sleep
and Poetry", and the famous sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats
Endymion is a poem by John Keats first published in 1818. It begins with the
line "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever". Endymion is written in
rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (also known as heroic couplets). Keats
based the poem on the Greek myth of Endymion, the shepherd beloved by the
moon goddess Selene. The poem elaborates on the original story and renames
Selene "Cynthia" (an alternative name for Artemis).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endymion_(poem)
It is about how an experience of a beautiful thing has a positive impact on our

happiness. The beauty of Nature and Mother Earth is equated with a beautiful
thing that inspires a happy memory. The happy memory gives us hope and helps
us to fight depression.
A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never
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Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.
1st part (Line 1 – Line 7)
When we see a beautiful thing it makes us happy and the happiness is registered
in our memory and that enriches our experiences and we look forward to a better
tomorrow. It makes us alive and connects us to life.
2nd part (Line 8 – Line 12)
A thing of beauty makes life worth living and helps us to forget the pain and
suffering. It helps us to develop a positive attitude or outlook and look beyond the
agony and darkness.
3rd part (Line 13 – Line 19)
It is similar to the way an idyllic, pastoral, rural and picturesque landscape

provides us a shelter in hot and sultry summer season.
4th part (Line 20 – Line 24)
Even we have imagined heaven to be like that. A thing of beauty makes us

immortal or makes us share immortality. It is not temporal but it makes a
permanent impression in our mind and we are made by our experiences.
Q1. List the things of beauty mentioned in the poem.
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A. The things of beauty mentioned in the poem are the simple everyday things of
life which we take for granted. For example, the sun, the moon, the trees, the
flowers, the sheep and the forest stream.
Q2. List the things that cause suffering and pain.
A. Things that cause suffering and pain are trials and tribulations of life, poor
health, loss of faith and disappointments.
Q3. What does the line, ‘Therefore are we wreathing a flowery band to bind us to
earth’ suggest to you?
A. The line suggests that we are making a garland of beautiful sensations based
on experiences of the beautiful things which makes us alive and connects us to
life.
Q4. What makes human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings?
A. Human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings because of our
experience of beautiful things producing happy sensations and feeling us with
hope.
Q5. Why is ‘grandeur’ associated with the ‘mighty dead’?
A. The word ‘grandeur’ is associated with the mighty dead and refers to the
heroes and warriors of mythology and their lives and deeds which were larger
than life and therefore grand.
Q6. Do we experience things of beauty only for short moments or do they make
lasting impression on, us?
A. Things of beauty make a lasting impression on us.
Q7.What image does the poet use to describe the beautiful bounty of the earth?
A. The poet uses an image of fountain with an endless flow of water.
Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger - Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Cecile Rich (May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet,
essayist and radical feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and
influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with
bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic
discourse."
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Her first collection of poetry, A Change of World, was selected by renowned
poet W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Auden went on to
write the introduction to the published volume.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrienne_Rich#Views_on_Feminism
It is about a woman whose dreams and desires are crushed by a tyrannical

husband and whose freedom is destroyed by marital responsibilities. It highlights
a perverted relationship based on fear, dominance and cruelty rather than love,
mutual respect and understanding
Aunt Jennifer – A timid woman who is afraid of her husband.
Uncle – A very dominating man who treats his wife badly.
Tigers – Not real but imaginary. Not afraid but confident.
About the Poem –
The poem is about unrealised dreams of a woman married to a very cruel man.
The tigers symbolise unfulfilled dreams. The tigers are confident but Aunt
Jennifer is extremely nervous.
P-104
Q1. How do ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s
attitudes?
A. The words suggest that the tigers are happy and they are also confident.
Q2. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are ‘fluttering through her wool’ in
the second stanza? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?
A. Her fluttering fingers point out that she is very nervous.

She is finding the needle so hard to pull because of the weight of marital
responsibilities.
Q3. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’?
A. It suggests that uncle is very dominating and in order to please her husband
she is always in stress.
Q4. Of what of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified with in the third stanza?
A. Aunt Jennifer is terrified of her husband and of the social responsibilities

related to marriage.
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Q5. What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by, why is it significant
that the poet uses the word ‘ringed’? What are the meanings of the word ‘ringed’
in the poem?
A. Ordeals are that Aunt Jennifer finds herself in a very difficult situation
because she has to put in a lot of effort to meet the expectations of her husband.
The poet has used the word ‘ringed’ for making us understand that Aunt Jennifer
is surrounded by limitations resulting from her marital duties.
Q6. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created animals that are so different from
her own character? What might the poet be suggesting, through this difference?
A. The word ring means constraints and demands of marriage that binds a
woman.
Aunt Jennifer created a tiger because she wanted to give vent to her suppressed
feeling. Her real life is timid and through her tigers she expressed her unrealised
dreams. She felt like a tiger in a cage. The poet might be suggesting that by
making tigers she is protesting the life of an underdog which she is forced to live
because of her marriage to the dominating uncle.
Q7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.
A. The tigers on the panel are the symbol of freedom and confidence, while the
wedding ring is a symbol of the constraints resulting from the married state of a
woman.
Q8. Do you sympathize with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker
towards Aunt Jennifer?
A. Yes, we do sympathise with Aunt Jennifer. She has very nicely highlighted the
nervousness in Aunt Jennifer’s character and her silent protest by creating
fearless tigers.
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Vistas Prose
Evans Tries an O-level – Colin Dexter
Memories of Childhood
The Cutting of My Long Hair – Zitkala-Sa
We Too Are Human Beings – Bama
Stuka – The Junkers JU-87, a gull-winged single engine German dive bomber
used during World War II.
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1. The name of the kingdom – Pratibandapuram.
2. The tiger king wanted to kill tigers because when he was born the astrologers
predicted that he will be killed by a tiger. The chief astrologer said that he will be
killed by the 100th tiger.
3. The Maharaja did not give permission to a high ranking British officer for the
hunt.
4. The Maharaja gifted the British officer’s wife 50 diamond rings worth 3 lakh
rupees.
5. The Maharaja killed 70 tigers in 10 years.
6. Maharaja married a princess from a kingdom with many tigers.
7. Maharaja killed 99 tigers.
8. One more tiger was arranged but he failed to kill it but he thought that he had
killed the tiger.
9. To celebrate the killing of the 100th tiger he bought a small wooden tiger for his
son’s birthday gift.
10. A splinter of wood from the wooden tiger pricked the Maharaja and he died of
the infection.
Q1. The story is a satire on the conceit of those in power. How does the author
employ the literary device of dramatic irony in the story?
A. With power comes responsibility and contrary to that saying in this story we
come across a king who is dictatorial and extremely irresponsible. The king had
the power over his subjects and on his shoulders rested the responsibilities of the
welfare of his subjects. Instead of working for the prosperity and development of
his kingdom, the policies of the king were directed towards satisfying his selfish
motives. The author is all praises for the king and that also in an exaggerated
manner which clearly brought in the element of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is
also apparent in the behaviour of the British official, his wife, the dewan, the
astrologers, the surgeons and the old tiger. Most of the words used by the author
either in praise or in narration, point to the foolishness of those involved and it
seems as if the author is mocking them to highlight the weakness in their
character.
Q2. What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to

wilfulness of human beings?
A. The author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the

wilfulness of human beings is that the animals are the victim of misplaced sense
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of ego. The author presents the animals as not at all blood thirsty and cruel as
the humans especially those humans who are in a position of power. In the story
the tiger does not seem as ferocious as the tiger king. The tiger and the British
official symbolize mindless and meaningless violence based on perverted sense of
honour. The tiger seems to be less selfish and nobler than tiger king. In short the
author highlights the fact that human actions are responsible for the extinction
of many species.
Q3. How would you describe the behaviour of the Maharaja’s minions towards
him? Do you find them truly sincere towards him or are they driven by fear when
they obey him? Do we find similarity in today’s political order?
A. The behaviour of the Maharaja’s minions towards him was extremely

submissive and was a blatant display of bootlicking. No, they were not truly
sincere but they were driven by fear when they obeyed him.
Yes, we find a similarity in today’s political order because today the officers of the
Republic have to cater to their political bosses. In other words the IAS or the IPS
officers who do not follow the orders of their corrupt political bosses are forced to
submission by the threat of transfer.
Q4. Can you relate instances of game-hunting among the rich and the powerful
in the present times that illustrate the callousness of human beings towards
wildlife?
A. There are many instances of game hunting among the rich and the powerful in
the present times that illustrate the callousness of human beings towards
wildlife. Salman Khan and some of his friends from Bollywood were once chased
away by the villagers in Rajasthan, when the actor and his friends attempted to
hunt an endangered species of deer. The tiger in India are pushed to the verge of
extinction because of a huge demand of the tiger body parts in the traditional
Chinese medical market. Rhinoceros is mercilessly killed in order to extract its
horn which is used to make dagger handles used by Sheiks in Middle East.
Tuskers are hunted, so that, their tusk can be used to make decorative ivory
items. Tropical ecosystems arte destroyed when colourful fishes are
indiscriminately caught to be kept in ill maintained aquariums.
Q5. We need a new system for the age of ecology – a system which is embedded in
the care of all people and also ion the care of the Earth and all life upon it.
Discuss.
A. It has been said that Mother Earth has enough to satisfy our need but not our
greed. The need of the hour is sustainable development and if we fail to follow
that, then we pave the way to our own extinction. The resources of earth can’t
support the ever expanding human population. Human beings are at the top of
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the food chain and have the power to make or mar the future of this planet. They
must use this power with responsibility and compassion. Life upon Earth
depends on human activities and human beings should never forget that their
own life is nothing but a cog in the great wheel of life.
Sadaos’ father was very strict about his study.

Sadao was sent to USA for further studies when he was twenty-two.
He came back to Japan after eight years when he was thirty years old.
The story and its dilemma simplified

Which nation did the doctor belong to?
Japan
Which nation did the injured soldier belong to?
USA
Were the two nations at war?
Yes
Did the doctor save the life of the soldier?
Yes
Was the doctor a traitor?
Yes/ No
Did the doctor betray his country?
Yes/ No
Was the doctor a good doctor?
Yes
Why was the doctor a good doctor?
He saved a human life.
Was the doctor a good human being?
Yes
Which one is better – friendship or enmity?
Friendship
In case of a conflict between humanity and nationality, what should a person
choose and why?
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Humanity because humanity unites and nationality divides.
Characters
Dr Sadao Hoki, Sadao’s father, Hana, Professor Harley, Yumi, Cook, Old
Gardener, Messenger, General
P – 47
Q1. There are moments in life when we have to make hard choices between our
roles as private individuals and as citizens with a sense of national loyalty.
Discuss with reference to the story you have just read.
A. Dr. Sadao had to make a very difficult choice. He had to save the life of an
injured enemy soldier. As Japanese national Dr. Sadao, should not have helped
Tom, the enemy. He should have killed the enemy soldier because Japan and
America were at war. But the doctor not only saved the life of the American but
also helped him to escape. The doctor as an individual could not overlook the
suffering of the American boy. Moreover, his professional ethics as a doctor
forced him to forget that he was a patriotic Japanese and remembered only the
fact that being a doctor his duty was to save the life of any individual irrespective
of the individual’s nationality.
Q2. Dr. Sadao was compelled by his duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier.
What made Hana, his wife, sympathetic to him in the face of open defiance from
the domestic staff?
A. Hana was sympathetic to him because she felt bad for the American soldier
who was merely a young boy and not even a full grown man. She saw scars on
the neck of the soldier which were marks of torture inflicted on him in Japanese
captivity. Further, she was a perfect wife and as such decided to go along with
her husband’s decision.
Q3. How would you explain the reluctance of the soldier to leave the shelter of the
doctor’s home even when he knew he couldn’t stay there without risk to the
doctor and himself?
A. The soldier was reluctant to leave the doctor’s house because he did not feel
scared in the doctor’s house. The doctor saved his life and therefore he thought
that the doctor would never cause him any harm. Further, the doctor’s wife took
very good care of the soldier. Moreover, this also brings to light the doctor and the
patient relationship which is based on trust.
Q4. What explains the attitude of the General in the matter of the enemy soldier?
Was it human consideration, lack of national loyalty, dereliction of duty or simply
self-absorption?
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A. The General’s attitude resulted from self absorption. He was too sick to think
of the country.
Q5. While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially
during wartime, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?
A. While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable especially

during the time of war, yet a human being can rise above narrow prejudices
because of professional ethics, human values, past memories, conscience and
goodness.
Q6. Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible
one in the circumstances?
A. Yes, the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the
circumstances.
Q7. Does the story remind you of ‘Birth’ by A. J. Cronin that you read in
Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?
A. Yes, the story reminds us of ‘Birth’ by A. J. Cronin because in both the stories,
the doctors break rules and do something unconventional in order to save life.
Q8. Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?
A. Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway, And Quiet Flows the Don - Michail
Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Catch-22 - Joseph Heller, Veer Zaara (2004) - Yash
Chopra, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Director David Lean Novel Pierre
Boulle
This lesson highlights the tussle between the adult and the child. The daughter
rejects the father’s conclusion of a story. The daughter challenges the authority of
the father in determining the conclusion of a fictitious story. The daughter wants
to take over the control over the story but the father is not willing to relinquish
the control. It talks about the gap between the point of view of the parent and the
point of view of the child. The father’s unwillingness to let the daughter determine
the end of the story tells us that the father is possessive about his daughter and
the daughter resents that control over her life or rather over her point of view
about the rights and wrongs of life.
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Q1. What is the moral issue that the story raises?
A. The moral issue that the story raises is whether parents should control the life
of their children. And if yes, then where should the control stop. It also brings to
light issues like should parents use physical violence and threats to control
children. It also highlights issues related to indiscipline and how children stop
following the rules laid down by the adults as the children start growing up which
in turn makes the experience of parenthood frustrating for the adults.
Q2. How does Jo want the story to end and why?
A. Jo wants the wizard to hit the mommy of Roger Skunk because she did not
want the wizard to change that little Skunk to his old smelly self. Jo wanted the
Skunk to smell like rose, so that, he could make lots of friends.
Q3. Why does Jack insist that it was the wizard that was hity and not the
mother?
A. Jack insists that it is the wizard who is hit and the mother in order to
emphasise parental authority and to prove that no matter what, adults are
always correct. Jack does not want his little girl to question authority and she
challenged his interpretation of the story, he felt insecure and therefore showed
aggression and stubbornness.
Q4. What makes Jack feel caught in an ugly middle position?
A. Jack feels caught in an ugly middle position because he has to take care of his
daughter and also of his wife and he was happy with neither. The daughter
refuses to agree with him and kept him busy, while his wife asked for his helping
hand in the house hold work. He spent time with his daughter and therefore
could not spend time with his wife. Further, he did not know how to control his
daughter and make her accept his point of view.
Q5. What is your stance regarding the two endings to the Roger Skunk story?
A. We may say that wizard should hit mommy if it was a matter of following the
heart. But then the opposite is also true, if we think of it from the point of view of
maintaining discipline. The child was not old enough to make her own story but
then it was also wrong on the part of the father to impose his point of view on his
daughter. Although at times it becomes necessary to force children to tow a line,
yet nobody likes or enjoys tyranny especially if the person is at the receiving end.
Q6. Why is an adult’s perspective on life different from that of a child’s?
A. An adult’s perspective on life is different from that of a child’s because an

adult has to look after a child and see to it that the child does not find himself or
herself in trouble. The adult has to teach the child the importance of rules and
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regulations and the need for responsible behaviour. But a child can afford to be
carefree. Further, a child looks at the world with the fresh point of view and an
unprejudiced heart whereas the judgements made by an adult are clouded by
past experiences. Moreover, the adults find themselves responsible for taking
care of the children and is frustrated by the child’s tendency to reframe the rules
whereas the child find himself/ herself restrained by the restrictions of the adult
world.
Derry
Acid Burn
14 years old boy
Living with family
Alienated
Full of angst
No friends
Likes nature
Victim of accident
Lamb
Lame
Old man, ex-soldier
Living without family
Warm
Friendly
Everybody is a friend
Likes nature and books
Victim of accident
Read the story and identify the differences and the similarities listed above.
Q1. What is it that draws Derry towards Mr. Lamb inspite of himself?
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A. Derry was obsessed with his looks. He felt that nobody liked him because of
his looks. He felt lonely. He failed to connect with others. Mr. Lamb was perhaps
the first who did not give any importance to his looks. Instead he gives him the
example of the weeds and bees to make him understand that looks are not
important for happiness. In order to be happy, all we need to do is to look at the
world with open eyes taking in the beauty and the goodness in the world. Mr.
Lamb also told him about the importance of dreaming of a better future and
never giving up hope because of the utter unpredictability of life.
Q2. In which section of the play does Mr. Lamb display signs of loneliness and
disappointment? What are the ways in which Mr. Lamb tries to overcome these
feelings?
A. Mr. Lamb displays signs of loneliness in the last section of Scene I.
Mr. Lamb tries to overcome these feelings by looking after bees and by tending
the garden. He also reads a lot of books and listens to the sounds of nature. He
listens to the sounds of nature with a positive wonder and an open curious mind.
He also tried to be friendly with people especially children giving them gifts and
sharing with them homemade goodies.
Q3. The actual pain or inconvenience caused by a physical impairment is often

much less than the sense of alienation felt by the person with disabilities. What
is the kind of behaviour that the person expects from others?
A. The kind of behaviour that a person expects from others is neither sympathy
nor empathy but a normal objective behaviour.
Q4. Will Derry get back to his old seclusion or will Mr. Lamb’s brief association
effect a change in the kind of life he will lead in the future?
A. Yes, Derry will change for the better after his association with Mr. Lamb.
Evans Tries an O-Level – Colin Dexter
James Roderick Evans
Mr. Jackson – senior prison officer
Mr. Stephens – junior prison officer
Reverend S. McLerry – invigilator
Carter – Detective Superintendent
Bell – Detective Chief Inspector
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Evans is – (a) a prisoner in Oxford Prison
(b) serving a sentence for stealing
(c) an examinee of o-level German examination
(d) known as ‘Evans the Break’ who tried to escape from prison thrice
(e) very clever and intelligent
(f) very good actor
(g) a good singer
(h) not violent
(i) friendly with the prison authorities
(j) good natured and lovable
P-70
Q1. What kind of a person was Evans?
A. Evans was good natured and polite. He avoided confrontations. He was not
violent and he had escaped thrice from the prison and therefore, he was also
called ‘Evans the Break’. He could sing well and took part in the Christmas
celebration in the prison. He was also a very good actor.
Q2. What were the precautions taken for the smooth conduct of the examination?
A. The Governor of Oxford Prison took many steps for the smooth conduct of the
examination. The examination was held in Evans’ prison cell which was locked
from outside and a prison guard was posted outside the door. The cell was
searched before the examination and all metal things like razors and nail clippers
which Evans could use as a potential weapon were taken from him. The
invigilator, McLeery was searched thoroughly. Microphone was fixed in the prison
cell, so that, Governor can listen to the conversation between Evans and the
invigilator.
P-92
Q1. Reflecting on the story, what did you feel about Evans’ having the last laugh?
A. We feel good about Evans having last laugh. We feel good because Evans
proved himself to be a superior intelligence and the best part of the affair was
that he enacts the plan without causing any physical harm to anymore.
Q2. When Stephens comes back to the cell he jumps to a conclusion and the
whole machinery blindly goes by his assumption without even checking the
identity of the injured ‘McLeery’. Does this show how hasty conjectures can
prevent one from seeing the obvious? How is the criminal able to predict such
negligence?
A. Yes, it shows that hasty conjectures can prevent one from seeing the obvious.
The criminal is able to predict such negligence because the criminal knows how
the policeman works and thinks. The criminal is therefore able to make a fool out
of the policeman and able to make him do what he wants to do.
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Q3. What could the Governor have done to securely bring back Evans to prison
when he caught him at the Golden Lion? Does that final act of foolishness really
prove that “he was just another good-for-a-giggle, gullible governor, that was all”?
A. The Governor could have done a lot many things. For example he could have
made sure that Evans doesn’t cheat him once again. Evans told him that the
German teacher was an imposter and advised the Governor that he should have
done a background check before allowing him to teach Evans. However, the
Governor didn’t learn and repeated his mistake. The prison officers to whom
Evans was handed over were not real policeman but accomplices of Evans. The
Governor made a fool of himself because for the second time he was trapped in
Evans trap. The failed to see through the plan made by Evans because he took
things for granted and didn’t make an effort to verify the identity of the prison
officer.
Q4. While we condemn the crime, we are sympathetic to the criminal. Is this the
reason why prison staff often develop a soft corner for those in custody?
A. Yes, this is the reason for which prison staff often develops a soft corner for
those in custody. This happens because prison staff and prisoners spend a lot of
time together and as such begins to know each other not just as a jailor or a
criminal but as individual human beings.
Q5. Do you agree that between crime and punishment it is mainly a battle of
wits?
A. In this story we see planning and counter planning to thwart and to defeat by
means of a strategy the opponent as in a game of chess. It is about predicting
probable routines and making plans to subvert the plans made by our opponents
and overturn the plans which are not favourable to our disposition and
circumstances. Evans built a strategy on the reaction of the jail authorities. He
escaped but the governor was able to see through his plan and thwart it. But
then Evans was too clever to be caught and he had thought of all eventualities.
The effort on the part of the Governor was vain because he underestimated
Evans. It is a veritable battle of wits.
Memories of Childhood - Zitkala-Sa & Bama
The Cutting of My Long Hair – Zitkala-Sa & We Too Are Human Beings – Bama
Land of Apples – Yankton Reservation
Belfry – part of a bell tower
Bedlam – a sense of confusion
Paleface – a white person
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Stiff – not easily bent, rigid
Shingled – closely cropped hair
Moccasins – a soft leather slipper
Gnaw off – cut or bite off
Page - 100
Q1. The two accounts that you read above are based in two distant cultures.
What is the commonality of theme found in both of them?
A. Both the accounts talk about some common things such as marginalised
communities which are being treated badly by the society and which are being
exploited. Zitkala-Sa belonged to a group of people who were the original
inhabitants of North and South America and who were displaced by the
European imperialists. Bama belonged to the so called lower caste community of
Southern India. The Zamindars propagated and supported the caste system so
that they may exploit people like Bama and make them do their work.
Untouchability was a social custom by means of which exploitation was justified
and codified. In the name of educating the Red Indians large scale conversion
was justified and the Red Indians were forced to accept an alien culture. They
were forced to forget their native culture and way of life and the Christian way of
life was forced on them. It was cultural imperialism of the worst kind. The
commonality of theme is discrimination on grounds of caste and race. The stories
also bring to light that a group of people consider another group as inferior and
thus maintain a sort of cultural supremacy.
Q2. It may take a long time for oppression to be resisted but the seeds of
rebellion are sowed early in life. Do you agree that injustice in any form cannot
escapee being noticed even by children?
A. Yes, we agree that injustice in any form can’t escape being noticed even by
children. Zitkala-Sa was a little girl and she was forced to accept an alien culture
against her will. It resulted in an emotional and psychological scar and when she
grew up she protested the injustice through her writings. She was deeply hurt
and that is why she was unable to get over it even after she grew up. The same
thing can be said about Bama. As a little girl she witnessed an extremely
unpleasant incident which left a deep mark in her heart and prompted her to
write about it in her later years.
Q3. Bama’s experience is that of a victim of the caste system. What kind of
discrimination does Zitkala-Sa’s experience depict? What are their responses to
their respective situations?
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A. Zitkala-Sa’s experience depicts racial discrimination. Zitkala-Sa’s response
was physical and Bama’s response was mental. Zitkala-Sa rebelled and fought
tooth and nail. She resisted with all her strength the cutting of her long hair.
Bama followed the advice of her elder brother and studied very hard and topped
in her class. She fought back with her academic performance. After she excelled
in education, she made many friends. Education served as an equaliser.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_boarding_schools
Children were usually immersed in European-American culture through

appearance changes with haircuts, were forbidden to speak their native
languages, and traditional names were replaced by new European-American
names (to both "civilize" and "Christianize"). The experience of the schools was
often harsh, especially for the younger children who were separated from their
families. In numerous ways, they were encouraged or forced to abandon their
Native American identities and cultures. Investigations of the later twentieth
century have revealed many documented cases of sexual, manual, physical and
mental abuse occurring at such schools.
Native American Apology Resolution
President Barack Obama signed the Native American Apology Resolution into law
on Saturday, December 19, 2009. The Apology Resolution was included as
Section 8113 in the 2010 Defense Appropriations Act, H.R. 3326, Public Law No.
111-118.
The Apology Resolution had originally been sponsored in the Senate by Senator
Sam Brownback (R-KS) as S.J. Res. 14. A companion measure, H.J. Res. 46,
was also been introduced in the House by Congressman Dan Boren (D-OK)
earlier this year. Senator Brownback successfully added the Apology Resolution
to the Defense Appropriations Act as an amendment on the Senate floor on
October 1, 2009.
Senator Brownback said that he introduced the measure “to officially apologize
for the past ill-conceived policies by the US Government toward the Native
Peoples of this land and re-affirm our commitment toward healing our nation’s
wounds and working toward establishing better relationships rooted in
reconciliation.”
The Apology Resolution states that the United States, “apologizes on behalf of the
people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of
violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the
United States.”
Page 54 of 61
The Apology Resolution also “urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of
the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order
to bring healing to this land.”
The Apology Resolution comes with a disclaimer that nothing in the Resolution
authorizes or supports any legal claims against the United States and that the
Resolution does not settle any claims against the United States.
The Apology Resolution does not include the lengthy Preamble that was part of
S.J Res. 14 introduced earlier this year by Senator Brownback. The Preamble
recites the history of U.S. – tribal relations including the assistance provided to
the settlers by Native Americans, the killing of Indian women and children, the
Trail of Tears, the Long Walk, the Sand Creek Massacre, and Wounded Knee, the
theft of tribal lands and resources, the breaking of treaties, and the removal of
Indian children to boarding schools.
The following article is taken from http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/dalits-

untouchable-rohith-vemula-caste-discrimination/1/587100.html
The Dalits | Still untouchable
68 years after Independence, political rhetoric and Constitutional protection have

failed to end atrocities against Dalits. Is Ambedkar's dream of social and
economic equality a bridge too far?
Ajit Kumar Jha
February 3, 2016 | UPDATED 10:02 IST
"The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic
interests of the weaker section of the people, and in particular, of the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice
and all forms of exploitation."
-Article 46 of the Indian Constitution.
Today, 68 years after Independence, as Dalits continue to bear the brunt of

violence and discrimination-highlighted in recent weeks by the tragic suicide of
Rohith Vemula, a Ph.D student in the Hyderabad Central University who hanged
himself, blaming his birth as a "fatal accident" in a chilling final note-we could
not be any further away from what the Constitution had demanded from a free
and fair India.
Rohith's is not the lone tragedy. A spectre of suicide deaths by several Dalit
students is haunting India. Out of 25 students who committed suicide only in
north India and Hyderabad since 2007, 23 were Dalits. This included two in the
Page 55 of 61
prestigious All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, and 11 in
Hyderabad city alone. Systematic data does not exist for such suicides, but the
problem runs far deeper than a few students deciding to end their own lives after
being defeated by the system.
Dalit dilemma in India reads like an entire data sheet of tragedies. According to a
2010 report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the
Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes, a crime is committed against a
Dalit every 18 minutes. Every day, on average, three Dalit women are raped, two
Dalits murdered, and two Dalit houses burnt. According to the NHRC statistics
put together by K.B. Saxena, a former additional chief secretary of Bihar, 37 per
cent Dalits live below the poverty line, 54 per cent are undernourished, 83 per
1,000 children born in a Dalit household die before their first birthday, 12 per
cent before their fifth birthday, and 45 per cent remain illiterate. The data also
shows that Dalits are prevented from entering the police station in 28 per cent of
Indian villages. Dalit children have been made to sit separately while eating in 39
per cent government schools. Dalits do not get mail delivered to their homes in 24
per cent of villages. And they are denied access to water sources in 48 per cent of
our villages because untouchability remains a stark reality even though it was
abolished in 1955.
We may be a democratic republic, but justice, equality, liberty and fraternity-the

four basic tenets promised in the Preamble of our Constitution-are clearly not
available to all. Dalits continue to be oppressed and discriminated against in
villages, in educational institutions, in the job market, and on the political
battlefront, leaving them with little respite in any sphere or at any juncture of
their lives.
All this even while there has been no dearth of political rhetoric, or creation of
laws, to pronounce that Dalits must not get a raw deal. The Protection of Civil
Rights Act, 1955, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, prescribe
punishments from crimes against Dalits that are much more stringent than
corresponding offences under the IPC. Special courts have been established in
major states for speedy trial of cases registered exclusively under these Acts. In
2006, former prime minister Manmohan Singh even equated the practice of
"untouchability" to that of "apartheid" and racial segregation in South Africa.
In December 2015, the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill,

passed by Parliament, made several critical changes. New activities were added to
the list of offences. Among them were preventing SCs/STs from using common
property resources, from entering any places of public worship, and from entering
an education or health institution. In case of any violation, the new law said that
the courts would presume unless proved otherwise that the accused non-SC/ST
person was aware of the caste or tribal identity of the victim.
So why have violent incidents against Dalits increased, rather than decreased
over the years, in spite of Constitutional protection and legal safeguards? "Caste
is not simply a law and order problem but a social problem. Caste violence can
only be eradicated with the birth of a new social order," says Chandra Bhan
Page 56 of 61
Prasad, co-author of Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs. He
argues that the upward mobility of some Dalits caused by market reforms post-
1991, ironically leads to higher incidence of atrocities in the form of a backlash.
Education, the hotbed
Protest is starting to brew in institutions of higher education. At Delhi's

Jawaharlal Nehru University, hundreds of students gathered at the Ganga dhaba
on the eve of Vemula's 27th birthday on January 29 to organise a candlelight
vigil. Slogans sliced the silence of the winter night: "Tum kitne Rohithon ko
maroge? Har ghar se Rohith niklega (How many Rohiths will you murder? A
Rohith will rise from every household)", and "Jaativaad pe halla bol,
Brahminvaad pe halla bol, Hindutva pe halla bol, Manuvaad pe halla bol (Raise
you voice against casteism, Brahminism, Hindutva, and discrimination)!" Next
afternoon, the students held a protest rally at the city's RSS headquarters in
Jhandewalan to celebrate Rohith's birthday. The police retaliated with batons.
Organised under the aegis of Joint Action Committee (JAC), the students were led
by the Birsa Munda, Phule and Ambedkar Student's Association (BAPSA), a body
formed on November 14, 2014. Birsa, Phule and Ambedkar have replaced Marx,
Lenin and Mao in JNU as icons of "identity", and "caste" replaces "class" as the
main issue.
Who are the new student leaders? Sanghapalli Aruna Lohitakshi, a linguistics
Ph.D student from Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, is one of the founding
members of BAPSA, which is akin to poet Namdeo Dhasal's Dalit Panthers of the
1970s. She speaks of "ghettoisation by upper-caste students," and "Dalit faculty
seats being converted into general seats on the pretext that no suitable Dalit
candidates were found". Though BAPSA and groups such as the Ambedkar
Students' Association spew venom and spit fire, their struggle highlights a form
of subversive protest that fights suppression with suicide. To borrow from JNU
Professor Gopal Guru, it showcases the "clash between the life of the mind versus
the life of the caste".
The primary reason for educational institutions emerging as pulpits of protest lies
in the fractured social structure in universities, where the elite of the Dalits are
competing with general students. Not only are they more aware of Constitutional
provisions, they feel they are treated unfairly by university authorities and
student bodies such as the ABVP by virtue of their selection in the reserved
category. This is what Rohith had articulated in his suicide note, and was
seemingly corroborated by the circumstances behind his suspension from the
university after a skirmish with the ABVP.
Rampant segregation
In villages and urban slums, however, where segregation is rampant to this day,
voices are stifled even before they can be raised. A stark example of this is a
dusty little hamlet called Sunpedh-meaning empty trees-in Ballabhgarh,
Haryana, barely 40 kilometres from Delhi. The tension is palpable, the stillness
Page 57 of 61
stifling, as the centre of the village feels like a fortress with 65 Haryana police
personnel posted to prevent inter-caste clashes. No one greets anyone, no one is
smiling.
Untouchability is practised widely in Sunpedh. Ask about Ram Prasad, a local

grocery shop-owner, and the instant response from a young man on a motorbike
is: "Chamaron ke ilake mein jayiye (Go where the Dalits live). The upper-caste
areas are separated from the low-lying Dalit quarters with mud puddles all
around.
The entire hamlet comprises approximately 2,700 bighas of land, of which 2,000
bighas is owned by 300 families of Thakurs. The rest is owned by Dalit
communities, including 150 Ravidas families, and smaller numbers of Valmikis,
Garerias, and Dhimars. Most of the Dalits survive as daily-wage labourers in the
farms of the Thakurs.
Here, on the night of October 21, 2015, four members of a Dalit family were set
ablaze inside their house: Jitender, his wife Rekha, and their children Vaivhav, 2,
and Divya, only 10 months old. The village erupted in grief and indignation the
next day when the bodies of the infants, wrapped in white shrouds, arrived for
cremation. Jitender escaped while Rekha suffered serious burn injuries. Their
gutted home is officially sealed, guarded by the police.
Jitender's mother Santa Devi, his 85-year old grandmother Buddhan Devi, his
aunt Kanta (all three are widows) and his married sister Gita, sleep in the open in
the severe winter cold since the house is officially sealed. "There seems no flame
of justice, no place to live, no one to earn, no money for lawyers, no one to care
for us three widows," says Buddhan. "My brother Jitender threatens to commit
suicide every day. Suicide, like the Rohith Vemula case, seems like the only
option for a Dalit," laments Gita. A majority of the heinous crimes against Dalits,
as documented by the NHRC, are perpetrated in villages in which they are treated
as second-class citizens.
But discrimination isn't a rural problem alone. Joblessness among Dalits runs
through the urban landscape as well. According to 2011 Census data, the
unemployment rate for SCs between 15 and 59 years of age was 18 per cent,
including marginal workers seeking work, as compared to 14 per cent for the
general population. Among STs, the unemployment rate was even higher at over
19 per cent.
Violent heartland
Government data suggests that the usual suspect in terms of incidence of crime
committed against SCs is the Hindi heartland. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan top
the list with 8,075 and 8,028 cases respectively in 2014. Bihar is the third-worst
with 7,893 incidents. Neither the political regime, nor the ideology of the ruling
political party, nor the presence of major Dalit parties within the states makes a
difference. Rajasthan and MP are ruled by BJP governments, Uttar Pradesh by
Page 58 of 61
the SP and Bihar by the JD (U). All the parties are equally guilty of sins of
omission and commission.
"The absence of social reform movements in the heartland states in contrast to

the southern states has contributed to the presence of brutal caste wars in the
north," says P.S. Krishnan, a former welfare secretary. In the south, the
undivided Andhra Pradesh is the worst performer with 4,114 atrocities recorded
in 2014.
Part of the reason for this is the backlash by privileged groups against a new form
of assertion of rights and display of aspirations by Dalit youth. The emergence of
Dalit parties such as Mayawati's BSP, and the rise of Maoists in Bihar and
Andhra Pradesh, explains the rise of violent incidents in these states. An
assertion of Dalit rights, whether in terms of identity politics (in Uttar Pradesh),
or class politics (Bihar and Andhra Pradesh), leads to a backlash. All through the
1990s, Bihar was wracked by caste wars-most notably Ranvir Sena versus Lal
Sena-in parts of Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Gaya and Bhojpur.
Dalit politics typically takes two forms: militant movements and electoral
coalitions. The democratic electoral route is ironically poised on the cusp of a
cruel paradox in which Dalit groups must either ally with mainstream political
parties and risk compromising with the Dalit agenda; or fight it out alone and
risk getting pushed to the margins. It is a Hobson's Choice.
The reason is that the spread of Dalit population throughout India is such that
by themselves they are always in a minority. In any electoral battle, they can only
benefit if they form an alliance either with other dominant caste groups, or
mainstream political parties.
In Uttar Pradesh, for example, Mayawati allied initially with mainstream parties-
Congress, BJP and the Samajwadi Party-but ended up quitting the alliance each
time in a huff. Later, she changed her strategy by forming alliances "directly with
upper-caste groups and minorities", says BSP's Sudhindra Bhadoria. "The
Brahmins and Thakurs form an alliance with BSP not because they have an
ideological affinity but because they want to defeat the Yadav-led SP," adds
another BSP leader. In spite of such alliances, however, the BSP faced defeats in
the 2012 Assembly polls and 2014 Lok Sabha elections in UP because its math
was trumped by the Yadav-Muslim combine and the consolidation of the Hindu
vote.
The way out
The obvious ways to ensure that the lot of the Dalits is improved are education,
rise in economic status, market reforms transforming the lives of millions of
Dalits living in impecunious conditions. But not many experts are convinced of
this path to empowerment. "Market reforms can touch the life of a few thousands
of Dalits but it simply creates an island of prosperity amongst a sea of penury,"
says Guru, arguing that social movements are the only solution.
Page 59 of 61
Krishnan, on the other hand, believes that constitutional safeguards and
protective legal clauses can play a great enabling role. But, more than any of this,
a change of attitude is needed among the ruling classes to stem the tide. Perhaps
the best solution was provided by B.R. Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly.
"We are entering an era of political equality. But economically and socially we
remain a deeply unequal society. Unless we resolve this contradiction, inequality
will destroy our democracy," he had warned.
But nothing learnt; little progress made. The Dalit dilemma, ironically, is the
dilemma of India. Some hard questions remain: How long must the
discrimination continue? How many dreams must be shattered? How many
flames of justice must be extinguished? How many Vaibhavs and Divyas must be
burnt alive? How many Rohiths must die to change India, once and for all?
Page 60 of 61
Page 61 of 61

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Page 1 of 61

Key to Flamingo and Vistas

Copyright © Saptarshi Majumder 2017

About the Book

The Books and The Lessons

Flamingo, Textbook in English for Class XII

The Last Lesson – Alphonse Daudet

Lost Spring – Anees Jung

The Rattrap – Selma Lagerlof

Indigo – Louis Fischer

Going Places – A. R. Barton

My Mother at Sixty-six – Kamala Das

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum – Stephen Spender

Keeping Quiet – Pablo Neruda

A Thing of Beauty – John Keats

Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger – Adrienne Rich

Vistas, Supplementary Reader in English for Class XII

The Tiger King – Kalki

The Enemy – Pearl S. Buck

Should Wizard Hit Mommy – John Updike

On the Face of It – Susan Hill

Evans Tries an O-level – Colin Dexter

The Cutting of My Long Hair – Zitkala-Sa

We Too Are Human Beings – Bama

The Last Lesson – Alphonse Daudet

Lost Spring – Anees Jung

Deep Water – William Douglas

The Rattrap – Selma Lagerlof

Indigo – Louis Fischer

Going Places – A. R. Barton

Q3. What had been put up on the bulletin-board?

A. Franz thought of M. Hamel as a cruel taskmaster and hated his textbooks. He

Q. How many languages can you understand?

Q. How many languages can you speak?

A. I can speak English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese.

Q. How many languages can you read?

A. I can read English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali and Assamese.

Q. How many languages can you write?

A. I can write English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Bengali.

Q. Which languages have you learnt in the school?

A. I have learnt English, Hindi and Sanskrit.

Q. Which one is your favourite language?

A. My favourite language is Bengali.

A. 1. Bengali is my mother tongue and therefore near to my heart.

2. In Bengali I can express better my feelings and emotions.

4. Bengali is one of the sweetest languages in the world.

Q. In school which one would be a better option – Sanskrit/ German/ Chinese/

A. Sanskrit as it is the mother of all Indian languages

Q. Do you like English?

A. No, I don’t feel like that.

Lost Spring – Anees Jung

Q3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.

Q1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?

A. The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangle making industry.

Q2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?

Understanding the text

A. The reasons for migration of people from village to city are

i) the city provides better job opportunities

ii) the city provides more career options

iv) good educational institutions are located in the city

v) better medical infrastructure are found in the city

Deep Water - William Douglas

An extreme or irrational fear or dislike of something, from Greek ‘phobos’ – fear.