Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Short Questions
Chapter No: 1
1. What happens when you are getting on in years?
You get sleepy when you are getting old and time also passes slowly like moving cattle passing slowly across landscape.
You find hours like days and days like months.
2. Who is Mrs. Wickett? 14L
What job did Mrs. Wickett do at Brookfield? 15L
Mrs. Wickett has been the in-charge of the linen room. She owns the flat right in front of Brookfield Public school, where
Chips resided after the retirement.
3. Where did Mr. Chips live after his retirement?
Mr. Chips lived at Mrs. Wicket’s flat just across the road from the Brookfield school. He lived there because he wanted to
stay close to Brookfield after the retirement.
4. How did Chips measure time after his retirement?
Like some old sea captain, Chips measured time by the bells of Brookfield instead of using clock. His flat activities were
not connected to Greenwich time rather he followed the Brookfield bells.
5. What was the routine of Chips after the last bell?
What did Chips do before going to bed?
Chips wound up the clock, put the wire guard in front of the fire, turned out the gas and carried a detective novel with him.
6. Who was Merivale?
What was the name of Chips’ doctor and how often did he visit Chips? 15L,
Merivale was a doctor of Chips. He visited Chips fortnightly to examine him. He encouraged Chips that his health was
enviable but asked Mrs. Wickett to look after him.
7. What did Merivale talk Chips about his health?
Merivale encouraged Chips that his health was enviable. He asked Chips that he was going to die a natural death if he ever
died.
8. What happened in 1870?
Why is 1870 easy to remember?
Chips joined Brookfield in 1870. It was the same year when a war broke out between France and Germany. It is called
Franco-Prussian war. Wetherby also died in the same year.
9. Who was the headmaster of Brookfield when Mr. Chips joined it?
What do you know about Mr. Meldrum?
Mr. Meldrum was the headmaster of Brookfield when Chips joined Brookfield in 1870. He served for 30 years to raise the
status of Brookfield. Mr. Meldrum died from pneumonia in 1900.
10. Which school did Chips join before he came to Brookfield?
How did Chips find Melbury school?
Chips joined Melbury school before he came to Brookfield. He did not like the school since he was ragged there a great
deal.
11. Describe the day of Chips’ job interview at Brookfield?
How was the day when Chips came to Brookfield school for interview? 14G, 15G,
It was a sunny day of July, 1870. The air was fragrant with the scent of flowers. There was plick-plock of cricket as
Brookfield was playing with Barnhurst.
12. Why and when did Chips leave Melbury school?
Chips did not like the school because he had been ragged there very much. He stayed there for almost one year and then
joined Brookfield.
13. Who was Wetherby and what did he advise Mr. Chips?
How did Mr. Wetherby advise Mr. Chips? 14L, 15L, 16L, 18L
What type of the Head was Wetherby? 15G,
What advice did Mr. Wetherby give to Mr. Chips? 19L,
Wetherby was the head when Chips came for the interview. He advised Chips to be strict in the beginning and don’t let
anyone play tricks with him. Wetherby also asked him to work hard and Brookfield would honour him in return.
14. When did Wetherby die?
Mr. Wetherby died during the summer vacation, before Chips began his first term. He stayed at Brookfield for thirty years
and raised the status of Brookfield to some extent.
15. When and where did Chips take his first class?
Chips took his first class in September, 1870 and it was in Big Hall. Almost 500 students were seated there. It was really
an awful experience.
16. What happened in the first class of Chips at Brookfield?
Who was Colley? What mischief did he make? 15G,
Describe Chips’ first day experience at Brookfield school. 16L,
Chips was nervous and the students were ready to make fun of him. A boy named Colley dropped a desk lid and luckily
Chips caught and punished him with hundred lines.
17. What was the famous joke of Chips to the second Colley?
Chips told the second Colley, the son of the first Colley named Sir Richard, " Colley, your father was the first boy I ever
punished when I came here twenty-five years ago. He deserved it then, and you deserve it now."
18. What was the famous joke of Chips to the third Colley?
Chips told the third Colley that his family was a splendid example of inherited traditions. His grandfather was a non-
serious student and his father was a backbencher but he was the worst of the lot.
19. Who was Colley? 16L,
Colley was the first boy Chips punished when he took his first class in Big Hall. Colley’s son and his grandson also became
Chips’ student.
Chapter No: 2
Chapter No: 3
Short Questions
Chapter No: 3
1. What was the condition of Chips' s room?
It was a small but sunny room, designed according to the taste of school masters. It had some old and unique things.
2. How was Chips' s room decorated? 19L
It was decorated simply: a few bookshelves, sporting trophies, a mantelpiece with fixture-cards and signed photographs of
boys, a worn Turkey carpet and big easy chairs.
3. How was Chips' s hospitality?
How did Mr. Chips entertain his students at Mrs. Wicket’s? 15L,
How did Chips welcome the new comers? 16L,
How did Chips serve his guests? 18L,
Chips always ordered a walnut-cake with pink icing and crumpets in winter. And he would never let the plates of his guests
go empty. He himself made tea for his guests.
4. Who was Collingwood?
Collingwood was an old student of Chips. He was punished for climbing the gymnasium roof to get a ball out of the gutter.
He became a major, won a DSO and was killed in Egypt.
5. What was the financial status of Chips after his retirement?
His pension was adequate and he had saved a little money. He could afford anything he wanted. He had no worries and was
living a pleasant and comfortable life.
6. What kind of books did he read before he slept?
What kind of books did Mr. Chips have in his room? 14G,
Chips took Virgil or Xenophon with him on bed and read them for a few moments, but soon he went for Doctor Thorndyke
or Inspector French.
7. How did Chips reckon/consider Latin or Greek languages?
What did Chips think of Latin and Greek languages?
Chips considered both Greek and Latin languages as dead ones. He thought that people ought to learn only a few quotations
of Latin or Greek to impress others.
8. How did Chips spend his time after retirement?
What were Chips’ activities after retirement? 15G,
How did Chips spend his time at Mrs. Wickett’s house? 18L, 19L,
Chips spent his time while having tea, receiving callers, making corrections in Brookfieldian Directory, and writing the
letters. He also invited new students and masters to tea.
Chapter No: 4
Short Questions
Chapter No: 4
1. When did Chips visit the Lake District?
Chips visited the Lake District in the spring of 1896. He went there with his colleague, Rowden, and he stayed there in a
small farmhouse at Wasdale Head.
2. Why did Rowden have to come back?
Rowden had to come back because of some family business. Chips stayed there alone in a small farmhouse at Wasdale
Head.
3. How did Chips come across Katherine?/ The most interesting incident./Why was the spring of 1896 important?
11L, 13L, 16L, 16L, 19L,
How did Mr. Chips wrench his ankle while climbing on Great Gable? 18L
While climbing on Great Gable, Katherine was waving excitedly to her friend. Chips misunderstood her gesture and
hastened towards her to rescue her. He wrenched his ankle and was unable to walk. The girl understood the whole situation
and nursed him.
4. What did Chips think of modern women? 15L,
Chips did not like them. The new women of nineties filled him with horror. He disliked bold and radical women. He never
liked women’s bicycling and their coming to roads for protest.
5. What were Chips’ ideas of nice women and men? 12G,
According to Chips, nice women were weak, timid and delicate. Nice women felt shy of protesting on roads. Nice men
treated women politely while keeping them at a distance.
6. What was the general appearance of Katherine Bridges? 11L,
Describe the physical grace of Katherine. 15G,
Katherine was 25. She had blue flashing eyes, freckled cheeks and smooth straw-coloured hair. She was a governess out of
a job. She was bold and radical in politics.
7. Who is Katherine Bridges?
What do you know of Mrs. Chips?
Katherine, Chips’ wife, is one of the main characters of the novel. She is a governess out of a job. She brings noticeable
positive changes in Chips. She is radical in politics.
8. Describe Katherine Bridge’s ideas. 13L,
Which rights did Katherine demand for women? 18L
Katherine is a modern woman. She is bold and radical in politics. She is in favour of women’s university education and
their right to vote. In politics, she is impressed by the views of Bernard Shaw and William Morris.
9. What did Katherine like in Chips in the beginning?
She liked him initially because he was hard to get to know. He was gentle, polite and reserved. Though his ideas were
outdated, he was honest.
10. What were the views of Chips and Katherine on politics? 11L, 16L,
What kind of political views did Katherine have? 16L, 19L
Both were poles apart in politics. She was radical in politics whereas he was conventional. She was in favour of women’s
coming to roads for their rights but Chips was not. She liked revolutionary writers like Bernard Shaw and Ibsen but Chips
did not.
11. When and where Katherine and Chips got married? 11L, 12L,
They got married in London a week before the beginning of the autumn term. Katherine had no parent and she was married
from the house of an aunt in Ealing.
12. What notion did Chips have about women? 15L, 15G, 16L,
How did Chips feel in the company of women? 15G,
Chips never felt comfortable with women. He wanted to have little interaction with women. He neither wanted to be a
rescuer nor rescued by a woman.
13. Why was spring 1896 important for Chips? 15L, 16L,
What did Chips see while climbing on Great Gable? 15G,
What is the most important incident of the novel? 08G,
Chips met Katherine accidentally on Great Gable, the Lake District. On Great Gable, Chips wrenched his ankle when he
misunderstood Katherine’s gestures. Katherine perceived the situation and rescued him.
14. Why did Chips dislike Shaw and Ibsen? 08L,
Chips did not like them as their writings were contrary to his ideas. To Chips, the two writers were instigating and infusing
rebellious trends among the people.
Chapter No: 5
Short Questions
Chapter No: 5
1. What did Katherine first think of Chips’ profession?
Katherine thought that Chips would be an advocate or a stockbroker or a dentist or a business man from Manchester. Later
on, she was pleased to know that Chips was a school teacher.
2. Why was Katherine pleased to know that Chips was a teacher?
Katherine was glad to know that Chips was a teacher because she liked the teaching profession. She believed that teaching
provides an opportunity to leave a positive influence on those who will grow up and matter to the world.
3. How did Chips depreciate himself?
Chips asked Katherine that he had no chance of promotion since his degree was not outstanding and his discipline was also
not so reliable. He also told Katherine that he was unable to marry a young and ambitious girl like her.
4. What did Katherine say to Chips before the wedding night? 10G,
Who said for the first time “Good bye Mr. Chips”? 09L,
Katherine uttered “Good bye Mr. Chips” when Chips was leaving her aunt’s house to come back to hotel. She taunted him
with mock gravity.