Answers

1. Grandmother was not pretty but had a divine beauty. She dressed in spotless white. Her silver locks
were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in an inaudible
prayer. The author describes her “like the winter landscape in the mountains”a personification of
“serenity, breathing peace and contentment.”

2. In the portrait, the grandfather was dressed in a big turban and loose-fitting clothes. His long white
beard covered the best part of his chest and he looked at least a hundred years old. He looked
grandfatherly to the author; someone who could never have been young.

3. When the grandmother died, the sparrows, along with the writer’s family, mourned her death.
Thousands of sparrows came and sat quietly all around her dead body. The writer’s mother threw
breadcrumbs but the sparrows took no notice of them. After her cremation they flew without touching
the crumbs.

4. Wave-walker was a beautiful 23 metre long, 30 ton wooden-hulled ship. It had been professionally
built. They had spent months fitting it out and testing in the roughest weather they could find.

5. They were 3,500 kilometres east of Cape Town on 25 December. The weather was very bad. Still they
had a wonderful holiday-complete with a Christmas tree. New Years Day saw no improvement in
weather

6. The author called Amsterdam's island "the most beautiful island in the world." It was because, after
all of their ordeals at sea, the island represented a ray of hope for them. It was a modest volcanic rock
outcropping with sparse flora.

7. In order to protect the ship from rough weather, the captain decided to slow it down. So he dropped
the storm jib and lashed heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem. Then they double fastened
everything and went through

their life-raft drill.

8. Larry and Herb started pumping out water. The captain stretched canvas and secured water proof
hatch covers across the gaping holes. When the two hand pumps blocked and electric pump short
circuited, he found another electric pump, connected it to an out pipe and started it.

The story suggests that optimism certainly helps to endure the direst stress. The

behaviour of the four adults during crisis bears it out. Larry Vigil and Herb Seigler were two crewmen. As
the mighty waves smashed the deck, water entered the ship through many holes and openings. Right
from the evening of January 2, Larry and Herb started pumping out water. They worked continuously,
excitedly and feverishly for 36 hours. It was a result of their continuous pumping that they reached the
last few centimetres of water on January 4. They remained cheerful and optimistic while facing
extremely dangerous situations. The narrator did not lose his courage, hope or presence of mind while
facing problems. He did not worry about the loss of equipment. He used whatever was available there.
His self confidence and practical knowledge helped them to steer out of storm and reach the lie
Amsterdam island. Mary stayed at the wheel for all those crucial hours. She did not lose hope or
courage either.

9. King Tut’s body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny.

Answer:

The mummy of King Tutankhamun has earned world wide fame for the riches it was buried with. There
is also speculation about the manner of his death and his age at the time of death. Hence King Tut’s
body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny.

(ii) Howard Carter’s investigation was resented.

Answer:

Howard Carter’s investigation was resented because he used unscientific methods and illegitimate ways.
He was focusing more on treasure and less on cultural and historical aspects.

(iii) Carter had to chisel away the solidified resins to raise the king’s remains.

Answer:

Carter found that the ritual resins had hardened. The result was that Tut’s body had

been cemented to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. Proper force could not move the resins. Even the
scorching sun failed to loosen the resins. So he got the resins chilselled away to raise the king’s remains.

(iv) Tut’s body was buried along with gilded treasures.

Answer:

The people of ancient Egypt believed in resurrection of the dead. Their kings were extremely rich. So
Tut’s body was buried with gilded treasures. Their eternal brilliance was meant to guarantee
resurrection. Things of everyday use were also buried with the king.

(v) The boy king changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun.

Answer:

Tutankhamun means “living image of Amun”. He was a major god in ancient Egypt. King Amenhotep IV
who changed his name to Akhonaten smashed the images of Amun and got his temples closed. Tut
oversaw a restoration of the old ways. He changed his name to express his belief in Amun.
10. The word cardboard denotes the photograph pasted on a hard thick paper. This word has been used
to refer to a practice in the past when photographs were pasted on cardboard and framed with glass
front to preserve them.

11. The sea has not changed over the years. Its waves are as fresh, shining and tireless

as they were years ago. The changelessness of sea reminds us of the changes in human face with
advancing age.

12. The sea holiday and the laughter of the poet’s mother are incidents of the past.

There is a sense of loss associated with them. Both are amusing yet disappointing as the state of feeling
comfortable or relaxed is unnatural or forced one. This sense of loss is quite painful to bear.

13. The poet has no words to express her reaction to this solemn and painful incident. Death silences
everyone. The extensive quietness and prevailing gloom silences her

14. The beginning of the poem is about the silence and stillness of the laburnum. The end of the poem
again drifts into silence and emptiness of the laburnum.

15. The poet evokes the image of an engine because as soon as the goldfinch enters its nest on the
laburnum top, the whole tree comes alive with the chirruping of the young ones of the bird, their
twittering and the tremor of their wings. As an engine brings a seemingly dead machine to life, so the
chittering family of the goldfinch brings the whole tree into life.

16.The phrase refers to the face of the bird that is covered with fur of different colours and which looks
like a mask making it the identity of the bird.

17. Rain water rises untouched out of the land and deep sea and gathers in the sky, where it changes
form, and then comes down to earth to bathe the dry tiny particles of dust layers and all that lies buried
under it. Then it returns to the place of its origin. Science textbooks indicate that water vapours from
the rivers and ocean rise up to the sky due to the intense heat. They assume the form of clouds and
after condensation drop down as rain. The water flows back through rivers to the seas and oceans.

18. The last two lines contain a comment about music and its cycle. These differ from the first nine lines.
The first two lines are the voice of the poet whereas lines three to nine are spoken by rain. The cycle of
song is put within brackets to mark the difference in speakers but similarity in content

19. The world believed that Mourad was a crazy child but Aram considered him sane. Aram knew that
Mourad enjoyed being alive more than anybody else, he would do whatever he wanted to do. He was
fun, exciting and unpredictable.

20& 21. The Garoghlanian family though now poor, were famous for their honesty even when they were
wealthy. They were proud of their family first, honest next and after that they believed in right and
wrong. None of them would take advantage of anybody in the world. They would not steal. No member
of the Garoghlanian family could be a thief.

23. John Byro was a farmer. He was an Assyrian. He had learnt to speak Armenian. He came to tell the
narrator's mother that his white horse had been stolen last month.

24. John Byro said the words " A suspicious man would believe of his eyes instead of his heart. -»He said
this because he knew about the honesty of their family. -»He did not want to believe that the boys had
stolen his horse,so he forces himself to believe that it was an exact twin of his horse

25. When the narrator knocked at Mrs Dorling's door and introduced herself as Mrs S's daughter, Mrs
Dorling showed no sign of recognition. She held the door in a way making clear that the narrator was
not welcome

26. The narrator found herself in the midst of things she was familiar with and which she did want to see
again. However, she found them in a strange atmosphere where everything was arranged in a tasteless
way. They ugly furniture and the muggy smell created the feeling that she didn’t know the room.

27.

The second visit of the narrator to 46, Marconi Street, was different from the first one in one respect.
Dining the first visit, the narrator could not get admittance in the house, whereas during the second one,
she was led to the living room, where she could see and touch some of the things she had wanted so
eagerly to see. She had visited this place with a specific purpose—to see her mother’s belongings. The
touch and sight of familiar things aroused memory of her former life. These objects had now lost their
real value for her since they were severed from their own lives and stored in strange circumstances.
Thus her mission to see, touch and remember her mother’s belongings was partly successful. She
resolved to forget these objects, and their past and move on. This is clear from her decision to forget the
address.

28. The title of the story The Address is quite apt. It is the spring wheel of the action. In fact the whole
action centres round it. The title is quite suggestive and occurs at the beginning, middle and end of the
story. Marga Minco focuses the reader’s attention on it by the narrator’s doubt whether she was
mistaken and her self assurance that she had reached the correct address.

The middle part of the story reveals how she came to know the address. It was her mother who
informed her about the place where Mrs Dorling lived and asked her to remember it.

The story ends dramatically with the narrator’s resolve to forget the address. The wheel comes full
circle. She had remembered the address for so many years and now since the belongings of her mother
stored there have lost their usefulness she finds that forgetting this address would be quite easy

29. The woman was wearing the green knitted cardigan of the narrator’s mother. The wooden buttons
were rather pale from washing. She saw that the narrator was looking at the cardigan. She half hid
herself again behind the door. Her reaction convinced the narrator that she was right
30. In these lines, the poet draws similarities between rain and music observing that the life-cycle of rain
and song are alike. Both are perpetual in nature. Moreover, the sound of the soft-falling rain is in itself a
kind of music. The song issues from the heart of the poet and travels to reach others.

Both originate from a source, rise up, reach fulfilment, wander about whether cared about or not and
finally return to source of origin with love.