UNIT III- FORGETTING (PROSE)

SYNONYMS

Absent- mindedness- forgetfulness

Abstracted - lacking concentration
Admitted - accepted
Antipathy - strong dislike
Articles - things
Astonished - surprised, wondered, amazed
Audacious - bold and daring
Compels - forces
Crowded - filled
Delinquent - wrong doer
Eccentric - tending to act strangely
Efficiency - talent, capacity
Exploits - daring/heroic acts/achievements
Fallible - capable of making mistakes
Fortunes - huge sums of money
Indignant - being very angry
Mediocre - ordinary
Methodical - orderly
Pills - medicines, tablets
Prosaic - dull, simple, plain
Quivering - trembling, shivering
Reluctant - unwilling
Rely on - depend on
Seldom - never
Sieve - strainer / filter
Trust - believe
Vexation - irritation, annoyance
Vintages - wine of high quality produced in a
particular year

ANTONYMS
Admitted X denied
Anticipating X unexpecting
Antipathy X like
Astonished X worried
Delights X bores, appalls
Frequently X rarely
Inaccurate X exact, correct, accurate
Indignant X content, calm
Intensity X subtlety, apathy
Lie X truth
Lost X possess
Mediocre X extra-ordinary, special
Methodical X disorderly, disorganized
Prosaic X Imaginative, inspired
Quivering X stable, steady,
Recall X forget
Relish X dislike, hate
Reluctant X willing, interested
 Seldom X often, frequently

I. Answer the following in one or two sentence:-

1. What does Lynd actually wonder at?
Lynd actually wonders at the great efficiency of human memory.
2. Name a few things that a person remembers easily.
The telephone numbers, addresses of friends, dates of vintages, appointments for
lunch and dinner, the names of actors and actresses, cricketers, footballers,
murderers, the climatic condition and the name of the provincial hotel in which he
or she had a vile meal during the summer are the things that a person remembers
easily.
3. How do psychologists interpret forgetfulness?
Human beings forget things because they wish to forget them. In this way,
psychologists interpret forgetfulness.
4. What is the commonest type of forgetfulness, according to Lynd?
According to Lynd forgetting to post the letter is the most common type of
forgetfulness.
5. What are the articles the writer forgets most often?
The writer forgets books, umbrellas and walking sticks most often.
6. Who are the citizens of ‘dreamland’? why?
Sportspersons are the citizens of ‘dreamland’. Their minds are filled with the
vision of play-field. They live in the world of imaginations. They detected
themselves from the world around them.
7. What is common about the angler and the poet?
Anglers and poets are absent-minded. They are living in dreams
8. Where did the father go leaving the baby in the perambulator?
The father went into the public-house for a glass of beer, leaving the baby
alone in the perambulator.
9. When did the wife see her baby?
The wife saw her baby when she passed the public-house on her
way to the market.
10. Why was the wife full of horror?
The wife was full of horror as the baby was left alone outside
the public- house in the perambulator.
II) Answer the following in two or four sentences:

1.Whatmade people wonder about the absent-mindedness of their fellow beings?

The list of lost articles in London railway and the sale of those articles made
people wonder about the absent-mindednees of their fellow beings.

2. What are our memories filled with?

Our memories are filled with the names of actors and actresses, names of sports
persons, name of the provincial hotels, names of friends, appointments for lunch and
dinner, etc.,

3. When does human memory work with less than its usual capacity?
People forget to take their medicines. Though we take medicines before or after
meal, we forget to take medicines. On the other hand, we never forget to take meals. In
such circumstances human memory works with less than its usual capacity

4. Why, according to Lynd, should taking medicines to be one of the easiest actions
to remember?
Medicine is supposed to be taken before, during or after a meal. So, the meal
itself is a remainder of it.

5. How do the chemists make fortunes out of the medicines people forget to take?
People forget to take medicines. They get prolonged illness. They are forced to
buy medicines again and again. Hence the chemists make fortunes out of the medicines
people forget to take.

6. The list of articles lost in trains suggests that sportsmen have worse memories
than their ordinary serious-minded fellows. Why does Lund say this?
Sports persons, youngsters in particular, have worse memories. Their minds are
stored with the vision of the playing field.

7. What kind of absent-mindedness is regarded as a virtue by Lynd?

The act of some anglers who forget their fishing rods and the act of a poet to
post a letter are regarded as virtue by Lynd.

8. Narrate the plight of the baby on its day out?

The baby was taken outside in a perambulator by his father. The boy’s father
tempted by beer, left the baby in front of the public house. His wife who came for
shopping horrified to see her baby alone in perambulator. She wheeled her baby home,
expecting the trembling face and the frustration of her husband. On the contrary her
husband was quite cheerful and asked her what was the lunch that day. He totally forgot
that he had taken her baby out.

9. Describe the things remembered by the people?

Modern man remembers telephone numbers, the addresses of his friends, dates of
good vintages, appointments for lunch and dinner, names of actors, actresses, cricketers,
foot ballers, murderers, weather in the past, name of the provincial hotels at which he had
a vile meal. He remembers almost everything that he is expected to remember

10 What are the things forgotten by the people?

Many People in London sometimes forget a single item of their clothing when dressing
in the morning, close the front door when leaving the house, switch off the lights before
going upstairs, forget to take medicines, post letters, forget things in the train while
travelling.

11. What are the reasons for forgetting?

Certain psychologists tell that we forget things because we wish to forget them
and it may be that it is because of their antipathy to pills and potions that many people
fail to remember them at the appointed hours

12. List the things forgotten in train?

Considerable number of walking sticks, footballs, umbrella, cricket bats, and fishing
rods are the things forgotten in train.
1. Explain Khalilgibran’s statement of “Forgetfulness is a form of freedom”in a
paragraph.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’’

-George Santayana.

Robert Lynd is a humorous writer who deals with the ordinary matter of forgetting in a
jovial manner. First he deals with the things which human beings don’t forget. Modern man
remembers the telephone numbers and addresses of his friends. He does not forget the
appointments for lunch and dinner. It is surprising how he remembers the names of the actors,
actresses, cricketers, footballers, and murderers. No man forgets a single item in his clothing
while dressing in the morning and no one forgets to shut the front door while leaving the house
in the morning. Yet in some matters like taking medicine, posting letters and carrying back all
things after a journey, men seem to be forgetful. Among the articles left in trains and taxis,
book, walking sticks and umbrellas are very common. It is also found out that the young people
forget more than the older ones and the sportsmen and anglers have worse memories than the
ordinary serious minded people. A considerable number of lost balls, cricket bats and fishing
rods left in trains illustrate this fact. Sometimes great men like Coleridge and Socrates may not
remember ordinary things like posting letters. Yet that does not mean that intelligent people
have bad memory. Often good memory is combined with intelligence. Great writers and
composers of music usually have excellent memory. The author concludes his essay by
giving an example of an absent- minded father who took his baby in a perambulator. He left
the perambulator outside to have drink in a public house on the way. Meanwhile his wife came
that way for shopping and took away the baby with the perambulator. She expected that her
husband would arrive with a pale face and explain the baby’s disappearance. To her shock her
husband came and asked for lunch. He had forgotten that he had taken the baby with him. The
author concludes that the ordinary men are surely above such level of absent-mindedness.

I take my forgetfulness in a positive stride - because

I also forget the problems .

- Hina Khan