• Archibald Joseph Cronin,was a Scottish novelist and

physician. His best-known novel was The Citadel, about

a doctor in a Welsh mining village who quickly moves
up the career ladder in London.
• Born : July 19, 1896,
Died: January 6, 1981,
• Spouse: Agnes Mary Gibson(m. 1921–1981)
• Movies and Ttf shows: Doctor Finlay, The Citadel,
more
• Children: tfincent Cronin, R. F. Patrick Cronin, Andrew
Coronin
 strong, heavily built

suddenly thinking deeply

When you feel
that something
unpleasant is
going to happen to come to a halt
stressed suddenly
 cinder-a small piece of bu
coal
queer-strange
lethargy- lack of energy
grate-metal bars in the fire

confused
in an unpleasant way
morally
shocking
 cinder

grate
 shudder with
effort fear
to bring someone who has
stopped breathing back to
glass capsule containing li
injecting
lacking normal or youthfu
firmness
soaked with liquid
hypodermic syringe
 worried/tired

loudly
pale
hesitated
large jug

lifeless

a feeling of
anxiety or
dismay
useless draggled-
dirty and wet
sopping-full
of water
whimpered-
cried
 pigmy-small
contraction
of muscle

iridescent-
sparkling, shining

strong,
shining
material used
for covering
water jug scullery-room
for washing
dishes
Blaenelly- is oblivious-not
a mining concerned
town about the
happenings
around
Very short answer questions – 1 marks
1. Word- Meaning
i. Premonition
ii. Probing
iii. Pantingly
iv. Consternation
Answer- i. Intuition
ii. Searching
iii. To beat loudly
iv. Anxiety
2. The story “Birth” is an excerpt from which book?
3. Who is Andrew Manson in the story?
4. Who was waiting for Andrew and where?
5. Where does the Morgan family live?
B. Short Answer Questions – 2 marks
1. Who is Joe Morgan in the story? Who was he waiting for?
2. Why was Joe waiting for Andrew?
3. Where was Andrew led by Joe? Why Joe did not enter with the doctor?
4. How does Andrew console Susan’s mother?
5. What does Andrew feel about marriages?
6. What made Andrew feel a shiver of horror?
7. What confused Andrew? How did he save Susan?
8. What guesses did Andrew make about the condition of the lifeless child?
9. How did Dr. Andrew Manson revive the lifeless baby?
10. After the mother and the child were resuscitated, what was the condition of the room?
Answers-
1. i. Intuition
ii. Searching
iii. To beat loudly
iv. Anxiety

2.The story “Birth” is an excerpt from the novel The Citadel by A.J. Cronin.
3. Andrew Manson is a doctor who is graduated newly and began his career under the
assistance of Dr Edward Page.
4. Joe Morgan was waiting for Dr. Andrew Manson at the Bryngower.
5. The Morgan family lived at the 12, Blaina Terrace, Blaenelly.
B. Answer-
1. Joe Morgan is a driller in Blaenelly, a mining town. He is big, strong and heavy middle-
aged person. He was waiting for Dr. Andrew Manson.
2. Joe was waiting for Andrew because Joe and his wife Susan had been married for twenty
years and they were expecting their first child. Joe was waiting for the doctor to help Susan
in the delivering of the child.
3. Andrew was led by Joe to his house 12, Blaina Terrace as his wife was delivering their
first child.
Joe was tensed as it happened after 20 years of their marriage, so he refused to go inside the
house.
4. Andrew consolidated Susan’s mother by telling her not to fret as he would not run
away.
5. Andrew believed that marriage was a peaceful and beautiful state. He loved Christine
but the conflict between his mind and heart left him confused and indignant. Andrew
thought all marriages were a dismal failure. He thought about Branwell who was
foolishly devoted to a woman who deceived him meanly. Then he thought of Edward
page who was married to the ill-natured Blodwen, and was now living unhappily, apart
from his wife.
6. Dr Andrew Manson went to Morgan's to help Mrs Susan Morgan delivering her first
child. It took immense time and patience of more than an hour to do it and when he was
successful, he noticed that the infant was lifeless. Andrew looked at the still form of the
baby and could not observe any sort of movement in the baby that made him feel a
shiver of horror pass through him.
7. As soon as Andrew was successful in delivering the child, he faced an instant shock of
seeing a lifeless baby and the mother Susan too. Andrew's heart provoked to resuscitate
the stillborn child. He looks the mother that lay in a hopeless state. He did not know who
he should attend first. He saved the mother by giving her the hypodermic
syringe ,smashed a glass ampule and injected the medicine.
8. Andrew made the newborn child delivered but the baby was lifeless. He saw the baby
in the wet newspapers under the bed, the body was white and soft, and head lolled on the
thin neck, limbs looked boneless. He concludes that the whiteness over the body meant
suffocation caused by the lack of oxygen.
9. Andrew saved the mother Susan first and then made efforts to
revive the lifeless baby. He laid the baby upon a blanket and gave
it an artificial respiration. His second effort was to dip the baby
alternately in hot and cold water. Next, he rubbed the slippery
child with a rough towel. Lastly, Andrew pressed and released the
baby's chest till it began to breathe and gave some hope of
survival.

10. After Andrew's efforts at resuscitating the mother and the

child, the condition of the room was very messy. It was littered
with blankets, towels, basins and soiled instruments. The syringe
of hypodermic was pierced in the linoleum by its point. The ewer
was knocked over and the kettle lay on its side in a puddle of
water.
D. Long Answer Questions- 5 marks
1. Write in brief sketch and achievements of Dr Andrew Manson.
2. What affected Andrew’s performance at Morgan’s house? How did it influence his
career?
3. How are Andrew’s emotional, mental and physical states different from each other?
4. How would you defend that practice and observation makes a man with theoretical
knowledge perfect in his field?
D. Answers
1. Andrew Manson was a fresh graduate from medical school. He was a dedicated and hard
working medical practitioner. He worked as an assistant to Dr Edward Page in a small mining
town. He was full of ideas and judged every case on its merit. He showed quite a mature
understanding of his patients. When he was torn between conflicts or dilemma, he took prompt
action. Dr Andrew Manson was a fresh graduate from medical school. At midnight
Joe asked Andrew to come home and check her wife as she was about to deliver the
baby. Andrew did not ask for a fee and immediately went with Joe to his house. He
delivered the baby but saw that it was lifeless and so was its mother. He got scared
and confused whom to revive first but decided to save the mother first and made
various medical attempts to save her. Then he again made attempts to revive the baby.
He successfully brought them both back to life and waited at their door until he was
sure that things are normal.
2. Andrew returned to his house after midnight. His experience with Christine that
evening was not a cheerful one. Moreover, several episodes of gloomy wed pair
also distressed him. Outside his house was Joe Morgan waiting anxiously for the
doctor. He led Andrew to his house where his wife Susan was in labour. Both
were set upon having this child. Andrew decided to wait and give medical aid. He
had no idea that the incident of that night would give him not only the utmost
fulfilment but also name and fame. He worked hard and very sharply to save the
life of the mother as well as her stillborn child.
3. When the story starts, the writer portraits Andrew as physically and emotionally
tired. He had returned from a very disappointing event with the girl he loves,
Christine as they had heated arguments. His heart and mind are filled with heavy
thoughts. He believed that marriage is a peaceful state and could not remember
the miserable failures of many marriages. At the end of the story, Andrew is
shown physically exhausted but emotionally cheerful and mentally alert. He is
filled with joy and is satisfied in himself as he was successful in reviving the
mother and the baby. He believes that what he did was no less than a miracle. This
achievement helped him in overcoming physical fatigue and forgets his personal
issues and feelings.
4. A man with practical knowledge and experience has more chance of
achieving the desired results. In our day to day life, we meet compounders
surpassing the doctors and the physicians. A physician who has read the process
of administering an injection but has not done it with his own hands will fail in
his attempt to administer the injection. On the contrary, a compounder can
surpass the physician because he has practical experience. Similarly, if you have
minutely observed a man doing his job to perfection you can apply that very
practical experience based on your keen observation and achieve success Dr.
Andrew applied that practical experience and knowledge and did his job
efficiently and saved the mother and the child. So, for success especially in the
medical field especially, both bookish information and realistic experience are
essential. So studious knowledge or verbal data, if not seasoned with practical
experience, may prove useless and of no value.