The Mark on the Wall Summary, Q&A & MCQs — Class 12 Kaleidoscope

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The Mark on the Wall — Virginia Woolf (Class 12, Kaleidoscope)

Includes: Summary • Explanation • Difficult Words • Textbook Q&A • Extract MCQs • 15 Practice MCQs • Extra Questions

Table of Contents

1. Summary of the Chapter
2. Explanation of the Chapter
3. Difficult Words and Meanings
4. Textbook Questions & Answers
5. Extract-Based MCQs (5 × 3)
6. Practice MCQs (15 Challenging Questions)
7. Extra Questions (Q&A)

Summary of the Chapter

On a winter evening, the narrator notices a tiny mark above the mantelpiece and begins to think freely about what it is and what thinking itself does. Her guesses—nail-head, speck, rose leaf—open into reflections on memory, ownership, rules, and the prestige of “standards” like Whitaker’s Almanack and its Table of Precedency. She imagines antiquaries, museums, and the way facts look certain yet prove little. Images of fish against the stream and a tree through seasons suggest a poised, living thought. Nature finally prompts action: look at the mark. A second voice breaks in—war, newspapers—and casually identifies the mystery as a snail. The ordinary answer deflates solemn theorising, yet confirms Woolf’s point: the mind makes meaning by wandering, circling, and returning; facts arrive late and modest, but the inward movement they spark is where experience truly unfolds. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2} :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

Explanation of the Chapter

1) Winter Room & First Sight of the Mark

A quiet room after tea fixes time and mood. The small dark spot becomes a mental trigger; memory anchors date and place through firelight, flowers, and smoke. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

2) Lost Things & Fragile Knowledge

Lists of vanished objects and breathless images mock certainty. Knowledge feels accidental; possession slips away; thought leaps from item to item, alive yet unsure. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

3) Self-Image & Future Novelists

The narrator “dresses up” the self while predicting fiction will prize inner reflections over flat “reality”. The essay performs the very method it proposes. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

4) Antiquaries, Clergy & Proofs That Prove Little

A comic vignette of colonels, pamphlets, and museum pieces teases scholarship that piles evidence without settling truth. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}

5) Whitaker’s Table & Standard Things

Whitaker’s Almanack and ranked offices symbolise rigid order. Old “standard things” become phantoms, loosening habit’s hold. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}

6) Nature’s Nudge: From Thought to Action

Nature ends unhelpful rumination by urging a look at the mark. “Men of action” are not scorned; action can mercifully reset the mind. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

7) Trees, Fish & The Snail

Tree and fish images present stillness within motion. A voice ends the meditation: the mark is a snail—fact grounding fancy with gentle irony. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10} :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}

Difficult Words and Meanings

Word / Phrase	Meaning (simple)
mantelpiece	shelf above a fireplace
chrysanthemums	large decorative flowers
cavalcade	procession of riders/vehicles
miniature	very small portrait/painting
annihilation	complete destruction
asphodel	flower linked with afterlife in myth
tumulus / barrow	mound over an ancient grave
antiquary	scholar of old objects/remains
phantom	something seeming real but unreal
precedency	official order of rank
Whitaker’s Almanack	annual British reference book
attrition	gradual wearing down
omnibuses	old word for buses
moorhen	water bird seen on ponds/rivers
illegitimate freedom	freedom that feels improper against custom

Textbook Questions & Answers Verbatim questions from NCERT

Understanding the Text / Talking about the Text / Appreciation pulled from NCERT pages. :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12} :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}

Understanding the Text

1) An account of reflections is more important than a description of reality according to the author. Why? (Long Answer: 160–180 words)

Woolf shows that bare facts do not capture how experience actually forms within us. The narrator looks at a small spot and, before any “real” identification, her mind pours outward into images, memories, and questions about knowledge and authority. That meandering course is not a distraction from truth; it is the site where truth is felt, tested, and shaped. Lists of lost objects, musings on antiquaries, and satire of ranked tables reveal how generalisations harden into rules while private thought remains supple and alive. The final discovery—that the mark is only a snail—arrives almost as an afterthought and adds a gentle joke: the concrete answer is modest, but the inner journey it sparked was rich, humane, and revealing. By treating reflections as primary, Woolf urges readers to notice the flow of consciousness—pauses, leaps, returns—as a faithful record of life in time. Reality, she suggests, is not discarded; rather, it is understood more deeply when we honour the mind’s own way of moving. :contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14} :contentReference[oaicite:15]{index=15}

2) Looking back at objects and habits of a bygone era can give one a feeling of phantom-like unreality. What examples does the author give to bring out this idea? (Short Answer: 50–60 words)

She recalls Sunday walks and luncheons, the habit of sitting together till a fixed hour, and decorative “standard things” such as tapestry tablecloths and Landseer prints. Once treated as absolute, these customs later seem half-real, like phantoms, showing how received standards lose authority and fade into mere images in memory. :contentReference[oaicite:16]{index=16}

3) How does the imagery of (i) the fish (ii) the tree, used almost poetically by the author, emphasise the idea of stillness of living, breathing thought? (Long Answer: 160–180 words)

Both images join motion to poise. The fish is “balanced against the stream,” suspended yet alive within current; it captures a mind held steady while ideas flow around it. The tree, imagined through seasons—storm grinding, sap oozing, winter bark enduring—suggests growth that is silent and composed. Woolf’s detailed scene, from beetles to moorhens and snapping fibres, lets the reader feel a calm centre within change. Thought, in this model, breathes: it is not fixed like a table of ranks, nor hurried like a timetable, but living, seasonal, and patient. The images slow attention so we sense the texture of consciousness—its pressure, rest, and quiet recoveries—without losing movement. They also oppose a noisy public world (war talk, newspapers) with an inward ecology of noticing. In short, fish and tree make inward stillness visible: they confirm that reflective life is neither idle nor inert, but a balanced activity that gathers the world without being swept away by it. :contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}

4) How does the author pin her reflections on a variety of subjects on the ‘mark on the wall’? What does this tell us about the way the human mind functions? (Long Answer: 160–180 words)

The mark works as a cue that repeatedly launches and resets associative thinking. Each time the narrator glances back—wondering if it is a nail, a crack, a rose leaf—her mind branches into linked scenes: lost possessions, imagined antiquaries, museum cases, and social hierarchies fixed by Whitaker’s. The returns to the mark keep the meditation coherent while allowing free movement. This rhythm—cue, departure, return—models a natural mental process in which small perceptions open into broad themes and then narrow again to the initial object. The essay shows that thought is recursive and layered: it loops, tests, and revises itself rather than marching in straight lines. When Nature finally nudges her to act (look at the mark), the chain is broken and the practical world enters, revealing the mark as a snail. Far from cancelling reflection, the reveal confirms how minds handle uncertainty: we imagine, compare, and question until a fact intervenes—and even then, the meaning of the journey remains. :contentReference[oaicite:18]{index=18} :contentReference[oaicite:19]{index=19}

5) Not seeing the obvious could lead a perceptive mind to reflect upon more philosophical issues. Discuss this with reference to the ‘snail on the wall’. (Very Short Answer: 30–40 words)

Delaying inspection lets thought range over knowledge, order, and habit. When another voice finally names the snail, the ordinary fact grounds the meditation without erasing it, showing how small uncertainties can trigger large, useful reflections. :contentReference[oaicite:20]{index=20}

Talking about the Text

1) ‘In order to fix a date, it is necessary to remember what one saw’. Have you experienced this at any time? Describe one such incident, and the non-chronological details that helped you remember a particular date. (Very Short Answer: 30–40 words)

Yes. I once recalled an exam date by picturing wet corridors, a flickering tube-light, and steam on my glasses after rain. Those vivid details revived the timetable entry and fixed the exact Tuesday in my memory. :contentReference[oaicite:21]{index=21}

2) ‘Tablecloths of a different kind were not real tablecloths’. Does this sentence embody the idea of blind adherence to rules and tradition? Discuss with reference to ‘Understanding Freedom and Discipline’ by J. Krishnamurti that you’ve already read. (Short Answer: 50–60 words)

The line satirises rigid norms that police taste. It echoes Krishnamurti’s warning that habit becomes authority when unexamined. Calling one pattern “real” and others false shows conditioning at work; true discipline, by contrast, grows from awake perception rather than obedience to inherited standards. :contentReference[oaicite:22]{index=22}

3) According to the author, nature prompts action as a way of ending thought. Do we tacitly assume that ‘men of action are men who don’t think’? (Short Answer: 50–60 words)

Woolf notes a “slight contempt” for action, yet shows action can kindly halt unhelpful rumination. Looking at the mark resets the mind. The point is balance: action may follow and clear thought, not replace it; doing and thinking can assist one another. :contentReference[oaicite:23]{index=23}

Appreciation

1) Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of narration… Which of these is exemplified in this essay? Illustrate. (Long Answer: 160–180 words)

The essay exemplifies the second: narration that reproduces a character’s mental process with minimal outside commentary. We move through associations triggered by a small visual cue, and the mind’s texture—hesitations, lists, leaps—supplies the structure. Woolf’s syntax extends like a thought breathing: clauses accrete, revise, and loop, while images (fish, tree, river) render inward stillness within motion. Social satire surfaces not as a lecturing voice but as drifted observations: antiquaries and colonels, museum cases, and ranked tables from Whitaker’s Almanack. Even time is remembered by recalling what was seen—firelight, chrysanthemums, cigarette smoke—rather than by calendar. Finally, the external “plot” arrives in a spoken interruption and a plain fact: the mark is a snail. The outside world, including war talk and newspapers, punctures the reverie without cancelling it. Thus the piece models stream-of-consciousness: meaning emerges from the living sequence of perceptions instead of a tidy, omniscient report. :contentReference[oaicite:24]{index=24} :contentReference[oaicite:25]{index=25}

2) This essay frequently uses the non-periodic or loose sentence structure… Locate a few such sentences, and discuss how they contribute to the relaxed and conversational effect of the narration. (Long Answer: 160–180 words)

Woolf’s loose sentences could pause earlier yet continue gathering clauses, mirroring thought as it pads forward. Consider the inventory of lost things that swells through commas to “the Tube at fifty miles an hour”, or the antiquary passage, which strings correspondences, breakfasts, arrow-heads, and museum cases before shrugging, “proving I really don’t know what.” The fish-and-tree paragraph similarly widens by accretion: moorhens, beetles, fibres “snapping,” each detail adding motion without closing cadence. Such sentences do not march to finality; they hover and qualify, keeping tone conversational and flexible. The effect is intimacy: we are inside a mind that revises itself in real time. Meaning condenses not at period’s end but along the path, so readers experience reflection as a lived sequence rather than a finished verdict. This style suits the essay’s claim that reflections matter more than bare description: the form enacts the argument. :contentReference[oaicite:26]{index=26} :contentReference[oaicite:27]{index=27}

Extract-Based MCQs (5 × 3)

Set 1

“Perhaps it was the middle of January in the present year that I first looked up and saw the mark on the wall… we had just finished our tea…” :contentReference[oaicite:28]{index=28}

1. What is the immediate function of this opening detail?
   1. To fix external plot
   2. To anchor memory through sense images
   3. To introduce another character
   4. To reveal the author’s biography
   Answer: b) To anchor memory through sense images
2. The tone here is best described as:
   1. Judicial
   2. Satirical
   3. Reflective
   4. Dramatic
   Answer: c) Reflective
3. The “mark on the wall” serves primarily as a:
   1. Symbol of war
   2. Device to start associative thinking
   3. Reminder of lost property
   4. Religious emblem
   Answer: b) Device to start associative thinking

Set 2

“Oh! dear me, the mystery of life; the inaccuracy of thought! The ignorance of humanity!” :contentReference[oaicite:29]{index=29}

1. The quoted lines mainly question:
   1. Religious authority
   2. Historical timelines
   3. Certainty in knowledge
   4. Moral values
   Answer: c) Certainty in knowledge
2. The figure of speech in “the inaccuracy of thought” foregrounds:
   1. Metonymy
   2. Personification
   3. Irony
   4. Hyperbole
   Answer: b) Personification
3. In context, the exclamation marks convey:
   1. Mock solemnity
   2. Measured approval
   3. Cold detachment
   4. Fear
   Answer: a) Mock solemnity

Set 3

“The masculine point of view which governs our lives… will be laughed into the dustbin where the phantoms go…” :contentReference[oaicite:30]{index=30}

1. The passage critiques:
   1. Romantic poetry
   2. Fixed social hierarchies
   3. Scientific method
   4. Rural life
   Answer: b) Fixed social hierarchies
2. “Masculine point of view” here implies:
   1. Individual preference
   2. Institutional authority setting standards
   3. Biological difference
   4. Family tradition
   Answer: b) Institutional authority setting standards
3. The phrase “laughed into the dustbin” signals:
   1. Reverence
   2. Inevitable decline
   3. Sudden rise
   4. Timelessness
   Answer: b) Inevitable decline

Set 4

“I must jump up and see for myself what that mark on the wall really is… Here is Nature once more at her old game of self-preservation.” :contentReference[oaicite:31]{index=31}

1. Nature’s “game” prompts the narrator to:
   1. Stop thinking and act
   2. Write a letter
   3. Change houses
   4. Burn the book
   Answer: a) Stop thinking and act
2. The phrase “self-preservation” suggests:
   1. Ending harmful rumination
   2. Seeking social praise
   3. Following Whitaker’s ranks
   4. Collecting antiques
   Answer: a) Ending harmful rumination
3. The narrative technique most visible here is:
   1. Objective reportage
   2. Epistolary narrative
   3. Stream-of-consciousness
   4. Third-person omniscience
   Answer: c) Stream-of-consciousness

Set 5

“‘I’m going out to buy a newspaper.’ … ‘All the same, I don’t see why we should have a snail on our wall.’ … Ah, the mark on the wall! It was a snail…” :contentReference[oaicite:32]{index=32}

1. The voice in the extract is:
   1. The narrator
   2. A passer-by on the street
   3. Another person in the room
   4. A newspaper vendor
   Answer: c) Another person in the room
2. The final identification of the mark creates:
   1. Tragic irony
   2. Situational irony
   3. Epic climax
   4. No irony
   Answer: b) Situational irony
3. The reveal mainly:
   1. Invalidates all reflections
   2. Confirms dreams are true
   3. Grounds the reflections in ordinary reality
   4. Begins a new plotline
   Answer: c) Grounds the reflections in ordinary reality

Practice MCQs (15 Challenging Questions)

1. Which single object structures the essay’s movement?
   1. The fireplace
   2. The chrysanthemums
   3. The mark on the wall
   4. The book
   Answer: c) The mark on the wall
2. Woolf’s forecast about future novelists stresses:
   1. Plots of adventure
   2. Inner reflections
   3. Historical chronicles
   4. Biographical accuracy
   Answer: b) Inner reflections
3. The list of vanished objects mainly supports the theme of:
   1. Domestic waste
   2. Fragility of possession
   3. Love of antiques
   4. Greed
   Answer: b) Fragility of possession
4. The imagined antiquary/colonel episode satirises:
   1. Museum lighting
   2. Collecting without meaning
   3. Classical languages
   4. Rural clergy
   Answer: b) Collecting without meaning
5. “Illegitimate freedom” best means:
   1. Freedom rightly earned
   2. Freedom that feels wrong because customs forbid it
   3. Political liberty
   4. Religious permission
   Answer: b) Freedom that feels wrong because customs forbid it
6. The recurring reference to Whitaker’s Almanack symbolises:
   1. Seasonal change
   2. Fixed order and ranks
   3. Travel guides
   4. Farming calendars
   Answer: b) Fixed order and ranks
7. The tone of the essay is often:
   1. Lecturing
   2. Playfully speculative
   3. Gothic
   4. Suspenseful
   Answer: b) Playfully speculative
8. Which image expresses poise within motion?
   1. Asphodel meadows
   2. Fish balanced against the stream
   3. Arrow-heads in a case
   4. Sideboards and prints
   Answer: b) Fish balanced against the stream
9. Woolf’s sentences are often “loose”, meaning:
   1. Grammatically wrong
   2. Able to end at many points without breaking sense
   3. Rhymed
   4. Very short fragments
   Answer: b) Able to end at many points without breaking sense
10. The final reveal works chiefly as:
    1. A moral lesson
    2. A comic correction
    3. A tragic reversal
    4. A political warning
    Answer: b) A comic correction
11. The essay’s structure is closest to:
    1. Detective plot
    2. Travelogue
    3. Stream-of-consciousness meditation
    4. Epistolary diary
    Answer: c) Stream-of-consciousness meditation
12. “Generalisation” in the text is treated with:
    1. Automatic respect
    2. Mild suspicion
    3. Open hostility
    4. Legal defence
    Answer: b) Mild suspicion
13. Which impulse ends circular thought?
    1. Buying antiques
    2. Writing a pamphlet
    3. Looking at the mark
    4. Reading newspapers
    Answer: c) Looking at the mark
14. The person who finally identifies the mark:
    1. The narrator
    2. An imagined scholar
    3. Another person in the room
    4. A museum guide
    Answer: c) Another person in the room
15. The snail chiefly symbolises:
    1. War
    2. Ordinary reality that humbles big theories
    3. Religious faith
    4. Childhood
    Answer: b) Ordinary reality that humbles big theories

Extra Questions (Q&A)

1. How does a tiny cue grow into a wide meditation?
   One sight (the mark) branches into memories, images, and debates. The mind returns to the cue again and again, keeping the meditation coherent while roaming freely.
2. Why are the lost-objects lists memorable?
   Their rhythm mixes humour and pathos. The piling-up style dramatises how ownership and certainty slip despite careful living. :contentReference[oaicite:33]{index=33}
3. What is satirised in the antiquary passage?
   Fussy evidence that secures no conclusion. Pamphlets and museum fragments feel precise yet prove “really I don’t know what.” :contentReference[oaicite:34]{index=34}
4. How do standards become “phantoms”?
   Tablecloth rules and Sunday routines once felt absolute; later they look half-real, exposing custom’s borrowed authority. :contentReference[oaicite:35]{index=35}
5. Explain “illegitimate freedom”.
   When rigid norms fade, a new liberty appears but seems improper at first, recording an uneasy shift from habit to choice. :contentReference[oaicite:36]{index=36}
6. Why feature newspapers and war at the end?
   Public noise intrudes on private thought before a domestic fact—“a snail”—quietly grounds everything. :contentReference[oaicite:37]{index=37}
7. How do fish and tree images guide readers?
   They slow attention to feel composed motion—stillness within flow—mirroring reflective thought. :contentReference[oaicite:38]{index=38}
8. Does the reveal cancel reflection?
   No. It gently corrects overreach while preserving the value of the inward journey that produced meaning. :contentReference[oaicite:39]{index=39}
9. What is the role of humour?
   Light irony keeps depth from heaviness; the snail ending humanises the meditation.
10. Why is the essay modernist?
    It centres consciousness, uses loose syntax, questions hierarchies, and ends with an anti-climactic, ordinary fact.

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Focus Keywords: The Mark on the Wall summary, Class 12 Elective English Kaleidoscope, Virginia Woolf Q&A, extract based MCQs, difficult words meanings

The Story by E.M. Forster – Summary, Explanation, Q&A, and MCQs (Class 11 Woven Words)

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Class 11 • Woven Words (NCERT) • Prose

The Story — E.M. Forster (Class 11, Woven Words)

Summary, Explanation, Difficult Words, Textbook Q&A, Extract-Based MCQs, 15 Practice MCQs, Extra Questions, SEO.

Table of Contents

• Summary of the Chapter
• Explanation of the Chapter
• Difficult Words and Meanings
• Textbook Questions & Answers
• Extract-Based MCQs (5 × 3)
• Practice MCQs (15 Challenging Questions)
• Extra Questions (Q&A)

Summary of the Chapter

Forster argues that the basic element of a novel is its story, the part that makes readers ask, “What happens next?” He dramatises three voices that answer the question “What does a novel do?” with varying attitudes, and then admits—reluctantly—that story is the common thread. He likens it to a backbone or even a tape-worm: primitive, old, and kept alive by suspense. The example of Scheherazade shows how suspense can even save a life. Yet life is not only time-sequence; we also live by “values”. Good novels, he says, pay a double allegiance—both to time and to value. However playful writers may be with clocks and chronology (Bronte, Sterne, Proust), a novel still needs the time-bound chain of events that forms a story.

Explanation of the Chapter

1) The three voices: three attitudes to the novel

Forster presents three speakers: the casual reader who vaguely thinks a novel “tells a story”, the blunt reader who wants only story, and Forster himself, regretfully conceding that story is essential. The scene sets up his measured defence of story without worshipping it.

2) Story as backbone (or tape-worm)

Calling story a “backbone” or even a “tape-worm”, he stresses that beginnings and endings are often arbitrary. The image is meant to be plain, even unlovely, so we see story as a simple structure that supports finer features like character, style, and truth-seeking.

3) Primitive roots and the power of suspense

From campfires of “shock-heads” to the legend of Scheherazade, listeners stayed awake because of suspense. She survives by stopping at dawn mid-sentence, keeping the king eager for the next event. Suspense is the one tool even “tyrants and savages” respond to.

4) The only merit and the only fault

As “qua story” (considered purely as story), it has just one merit—making us want to know what comes next—and one fault—failing to do so. This stark standard reminds us that story, by itself, is the lowest yet most common element of the novel.

5) Life in time and life by values

Daily life runs by time, yet our strongest moments are measured by intensity, not minutes. Good novels include both modes: they must move in time, but they also capture value, memory, and meaning beyond the clock.

6) The novelist’s clock (Bronte, Sterne, Proust)

Novelists may hide the clock (Emily Bronte), invert it (Sterne), or keep changing the hands (Proust). These tricks are legitimate, but none abolish time inside the novel; the story-thread must still be there to keep sense.

7) A note on tone: the Clark Lectures

The piece comes from Forster’s 1927 Clark Lectures. He keeps a conversational tone (“I”, “you”, “of course”), believing that the novel—often colloquial itself—may reveal more to a friendly talk than to solemn criticism.

Difficult Words and Meanings

Word / Phrase	Meaning (Short)
atavistic	Relating to ancient or primitive traits
shock-heads	Ruffled, shaggy-haired people (primitive listeners)
ingenious	Clever and inventive
tape-worm (metaphor)	Long, thin chain of events; story as bare time-thread
Neolithic / Palaeolithic	Very early prehistoric periods
tyrants	Harsh, absolute rulers
delineations	Descriptions or portrayals
interminable	Seemingly endless
allegiance	Loyalty or commitment
chronological	Arranged by time order
metaphysicians	Philosophers who study the nature of reality
auspices	Support or patronage
colloquial	Conversational; informal in style
vizier	High official or minister (in monarchies)
backwaters and shallows (metaphor)	Quiet, less formal places (here, of criticism)

Textbook Questions & Answers

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

Q1. What do you understand of the three voices in response to the question ‘What does a novel do’? Long Answer (60–70 words)

Forster stages three views. The first is mild and vague: a novel “tells a story”. The second is blunt and exclusive: only story matters. The third—Forster’s own—is regretful yet honest: story is fundamental though he wishes it were otherwise. These voices show a range from casual acceptance, through aggressive preference for plot, to a reflective critic who concedes story while looking beyond it.

Q2. What would you say are ‘the finer growths’ that the story supports in a novel? Short Answer (30–40 words)

They are features such as description, judgement, incident-craft, morality, character portrayal, and style—the richer elements a novel carries on its “backbone”. Story holds these up, even if it is itself plain and unlovely.

Q3. How does Forster trace the human interest in the story to primitive times? Short Answer (30–40 words)

He imagines prehistoric listeners round a campfire, kept awake by suspense. If they guessed “what happens next”, they slept—or killed the storyteller. The Scheherazade episode later shows suspense as a life-saving skill.

Q4. Discuss the importance of time in the narration of a story. Long Answer (60–70 words)

A story is a sequence of events in time—breakfast before dinner, Monday before Tuesday. Its single merit is creating the wish to know the next event. Though life also runs by “values”, the novelist cannot abolish time inside a novel. Even when writers play with clocks, the time-thread must remain, or the narrative becomes unintelligible.

TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT

Q5. What does a novel do? Very Short Answer (1–2 sentences)

At base, it tells a story—events in time that prompt the question, “What happens next?” A good novel also conveys value and meaning beyond the time-sequence.

Q6. ‘Our daily life reflects a double allegiance to “the life in time” and “the life by values”.’ Short Answer (30–40 words)

We live by clocks and calendars, yet our strongest moments are measured by intensity, not minutes. Forster suggests good novels capture both: temporal order and felt value.

Q7. The description of novels as organisms. Short Answer (30–40 words)

A novel is a complex organism with story as its simplest shared element. Around that core grow character, theme, voice, and design—the “finer growths” that make each novel feel living and whole.

APPRECIATION

Q8. How does Forster use the analogy of Scheherazade to establish his point? Short Answer (30–40 words)

Scheherazade survives by suspense—stopping mid-sentence at dawn. The image shows story’s raw power: keeping listeners eager for “what next” is the one tool that sways even a murderous king.

Q9. Taking off from Forster’s references to Emily Bronte, Sterne and Proust, discuss the treatment of time in some of the novels you have read. Short Answer (30–40 words)

Writers may hide, invert, or distort time, yet a readable thread remains. Even experimental narratives keep enough sequence to be followed; otherwise, meaning breaks down.

LANGUAGE WORK

Q10. ‘Qua story’: what does the word mean? Find other expressions using the word qua. Short Answer (30–40 words)

Qua means “in the capacity of” or “considered as”. Examples: “the judge qua citizen”, “art qua communication”. So “qua story” means “considered purely as story”.

Q11. Study the Note to Aspects of the Novel given at the end. Discuss the features that mark the piece as a talk as distinguished from a critical essay. Short Answer (30–40 words)

First-person address, direct appeals (“you”, “of course”), and conversational rhythm mark it as a talk. The tone is informal and flexible rather than heavily footnoted or strictly methodical.

Q12. Try rewriting the lecture as a formal essay and examine Forster’s statement: ‘…since the novel is itself often colloquial, it may possibly withhold some of its secrets from the graver and grander streams of criticism’. Long Answer (60–70 words)

In formal mode, topic sentences and tighter argument would replace anecdote. Yet Forster’s claim holds: a colloquial subject may disclose best in a colloquial manner. A stiff, “grand” method can miss live features—voice, play, readerly curiosity—that casual talk catches, especially when discussing story, suspense, and time as felt by ordinary readers.

Extract-Based MCQs (5 × 3)

Set 1

“Yes—oh dear yes—the novel tells a story. That is the fundamental aspect without which it could not exist.”

1. What tone does the speaker convey here?
   • Cheerful celebration
   • Reluctant acceptance
   • Angry rejection
   • Detached indifference

   Answer: b) Reluctant acceptance

2. In context, “fundamental” means:
   • Optional
   • Marginal
   • Basic and necessary
   • Decorative

   Answer: c) Basic and necessary

3. The line supports which claim?
   • Style outweighs plot
   • Story can be removed
   • Story is the shared core of novels
   • Novels are lyric poems

   Answer: c) Story is the shared core of novels

Set 2

“It runs like a backbone—or may I say a tape-worm—for its beginning and end are arbitrary.”

1. The comparison to a “tape-worm” suggests story is:
   • Short and self-contained
   • Endless and plain
   • Musical and lyrical
   • Logical and mathematical

   Answer: b) Endless and plain

2. “Arbitrary” in this sentence most nearly means:
   • Carefully chosen
   • Random rather than necessary
   • Historically fixed
   • Morally superior

   Answer: b) Random rather than necessary

3. The effect of the double image (backbone/tape-worm) is to:
   • Glorify plot as noble
   • Dismiss character completely
   • Show both support and drabness
   • Promote scientific realism

   Answer: c) Show both support and drabness

Set 3

“Scheherazade avoided her fate because she knew how to wield the weapon of suspense.”

1. Which device is emphasised here?
   • Satire
   • Suspense
   • Irony
   • Allusion

   Answer: b) Suspense

2. Calling suspense a “weapon” implies it is:
   • Decorative
   • Harmless
   • Powerful and practical
   • Purely theoretical

   Answer: c) Powerful and practical

3. The anecdote shows that story can:
   • Replace truth
   • Guarantee beauty
   • Compel attention for survival
   • Eliminate time

   Answer: c) Compel attention for survival

Set 4

“Daily life is also full of the time sense … yet there seems something else in life besides time, something which may conveniently be called ‘value’.”

1. Here “value” refers to:
   • Money and price
   • Intensity and meaning
   • Political power
   • Scientific proof

   Answer: b) Intensity and meaning

2. The contrast set up is between:
   • Plot and character
   • Form and content
   • Time order and felt worth
   • Author and reader

   Answer: c) Time order and felt worth

3. The phrase “double allegiance” summarises:
   • A conflict the novel must ignore
   • Two loyalties a good novel balances
   • Two styles of punctuation
   • Two historical periods

   Answer: b) Two loyalties a good novel balances

Set 5

“All these devices are legitimate but none of them contravene our thesis: the basis of a novel is a story and a story is a narrative of events in time sequence.”

1. “Devices” refers to the way authors:
   • Avoid character
   • Play with time
   • Use only plot twists
   • Compose poetry

   Answer: b) Play with time

2. The thesis being defended is that:
   • Story is optional
   • Time is unnecessary
   • Story is time-ordered events
   • Only style matters

   Answer: c) Story is time-ordered events

3. Which author is not named in this context?
   • Emily Brontë
   • Laurence Sterne
   • Marcel Proust
   • Virginia Woolf

   Answer: d) Virginia Woolf

Practice MCQs (15 Challenging Questions)

1. Forster calls story “the lowest and simplest of literary organisms” because it:
   • Lacks suspense
   • Has only one basic merit
   • Depends only on character
   • Rejects chronology

   Answer: b) Has only one basic merit

2. Which best paraphrases “qua story”?
   • As entertainment only
   • Considered purely as story
   • Judged by critics
   • Viewed historically

   Answer: b) Considered purely as story

3. The “primitive audience” example mainly serves to:
   • Celebrate violence
   • Show the danger of long sentences
   • Underline the age and force of suspense
   • Reject modern novels

   Answer: c) Underline the age and force of suspense

4. Which pairing matches author and time-play?
   • Bronte—changes the hands repeatedly
   • Sterne—turns the clock upside down
   • Proust—hides the clock entirely
   • All three—abolish time

   Answer: b) Sterne—turns the clock upside down

5. The line “I detest and fear the second” reveals Forster’s view of:
   • Those who ignore story
   • Those who want only story
   • Those who analyse form
   • Those who teach literature

   Answer: b) Those who want only story

6. According to Forster, a story’s single fault is:
   • Being too short
   • Not making us want the next event
   • Lacking characters
   • Using simple language

   Answer: b) Not making us want the next event

7. The metaphor “naked worm of time” suggests that story, when isolated, is:
   • Beautiful but weak
   • Strong and ornate
   • Plain and slightly unpleasant
   • Musical and rhythmic

   Answer: c) Plain and slightly unpleasant

8. “Double allegiance” in a good novel means loyalty to:
   • Author and reader
   • Plot and subplot
   • Time order and value/intensity
   • Past and future

   Answer: c) Time order and value/intensity

9. The function of the Clark Lectures note is to explain:
   • Biographical facts only
   • Why the tone remains conversational
   • The plot of a novel
   • Historical dates of all works

   Answer: b) Why the tone remains conversational

10. In Forster’s view, what keeps a novel intelligible?
    • Symbolism alone
    • The continuous time-thread
    • Frequent digressions
    • Poetic language

    Answer: b) The continuous time-thread

11. The example “I only saw her for five minutes, but it was worth it” illustrates:
    • Chronology defeating value
    • Value outweighing duration
    • Indifference to time and value
    • Scientific timekeeping

    Answer: b) Value outweighing duration

12. Forster’s attitude to pure plot-hunger is best described as:
    • Admiring
    • Fearful and disapproving
    • Neutral
    • Amused acceptance

    Answer: b) Fearful and disapproving

13. Which statement best matches Forster’s thesis?
    • Story is one optional ornament.
    • Story alone equals a masterpiece.
    • Story is essential but not sufficient.
    • Story should be avoided in art.

    Answer: c) Story is essential but not sufficient.

14. The “shock-heads” image mainly contributes to:
    • Humour and historic sweep
    • Scientific precision
    • Legal argument
    • Religious symbolism

    Answer: a) Humour and historic sweep

15. Which best describes the relationship between story and the “finer growths”?
    • Mutual exclusion
    • Support structure and adornments
    • Equal ornaments
    • Unrelated parts

    Answer: b) Support structure and adornments

Extra Questions (Q&A)

1. How do the three voices frame the debate on story?
   They set a spectrum—from vague acceptance to aggressive plot-hunger to reluctant concession—so readers weigh story’s place without ignoring other elements.
2. Why does Forster choose unflattering metaphors for story?
   To keep us realistic about plot: it is necessary, sturdy, and plain; the beauty lies in what grows upon it.
3. What is the lesson of Scheherazade for modern writers?
   Suspense sustains attention. However refined your craft, you must keep readers wanting the next event.
4. How does Forster relate lived time to novel time?
   Life has clock-time and value-time; a good novel honours both while moving intelligibly through sequence.
5. Do time-games threaten coherence?
   They can, but the narrative must still offer a followable order; play without thread leads to confusion.
6. What role does tone play in this chapter?
   The talky, friendly tone mirrors the form of the novel as lived experience rather than dry doctrine.
7. Why call story a “lowest” organism yet “highest factor”?
   It is simple in nature but common to all novels, hence the shared “highest factor”.
8. How might readers test if a plot is working?
   Ask: Do I care what comes next? If not, the story fails at its single essential task.
9. What balance should exam answers strike on this chapter?
   State the core thesis clearly, cite key images (tape-worm, Scheherazade), and show how time/value operate together.
10. How does the “Note” justify informality?
    It argues that a colloquial approach may reveal a novel’s secrets better than stiff, grand criticism.

MCQs - Class 12 - Flamingo - Chapter 1 - The Last Lesson - by Alphonse Daudet

MCQs - "The Last Lesson" by Alphonse Daudet

1. Why was Franz afraid of going to school in the beginning? a) He didn’t finish his homework
   b) He was late
   c) He forgot about an exam
   d) He was sick

2. Which subject was Franz supposed to be tested on that day? a) Geography
   b) History
   c) French grammar
   d) Mathematics

3. What unusual thing did Franz notice on his way to school? a) The streets were crowded with people
   b) There was no sound of students practicing lessons
   c) The school bell was not ringing
   d) Soldiers were patrolling the streets

4. Who was M. Hamel? a) A baker
   b) The village postman
   c) The French teacher
   d) A Prussian soldier

5. What announcement did M. Hamel make at the beginning of the lesson? a) The school was closing down
   b) This was the last French lesson
   c) The exam was postponed
   d) A holiday was declared

6. Why was this the last French lesson? a) M. Hamel was retiring
   b) The school was shifting to another village
   c) German was to be taught instead of French
   d) The students had learned everything

7. What was the atmosphere in the classroom when Franz arrived? a) Chaotic and noisy
   b) Calm and serious
   c) Jubilant and festive
   d) Confused and anxious

8. What was written on the blackboard at the end of the class? a) "Vive la France"
   b) "Farewell"
   c) "Long live Prussia"
   d) "The last lesson"

9. How did the villagers react to the announcement of the last lesson? a) They protested outside the school
   b) Many of them attended the lesson
   c) They refused to send their children to school
   d) They celebrated the change

10. What did Franz realize about the time he had wasted in learning French? a) He was proud of his efforts
    b) He regretted not learning more
    c) He thought he had learned enough
    d) He wanted to quit school

11. What did M. Hamel wear on the day of the last lesson? a) His usual working clothes
    b) A new suit
    c) His special green coat and black silk cap
    d) A military uniform

12. Why did M. Hamel say that everyone, including parents, was to blame for not valuing French lessons? a) They were too busy with work
    b) They sent children to work on farms
    c) They wanted their children to learn German
    d) They believed learning French was unnecessary

13. How did Franz feel when M. Hamel asked him to recite the grammar lesson? a) Confident
    b) Ashamed
    c) Angry
    d) Happy

14. What did M. Hamel say about the French language? a) It was the easiest language to learn
    b) It was a key to unity and freedom
    c) It was outdated and should be replaced
    d) It was unimportant now

15. How did M. Hamel act during the lesson? a) Angry and impatient
    b) Gentle and patient
    c) Excited and loud
    d) Distracted and uninterested

16. What did the old villagers at the back of the classroom represent? a) Nostalgia for the past
    b) Resistance to the Prussians
    c) Their inability to learn French
    d) A silent tribute to M. Hamel

17. How did Franz’s feelings about school change during the lesson? a) He became eager to escape
    b) He realized the importance of learning
    c) He decided to drop out
    d) He became angry with M. Hamel

18. What did M. Hamel write on the board at the end of the class? a) The final grammar lesson
    b) His farewell message
    c) "Vive la France"
    d) The names of the students

19. Why did the Prussian government order that only German should be taught in schools? a) To promote cultural unity
    b) To suppress the French identity
    c) To simplify communication
    d) To improve education

20. What lesson did Franz learn by the end of the story? a) Learning is a lifelong process
    b) French grammar is easy
    c) School doesn’t matter
    d) He didn’t want to learn any more

21. What did Franz think of M. Hamel during the lesson? a) He hated him
    b) He felt sorry for him
    c) He thought M. Hamel was too harsh
    d) He found him boring

22. What did the phrase ‘Vive la France’ symbolize in the story? a) The importance of education
    b) Resistance to oppression
    c) Hatred for Prussians
    d) Celebration of school

23. What was the significance of the church bell in the story? a) It marked the end of the lesson
    b) It was a reminder of the approaching end of French rule
    c) It rang in celebration of the Prussian victory
    d) It had no special significance

24. Why did Franz find it difficult to pay attention to the lesson? a) He didn’t understand the grammar
    b) He was distracted by the noise outside
    c) He was overcome by emotions of regret and sadness
    d) He was tired and sleepy

25. How did the story of "The Last Lesson" end? a) The students cheered for M. Hamel
    b) Franz ran out of the school crying
    c) M. Hamel dismissed the class quietly and wrote ‘Vive la France’ on the board
    d) The Prussian soldiers stormed the school

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Answer Key:

1. a) He didn’t finish his homework
2. c) French grammar
3. b) There was no sound of students practicing lessons
4. c) The French teacher
5. b) This was the last French lesson
6. c) German was to be taught instead of French
7. b) Calm and serious
8. a) "Vive la France"
9. b) Many of them attended the lesson
10. b) He regretted not learning more
11. c) His special green coat and black silk cap
12. b) They sent children to work on farms
13. b) Ashamed
14. b) It was a key to unity and freedom
15. b) Gentle and patient
16. a) Nostalgia for the past
17. b) He realized the importance of learning
18. c) "Vive la France"
19. b) To suppress the French identity
20. a) Learning is a lifelong process
21. b) He felt sorry for him
22. b) Resistance to oppression
23. b) It was a reminder of the approaching end of French rule
24. c) He was overcome by emotions of regret and sadness
25. c) M. Hamel dismissed the class quietly and wrote ‘Vive la France’ on the board

Extract Based MCQs

I. Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow:

"M. Hamel mounted his chair, and in the same grave and gentle tone which he had used to me, said, 'My children, this is the last lesson I shall give you.'"

1. Who is M. Hamel?

   (A) A soldier

   (B) A student

   (C) A teacher

   (D) A mayor

2. What tone did M. Hamel use while speaking?

   (A) Harsh

   (B) Gentle

   (C) Angry

   (D) Indifferent

3. Why was this the last lesson?

   (A) M. Hamel was retiring

   (B) The order from Berlin

   (C) The school was closing

   (D) It was a holiday

4. What did M. Hamel's demeanour signify?

   (A) His indifference

   (B) His sadness

   (C) His joy

   (D) His anger

 Answer key :-

1. (C)

2. (B)

3. (B)

4. (B)

II. ...I had counted on the commotion to get to my desk without being seen; but, of course, that day everything had to be as quiet as Sunday morning...

1. Who is the 'I' in the above lines?

   (A) M. Hamel

   (B) Franz

   (C) The village elder

   (D) The Prussian soldier

2. What was the 'commotion' about?

   (A) A festival in the village

   (B) The order from Berlin

   (C) M. Hamel's farewell

   (D) A parade

3. What does the comparison to 'Sunday morning' imply?

   (A) It was noisy

   (B) It was silent

   (C) It was chaotic

   (D) It was festive

4. How did the narrator feel about being late?

   (A) Unconcerned

   (B) Relieved

   (C) Anxious

   (D) Indifferent

Answer key:-

1. (B)

2. (B)

3. (B)

4. (C)

III. ...he had the courage to hear every lesson to the very last. After the grammar, we had a lesson in writing...

1. Who is 'he' in the above lines?

   (A) Franz

   (B) M. Hamel

   (C) The Prussian soldier

   (D) The village elder

2. What lesson did they have after grammar?

   (A) History

   (B) Geography

   (C) Writing

   (D) Arithmetic

3. What does 'the courage to hear every lesson' suggest about M. Hamel?

   (A) He was strict

   (B) He was dedicated

   (C) He was indifferent

   (D) He was fearful

4. How did the students feel during the last lesson?

   (A) Happy

   (B) Indifferent

   (C) Emotional

   (D) Excited

Answer key:-

1. (B)

2. (C)

3. (B)

4. (C)