ICSE NOTES - A website for class 9th and 10th student of Icse

Context Questions

Ans. The village referred to here is Kritam. It is a small village, situated away from highway. It is located in Tamil Nadu, and appears only as a microscopic dot on the district survey map.

2. What do you understand by Tamil word "coronet" and what is referred to here as "coronet"?

Ans.Coronet in Tamil means "crown". The village Kritam is referred to here as "coronet". Kritam is a small village, situated away from highway. It is located in Tamil Nadu, and appears only as a microscopic dot on the district survey map.

Ans. The Big House was one of the thirty houses in Kritam. It was the only house built with brick and cement. It was painted in bright yellow and blue colour. There were carvings of Gods and gargoyles on its railings.

Ans. The other houses were distributed in four streets. It was generally made up of bamboo thatch, straw, mud and other and specified material.

Ans. The village consisted of less than thirty houses. The Big House was one of the thirty houses in Kritam. It was the only house built with brick and cement. It was painted in a bright yellow and blue colour. There were carvings of Gods and gargoyles on its railing. The other houses were distributed in four streets. It was generally made up of bamboo thatch, straw, mud and other and unspecified material.

Passage 2

Ans. Muni had owned a flock of forty sheep and goats' this sentence tells us that Muni had seen good days since forty sheep and goats were enough to call a man rich in those days.

Ans. Every morning morning took forth his flock of sheep and goats to the highway for grazing. He sat on the pedestal of a clay statue of a horse while his cattle grazed around.

3. What did Muni do on his way?

Ans. He carried a crook tied at the end of a bamboo pole and snapped foliage from the avenue trees, to feed his flock. He also gathered faggots and dry stick, bundled them, and carry them home for fuel.

Ans. Muni returned home with his flock of ship at sunset carrying gathered faggots dry stick for firewood.

Passage 3

Ans. Muni refer to the shopkeeper as 'that scoundrel'. Muni has visited the shopkeeper to buy some ingredients. The shopkeeper refused to give him the required material on credit. The argument with the shopkeeper leaves him fatigued.

Ans. Muni has visited the shopkeeper to buy some ingredients. The shopkeeper refused to give him the required material on credit. Muni tried coaxing the shopkeeper in various ways to give him the items on credit, but it broke out into an argument. The argument with the shopkeeper left him fatigued.

3. Why does Muni tell his wife to sell the drumstiks?

Ans. The shopkeeper refuses to give him the required groceries on credits. The argument with the shopkeeper left him fatigued. Muni and his wife have nothing left in the kitchen to make the sauce. So he tells his wife to sell the drumsticks.

4. Why is Muni's wife upset with Muni?

Ans. Muni's wife was annoyed with him because Muni wanted to have the drumsticks cooked in a sauce. Muni's wife could not cook them for her husband as she did not have the required ingredients for the sauce and the money in the house did not suffice for his wife to make the sauce.

5. Why did Muni feel that he should not irritate his wife further?

Ans. Muni's wife was annoyed with him because Muni wanted to have the drumsticks cooked in a sauce. Muni's wife could not cook them for her husband as she did not have the required ingredients for the sauce. The money in the house too did not suffice for his wife to make the sauce. He however knew that if he obeyed her order, she would some how conjure up some food for him in the evening.

About The Author

R.K. Narayan was born in a working class South Indian family in Chennai 1906. Since his father, was a school headmaster, used to be frequently transferred from one place to another, R.K. Narayan spent most of his childhood under the loving care of his grandmother, Parvati. It was his grandmother who taught him arithmetic, mythology and Sanskrit. He also attended many different school in Chennai like Lutheran Mission School, Christian College High School, etc. He was interested in English literature since he was very young. His reading habit further developed when he moved to Mysore with his family and there his father's school library offered him gems of writing from others like Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Wodehouse, etc.

After getting married in 1933, Narayan become a reporter for a newspaper called 'The Justice' and in the meantime, he sent the manuscript of 'Swami and Friends' to his friend at Oxford who in turn showed it to Graham Greene. Green Card the book published. His second novel 'The Bachelor of Arts' was published in 1937. It was based on his experiences at college. This book was again published by Graham Greene who by now started counselling Narayan on how to write and what to write about to target the English speaking audience. In 1938, Narayan Road his third novel called 'The Dark Room' which dealt with the subject of emotional abuse within a marriage and it was warmly received, both by readers and critics. During the 1980s Narayan wrote prolifically. He is best known for his novels such as 'Mr Sampath (1949)', 'The Financial Expert (1952)', 'The Guide (1958)', for which he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1961, and 'The Man-eater of Malgudi (1961)', and the stories, 'Malgudi Days' (1982).

The story 'A Horse and Two Goats' deals with the misunderstanding that takes place between an Indian named Muni and an American businessman. Muni, an old man, lives with his wife in poverty. The couple lives in a small south Indian village. Muni, an old man, lives with his wife in poverty. Muni has taken his goats to the usual spot which is few miles away. He is sitting around a statue of a horse made of weather- beaten clay. As Muni watches the trucks and buses, a yellow station wagon comes and stop there. A red-faced American man dressed in khaki clothing comes out and Muni about the nearest gas station in English.

Ans. The six humans were trapped together by sheer chance. It was extremely cold and so to warm themselves, they were sitting around a fire. Due to the cold outside and the lack of logs of wood to burn, the fire was beginning to die. Each of them possessed a stick of wood that could help the fire keep burning and provide them with heat. If the fire had to die down, the cold was biting enough to kill them.

Ans. Each of the humans possessed a stick of wood that could keep the fire from getting extinguished. The night was cold and bitter and therefore the sticks of woods carried by each person held a lot of significance. The symbolic meaning of these sticks of wood represents the grudges and prejudices that each one carried within himself. The stick here was the chance that the six humans had at letting the fire burn and keep one another alive through their personal sacrifices.

Ans. The poem 'The Cold Within' is a parable, that is, a story with a moral. It is a didactic poem. There are six humans sitting around a dying fire, each carrying a stick of wood. The weather outside is extremely cold and harsh due to which the fire is dying out. The narrator is assumed to be the poet who narrates the incident.

Ans. No, the humans did not give away there sticks to help keep the fire burning in order to keep themselves warm. Each of them had ill feelings towards the other. Each of them was filled with prejudice, jealousy, racial discrimination and in humanity towards the other. They did not want to save the other person from dying and therefore selfishly did not give up on their sticks. As a result of their selfishness of holding on to their logs of wood, they all died due to the biting unbearable cold.

Ans. Happenstance, in general, refers to a chance or a coincidence. There are six people sitting around a fire each of them carrying a stick of wood. The poet here uses the word 'human' and not 'people' so that the readers could understand that they were all human beings at the start of the incidence.

Ans. The term dying fire refers to the fire that is on the verge of getting extinguished. The weather outside is extremely cold and harsh and because of that and the lack of logs of wood, the fire is dying out. The poet in this context refers to six men who happened to be sitting around this dying fire.

Ans. Among the six men sitting around the fire, the first man noticed a black (non white) person sitting across. During those days, racial discrimination was at its peak (discrimination on the basis of colour and race) between the white and the non white people. As a result of the inherent racial prejudice against the black man, the white man refrained from throwing in his log of wood into the burning fire.

Ans. The White man on seeing a black person sitting across him got a feeling full of hatred towards him. His heart was full of racial prejudice. Thus on, seeing the black sitting across him he did not put his stick in the fire since he thought that his stick would help a black person survive too, which the white man did not want.

Ans. During those times, racial discrimination was at its peak. The white people would ill treat the black person, and in turn the blacks would hates whites. This discrimination was purely based on colour. Due to this discrimination, the white man sitting around the fire did not save the black man, and thereby refrained from throwing his stick into the fire.

Extract III

Ans. The six humans happened to be sitting with a stick of wood each, trapped around the fire. The weather was very cold and bitter. The cold was harsh and made everyone shiver. The fire too was burning out and was dying due to the bitter cold and want of fire wood. Thus six men were trapped in a very uncomfortable and a hostile environment.

Ans. Since the weather was very harsh and cold, it made it difficult for the fire to keep burning. The fire which was providing them with heat was dying out. The only way through which the six men could survive was if the fire could be kept burning with the help of the logs the six people had with them. If everyone willingly and selflessly gave their sticks of wood, the sticks would continue to burn and all six of them would be able to survive.

Ans. The second man looked across to see a man who did not belong to his own religion. He suffered from intolerance and could not accept another person's religion, beliefs and ideals. On seeing this man with a different religion the second man held his stick of wood back and did not throw it in fire to help keep the fire burning.

4. Do you feel the man suffered from "cold within"? Explain.

Ans. Yes, the man suffered from the cold within. He could not accept anyone else's religion, thoughts and beliefs if it differed from his. He was against the religion of others.He did not want to save the man belonging to another religion and therefore refrained from giving away his stick of wood. The discrimination against the religion and intolerance towards other people represented the cold within the man.

Ans. The man, due to his intolerance, held his stick back. He did not help keep the fire which was necessary for their survival. Since everyone had malice, greed and lacked humanity for the other person the fire got extinguished. This lead to the death of all the six humans, not because of the outside cold but due to the cold they had within their hearts. Their hearts were not filled with the warmth of love for the other person.

Extract IV

Ans. The two humans mentioned in the above extract are a poor man in tattered clothes and a rich man sitting idly opposite him. They both were a part of a group of six humans sitting around a fire warming themselves.

2. Explain : "he gave his coat a hitch"?

Ans. This refers to the poor man in tattered and worn out clothes who tightened his coat. The symbolic meaning is that it is a sign of meanness that is shown by the poor man when he decides not to save the rich man that he sees sitting across. In state of jealousy, and having an attitude of envy towards the rich, he decided to hold his stick back and not save the rich man.

3. Why does the third man hold his stick back?

Ans. The third man is a poor man wearing tattered clothes. He sees a rich man sitting among the group of six people. Being filled with envy and jealousy, he decides to let the rich man die out of cold. He thinks that the rich just survive on the poor man's labour and therefore has a feeling of hatred towards the rich. Having this feeling of jealousy and spite, he holds his stick back and makes the rich experiences severe cold.

4. Explain "To warm the idle rich".

5. Were the six humans aware of the consequences they were getting into?

Ans. There are six humans sitting around a dying fire, each carrying a stick of wood. The weather outside is extremely cold and harsh due to which the fire is dying out. In such circumstances, it is natural for any human being to have the rationale and the sensibility that they need to keep themselves warm, otherwise they would fall prey to the biting cold outside. The six people who sat around the fire also knew the consequences of their actions, but due to jealousy, spite, anger, a feeling of envy, racial prejudice, hatred inhumanity and selfishness did not throw in their respective pieces of wood, thereby letting the fire extinguished. They show us by their actions that the cold within is much more fatal than the biting cold outside.

Extract V

Question and Answers...

1. What was the rich man thinking all the while?