ENGLISH PAPER II

Reading and Literature

Three hours and a quarter

(The first fifteen minutes of the examination are for reading the paper only.
Candidates must NOT start writing during this time.)

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Instructions:

1. This paper has four sections, Section A for Short Stories, Section B for Essay, Section C for Poetry and Section D
for Drama.
2. In each section, there are two sets of questions: Set I and Set II. Set I comprises of Question nos. 1a and 1b and Set
II corresponds to Question no.2 across all sections.
3. You are required to answer four sets of questions in all, one set from each section. Your choice must include one
Set II question (question no.2) from any section.
4. The choices offered are between the sets and not among the questions within the sets.
5. The intended marks for each question is given in brackets.
6. You are reminded to mention the section, question set number and question numbers before writing your response.
7. You should begin each answer on a fresh page.
8. No marks will be awarded for any extra questions attempted.

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Section A: Short Stories

Direction: From the two sets of questions under this genre, choose one set and write your responses in your answer
sheet. Answer the questions in this section with reference to the story ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dhal.

Set I

Question 1a. [1x5]

Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the
given question and write it in your answer sheet.

i) It may be said that Mary has a(n)…………………personality.

A. obsessive
B. pushy
C. weak
D. solid

ii) What news does Patrick share with his wife?

A. He wants to move to another city
B. He is leaving her
C. He got a promotion
D. His mother is coming to live with them

iii) The irony in this story is that

A. Patrick isn't really dead
B. the police eat the murder weapon
C. Mary is lying about being pregnant
D. the police hide the murder weapon

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 iv) After killing her husband Mary Maloney establishes an alibi by
A. inviting the police officers for the dinner
B. making an intelligent conversation with Sam
C. drinking whisky to control her emotions
D. expressing grief

v) The police believe that the murder weapon was

A. a leg of lamb
B. a gun
C. a metal object
D. a knife

Question1b. [20]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them briefly.

i) What sort of household do we imagine the Maloney home to be? How does the author evoke a
homely atmosphere and why is the sense of domestic peace recalled at the end of the tale? [5]

ii) Before the husband breaks the news, what three clues indicate that this particular evening is going
to break with the routine? [5]

iii) At what point in the story does the rising action take place? Elucidate. [5]

iv) Do you think Mary Maloney is a “normal” person? Did she react in a normal way? Why? Why
not? [5]

Set II

Question 2. [25]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them accordingly.

i) What is the significance of irony, foreshadowing, and black humour in "Lamb to the Slaughter"?
[10]
ii) Mrs. Maloney commits what her lawyer might call “a crime of passion”. Does that justify her
crime and what would your verdict be if you were a jury member at her trial? [15]

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 Section B: Essay

Direction: Read the essay given below carefully. From the two sets of questions on this text, choose one set and write
your responses in your answer sheet.

I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being was stricken blind and deaf for a few days
at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence
would teach him the joys of sound.

Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I asked a friend, who
had just returned from a long walk in the woods, what she had observed. “Nothing in particular,” she
replied.

How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of
note? I, who cannot see, find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate
symmetry1 of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough,
shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of
awakening Nature after her winter‟s sleep. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on
a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.

At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere
touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. And I have imagined what I should most like to
see if I were given the use of my eyes, say, for just three days......

I should divide the period into three parts. On the first day, I should want to see the people whose
kindness and gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. First I should like to gaze
long upon the face of my dear teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy. She came to me when I was a child. She
opened the outer world to me. I should want to see the outline of her face, so that I could cherish it in my
memory. I want to study the face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic tenderness and
patience with which she accomplished the difficult task of my education. I should like to see in her eyes
that strength of character which has enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties. I should also want
to see that compassion for all humanity which she has revealed to me often.

Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for three days!

The first day would be a busy one. I should call to me all my dear friends and look long into their faces,
imprinting upon my mind the outward evidence of the beauty that is within them. I should let my eyes
rest too, on the face of a baby, so that I could catch a vision of the eager, innocent beauty which precedes
the individual‟s consciousness of the conflicts which life develops.

And I should like to look into the loyal, trusting eyes of my dogs --- the grave, canny little Scottie, Darkie,
and the stalwart, understanding Great Dane, Helga, whose warm, tender and playful friendships are so
comforting to me.

On that busy first day I should also view the small simple things of my home. I want to see the warm
colours in the rugs under my feet, the pictures on the walls, the intimate trifles that transform a house
into a home. My eyes would rest respectfully on the books in raised type which I have read, but they
would be more eagerly interested in the printed books which seeing people can read.

In the afternoon of that first seeing day, I should like a long walk in the woods and intoxicate my eyes on
the beauties of the world of Nature, try desperately to absorb in a few hours the vast splendour which is
constantly unfolding itself to those who can see. On the way from my woodland jaunt my path would lie
near a farm so that I might see the patient horses ploughing the field (perhaps I should see only a tractor!)
and the serene content of men living close to the soil. And I should pray for the glory of a colourful
sunset....
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The next day --- the second day of sight --- I should arise with the dawn and see the thrilling miracle by
which night is transformed into day. I should behold with awe the magnificent panorama of light with
which the sun awakens the sleeping earth.

This day I should devote to a hasty glimpse of the world, past and present. I should want to see the
pageant of man‟s progress, the kaleidoscope of the ages. How can so much be compressed into one day?

So on this, my second day of sight; I should try to probe into the soul of man through his art. The things I
knew through touch I should now see. Oh, there is so much rich meaning and beauty in the art of the ages
for you who have eyes to see! ....

The evening of my second day of sight I should spend at a theatre or at the movies. Even now I often
attend theatrical performances of all sorts, but the action of the play must be spelled into my hands by a
companion. But how I should like to see with my own eyes the fascinating figure of Hamlet, or the gusty
Falstaff amid colourful Elizabethan trappings! ....

The following morning, I should again greet the dawn anxious to discover new delights, for I am sure
that, for those who have eyes which really see, the dawn of each day must be a perpetually new revelation
of beauty.

This, according to the terms of my imagined miracle, is to be my third and last day of sight. Today I shall
spend in the workaday world of the present, amid haunts of men going about the business of life. And
where can one find so many activities and conditions of men as in New York? So the city becomes my
destination.

I look ahead, and before me rise the fantastic towers of New York, a city that seems to have stepped from
the pages of a fairy story. What an awe-inspiring sight, these glittering spires, these vast banks of stone
and steel-structures such as the gods might build for themselves....

Now I begin my rounds of the city. First, I stand at a busy corner, merely looking at people, trying by sight
of them to understand something of their lives. I see smiles, and I am happy. I see serious determination,
and I am proud. I see suffering, and I am compassionate....

My third day of sight is drawing to an end. Perhaps there are many serious pursuits to which I should
devote the few remaining hours but I am afraid on the evening of that last day I should again run away to
the theatre, to a hilariously funny play, so that I might appreciate the overtures of comedy in the human
spirit.At midnight my temporary respite from blindness would cease, and permanent night would close in
on me again. Naturally in those three days I should not have seen all I wanted to see. Only when darkness
had again descended upon me should I realize how much I had left unseen....

I who am blind can give one hint to those who see --- one admonition to those who would make full use of
the gift of sight; use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be
applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra
as if you would he stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your
tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you
could never smell and taste again. Make the most of every sense; glory in all the facets of pleasure and
beauty which the world reveals to you through the several means of contact which Nature provides. But
of all the senses, I am sure that sight must be the most delightful.

Three Days to See

-Helen Keller

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 Set I

Question 1a. [1x5]

Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the
given question and write it in your answer sheet.

i) Helen Keller was eager to see the face of a baby because she wanted
A. to see only babies
B. to catch its eager innocent beauty
C. to see no grown-ups at all
D. to understand and feel the baby

ii) When she places her hand on a small tree, Helen feels
A. the wind swaying the tree.
B. the smoothness of its bark.
C. the quiver of a bird in full son
D. the bark is very hard

iii) „Seeing people‟ here means

A. those who can see others
B. those who are seen by others
C. those who are blessed with eyesight
D. those who cannot see others

iv) Helen Keller plans to visit the theatre because

A. she would like to spend some time at the theatre
B. her friends were there
C. she wanted to watch a comedy
D. she was bored

v) Helen would want us to

A. ignore our senses totally
B. make the best use of our senses
C. use our senses sparingly
D. enjoy the beauty of nature

Question1b. [20]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them briefly.

i) „Nothing in particular‟, a seeing person remarked after a long walk in the woods. What does it
imply? [5]

ii) What would Helen Keller like to do on the second day of the restoration of her eyesight? [5]

iii) How do you know that Helen was aware of the beauties of nature? [5]

iv) What are Helen Keller‟s words of advice to those who have their sense faculties at their best? [5]

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 Set II
Question 2. [25]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them accordingly.

i) Why does Helen conclude that of all the senses sight is the most delightful? Do you agree with
her? Defend your answer. [10]

ii) Write in your own words the dreams cherished by Helen Keller for the three days when she
would be blessed with eyesight. [15]

Section C: Poetry

Direction: Read the poem given below carefully. From the two sets of questions on this poem, choose one set and
write your responses in your answer sheet.
The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the field,

Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt

More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--

Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang

As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
-William Wordsworth
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 Set I
Question 1a. [1x5]

Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the
given question and write it in your answer sheet.

i) The poem is the best example of a(n)

A. Elegy
B. Monologue
C. Lyric
D. Sonnet

ii) The Rhyme scheme of the poem is

A. ababccdd
B. ababccdd
C. aabbccdd
D. abacddee

iii) The solitary reaper was

A. sowing seeds
B. watering the plants
C. reaping the harvest
D. pulling out the weeds

iv) The singing of the solitary reaper is compared to the

A. nightingale and robin
B. cuckoo and peacock
C. nightingale and cuckoo
D. cuckoo and owl

v) How will the speaker of "The Solitary Reaper" remember the young girl?
A. he will carry her song in his heart
B. he forgets her the second he leaves her
C. the two will correspond through letters
D. he will keep a small painting of her with him

Question1b. [20]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them briefly.

i) Where did the poet meet the solitary reaper? What were the poet's first thoughts when he saw the
solitary reaper? [5]

ii) Why did the poet compare the song of the solitary reaper with those of the nightingale and the
cuckoo - bird? What did he think of the maiden's song? [5]

iii) Identify the theme (central idea) of the poem. How does the theme convey the poem‟s message?
[5]
iv) What different images of country life do you get in the poem? What mood do the images create?
[5]

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 Set II

Question 2. [25]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them accordingly.

i) “The music in my heart I bore”. Can you say this is a poem of recollected memory? Explain with
specific clues from the poem? [10]

ii) Do you have a memory of a time, place or event that makes you happy when other things in your life
aren't going well? Describe it, and then compare your experience of memory with Wordsworth's. [15]

Section D: Drama

Direction: From the two sets of questions under this genre, choose one set and write your responses in your answer
sheet.

Set I
Question 1a. [1x5]

Direction: Each question below is followed by four responses. Choose the correct answer or response that best fits the
given question and write it in your answer sheet.

i) Madam Bessarabo is a lady fond of

A. complaining
B. boasting and flattering
C. gossiping
D. finding faults

ii) Author‟s friend Gustave is a

A. photographer
B. script writer
C. journalist
D. housing inspector

iii) The reason why the housing inspector came to the Author‟s house was
A. he wanted to conduct an interview
B. he received a complaint for insufficient occupation of the premises
C. he wanted to occupy author‟s house
D. he wanted to settle a score

iv) “Our two cultures are so closely linked” Which two cultures are closely linked here?
A. Roman and Italian
B. Roman and French
C. Rumanian and Italian
D. Rumanian and French

v) “The woman with the Boas”, is a story about

A. an ex-convict
B. a counterspy
C. a madly beautiful woman
D. a divorced wife

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Question1b. [20]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them briefly.

i) Where does the play open? How are the author and Ardele dressed? What are they doing? Why?
[5]
ii) Briefly rewrite any two satirical situations that you come across in the play. [5]
iii) Imagine yourself to be Madame Bessarabo. Write a report on what you have seen and heard at the
author‟s house. [5]

iv) „Most of the characters in the play seem to depend upon the author to rescue themselves from the
chaos of their lives.‟ Bring out the truth of the statement with reference to any two characters. [5]

Set II
Question 2. [25]

Directions: Read the following questions carefully. Copy the number of the questions onto your answer sheets and
answer them accordingly.

i) Compare the Ardele‟s personality with a person you know closely. You should include at least
five examples from the play that illustrates the character traits you have described. [10]

ii) With close reference to the play “Episode in the life of an author” how can you prove that this
drama is a farce which belongs to the category of The Theatre of the Absurd? [15]

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