NOTES COMPILED BY
ASHAQ HUSSAIN BHAT
TEACHER SCHOOL
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
JAMMU AND KASHMIR
Dusk
By Saki
Q1 What was the atmosphere at Hyde Park ?
Ans.01:- It was around thirty minutes past six an early March evening. The dusk had fallen over the scene. There was a wide emptiness over road and side walk and yet there were many figures moving silently through the half light which could not be distinguished from the shadowed gloom in which they sat.
Q2 Do the atmosphere and mood at the Park justify the title of the story ?
Ans02:- The atmosphere and mood is apt to justify the title of the story as the scene pleased Gortsby and Harmonized with his present mood. Dusk to him was an hour defeated who came forth in this hour of glooming when their shabby clothes, bowed shoulders and unhappy eyes might pass unnoticed.
Q3 Draw a profile of the person who first sat near Gortsby on the bench.
Ans:- It was an elderly gentleman who seemed to have lost interest in life. He looked defeated but refused to admit it. His clothes could scarcely be called shabby and he belonged unmistakably to the forlorn orchestra to whose piping no one dances.
Q4 What, according to Gortsby, was the weak point of the young man’s story ?
Ans:- The weak point in the story was his inability to produce the Cake of soap.
Q5 While walking back to his seat in the park, what did Gortsby see ?
Ans:- He saw lying on the ground by the side of the bench a small oval pocket wrapped and sealed. It was nothing but the cake of soap which he thought had fallen out of young mans over coat pocket when he flung down the seat.
Q6 How did Norman Gortsby feel when he realized he had been fooled?
Ans:- He felt that it is better not to be too clever in judging by the circumstances.
Q7 What did Gortsby imagine about the people who visited the Hyde Park ?
Ans:- He imagined that the people who had fought and lost hide the fallen fortunes and dead hopes as far as possible from the scrutiny of the curious who came forth s in this hours of glomming when their shabby clothes and bowed shoulders and unhappy eyes might pass unnoticed or unrecognized.
Q8 What is irony? Bring out the elements of irony in the story.
Ans:-Irony is a word or phrase that says one thing but means another. It occurs when a word or a phrase has one suffice and a deeper contradictory meaning under the surface. In the story “Dusk” Saki has used the elements of irony at many places like when the young man speaks eloquently “I suppose you think I have spun you rather an impossible yarn” later on the same impossible yarn became possible and when the young man remarks with a curse you wouldn’t be in a good temper if you were in the fix instead of the young man. More over at the end Gortsby said, “It is a lesson to me not to be too clever in judging by the circumstances” and ultimately he falls prey to his own statement
Q9 What is Juxtaposition? Has Saki been able to juxtapose humor and pathos in ‘Dusk’
Ans:- Juxtaposition is a device wherein two or more events or devices are combined in such a way that it becomes easy for the readers to contrast and compare them. The author in the story ‘Dusk” has Juxtaposed humor and pathos quite skillfully for instances the leaving of the elderly gentlemen who seemed to be fed up with life and coming in of the young man with cheerful man in a good dress. Again the sentence “it is lesson to me not to be too clever in judging by circumstances bring pathos and humor.
Language Work:
Use the following in sentences of your own
01:- youthful figure – she is a youthful.
02:- Shabbily dressed – she was shabbily dressed.
03:- Decent chap – he had a decent chap.
04:- pale moon light- He was searching for the coin in the pale moon light.
05:- stroll about – The women figure strolled about in the street.
06:- wandering about – He has been wandering about for a long time
Q Do you approve of the behaviour and approach of Gortsby in the story. Explain
Ans :The behaviour and approach of Gortsby in the story is quite appreciable as he proves himself a man of heart having sympathies for those whose hopes are dead and whose fortunes have fallen. He judged the human character intelligently. He at once picks the weak point in the young man’s story and thus saves himself being cheated. No doubt he gets fooled at the end of the story . But the way he gets fooled only shows the goodness of his heart. It is none of his faults that he is fooled. We can only say that he falls a victim to the irony of the events.
***********************************************
0 Comments