Question 1.
Look at the picture of the old man given below :
Working with your partner, note down
the feelings of the old man.
Answer:
The old man seems to wait passionately for someone near to his heart.
- His eyes are untiringly looking for somebody.
- He is looking ad and lonely.
- He was looking worried about the well-being of the person he is waiting for.
- His positive reflects his helplessness as well as grief buried deep in his heart
Question 2.
Can you think of reasons for
these feelings? Discuss with your partner and note down possible reasons.
Answer:
There can be many reasons
behind this gloomy aspect:
- Pain of separation from family.
- Realisation of past mistakes.
- Grief over losing someone dear.
- Loveliness and lack of sympathy.
- Rash and careless attitude resulting in seclusion.
Question 3.
Answer the following
questions by ticking the correct options :
(a) Ali’s walking to the Post Office daily even in biting cold weather shows
his
(i) courage
(ii) optimism
(iii) foolishness
(iv) strength of will
Answer:
(ii) optimism
(b) The Post Office is referred to as Ali’s “place of pilgrimage” as he
(i) visited it daily
(ii) came there to
pray for a letter from his daughter
(iii)
went there with faith and hope
(iv)
believed God would bless him if he went there
Answer:
(iii) went there with faith and
hope
(c) The Post Master’s rudeness to Ali reveals his
(i) lack of empathy
(ii) preoccupation
with his work
(iii) preconceived
notions
(iv) sensitivity
Answer:
(iii) preconceived notions
(d) Ali did not come to the Post Office for several days as
(i) he had given up hope
(ii) he was
upset by the Post Master’s rebuke
(iii)
he was unwell and not able to walk to the Post Office
(iv) he was busy hunting
Answer:
(iii) he was unwell and not able to walk to the Post Office
(e) “Tortured by doubt and remorse, he sat down in the glow of the charcoal
sigri to wait. ” The Post Master was waiting for
(i) a letter from Miriam
(ii) a letter
from his own daughter
(iii) a letter from
Ali
(iv) Ali to deliver Miriam’s letter
to him.
Answer:
(iv) Ali to deliver Miriam’s letter to him.
Question 4.
Answer the following
questions briefly:
(a) Who was Ali ?
Where did he go daily?
Answer:
Ali was an old coachman. He went to the Post Office daily with a hope to get
the letter of his daughter Miriam who went away from her father after her
marriage.
(b) “Ali displays qualities of love and patience.” Give evidence from the
story to support the statement.
Answer:
Undoubtedly, Ali displays
wonderful qualities of love and patience. The title of the story itself speaks
volumes of his boundless love for his daughter Miriam and his great patience
which he shows for obtaining her letter. As the day dawns, he takes his way to
the Post Office and sits on the bench in the corner and waits for hours
together for the dark to call out his name for getting the letter of his
daughter. It has been his daily routine. That fateful day has never appeared
when he can receive a letter from Miriam. But this situational truth has
neither diminished his love for his daughter nor his patience which he shows
in waiting for the letter.
(c) How do you know Ali was a familiar figure at the post office?
Answer:
Ali was familiar figure at the
Post Office as all the staff members of the Post Office knew him by face
because he came daily to the Post Office. Everybody right from the postmaster
to the peon knew and recognized Ali by face. Usually they made fun of him
while talking about his abnormal behaviour. They even called him a madman who
came daily to the Post Office though he never got a letter.
(d) Why did Ali give up hunting?
Answer:
Ali gave up his passion for
hunting simply because he grew old and weak physically in his later days.
Though he lost his youthful stamina and energy, yet the instincts of hunting
were still present in him. Truthfully, the main and the most important reason
for his leaving hunting was his separation from his daughter after her
marriage. His loneliness made him realise that real pleasure lies in lovihg
dear ones and living with them. Therefore, he stopped killing birds and
animals because it causes separation.
(e) What impression do you form of the postmaster after reading the story,
‘The Letter’?
Answer:
As a coin has two sides, the postmaster also appears to have two aspects of
his character. In the first half of the story, he seems very hard-hearted and
unsympathetic. Even the writers comparison of his face with dull pumpkin
reveals the insensitivity of his character but as the story proceeds further
and he is put in the same tight corner in which poor old Ali is already
husding, a sudden change appears in him. When he gets no information from his
ill daughter, he gets maddened with grief and he realizes old All’s agony and
craziness to come daily to the Post Office to get his daughters letter. Now
his fatherly sentiments rise up to understand the love-lorn soul of Ali.
His attitude becomes very sympathetic and kind to Ali.
(f) The postmaster says to Ali, “What a pest you are, brother !” Do you agree
with the statement ? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer:
To the postmaster, All appears
to be a pest. It is, perhaps, because he comes daily to the Post Office with a
hope to get a letter of his daughter. Just as a pest is a constant source of
disturbance and torture to human beings in the same way, daily presence of Ali
weighs quite heavy on the minds of the postmaster and his subordinates.
Otherwise old Ali is neither very aggressive in his actions nor very malignant
in his behaviour that he should be called a pest. Later on the hearts of all
of them melt in to pity for Ali.
(g) “Ali came out very slowly, turning after every few steps to gaze at the
post office. His eyes were filled with tears of helplessness, for his patience
was exhausted, even though he still had faith.” Why were Ali’s eyes filled
with tears of helplessness ? What had exhausted his patience but not his
faith?
Answer:
Ali was not keeping well for many days. His constant sickness deprived him
of all his physical strength and stamina. He was also losing hold on his
patience on account of his physical ailment and weakness. He knew that it was
impossible for him now to make a daily visit to Post Office for getting the
letter of his daughter. He also realized that his days were numbered,
therefore his eyes were filled with tears. Though his physical infirmities and
the shadow of approaching death exhausted his patience, yet they could not
crush down his spirits and firm faith that one day his daughters letter would
certainly come to him. His faith won because a letter came for him in the end.
(h) “Tortured by doubt and remorse, he sat down in the glow of the charcoal
sigri to wait.” Who is tortured by doubt and remorse? Why? What is he waiting
for?
Answer:
The heart of the postmaster was almost laden with deep grief and agony. An
element of doubt, whether in the early hours of the morning, he saw old Ali or
his ghost, also crept up in his mind. He was swaying in s&ite of great
confusion mentally and he was deeply agonized at heart on account of his
daughter’s illness. He is waiting for both-an information from his daughter to
pacify his grief and also for old Ali to reappear to dispel his feeling of
doubt which darkened his senses.
Question 5.
The writer carefully builds
up an atmosphere of loneliness and grief in the story. Working in groups, pick
out words/ phrases from the story that build up the atmosphere. Copy the
following table in your notebook and complete it.
| Loneliness | Grief |
|
● An old man was walking through the town, now and again drawing
his tattered clothes tighter to shield his body from the cold and biting
wind ● his lonely way |
● the whole town was wrapped in deathly silence. |
Answer:
Loneliness
(a) An old man was walking through the town, now and again drawing his
tattered clothes tighter to shield his body from the cold and biting wind.
(b) His lonely way.
(c) Now he
understood the meaning of love and separation. He could no longer enjoy the
pleasure of hunting and laughing at the bewildered terror of the young
Partridges bereft of their parents.
(d) A
pitiable figure a century behind his time.
(e) From some houses came the sound of grinding mills and sweet voices of
women singing at their work and the sounds helped him along his lonely way.
(f) Although the hunters instinct was in his very blood and bones, such
loneliness had come into his life since the day Miriam had gone away.
Grief
(a) The whole town was wrapped in deathly silence.
(b) ………….and for the last five years he had no news of his daughter for
whose sake alone he dragged along a cheerless existence.
(c) He reflected deeply and came to the conclusion that the whole universe
is built up through love and that the grief of separation is inescapable. And
seeing this, he sat down under a tree and wept bitterly.
Question 6.
Complete the table by
explaining the following phrases/sentences in your own words :
| Phrases/Sentences | Meanings |
| 1. happy memories light up a life that is nearing its close | |
| 2. the sounds helped him along his lonely way | |
| 3. the cold used sleep to extend its sway over all things even as a false friend lulls his chosen victim with caressing smiles | |
| 4. when the evening of his life was drawing in, he left his old ways and suddenly took a new turn | |
| 5. the whole universe is built up through love and that the grief of separation is inescapable | |
| 6. the post-master, a man with a face as sad and as inexpressive as a Pumpkin, would be seen sitting on his chair inside | |
| 7. And so the clerk, like a worshipper of Vishnu, repeated his customary thousand names. | |
| 8. The haughty temper of the official had quite left him in his sorrow and anxiety, and had laid bare his human heart. |
Answer:
- When the life of a human being is drawing near its end, happy and pleasant memories of one’s earlier life help one in removing the dark shadow of approaching death.
-
In the early hours of dawn when Ali was going to the Post Office, there was
no living creature present around him. But he heard the singing of the women
who were up early and the grinding noise of hand-mills, barking of dogs, the
sound of foot-steps of a work-man.
All these sound gave him solace and comforted him that he was not all alone.All these sound gave him solace and comforted him that he was not all alone. - Just as an unfaithful friend hides his evil designs under a cover of affectionate smiles when he tries to play a dirty and fraudulent game with his friend, in the same way cold weather makes people sleep longer in their comfortable beds forgetting the biting cold and wind.
- Evening indicates the closing of the day. Many of the activities, din and noise of day-time comes to an end at evening. Ali was growing old. His end was approaching. Therefore, he gave up his sportive passions like hunting and brought a sedateness and steadiness in his life which suited his old age. Now going to the Post Office and waiting for his daughter’s letter became his daily practice. This change came to him at the evening of his life.
- Ali realized in his later years that it is perseverance, love and compassion that matter not destroying and teasing others. The existence of the entire universe is based on love. It is the element of love which has created the world. Just as the joys of love are essential for the creation of the world, in the same way, pain and grief, caused by separation of dear ones are unavoidable. These are two eternal truths of human life.
- The writer compares the face of the postmaster with a pumpkin. Just as a pumpkin is hardly attractive and appealing to the eyes, in the same way the face of the postmaster did not reveal any kind of joyful feeling. Only sadness was visible on his face which made the expression of his face quite hard and stony, capable of expressing no emotion.
- At the time of distribution of letters, the clerk calls out the names of the people whose letters he comes across. This daily practice of the clerk is compared with the mode of worship adopted by a worshipper of Vishnu. The writer means to say that worshipper of Vishnu calls out various names of Vishnu while he offers prayers to his sacred deity.
- The postmaster, who was the incharge of the Post Office, was very haughty and rude in the beginnning. Later on, when his daughter fell ill and he received no information from his sick daughter, his heart was afflicted with deep grief and agony. Now his fatherly instinct compelled him to express his painful feeling and he realized miserable condition of old Ali.