Six Old Board Questions with Answer from "A Story" | The Heritage of Words Class 12 English

UNIT THREE : HUMOUR AND SATIRE
A STORY
ENGLISH | THE HERITAGE OF WORDS
Dylan Thomas

Board Questions

1. What is the reason for which Will Sentry always followed Mr. Franklyn? (2058)

=> Mr. Franklyn was made the treasurer of the Outing Committee because Bob the Fiddle, who had worked in the same position, had bought drinks for himself with the money that was collected for the outing. In other words, the fund was misappropriated. Will Sentry feared a similar episode could happen again. So, he was always on the heels of Mr. Franklyn. Mr. Franklyn even went to the extent of resigning from his responsibility if Will Sentry continued to be nosy about his duties.

2. How does the boy, the narrator, look at his uncle and his aunt? (2059)

=> The narrator was very small and much nicer when he was a young boy. As a young boy, he found his uncle big, loud and red haired man, who filled his little house like an old buffalo. Thomas appeared to be a sweaty giant who breathed like a brass band and ate a lot never keeping his large waistcoat as clean as his wife would have liked it to be. The boy seems to be a bit negative about his aunt. He addresses her as his uncle's wife rather than addressing her as aunt or auntie. He compares her to a cat as she used to whisk about the rooms on padded paws, cleaning and maintaining household items. Occasionally, she would utter high-pitched sounds like a mouse would do. The aunt wouldn't allow him and his uncle to play draughts on Sunday. He clearly remembers her posture the day when the uncle had finalized the list of would-be outing-goers. She had stood in front of the dresser, with a china dog in her hand threatening to go home to her mother if he went outing. All said the boy provides a humorous presentation of the contrasting personalities of his uncle and aunt, a loving couple most time of the year except the annual outing.

3. Describe the relation between Thomas (the boy's uncle) and his wife. (2060/62/63)

=> Uncle Thomas was a big, noisy, hulk of a man who ran a shop at the front of his house. He had a voracious appetite too. His wife, on the other hand, was small and quiet like a cat. She would squeak about occasionally like a mouse. The two of them, in spite of having different characters, seem to enjoy a good conjugal (married; bibhahit jiwan) life most of the time other than during the annual outing season, when Uncle Thomas would desert her for a bout of uninhibited (expressing oneself or acting without restraint) drinking stupor (a state of near unconsciousness or insensibility) with his old community friends as they travel on a charabanc to reach Porthcawl. At home, Uncle Thomas is mostly drunk on Saturdays and Sundays so he allows her to beat him on his head with a china dog. He knows he has erred so he would lift her up, under his arm onto a chair in the kitchen. He is not seen to foul-mouth or abuse her. The opposite is almost true! The aunt has, in fact, broken many china cups on Uncle Thomas's head. During Uncle Thomas's annual outing, she would go to her mother's house. However, she would leave a note asking him to eat some eggs she had left in the pantry and to take his shoes off before he went to bed. This account proves that she loved him. She was more of a strict housemaker, who was bothered about neatness, which Uncle Thomas lagged clearly. She wouldn't allow Uncle Thomas to play draughts on Sundays too. This could mainly be for religious sake as Sunday is considered a holy day. Overall, the two shared a comfortable relationship. (You can, alternatively, create a hostile relationship between the two).

4. The plan was to go to Porthcawl for the outing. Did they ever reach there? Why? (2064)

=> The plan to reach Porthcawl never actually happened when Uncle Thomas and his thirty friends included went on the annual outing. They always started with the honest intention of reaching there but because they all loved ale and beer and because there were plenty of public houses selling them, they stopped in almost all public houses. At the Mountain Sheep, where they began their gypsy drinking session, they drank for 45 minutes getting themselves so dead drunk that drinking didn't stop at other public houses on the way. They even drank behind locked bars. Mr. Weazley would cough and stop the bus as he complained he was dying of breath. And they would all go back. The members on the charabanc would sing and talk of reaching Porthcawl but they didn't reach there. When it was dusk they settled for rum at Hermit's Nest to keep themselves warm. Finally, they got out of the charabanc for one last drink session. They sat in a circle in the open, moon-filled field and drank the remaining cases of beer. They continued to sing and enjoy the evening in the field. Thus, they never made it to Porthcawl.

6. Give a description of the outing as Thomas would describe it. (2066)

=> I am Thomas. I and twenty-nine other friends of mine had decided to go to Porthcawl for the outing. We started on Saturday morning. My strict wife warned me that she would stay with her mother if I went to Porthcawl with my friends. I chose Porthcawl. I chose the outing. On the morning of the outing, I found a note she had written and left for me. I found nothing new in it. I took my nephew along with me in spite of the opposition I would receive. As the charabanc stopped by at our place their voices of opposition rang the air but I cared little. Any way, the opposition died as other things took prominence. We had hardly got out of the village, when somebody said that Old O Jones had been left out behind. We drove back and ushered O Jones in. Mr. Weazley had wanted us to return to his house to get his false teeth but we didn't see its urgency and need. The charabanc stopped at The Mountain Sheep. All my friends rushed out like eager sheep to the bar. But, I kept my nephew back to look after the charabanc before I entered the bar. There we spent 45 minutes swilling all the available ale. We came out of it and drove on. We got down at each public house, even locked ones as Mr. Weazley asked the driver to stop to avoid dying of breath. We also had fun in the river as we sang and danced and talked of reaching Porthcawl. When it was dusk, we stopped at Hermit's Nest for rum to keep out the cold. On the way home, Old Jones prepared supper on the charabanc but Mr. Weazley had better plan. As usual he got us down the bus onto a moonsplashed field, where we sat in a circle and enjoyed the last remaining cases of ale we had carried with us. My nephew was sleeping against my waistcoat. We didn't reach home before midnight.

Don't forget to LIKE, SHARE and COMMENT and Pleas Join with us on Facebook and Google+