Attempt any one question from Q. 11 (a) or Q. 11 (b) in about 150 words.
Gulliver's Travels
(a) Describe briefly Gulliver's visit to Mildendo, the capital of Lilliput. What precautions did he have to take ? Answer in 150-200 words.
OR
(a) Comment on the two gentlemen who made an exact inventory of Gulliver's poossessions.
Three Men in a Boat
(b) Now I'm not like that. I can't sit still and see another man slaving and working. I went to get up and superintend and walk around with my hands in my pocket and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can't help it. What does this reveal about the narrator's character ?
OR
(b) Do you find, people who followed Harris in the maze in our daily life too ? Are they any different ? Give reasons.
Answers
Gulliver's
Travels
(a) Gulliver got permission to visit Mildendo, the capital of Lilliput. All the Lilliputians were told to stay indoors for the fear of being crushed to death. So, he walked with great care. The town was 500 feet square with a wall surrounding it. It could hold 5,00,000 people. The lanes and alleys, which Gulliver couldn't enter but could only view, were from twelve to eighteen inches. The houses were from three to five stories; the shops and markets were well provided. The emperor's palace was in the centre of the city. It was enclosed by a wall-two feet high and at a twenty feet distance from the buildings. The king permitted Gulliver to step over this wall. The outward court was a square of forty feet. The emperor wanted Gulliver to see his palace that Gulliver couldn't do that till three days after, which he spent in cutting down some of the largest trees from the royal park. He made two stools, each of three feet high and strong enough to bear his weight. He then stepped over the building very conveniently from one stool to the other to see the whole palace and the city. When he got into inmost court, he found it grand and well maintained. OR
(a) According to the law of Lilliput, Gulliver was thoroughly searched. Two officers named, Clifrin Frelock and Marsi Frelock were deputed to search for Gulliver's inventory. Gulliver took up the officers in his hands, put them first into his coat's pocket and then into every other pocket. The two officers had pen, ink and paper. With the help of these things, they made an exact inventory of everything they had seen. After completing their work, they asked Gulliver to set them down, so that they might deliver their inventory to the emperor. The officers mentioned that after the strict search, they had found only one great piece of coarse-cloth in the right pocket and a huge silver chest in the left pocket. The only thing which escaped their notice was his pair of spectacles as it was kept in his secret pocket. The dust in the pocket made them to sneeze. They also found written paper pieces, comb, iron pills etc. They were unable to make Gulliver understand their language. But they gave every detail of things that Gulliver possessed to the emperor with a comparative explanation. They also conveyed the civility and respect shown by Gulliver. While preparing the inventory, they named Gulliver 'Ownbus Flestrin', i.e., 'Man-mountain'.
Three Men in a Boat (b) The above lines reveal that the narrator is actually a very lazy person. He has nothing against work but he doesn't do work. He likes to sit and look at it. He also likes to see other people slogging away. He likes to look at men working and give them instructions and wise words about how to get the work done. He calls it his energetic nature to superintend work done by somebody else. He enjoys lording over others with his hands in his pockets clearly indicating his reluctance to do any work. But he doesn't want to be known as a shirker, nor does he realize that he is basically very lazy. He feels that by supervising, he is actually doing a lot of work. He doesn't realize that, actually, he is doing nothing but making the work difficult for others. This tendency is shared by his friends George and Harris too. In fact, this is a common trait that most men possess. OR (b) Yes, we find such people who followed Harris in the maze in our daily life too. Harris tried to impose before everyone that he could easily get out of the maze and his confident attitude made the crowd feel that he was a guide. Even people who had given up all hopes of ever getting either in or out or of ever seeing their home and friends again, picked up courage at the sight of Harris and joined the procession, blessing him. One woman with a baby, who had been there all the morning, insisted on taking his arm for fear of losing him. Later, the same woman tagged him an impostor. From this maze incident, we can also say that experience matters. This is evident from the fact that the young keeper was not able to get the crowd out of the maze whereas the old keeper was able to do it quickly. Such amateurs are found almost at every step of our daily life.