Attempt any one question from Q. 11 (a) or Q. 11 (b) in about 150 words.
Gulliver's Travels
(a) What was the cause of enmity between Lilliput and Blefuscu ?
OR
(a) How do the Brobdingnagians treat Gulliver ?
Three Men in a Boat
(b) Give the character sketch of Biggs' boy in about 150 words.
OR
(b) What do you think of Harris' comments on George's work ? Do you think he was right ?
Answers
Gulliver’ s Travels
(a) Gulliver learns about the dispute between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudians from the official Reldresal. Reldresal told him that the dispute was over the interpretation of religious doctrine, the Brundrecral. It started when the ruling Lilliputian king’s grandfather commanded that all Lilliputians would break their egg on the small end first because he had got his finger injured when he broke the eggs on the large end first. The people resented the law and rose in a rebellion against it. The Emperors of Blefuscu fuelled these rebellions. The rebels fled to Blefuscu and were given support against the Lilliputians. Eleven thousand people chose death rather than submitting to the law. Many books were written on this controversy. The government of Blefuscu accused the Lilliputians of disobeying their religious doctrine of breaking the eggs the other way. The Lilliputian king asked Gulliver to break the military power of the Blefuscudians. Unwillingly, he made catchers with strings and swam to Blefuscu river. Then, he captured hundreds of Blefuscu ships to the Lilliputians side.
OR
a) The Brobdingnagians treat Gulliver rather badly except the queen. The Brobdingnagian farmer treats him like a showpiece. He uses him as a thing for exhibition and earns money. The people treat Gulliver like an object of joy and tease him while he is put in cage. He is then taken to another city. Gulliver is now reduced to a skeleton. There comes an order from the court that he be taken to the queen. The queen treats Gulliver very kindly. She buys him worth one thousand pieces of gold. The queen is moved greatly by Gulliver’s sufferings. She asks Gulliver if he would mind living in the palace. He is very glad and asks the queen that Glumdalclitch be allowed to live with him. The king at first thinks that he was a mechanical toy but later when Gulliver replied to all his questions, he is amused. He also starts spending most of his time with them. Both the king and the queen treat him in a kind and affectionate way.
Three Men in a Boat
(b) Biggs’ boy is the son of Mr. Biggs, the greengrocer of George, Harris and Jerome. He is such a boy who enjoys mischief-making. His chief talent lies in securing the services of the most abandoned and unprincipled errand-boys that civilisation has ever produced’. If there is any act of villainy in the neighbourhood, it has its connection with Biggs’ boy. In the case of Great Coram Street murder, the people in the street of Jerome conclude that Biggs’ boy was at the bottom of it. So, when the luggage for boating journey is piled at the door, Biggs’ boy comes there. He seeks fun, mischief and villainy in it It seems that he enjoys giving trouble to others and includes others in it. After coming there, he starts staring at Harris and Jerome. In another moment, he calls others saying that Harris, George and Jerome are moving out of the floor of 42. The young gentlemen from the boot shop and the empty can superintendent come there and start commenting. Biggs' boy retorts that they are not crossing the Atlantic but going to find Stanley. Thus, Biggs’ boy is a boy of mischiefs and villainy.
OR
(b) Value Points
Individual response. George could have taken leave-what does he do-idles away time-sitting behind the glass-remarks about his bank culture.
Every now and then, Harris commented on George's work. There is no
doubt that George often pretended to be more busy than he actually was. He could have taken
leave for the trip but he didn’t do that. Even in the bank, he idled away his
time, sitting behind the glass. But still, George was probably the sanest
person among the three friends. He was practical and knowledgeable. He worked in
a bank and his friends used to think that he actually used to go there to
sleep. He was not very energetic and was ready to sleep at the drop of a hat.
He liked to shirk work and made a scene if he was saddled with more work than
required. Like others, even he fell ill and wanted a change from the monotony
of life. During the trip on the boat, he gave practical ideas. He cooked better
than Jerome or Harris and was near to perfection when compared to them. He was
neat and tidy and loved order and discipline in life. So, Harris was not right
in making comments on George’s work. Rather, Harris was of boastful nature. He
used to boast about his four heroic fights against eighteen swans. He mocked at
George's nature but he himself was good for nothing. When he became a guide of
the crowd at Hampton Court Maze, he himself was guided by someone else. He had
no clear idea of the project when given to accomplish. Rather, he muddled up things-even the peeling
and scraping of potatoes couldn’t be done by him properly. Though he knew that George loved his
sleep very much, he dared to arouse his natural anger by waking him up to look for his trousers.