Question

. "I looked into the mirror and smiled,”
says the doctor. A little later he says, “I
forgot my danger and smiled feebly at
myself.” What is the doctor's opinion
about himself when (i) he first smiles, and
(ii) he smiles again? In what way do his
thoughts change in between, and why?​

Answer 1

Answer:

I) The doctor thought that he had a good smile when he first smiled. But when he smiled a little later, he laughed at his destiny.

ii) His life was in danger. His thoughts got changed because of the snake.

Answer 2

The given questions are from the story "The Snake and the Mirror" written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. In the story, there were two major parts in the narration of the doctor when he was looking into the mirror and smiling.

• (i) "He first smiles", when he looked into the mirror for the very first time he only adored his looks and put on a beautiful smile which appeared quite attractive to him and he had an excessive impression about him.

• (ii) "He smiles again", When he was again looking into the mirror then there was a snake who was coiled in his arm and his life was in threat. He got a sudden switch of his thoughts because of the helplessness of his circumstance. All in all, he was so scared that he laughed at his fate while looking into the mirror.

Hence, the reason for the first smile was that the doctor found himself quite attractive but the second smile was because he was caught up in a powerless circumstance.

#SPJ2