Maggie and her mother are subjected to superstitious belief in the story The Price of Flowers'. Mr. Gupta convinces Maggie of these hollow beliefs through his actions. Attempt in a paragraph the superstitious beliefs that Maggie and her mother hold fast
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Answers
Explanation:
The Price of Flowers is a story by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay. The story is about an Indian man named Gupta who meets a poor girl in England. He meets her when he is having food from a restaurant. The girl asks the cashier of the restaurant whether Mr Gupta is an Indian. Gupta wants to know why the girl made the enquiry. He understands that the girl does not earn much and can afford lunch only on Saturdays, the day in which she gets her weekly payment. The next Saturday Mr Gupta meets the girl in the restaurant. He talks to her and understands that the girl’s brother is a soldier in India. Her name is Alice and people call her Maggie. Her mother wants to know more about India as she is worried about her son’s safety. Gupta visits the girl’s mother at her home and tells her that India is a safe country.
The girl’s brother Francis (Frank) sent the family a ring from India. He believes that the crystal in the ring can show them people who are very far away from them. The family wants Gupta to look at the crystal and see whether he can see Frank in it. They believe that Gupta will be able to see as he is a Hindu from India. However, Gupta cannot see anything when he looks at the crystal.
A few months later, Gupta learns that Frank is fighting in a war in Punjab. The mother becomes ill worrying about her son. They do not know whether he is alive or not. The mother wants Gupta to look at the crystal again and see whether he can see Frank. Maggie secretly asks Gupta to say that Frank is fine even if he cannot see him. Gupta tells Mrs Clifford (Maggie’s mother) that he saw Frank in the crystal and he is well.
Later, the family learns about Frank’s death. Before Gupta leaves for India Maggie visits him and gives him some money so that he can buy flowers and place them on Frank’s grave. Gupta promises to fulfill her wish. He knows that she worked really hard for the money. Offering that money to buy flowers for her brother’s grave would give her a lot of peace.