Question

Ol The intrinsic theme of the story "The Linguist" is driving pleasure out of the misfortune of
others. Do you agree with this or not? Explain. [10 Marks]​

Answer 1

The intrinsic theme of the story "The Linguist" by Geetashree Chaterjee is driving pleasure out of the misfortune of others and I completely agree with it.

• The story is all about two friends and revolves around their friendship and jealousy. The narrator of the story and Nalini are really good friends and what connects them is their common interest towards literature.
• When the narrator got to know that Nalini was getting married abroad to a linguist professor, jealousy peaked in the narrator. Both of them later got busy in their lives as Nalini went abroad as she got married and the narrator was busy with her work.
• One such day after several years, the narrator and Nalini met again at a function where the narrator got to know about the troubled marital life of Nalini. Upon hearing this, the narrator got rather amused and later she realised that Nadini's life was not all good in the foreign country.
• A few years later to this, they again met in Delhi but this time the narrator at the end felt happy to see that Nalini was again back to normal. But mainly the narrator got pleasure out of Nalini's misfortune.

#SPJ1

Answer 2

The intrinsic theme of the story "The Linguist" is driving pleasure out of the misfortune of others. I agree with the statement.

• It can be argued that "The Linguist" could convey the idea of deriving pleasure from other people's misfortunes, as the main character seems to enjoy correcting people's mistakes and showing off his superior linguistic knowledge, even if it humiliates others.
• Some may argue that the story disseminates the notion of taking advantage of others' misfortune for personal gain, while others may see it as a cautionary tale about the danger of greed and unethical behaviour.
• Nevertheless, this is subject to interpretation and may vary depending on the reader's perspective. The theme of "The Linguist" is subjective, and different readers may interpret it differently.

#SPJ1