Practice questions from 'Dusk
1. As per the young man, why he
could not go back to his hotel from
the market?
2. Why Norman did not be the story of
the young man initially?
3. When did Norman believe the story
told by the young man ?
4. What did Norman find out after
returning to the park?
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
Questions & Answers
Where did Norman Gortsby sit?
Norman Gortsby sat on a park-bench near Hyde Park Corner in London.
How does the narrator describe the dusk in and around the park?
It was some thirty minutes past six on an early March evening, and dusk had fallen heavily over the scene, dusk mitigated by some faint moonlight and many street lamps.
Describe the movements in the park and around.
The park was a haunt of people, mostly men, who didn’t want to be recognized. They were all people who had suffered defeat in their lives or were people who were ignored in their society and family. They were moving silently through the half-light, or dotted unnoticed on bench and chair, scarcely to be distinguished from the shadowed gloom in which they sat.
What sort of pleasure were the wanderers in the park seeking in this park?
The wanderers were seeking pleasure in their failure and defeat. After fighting a battle called life they came to this park defeated yet defiant. They sought the pleasure of defeat.
Whom does the author refer to as the ‘rightful occupants’ of the park? Who are not the rightful occupants?
In the author’s opinion, the rightful occupants of such a park are the rich people for whom life is an easy game that they always win. People who fail in the struggle are called the ones without any right to this park.
How was Gortsby’s defeat different from the rest of the wanderers in the park?
Explain – “Drooping air of defiance that was probably the remaining vestige of self-respect in an individual who had ceased to defy successfully anybody or anything.”
The elderly gentleman used to be defiant earlier but after rebelling and challenging life and people, he has slowly stopped his earlier habit of defying.
Explain – “One’s imagination could not have pictured the wearer embarking on the purchase of a half-crown box of chocolates or laying out nine pence on a carnation buttonhole.”
How do you describe the elderly gentleman?
How was the elderly gentleman different from the others in the park?
“He belonged unmistakably to that forlorn orchestra to whose piping no one dances; he was one of the world’s lamenters who induce no responsive weeping.” Explain.
How did the newcomer express his agitation as he sat next to Gortsby?
Why did Gortsby strike a conversation with the young man?
Seeing that the young man was angry and that he expected Gortsby to take due notice of his angry demonstration, Gortsby struck a conversation with him.
How did the young man present himself genuine in his account?
The young man behaved so frankly that he said that he had done the silliest thing in his life. Thus, by blaming himself and behaving frankly, commanded genuineness.
Why had the young man have to book a room in an unknown hotel?
The young man had to book a room in an unknown hotel because the Patagonian Hotel he had come to lodge had been pulled down and a cinema theatre run up on its site.
Why did the young man have to buy soap?
The young man said that had forgotten to pack soap apart from the fact that he hated using hotel-soap.
How did the young man lose track of the hotel that he had booked a room in?
After having a drink at a bar and bought a cake of soap, the young man turned to go back to his hotel. As the hotel was unfamiliar, as he didn’t remember its name and as he had walked a considerable distance off, he lost track of the hotel.
What put the young man in an utter need to borrow money from someone?
Having lost his hotel’s address the young man had to wait for a day to get help from his people. In the mean-time he had just two pence left with him and no friends in London to lend him money. This made him borrow money from someone.
“I suppose you think I’ve spun you rather an impossible yarn,” said the young man presently, with a suggestion of resentment in his voice.
What does “spin an impossible yarn” mean? Why did the young man think so?
Spin an impossible yarn refers to presenting an unbelievable story. The young man thought he had told an unbelievable incident about himself to Gortsby because every instance in the incident appeared unbelievable. A hotel suddenly disappearing, losing one’s hotel’s address and carrying so little money in a city like London and all the rest of the situation stood out of one’s o
