Question 4
Referring closely to the short story Salvatore, answer the following:
(a.)Who is Salvatore? What kind of life is he spending? [5]
(b.)What role does Assunta play in the life of Salvatore? [5]
(c.)Narrate Salvatore’s experiences and feelings after joining the navy. What made
him quit and come back? [5]
Question 7
Referring closely to the poem The Gift of India, answer the following:
a.) Whose voice is heard in the poem ‘The Gift of India’? What does it say about the
brave sons of India who laid down their lives in the World War I? [5]
b.) What does the poem say about the benefits that colonisers have gained from
India? [5]
c.) In what way does Mother India recall the sacrifices of her brave sons, the Indian
soldiers? [5]
Question 8 [15]
In the poem, ‘The Spider and the Fly’ the two characters have been pitched against each
other. Discuss their personalities.
Answers
Answer:
In William Somerset Maugham’s short story “Salvatore”, Assunta married Salvatore, the protagonist of the story. Though initially Salvatore perceived her as an ugly woman who was older than he, finally they got married and that proved to be a good decision on his part.
Born to an Italian fisher family, the first part of Salvatore’s life went well when he was happy taking care of his younger brothers and diving into the sea at will. He was in love and engaged with a pretty young girl living on the Grande Marina. Everything had been going well until he set out on his journey to abroad on military service. Salvatore was homesick and he missed his near and dear ones, especially ‘the girl he loved so dearly’. He became ill frequently, and finally returned home with rheumatism, declared unfit for further service.
At this juncture, Salvatore received one more blow when his fiancée rejected to marry him for his illness. Then came Assunta in Salvatore’s life. At first his mother told him of the girl who apparently fell in love with him seeing him at a festival. As Assunta’s fiancé had been killed in Africa during his military service, Assunta was willing to marry Salvatore. She even wanted to buy him a fishing boat and to take a vineyard for them with her little savings. At first, Salvatore dismissed the idea.
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