Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor Theold Within-James Patrick Kinney)
What kind of sin did he possess
Answers
Answer:
The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.
1. What kind of prejudice is at the core of this stanza? Who is at the receiving end here?
Ans. Economic prejudice forms the core of this stanza, but the person who is at the receiving end is the poor man. The rich man is greedy and has his own stereotyped perception of the poor man that prevents him from taking initiative to make the situation better.
2. Based on this stanza, how will you define the attitude of the rich man?
Ans. The rich man has been described here as a mean-minded, self-seeking paranoid who is scared of the presence of the poor man. His perception of the poor man as ‘lazy’ and ‘shiftless’, captured in the last line, shows that he is conceited and deceitful as well.
3. What, according to this stanza, prompts the rich man to sit back without offering his log?
Ans. While the rich man is over-possessive about his wealth, he is also biased in his opinion about the poor man. He feels that if the poor man survives, he may make off with all he owns. It’s his desire not to let the poor man survive that prompts him to sit back and make no effort to offer the log he holds.
4. What according to the poet are the limitations of the rich man?
Ans. According to the poet, material richness comes from the accumulation of wealth. As the character of the rich man suggests here, the rich man’s practice of wealth accumulation has made him too possessive, self-centred, opportunistic and insensitive to his surroundings. He doubts others, fearing that they may steal or take away his wealth. This makes it extremely difficult for him to mix and cooperate with others. The way he perceives his less wealthy or materially poor neighbour thus isolates him and tends to make him unsociable.
5. Material wealth is useless unless it gives one the strength to survive in a crisis situation. Can you justify this in the context of this stanza?
Ans. In this stanza, the man referred to as ‘the rich man’ is wealthy, but prejudiced and hateful to the poor man. Due to his narrow-mindedness, he fails to perceive the significance of making a little sacrifice for his own sake, just because he thought this might also benefit someone he regards as his foe. This failure exposes his lack of foresight besides his fatal insensitivity which would eventually cost him his own life.
Explanation: