THE COLD WITHIN
The third one sat in tattered clothes. He gave his coat a hitch
i) Who is the person referred to in the extract? Why did he not share his wood? ii) Why does the woman in the group hold back her log?
iii) Describe the black man’s face? What is his stick of wood to him?
iv) How did the last man play the game of life?
v) What lesson does this poem teach us?
Answers
Why does this third man give his coat a hitch? Answer : The word 'tattered' means torn clothes as the man is too poor to buy new clothes for himself. This shows that the man who is wearing such clothes is really poor and does not have enough money to afford new warm clothes.
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Answer:
1. The person who is being referred to in the extract is a poor man. He did not put his stick of birch into the dying fire because he did want to help the rich man sitting along with him round the fire, who according to him was an idle person who enjoyed the luxuries of his life on the physical labor of the poor people.
2. The white woman sitting in the forlorn group held back her log of wood because she saw a man of dark complexion sitting round the fire with her. She was a racist to discriminate the dark skinned fellow due to which she was determined not to help him by giver her stick of birch.
3. The black man had an expression of revenge on his face. His stick of wood was no longer a means of life to him but was a chance to take his revenge on the white lady, by whose hands he was made a victim of racism.
4. The last man sitting round the fire in the forlorn group played a game with his life. He had a nature to give only to them who gave him something in return. He saw that no one was ready to give their log to the fire, so he too, according to the rule of his life's game, kept back his log which resulted his life to end.
5. This poem teaches us not to discriminate among each other because it will lead to nothing but our near end. The six people who trapped in the bitter cold by chance held onto their stick of wood, a symbol of sin, till their end. They could have survived through the cold by giving their logs to the dying fire of their compassion but refused to do so which led to their tragic death.