प्रश्न बैंक - सह - उत्तर पुस्तक (Question Bank-Cum-Answer Book)
Class - 12
English Elective
1. I Sell my Dreams
Q 1. Did the author believe in the prophetic ability of Frau
Frieda?
Ans:
Yes, the author believed in the prophetic ability of Frau Frieda. One night in
Vienna, Frau Frieda whispered to the author that she had dreamt about him and
he should leave Vienna for at least five years. Her conviction was so real that
he boarded the last train to Rome that same night and never returned to Vienna.
He considered himself a survivor of some catastrophe, he had never experienced.
Q 2. Why did he think that Frau Frieda's dreams were a stratagem
for surviving?
Ans:
Frau Frieda's dreams were a stratagem for surviving because she had no other
qualification than to sell her dreams. It was the period of world war and
people in those days were living in uncertainty. She had elite clients who used
to set their routine according to the predictions made by her. Her
conversations made it clear that, dream by dream, she had taken over the entire
fortune of her affluent patrons in Vienna.
Q 3. Why does the author compare Neruda to a Renaissance pope?
Ans:
Pablo Neruda was a high dignitary i.e. consulate in Rangoon. He was a great
scholar and bookworm as he had bought an old dried out volume of a book with a
torn binding for a cost equal to his salary for two months in Rangoon. He was a
clairvoyant poet and an excellent painter. He was gluttonous as he ate three
lobsters, clams, mussels, prawns and sea cucumbers. Owing to such voracity and
refined tastes for learning the author compares Neruda to a Renaissance pope.
Q4. How did the author recognise the lady who was extricated
from the car encrusted in the wall of Havana Riviera Hotel after the storm?
Ans:
The author recognised the lady who was extricated from the car encrusted in the
wall of Havana Riviera Hotel after the storm by the gold ring shaped like a
serpent with emerald eyes which she wore. The police established that she was
the housekeeper for the new Portuguese ambassador and his wife. She had come to
Havana with them two weeks before and had left that morning for the market,
driving a car
Q5. Why did the author leave Vienna never to return again?
Ans:
The author left Vienna and decided never to return again because Frau Frieda
whispered in his ears that he should leave Vienna. She dreamt that there was some
danger for the author and he should not return to Vienna before five years. The
author believed in FrauFrieda's prophetic abilities.
Q6. How did Pablo Neruda know that somebody behind him was
looking at him?
Ans:
In the hotel at Carvalleiras, Frieda was also present just three tables away
from Pablo Neruda while he was taking his lunch there. While eating Pablo
Neruda was looking here and there and then he noticed that somebody behind him
was looking at him. He reported to the author that somebody behind was looking
at him and when the author notices her, he identified her as Frau Frieda
Q7. How did Pablo Neruda counter Frau Frieda's claims to
clairvoyance?
Ans:
The author met Frau Frieda at a hotel at Carvalleiras. Pablo Neruda and the
author invited her to have coffee at the table. The author encouraged her to
talk about her dreams in order to astound the poet. Pablo Neruda paid no
attention from the very beginning and announced that he did not believe in
prophetic dreams. He said that only poetry is clairvoyant. This is how Pablo
Neruda countered Frau Frieda's claim to clairvoyance.
Q8. What did Frau Frieda tell the author? What was his reply?
Ans:
Frau Frieda told the author that he could go back to Vienna from where he had
once taken departure; under her prophecy. The author replied that he still
cared for her dreams; however, he had known very well since the beginning that
all of them were false and mere stratagems for surviving. In other words, he
told her that he would never go back to Vienna.(Austria)
Q9. Who was Pablo Neruda? What sort of artist was he?
Ans:
As per the story Pablo Neruda was an ambassador/ consul to Burma (now Myanmar).
He was a renowned poet and voracious person. He is compared to a Renaissance
Pope.
Q 10. How far do you think Frau Frieda was honest in her dealing
with others? Why do you think so?
Ans:
I think that Frau Frieda was honest in her dealing with others. I think so
because one night in the tavern in Vienna when Frau Frieda whispered to the
author that she had dreamt about him and he should leave Vienna for at least
five years. Her conviction was so real that he boarded the last train to Rome
that same night and never returned to Vienna. He considered himself a survivor
of some catastrophe, he never experienced.
Q 11. Describe briefly the disaster that took place at the Havana
Riviera Hotel.
Ans:
The disaster that took place at the Havana Riviera Hotel was simply terrible. A
huge wave from the sea leapt over the two-way street between the seawall and
the hotel and shattered its window. It picked up several cars that were driving
down the avenue along the seawall or parked on the pavement, and embedded one
of them in the side of the hotel. Tourists in the lobby were thrown into the
air and some were cut by the hailstorm of glass.
Q12. What intrigued the writer about the woman and why?
Ans:
The badly mutilated body of the woman that was extricated from the car had a
gold ring on her finger. The ring she wore was shaped like a snake, with
emerald eyes. The writer was intrigued by the snake ring and its emerald eyes.
The reason was that he had known such a woman who wore a similar ring on her
right forefinger at a tavern in Vienna.
Q 13. What information does the writer give about the woman with
a snake ring?
Ans:
The woman with a snake ring was an unforgettable person. The author had met her
thirty four years before at a tavern in Vienna.. She had a high-pitched singing
voice. She spoke elementary Spanish fluently. She was born in Colombia and came
to Austria, as a child, to study music. She was charming and awe-inspiring.
Q 14. What custom did Frau Frieda institute in her family and
how?
Ans:
She was the third of eleven children born to a prosperous shopkeeper. As soon
as she learned to speak, she instituted the custom of telling dreams before
breakfast in her family. She started to predict, warn and advise the members of
her family through her dreams. Her mother, being superstitious, encouraged her
in this activity.
Q 15. How was Frau Frieda able to earn her living with her
talent to dream?
Ans:
She did not think that she could earn a living with her talent. However, she
was forced by circumstances to look for work. She succeeded in finding a family
which hired her to dream for them. The family were religious and therefore,
inclined to outdated superstitions. Frau Frieda's duty was to decipher the
family's daily fate through her dreams. Gradually she had absolute power over
each member of the family.
Q 16. Why did the narrator leave Vienna in a hurry? What does
this incident reflect on his character?
Ans:
One night, Frau Frieda whispered in the author's ear with great conviction that
she had dreamed about him the previous night and that he must leave right away and
not come back to Vienna for five years. He was influenced by her conviction
that he boarded the last train to Rome and never returned back. He considered himself
a survivor of some great catastrophe. This shows that the narrator was a
superstitious person.
Q 17. What information about Frau Frieda did the author gather
from the Portuguese ambassador?
Ans:
After hearing that the woman who was killed in the Havana Riviera disaster had
a snake ring on her finger, the author could not stop himself from meeting the ambassador.
They met at a diplomatic reception. The ambassador spoke about Frau Frieda with
enormous admiration and said that she was an extraordinary woman. But he said
despairingly that she did nothing except dreaming.
Q18. Frau Frieda took advantage of the superstitious belief
people have in the prophetic nature of dreams. Comment.
Ans:
Generally people are superstitious. They want to know in advance what the
future has in store for them. They are afraid of evil that may befall on them
and are curious to know what good may come in their life. Religion also
encourages superstitions. Frau Frieda was able to institute the custom of
telling dreams before breakfast in her family because of her mother's
superstitious nature. She was able to exercise control over all the members of
the Viennese family. Nothing was done without her permission. Ultimately, she
was able to grab all the fortune of her ineffable patrons. She also trapped the
Portuguese ambassador into appointing her their housekeeper. There too, she did
nothing but dreamed. Dreams became her stratagem for surviving.
Q 19. Draw a character-sketch of Frau Frieda.
Ans:
Frau Frieda was born in Colombia to a prosperous shopkeeper as a third of
eleven children. She had the power to dream for others and, through her dreams,
she claimed to know about the future events that might befall them. She was
able to influence her superstitious mother to give her control over her
siblings. In Vienna, where she had gone to learn music, she was able to get
into a family over which she had established her total control. She was
sympathetic towards poor Latin American students and would often feed them at
her own expense. She had a charming personality. Even the Portuguese ambassador
called her "extraordinary" and praised her. Even the narrator
considered her "unforgettable".
Q 20. Write a short note on Pablo Neruda.
Ans:
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat and politician who won the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1971. He was going to Valparaiso and halted in
Barcelona for a day. The author joined him there. Neruda was both gluttonous
and refined like a Renaissance pope. He hunted for rare books at second-hand
bookstores. He bought a very costly, old, dried volume of a book. He had a
child-like curiosity in the inner workings of everything he saw. His hunger for
knowledge was insatiable. He was also a glutton who liked to enjoy a variety of
exotic dishes. Thus he was both a scholar and a glutton.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. Who is the writer of 'I Sell My Dreams'?
a.
Joseph Conrad
b.
James Joyce
c. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
d.
Isaac Bashevis Singer
2. When did Gabriel Garcia Marquez receive the Nobel Prize?
a. 1982
b.
1962
c.
1980
d.
1961
3. Gabriel Garcia Marques was from
a.
England
b.
Australia
c.
Canada
d. Latin America
4. The author wrote in the genre of................
a.
stream of consciousness
b. magic realism
c.
science fiction
d.
children story
5. In which country does the story begin?
a.
Austria
b.
Columbia
c. Cuba
d.
Barcelona
6. The narrator was having breakfast on the terrace of
a. Havana Riviera Hotel
b.
Frau Frieda's house
c.
Narrator's house
d.
Tavern in Vienna
7. Who died in the sea storm ?
a.
Narrator
b.
Pablo Neruda
c. Frau Frieda
d.
Frau Frieda's brother
8. How was the dead body identified?
a. by her serpentine ring
b.
by her tattoo
c.
by her gold chain
d.
by her hair style
9. Frau Frieda was the housekeeper for the new Ambassador
a.
English
b.
American
c. Portuguese
d.
Spanish
10. The snake ring on the finger of the Frau Frieda had ....
eyes.
a.
ruby
b. emerald
c.
topaz
d.
sapphire
11. The narrator had met her .... years earlier in Vienna.
a.
thirty
b.
thirty-one
c.
thirty-two
d. thirty-four
12. Where was Frau Frieda born?
a. Columbia
b.
Portugal
c.
Spain
d.
Austria
13. She had been the......... of eleven children born to a
prosperous shopkeeper.
a.
fifth
b.
second
c. third
d.
seventh
14. What was the fine custom in her family?
a.
praying
b. telling dreams
c.
helping poor
d.
going to orphanage
15. How did her younger brother die?
a.
drowned in a ravine
b. choked on a piece of caramel
c.
met with an accident
d.
murdered
16. Frau Frieda advised the narrator to leave and not come back
to Vienna for ...........years
a. five
b.
three
c.
two
d.
four
17. The narrator boarded the last ......... to Rome that same
night.
a.
bus
b.
tram
c. train
d.
plane
18. Pablo Neruda was the consulate in ..........
a.
Barcelona
b. Rangoon
c.
Vienna
d.
Venice
19. According to Pablo Neruda only poetry is.....
a.
humourous
b. prophetic
c.
sacred
d.
logical
20. Frau Frieda lived in a castle-like house in....
a. Portugal
b.
Spain
c.
Austria
d.
Cuba
21. According to whom, siesta was sacred?
a.
Frau Frieda
b.
Narrator
c. Pablo Neruda
d.
Neruda's wife
22. What do you mean by "siesta"?
a.
sleep
b.
dream
c.
doze
d. afternoon nap
23. In the lesson who sold dreams?
a.
The narrator
b.
Pablo Neruda
c.
The Ambassador
d. Frau Frieda
24. What is the meaning of disenchantment?
a. disillusion
b.
disobey
c.
dislike
d.
disaster
25. Where did the narrator meet Frau Frieda for the first time?
a. tavern, Vienna
b.
college, Vienna
c.
tavern, Havana
d. college, Havana
JCERT/JAC English Elective प्रश्न बैंक - सह - उत्तर पुस्तक (Question Bank-Cum-Answer Book)
English Elective Contents
Short Stories | |
1. | |
2. | |
3. | |
4. | |
5. | |
Poetry | |
1. | |
2. | |
3. | |
4. | |
5. | |
6. | |
7. | |
8. | |
Non-Fiction | |
1. | |
2. | |
3. | |
4. | |
5. | |
6. | |
Drama | |
1. | |
2. | |
Novel | |
1. | |
2. | |
