Bihar Board Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper Questions and Answers

Bihar Board Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper  Questions and Answers

Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper

[A] Work in small groups and discuss their issues :

Question 1.
In your locality you might have come across several children working in different fields of life. Do you think it is proper to be engaged in work when one should be studying in school ?
Answer:
Children are called future of a country. In such circumstances it would be inhuman to take work from children as we see today. Children are •the buds of future. They have to work with books not with tools like hammer. They must be in the school.

Question 2.

 

Why do these children work ? Is there any compulsion to work or is it sheer ignorance on the part of their parents ?
Answer:
Working class children are poor. They work for bread, because their parents are poor who have nothing to feed them. Their parent are faultless and have no compulsion in sending their children to do manual work.

Question 3.
Make a list of the kind of work children are usually enraged in. Also, discuss the treatment meted out to them at their work place.
Answer:
Children generally work in hotel, Motor garage, small scale industries etc. Owners of these organisations are rude and they behave with them cruelly.

Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper

B. 1. Answer the following questions briefly :

 Question 1.
Who is “I” in the first line ?
Answer:
‘I in the first line of the poem is “The speaker”, the boy who is a Chimney Sweeper.

Question 2.
Who sold the speaker and in what circumstances ?
Answer:
The speaker’s father sold him after his mother’s death. The speaker was sold as his mother had died and due to his poverty as well.

Question 3.
What does “my tongue/could scarcely (lines 2-3) signify ?
Answer:
My tongue scarcely cry, signifies that childhood is not a time to cry.

Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper

 Question 4.
Who is Tom Dacre ? What has been done to him ?
Answer:
Tom Dacre is a little child working in the chimney. His curling hair is being clean saved. Tom starts crying. His hair was very beautiful

Question 5.
What was the consolation given to Tom by the speaker ?
Answer:
The speaker, gave consolation to Tom that when his head will remain clean shaved, his white hair would not be spoiled by the soot.

 Question 6.
What does Tom see in his dream about thousands of sweepers ?
Answer:
Tom sees in his dream that there are thousands of sweepers like Dick, Jco, Ned and Jack, who are suffering like him because they have been unwillingly engaged in their job of chimney-sweeping.

 Question 7.
What does the phrase “Coffins of black” signify here ?
Answer:
“Coffins of black” means job of chimney-sweeping. It signifies that chimmey sweepers work near chimney that carries off smoke or steam of fire from furnace, engine etc. Their work is not without dagger. Any time they may be runied.

Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper

B. 2. Answer the following questions briefly :

Question 1.
Who has a bright key ? What does he do with it ?
Answer:
An angel has a bright key. He opens the coffins with it and sets all the children free from the coffins.

 Question 2.
What change does the arrival of an Angel bring in the life of chimney sweepers ?
Answer:
The arrival of an Angel who sets chimney sweepers free from the coffins leads a happy life, breathe in fresh air. They are free from the compulsion of hard work like chimney sweeping.

Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper

Question 3.
The Angel tells Tom something about God. What is it ?
Answer:
The Angel tells Tom to look up to the Divine father and trust in His assurance and security. They (chimney sweepers) will never be unhappy in life.

Question 4.
What does the phrase ‘never want joy’ mean here ?
Answer:
The phrase ‘never want joy means the sweet grace of Almighty. God is with them. Now they will never be unhappy in life any more.

“We rose in the dark”—who does ‘We’ stand for ?
Answer:
Here in ‘We rose in the dark ‘ ‘We” stands for the children who were set free from the coffins by the Angel.

 Question 6.
Why was Tom feeling happy and warm though ‘the morning was cold’ ?
Answer:
Inspite of the cold morning Tom was in tune with the Infinite and could rise above the physical conditions of life which appeared as a light of gossamer.

No harm comes to him who does h’s work as divine worship.

C. Long Answer Type Questions :

 Question 1.
What does Tom see in his dream ? Describe in details.
Answer:
Tom sees in his dream that there are thousands of sweepers like Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack, who are suffering like him because they have been unwillingly engaged in their job of chimney-sweeping. All of them are busy working as chimney sweeper. Their work is not without danger. Any time they may be ruined.  He gets them free from their dirty and troublesome work. Now they have become free and happy children relieved of their burdensome work.

  Question 2.
In what way is Tom’s dream significant ?
Answer:
Tom works as a chimney sweeper, amidst smoke or steam of fire, furnace and unhealthy gas of a chimney. He is spending a very miserable time there.One night Tom sees in his dream that an Angel arrives there and sets them free of their sufferings. Their agony becomes over now. They are free to move anywhere they like.It is significant, in the sense, that a dream of release from the drudgery and dirt of chimney-sweeping, emboldens the children to continue their job.

 Question 3.
What picture of the 18th century England does the poem create ?
Answer:
The poem presents the picture of the 18th century. It throws light upon the Wretched conditions of die children employed as chimney-sweeper by factories and industries! The children were required to work hard.  They had to live and sleep under inhuman-conditions.

 Question 4.
What is the theme of the poem? Does the theme have any particular ve’evance in our state or country ?
Answer:
The theme of the poem is most impressive and appealing. It touches the sentiments of mankind, throwing light upon the wretched conditions of the children employed as chimney-sweepers by factories and industries. The cluldrenriiad to work hard. Their heads were clean-shaved so that the dirty black smoke of shouldering pokets of fire from the furnaces may not harm them. They had to live and sleep under inhuman conditions. It is a subject of discussion which invites human sentiments and attention on the issue (problem). To treat him like a beast is really shameful and unfortunate.Of course, in our country and states such sorts of torture and inhuman act is prevalent. In factories and industries child labours are employed and brutally treated. In tea stalls, hotels and restaurants, child labours are engaged in good numbers.

Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper

 Question 5.
Narrate the gist of the poem in your own words.
Answer:
The gist of the poem is perfectly meaningful which touches the sentiments of the readers (poeple). It very well throw slight on how brutally they were being treated in the eighteenth century. A child had to work as a chimney-sweeper close to the furance of a chimney. They had to sleep in the soot under inhuman condition.

Question 6.
Explain the paradox in line 23.
Answer:
Tom was not happy to work as a chimney-sweeper, like many other children, working in a factory. He was living in wretched condition. He had to work hard. He had to sleep in the soot of smoldering pockets of fire from the furnaces under inhuman conditions. As such here it seems contradiction. Going deeper to the situation (condition), we find that the previous night he had a dream. An angel came and freed all the children working as chimney sweeper in the factory. They got rid of their victimization forever.

Class 11 English The Chimney Sweeper

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