NIGHT OF THE SCORPION - BASIC ENGLISH NOTES - SEMESTER I - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

 

 

NIGHT OF THE SCORPION

Answer the following questions.

1) How was the mother bitten by the scorpion?

Ans:  The poet remembers the night his mother was stung by a scorpion, which bit the mother because of its predatory impulse, while hiding beneath a bag of rice to escape from the rain.

 

2) How did the villagers come to the aid of the woman?

Ans:  They uttered the name of the God to paralyze the Evil One that had entered the mother's body.

 

3) How did the peasants view the stinging in a positive manner?

Ans: The peasants of the village believe in Karma theory.  They believe that the sins committed in the previous birth will be purified if only the concerned person suffers in this birth.  They say that the mother’s suffering by the scorpion burns away her sins in the previous birth.

 

4) What type of man was the father? How did he treat his wife?

Ans: The father was a sceptic.  He was a rationalist.  So he did not compromise with the beliefs of the villagers.  He applied different kinds of medicinal herbs and a certain curative powder.  He also melted paraffin and poured it on the bitten toe and set fire to it.  The father tested every scientific way to find the recovery.  After twenty hours, the mother was saved.  Again the writer keeps a neutral position.  He doesn’t say whether the father’s treatment cured the mother or the belief and rites of the villagers.

 

5) How did the mother respond after the recovery?

Ans: The mother found recovery after 20 hours of treatment.  We don’t know whether the father’s treatment cured the mother or the belief and rites of the villagers.  But the poet implies that it is the mother’s love for her children that saved her.  She thanks God because the scorpion has bitten her, not her children.

 

6) What is the theme of the poem?

Ans: The key theme of "Night of the Scorpion" is community, as demonstrated through the selfless dedication of the hordes of villagers who spend their time praying over the woman who has been stung by a scorpion.

 

7) Under what circumstances did the scorpion sting the poet’s mother?

Ans: Ten hours' of steady rain had filled the scorpion's hiding place with water; saving its life it hid under the sack of rice in the kitchen. When the poet's mother went to the kitchen, it accidentally stung her.

8) How did the scorpion “part with its poison?”

Ans: The scorpion parted with its poison by stinging the toe of the poet's mother, thus injecting its poison into her veins.

 

9) Why are the peasants compared to a swarm of flies?

Ans: The comparison is the poet’s expression of discontent with the peasants. He hated them because they made the night a hell for him, his father and most importantly, for his mother.

 

10) Who is the Evil One here? Why is it evil?

Ans: The Evil One is the scorpion that stung the poet's mother. It is considered Evil because the people associated the sting of scorpions with that of the evil power. 

 

11) Why do the peasants’ prayers sound like buzzing in the poet’s ears?

Ans: Though the peasants meant good and swarmed around the poet’s house to help the family and the victim of the sting, their actions and intentions brought endless pain to the poet’s mother.

 

Explain the following statements with reference to their context.

1) “I remember the night my mother…. He risked the rain again”

Ans:  "He" refers to the scorpion. He came inside the house to seek protection and shelter from the rain. He hid himself beneath a sack of rice. The sting of the scorpion's tail caused much pain to the poet's mother. He is therefore calling its tail diabolic or devilish. The poem starts with the reminiscence of a terrible event in the childhood of the poet when his mother was stung by a scorpion. This incident in retrospect brings forth the poet’s gall of criticism against the irrationality of the average uneducated person. The poet brings out the unavoidable circumstance in which the insect had come into contact with the mother. The rains had flooded the nests of the insect and thus to save itself it hid under a sack of rice. When the mother had gone there to fetch rice the insect afraid of its life had stung the mother in self-defense. The sting was quick and the insect ran away but the news brought more nuisances in the form of the peasants.

 

2) “They clicked their tongues…. Be burned away tonight.”

Ans: "They" in the above passage refers to the villagers. They attributed the mother's sufferings to her sins in some previous birth. They said that her present suffering would burn away her sins of her previous birth. They thought that the poison in the mother's blood moved swiftly as the scorpion moved. They, therefore wanted the scorpion to sit still. These peasants who were uneducated village folk could do nothing but to make a tiny incident snowball into a big issue where these people found fertile ground to propound their stupid superstitions. Some people said that the more the scorpion moves the quicker the poison will spread in the body of the victim. In fact, the villagers actually take their candles and lanterns to search for the Scorpion. From this absolutely foolish assumption, the people soon moved onto philosophy where in the metaphysical scale of universe acts of redemption balances sins.

 

3) “May the poison purify your flesh….. the peace of understanding on each face”

Ans: The scorpion had stung the mother on her toe and thus the poison entered the mother's body. The villagers hoped that the poison would purify the mother's body of desire and her spirit of ambition.  These peasants who were uneducated village folk could do nothing but to make a tiny incident snowball into a big issue where these people found fertile ground to propound their stupid superstitions. Some people said that the more the scorpion moves the quicker the poison will spread in the body of the victim. In fact, the villagers actually take their candles and lanterns to search for the Scorpion. From this absolutely foolish assumption, the people soon moved onto philosophy where in the metaphysical scale of universe acts of redemption balances sins. Although the villagers were sad to see the mother suffering, the understanding that it was doing some good to both her body and her spirit - brought peace on their faces.

 

4) “My father, sceptic, rationalist… upon the bitten toe and put a math to it”

Ans: Although the poet's father was a sceptic and rationalist, he was too grieved with the mother's situation to think practically. So, he tried whatever anyone around suggested to him which would help to relieve the mother's pain and suffering. It shows that during a crisis, human beings will do anything suggested to them, by others, to help them overcome the crisis. The people wax more philosophy by saying that the sufferings of this birth would mitigate the sufferings of the next. According to them, pain is directly proportional to the sins of the past life and inversely proportional to coming life. While the mother was in mortal pain some people pretended to understand her pain and do nothing. But the father was very much a rational man who instead of taking the mother to a doctor actually tries various herbs and medicines to get rid of the poison. In fact, he burns the toe of the mother. Yet all the all patient earth she forebears and to our amazement thanks the heavens since it was her that was stung and not her children. The father put a little paraffin upon the bitten toe and put a match to it (lit it) because it was thought that it would burn the poison of the wound.

 

5) “I watched the flame feeding on my mother… it lost its sting”

Ans: "I" here is the poet who is the narrator. "The flame" probably reminds the poet of the funeral or burning or cremation of a dead body according to funeral rites. In it, the dead body is consigned to flames. So the burning of the mother's toe, probably reminds the poet of that. After twenty hours of suffering in pain, the poison finally subsided, and the mother got relief. While the mother was in mortal pain some people pretended to understand her pain and do nothing. But the father was very much a rational man who instead of taking the mother to a doctor actually tries various herbs and medicines to get rid of the poison. In fact, he burns the toe of the mother. Yet all the all patient earth she forebears and to our amazement thanks the heavens since it was her that was stung and not her children.

 

Answer the following questions.

1) Show the different qualities in the poet’s father and mother that are brought out in the poem.

Ans: The father is logical and scientific in his thinking and does not believe in superstitions and blind beliefs. Yet when his wife is bitten by the scorpion he is anything but logical. He tries out every curse and blessing, every possible antidote. He summons the holy man to perform his rites and even pours paraffin on the bitten to and ignites it. The mother suffers the bite of the scorpion. She groans and moans on the mat twisting and turning in pain. As soon as the poison loses its effect she thanks god for sparing her children. She epitomizes motherhood and like a typical Indian mother is selfless in her love for her children.

 

2) Examine the theme of the poem “Night of the Scorpion”.

Ans: The theme of the poem is presented through an incident in which the poet's mother is bitten by a scorpion on rainy night. The villagers on hearing of this unfortunate event come to see her, praying to god and giving all kinds of justifications for her suffering. With their prayers and words they try to console the victim. The victim’s husband who is otherwise a sceptic and a rationalist also gives in to every curse and blessing. The poem shows how when a critical situation arises, human beings are always willing to help one another. Common villagers show their simplicity and sympathy; though they are not of much help, and give in to superstitions and false beliefs, they try to help out. The father, though a sceptic and rationalist in normal circumstances, yet in this moment of crisis, he gives in to the villagers' advice. The mother bears the pain and suffering for twenty hours, writhing in pain and when she recovers, she is thankful that she was bitten and not her children, bringing out the maternal love of a mother for her children.

 

3) How did the peasants view the stinging in a positive manger?

Ans: The peasants believed that the suffering would cleanse some of her sins of the poet birth or of the next birth. With her suffering the balance of evil in this world would be reduced. It would cleanse her soul and kill the spirit of desire which is the root cause of suffering in the world. The hunt that the peasants embark on in an effort to find the scorpion. They search with both candles and lanterns, which throw shadows on the wall in the shape of a scorpion. This image of the scorpion still being in the room (only in the form of shadow) helps set the scene for the next lines as the peasants struggle to help the mother. The shadow is representative of their primitive fears, that something Evil is lurking just where they cannot see it. The search for the scorpion has failed, they do not know, as the reader does, that the scorpion fled the house at the beginning of the poem. This puts the reader in a position above those in the poem; he/she has a greater knowledge of the situation than those experiencing it. 

 

4) How does the poet express his unsympathetic feelings towards illiterates and their superstitions?

Ans: Here Nissim Ezekiel in his poem night of the Scorpion, depicts a are very tender situation of every Indian family. But though dealing with a very sensitive theme - the theme of the speaker's mother, stung by a Scorpion, is given multiple treatment, bringing in its sweep the world of magic and superstition, science and rationality and above all material affection. He deliberately withholds his own emotional colouring and this he does only to make us aware, while reading the poem, of a traditional world of superstitions as against another of scepticism and rationalism.

 

5) Critically appreciate the poem “Night of the Scorpion”.

Ans:  The poem "Night of the Scorpion by Nissim Ezekiel depicts the selflessness and unconditional love of a mother who is stung by a scorpion. It also explains the care and affection of the villagers and their efforts to comfort the pain of the mother.  In the poem poet tells about the love of a mother for her children. He depicts the love in a very aesthetic way. The poet tells that once a mother was bite by a scorpion due to which was in the pain but she was still very happy that her child was not bite by the scorpion. After hearing the news about it the people gathered and search for the scorpion but did not find it. In the end poet tells about the views of the about mother's suffering of people. Everyone had the own opinion. The poet shows that the love of a mother is countless no matter what happens and a mother never think twice if she has to face situation like this. This poem shows the value of the love in the world.