THE LETTER
DHUMAKETU
a) Ali’s walking to the Post Office daily
even in biting cold weather shows his_____
Ans: Optimism
b) The Post Office is referred to as Ali’s
“place of pilgrimage” as he_____
Ans: Went there with faith and hope
c) The Post Master’s rudeness to Ali reveals
his_____.
Ans: Preconceived notions
d) Ali did not come to the Post Office for
several days as ______
Ans: He was unwell and not able to walk to the post office.
e) “Tortured by doubt and remorse, he sat
down in the glow of the charcoal Sigrid to wait.” The Post Master was waiting
for _____.
Ans: Ali to deliver Mariam’s letter to him
Answer the following questions briefly.
a) Who was Ali? Where did he go daily?
Ans: Ali was an old
coachman. He went to the Post Office daily with a hope to get the letter of his
daughter Miriam who went away from her father after her marriage.
b) “Ali displays qualities of love and
patience”. Give evidence from the story to support the statement.
Ans: There were
many instances in the story which prove this as: He visited the Post Office
everyday for five long years waiting for a letter from his daughter Miriam. He
used to sit in the verandah of the Post Office from morning till evening
waiting for his daughter’s letter. He gave all his life’s savings to the clerk
Lakshmi Das and requested him to deliver the letter of his daughter at his
grave.
c) How do you know Ali was a familiar figure
at the post office?
Ans: Ali had
regularly visited the post office for five long years. He used to sit at a
particular place in the verandah every day. Clerks and the other post office
employees knew him by face because he was visiting everyday asked them if there
was any letter for him. The post office employees made fun of him and even
called him a mad man. They played jokes on him by falsely calling his name but telling
that there was a letter for him.
d) Why did Ali give up hunting?
Ans: Ali lost all
his interest in hunting after his only daughter Miriam got married. He
understood the meaning of love and separation. He no longer enjoyed the
sportsman’s pleasure and laughter at the bewildered terror of the young
partridges bereft of their parents.
e) What impression do you form of the
postmaster after reading the story ‘The Letter’?
Ans: As a coin has
two sides, the postmaster also appears to have two aspects of his character. In
the first half of the story, he seems very hard-hearted and he is put in the
same tight corner in which poor old Ali is already hustling, a sudden change
appears in him. When he gets no information from his ill daughter, he gets
maddened with grief and he realizes old Ali’s agony and craziness to come daily
to the Post Office to get his daughter’s letter. Now his fatherly sentiments
rise up to understand the love-loran soul of Ali. His attitude becomes very
sympathetic and kind to Ali.
f) The postmaster says to Ali, “What a pest
you are, brother!” Do you agree with the statement? Give reasons for your
answer.
Ans: No, I don’t
agree to this statement. Ali was a loving father who exhibited immense
patience. He was an epitome of patience, love and faith. He silently bore the
insults of the post office employees. The postmaster was a callous and
heartless man who didn’t care for the emotions and feeling of a father suffering
from the pangs of separation from his loving daughter.
g) “Ali came out very slowly, turning after
every few steps to gaze at the Post Office. His eyes were filled with tears of
helplessness, for his patience was exhausted, even though he still had faith.” Why
were Ali’s eyes filled with tears of helplessness? What had exhausted his
patience but not his faith?
Ans: Ali was not
keeping well for many days. His constant sickness deprived him of all his
physical strength and stamina. He was also losing hold on his patience on
account. He was also losing hold on his patience on account of his physical ailment
and weakness. He knew that it was impossible for him now to make a daily visit
to Post office for getting the letter of his daughter. He also realized that
his days were numbered; therefore his eyes were filled with tears. Though his
physical infirmities and the shadow of approaching death exhausted his
patience, yet they could not crush down his spirits and firm faith that one day
his daughter’s letter would certainly come to him. His faith won because a
letter came for him in the end.
h) “Tortured by doubt and remorse, he sat
down in the glow of the charcoal Sigrid to wait.” Who is tortured by doubt and
remorse? Why? What is he waiting for?
Ans: The heart of
the postmaster was almost laden with deep grief and agony. An element of doubt,
whether in the early hours of the morning, he saw old Ali or his ghost, also
crept up in his mind. He was swaying in state of great confusion mentally and
he was deeply agonized at heart on account of his daughter’s illness. He is
waiting for both-an information from his daughter to pacify his grief and also
for old Ali to reappear to dispel his feeling of doubt which darkened his
senses.
