NCERT SOLUTIONS FOR CLASS 10 - ENGLISH NOTES - A SHADY PLOT - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - CBSE

 

A SHADY PLOT

MCQ

a) (i) Writing ghost stories.

b) (iii) the readers appreciated his ghost stories.

c) (i) fears

d) (iv) stop people from using the Ouija Board.

e) (iii) desperation

f) (iv) irritated

g) (i) the narrator’s wife’s anger

h) (iii) she is afraid of magic and hoodoo

 

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING

a) What genre of stories does Jenkins want the narrator to write? Why?

Ans: Jenkins wants the narrator to write stories on the supernatural this time. He wants the narrator to do so because that is what the public wants. His stories are interesting and mysterious and his ghosts are propositions.

 

b) Does the narrator like writing ghost stories? Support your answer with evidence from the story.

Ans: The narrator likes writing ghosts stories because a ghost story has been his first fiction. It his changed the narrator with the idea. The idea comes to the narrator out of nowhere when Jenkins wants the narrator to write, the story by itself and the narrator is always be able to dig one story.

 

c) What makes Helen, the ghost and her other co-ghosts, organize the writer’s inspiration bureau?

Ans: Helen and her other co-ghosts organize the writers inspiration bureau for which they scout around until they find a writer without idea and with a mind soft enough to accept impression. The case is brought to the attention of the main office and one of them is assigned to it.

 

d) Why had Helen, the ghost, been helping the narrator write ghost stories? Why was she going on strike? What conditions did she place for providing continued help?

Ans: Helen the ghost had been helping the narrator to write ghost stories because he had always needed ideas and Helen gave them. She was now going on a strike because they were called too often and the people were using Ouija boards as the medium. Helen wanted John to get all his friends to stop using the board then only would they start helping them.

 

e) How does the ghost undermine the narrator’s faith in his ability to write ghost stories?

Ans: The ghost thinks that the narrator cannot write ghost but the ghosts give him the idea. Helen tells him that many a time it is she who has leant on his shoulder when he is thinking hard for an idea.

 

f) Why does John want the ghost to disappear before his wife appears on the scene? What impression of his wife’s character do you form from his words?

Ans: He asks the ghost to leave before his wife comes there, because he doesn’t want her to know his secret, moreover she would be afraid. These words show that his wife is suspicious and jealous.

 

g) Why does the narrator hesitate to be a partner to Laura Hinkle during the Ouija Board Party?

Ans: The narrator hesitates to be a partner to Laura Hinkle during the Ouija Board Party, because the ghost has asked him not to use it, then only she would help the narrator with ideas for ghost stories and Laura Hinkle is also very flirtatious.

 

h) What message does the ghost convey to the group that had assembled in the narrator’s house? What is their reaction to the message?

Ans: The ghost spelt T-R-A-I-T-O-R and then it said H-E-L-E-N. It wants to convey that someone had been trying to communicate with John through Mrs. Hunt’s and Mrs. Sprinkle’s Ouija. Everybody’s gaze turned towards the narrator and he came under the suspicion.

 

i) Do you agree with the narrator calling the assembly of women “manipulators”? Give reasons.

Ans: The narrator rightly calls the assembly of women manipulators. Lavinia “manipulated” by buying Ouija board but says that it is for John’s research. Laura Hinkle manipulates John by trying to be flirtatious in order to learn working on the Ouija Board.

 

j) Why is John’s wife angry? What does she decide to do?

Ans: John’s wife is angry because as John’s hand moves faster and faster on the board, his companion starts to spell out traitor and then it spells, Helen. Miss Hinkle asks Lavinia whether she knows anyone by the name of “Helen”, Miss Hinkle tells her that someone by the name of Helen has been trying to communicate with John. Lavinia gets angry at this and becomes suspicious of John. She decides to leave John and goes back to her grandmother.

 

k) Why does John wish he were dead?

Ans: From different parts of the room other manipulators begin to report. Each of those five Ouija boards is calling John’s name. Lavinia is looking at him through narrowed lids as though he is some peculiar insect. The murmur of conversation rises louder and louder. Miss Hinkle says that John looks sly; he goes straight upstairs and dozes off. In the morning there is no sign of his wife. He has hardly seated himself at the desk as he finds a white slip of paper saying that Lavinia is going back to her grandmother and her lawyer will communicate with John. John reading it cried “I wish I was dead” because he feels sad that his wife is leaving him.

 

l) When Confronted by Lavinia about his flirtations over the Ouija Board, John insists that ‘that affair was quite above-board, I assure you, my love’. Bring out the pun in John’s statement.

Ans: Lavinia is getting suspicious of John with the Ouija board as his fingers seem to stick to that dreadful board. It spells Helen that makes Lavinia suspicious. She says they do not know anyone by the name of Helen. She thinks there is somebody hiding there. Lavinia tells John there is not a bit use trying to deceive her; he is trying to conceal something. It is bad enough to have him flirt over Ouija board with that hussy to which John replies that the affair is quite above board which means that John has nothing to do with Miss Hinkle.

 

m) John’s apprehensions about his wife’s reaction to her encounter with the ghost are unfounded. Justify.

Ans: John thinks if Lavinia sees the ghost, she would react sharply but she doesn’t. A broad satisfied smile spreads over her face “I thought you were Helen of Troy, she murmurs”. The ghost said, “I use to be Helen of Troy, New York and now I’ll be moving along,” Lavinia falls at this.