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.
