B.A. ENGLISH (PU) - TEN YEARS PAST PAPERS (PAPER QUESTION 2)

PAPER QUESTION TWO 

(Short Stories and One-Act Plays)

1. Year 2004 (Group I)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions.

(i) What land of change Ustad Mangu was expecting from the new Act of 1935? Explain. ("The New Constitution" by Saadat Hasan Manto)
(ii) In "Take Pity" by Bernard Malamud, we read an undaunted struggle of a woman against the exploitation of a man. Discuss.
(iii) "The Duchess and the Jeweler" is a story about the moral decadence of the English elite class of those days. Elaborate.
(iv) In "The Shadow in the Rose Garden", it is written, "there was a long silence of hate and suffering" but at the end it says that they "no longer hated each other". They were only "shocked". What kind of story is this: of love, of hatred, or of something else?
(v) Write a character sketch of Wolf. ("Something to Talk About" by Eden Phillpotts)

2. Year 2004 (Group II)
(a) "THE KILLERS" by Hemingway
Attempt any TWO of the following questions. 
(i) "There is not anything I can do about it" Ole Anderson said. He looked at the wall. "Tanks for coming to tell me about it". What does Ole Anderson read on the wall? Elaborate.
(ii) Describe Henry's Lunch Room and what happened there?
(iii) Describe Hemingway's typical style of narrating a story.
(b) "RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Attempt any TWO of the following questions. 
(i) Is the daughter more dear to the professor than his art? Discuss.
(ii) What is Giovanni's role in the story?
(iii) "At least" thought he, "her poison in not yet entered into my system. I am no flower to die in her lap". Explain.
3. Year 2005 (Group I)
Attempt any FOUR of the following questions. 

(i) What is the role of Sam, the niggard, in "The Killers"?

(ii) Why Mangu, the Tangawala, in "The New Constitution", is always quarrelling with the goras, the white men? What is on his mind?

(iii) "Whore, bastard, bitch", he shouted at her. "Go away from here. Go home to your children". How was Rosen in "Take Pity" provoked to make such remarks about Eva?

(iv) "Gazing up into the darkness, I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity". This is the last remark of the main character in "Araby". Discuss. 

(v) There is always suspicious hope of Matilda Loisel in "The Necklace" Discuss. 

(vi) "A Conversation with My Father" is a story demanding a sense of character in a human being. Explain. 

(vii) The modes, manners, and speech of "Smoke Screens" are bright but harsh to some people. Discuss.

4. Year 2005 (Group II)
Attempt any FOUR of the following questions.

(i) Write a note on Giovanni's sentiments for Beatrice and her father in "Rappaccinni's Daughter".

(ii) Write a note on hypocrisy of Rosen in "Take Pity".

(iii) The role of the main character in "Araby" is to run after the shadows. Discuss. 

(iv) E.A. Poe haunts us and puts us into a situation where we can expect anything may happen any time. Discuss in view of his story "Tell Tale Heart". 

(v) Explain "The Shadow in the Rose Garden" as a love story. 

(vi) "Passion in the Desert" is a fantasy. Explain. 

(vii) Explain "Something to Talk About" as a pleasant one-act play.

5. Year 2006 (Group I)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) Write a note on the state of law and order in USA after your study of "The Killers".

(ii) In "The New Constitution", Ustad Mangu is at best a half-wit. Elaborate. 

(iii) Happy Prince sees best when he has no eyes to see. Explain. 

(iv) The wife in "The Shadow in the Rose Garden" cannot help digging her past. Discuss. 

(v) Uncle James in "The Boy Comes Home" is not a lion but a jackal in the garb of a lion. Elaborate.

6. Year 2006 (Group II)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) Discuss Ustad Mangu in "The New Constitution" as a representative of Common Indians. 

(ii) Is Rosen, in "Take Pity", secretly in love with Eva but does not have the courage to express his feelings.

(iii) Feudalism has fallen on evil days. Discuss with reference to "Duchess and the Jeweller". 

(iv) How does the swallow in Oscar Wild's "The Happy Prince" fare as a friend. 

(v) Discuss Chekhov's "The Bear" as a farce.

7. Year 2007 (Group I)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) When any why does Giovanni in his address to Beatrice, call Dr. Rappaccini "Your awful father"?

(ii) "Sahib Behadur where do you wish to be taken", says Ustad Mangu with "undisguised irony". Elaborate irony in this remark. 

(iii) Towards the end of the story, the mayor calls the Happy Prince, "Little better than a beggar". Why?

(iv) Why is the robber in "Something to Talk About" compelled to remark while addressing Bishop, "you might be one of us yourself"?

(v) Why is Clarice in "Smoke-Screens" so impatient about describing her brother?

8. Year 2007 (Group II)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions.

(i) Giovanni is no more than a pawn on the chess board of Dr. Rappaccini's research. Comment. 

(ii) The Duchess is more loathsome than the jeweller. Comment. (The Duchess and the Jeweller)

(iii) The French soldier feels grandeur of the desert with all its force and fascination. Comment. (A Passion in the Desert)

(iv) Discuss Popova as an unreal and fake prude. (The Bear)

(v) What is your true estimation of the character of Primrose? (Smoke-Screens)

9. Year 2008 (Group I)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) Prove how Manto was, between the lines, criticising all those who were praising India Act, 1935 (The New Constitution)

(ii) Poison works through Giovanni's system slowly but surely. How? (Rappaccini's Daughter)

(iii) Why does Eva turn down every offer of help of Rosen's (Take Pity)

(iv) Popova makes a mere show as a mourner. Elaborate. (The Bear)

(v) Briefly compare and contrast characters of Uncle James and Philip. (The Boy Comes Home)

10. Year 2008 (Group II)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) Popova catches our attention by not only what she says but by what she does. Comment. (The Bear) 

(ii) Giovanni falls in Rappaccini's net involuntarily but with disastrous results. Elaborate. (Rappaccini's Daughter)

(iii) Eva stands out as a person who can endure hardships for the sake of female glory. Elaborate. (Take Pity) 

(vi) It is the Panther and not the Soldier who wins in the trial of love. Comment. (A Passion in the Desert) 

(v) Lucy fails not only as a mother but also as a wife. Elaborate. (Smoke-Screens)

11. Year 2009 (Group I)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) What kind of change Ustad Mangu was expecting from the New Act of 1935?

(ii) Describe briefly the effect of romantic love on the adolescent mind of Small boy. (Araby)

(iii) Why does Grace Paley fail to write a story in keeping with the sensibilities of her father's times? (A Conversation with My Father)

(iv) How did Lisby come to know of Simon Byrne's love for her? (The Little Willow)

(v) Discuss the play "The Bear" by Anton Chekhov as a farce.

12. Year 2009 (Group II)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions.

(i) What did make the happy prince weep in "The Happy Prince"?

(ii) Write a note on Eva's character in "Take Pity".

(iii) Why did the boss make no reply? (The Fly)

(iv) How did Simon disclose his love for Lisby? (The Little Willow)

(v) What happens when Primrose declares to marry an ugly man? (Smoke-Screens)

13. Year 2010 (Group I)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions.
(i) Do you think that the killer in the story is a sane person? (The Tell-Tale Heart)
(ii) How has the writer criticized the dark aspects of modern civilization? (Araby)
(iii) Why did Ustad Mangu quarrel with the Gora Soldier? (The New Constitution)
(iv) How did the Swallow help the poor people? (The Happy Prince)
(v) How has Popova been ridiculed in the play? (The Bear)
14. Year 2010 (Group II)

Attempt any THREE of the following questions.

(i) The writer calls his meeting with the poor family pleasant. Why? (Breakfast)

(ii) What does the killing of fly by the Boss signify? (The Fly)

(iii) "The Necklace" is a criticism on pride and materialism. Discuss.

(iv) What were people's expectations from the New Constitution?

(v) Write a short note on the character of Primrose.

15. Year 2011 (Group I)

Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) What are Giovanni's sentiments for Beatrice? (Rappaccini's Daughter)
(ii) Write a note on the character of Lisby. (The Little Willow)
(iii) "The Necklace" is a satire on the vanity of women. Discuss.
(iv) "Araby" is a psychological explanation of boy's emotional and mental condition. Discuss.
(v) "Something to Talk About" reflects the modern attitude towards criminals and crime. Elaborate.

16. Year 2011 (Group II)
Attempt any THREE of the following questions.
(i) 'Lord must build if the work is to stand ....'? Comment. (Tolerance)
(ii) All exploration is based on human fallibility. Comment. (To Err is Human)
(iii) How does the writer differentiate between hosts and guests?
(iv) Why did the Muslims of India ask for a country of their own? (Pakistan and the Modern World)
(v) All "fanatical creeds" are harmful to mankind. Discuss. (Science and Values)
17. Year 2012 (Group I)

Attempt any TWO of the following questions. 

(i) Explain the title "Smoke Screens", in you own words. (Smoke Screens)

(ii) Why was Ustad Mangu so excited about the implementation of the New Constitution? What did he expect of it? (The New Constitution)

(iii) Breakfast is a critique of modern civilization. Discuss. (Breakfast)

(iv) The human relations in "The Duchess and the Jeweller" are rotten to the core. (The Duchess and the Jeweller)

18. Year 2012 (Group II)

Attempt any TWO of the following questions. 

(i) Write a note on Olde Anderson's sicknesss with life. (The Killers) 

(ii) How the murderer in the story is forced to confess his crime? (Tell-Tale Heart)

(iii) Simon keeps the willow as a token of Lisby's love which gives him solace and strength before and at the time of death. Discuss. (The Little Willow)

(iv) Write a detailed note on the nature of conflict between Philip and James. (The Boy Comes Home) 

19. Year 2013 (Group I)
2. Attempt any TWO of the following questions. 
(i) Discuss the element of humour and irony in "The Happy Prince".
(ii) Things are rotten at the centre and rotten at the core in "The Duchess and the Jeweler". Discuss.
(iii) Discuss the title of the play "The Smoke Screens".
20. Year 2013 (Group II)
2. Attempt any TWO of the following questions. 
(i) Is Ole Anderson a coward? Discuss with reference to "The Killers".
(ii) Ustad Mangu is painted as a fool in "The New Constitution". Support or refute the statement.
(iii) How does Smirnov make a fun of Popova in "The Bear"?