Comprehension
Read and answer
1. Fill in the blanks with words from the story.
a. When the narrator arrived at the chateau, his friends received him in a princely manner.
b. The narrator spent the day preparing himself to be the victim of a practical joke.
c. The narrator sat down cautiously on the solid armchair.
d. The valet was quite dismayed at how the events of the morning had unfolded.
2. Fill in the boxes to complete the story are of 'An Uncomfortable Bed'.
=
PLOT
Exposition (Introduce characters, setting and conflict) :- One autumn, the author went to stay for the hunting season with some friends in a chateau in Picardy.
Event 1 :- During the evening and dinner, everyone laughed excessively and the author sensed a practical joke in their activities.
Event 2 :- It was time to go to bed and everyone came to escort him to his room. This also seemed unnatural to the author. He thought everyone was spying on him after leaving him in the room.
Event 3 :- He dragged the mattress and the bedsheets and brought them into the very middle of the room, facing the entrance door.
Climax (Point of highest drama/twist in the story) :- The author woke up with a start by the fall of a heavy body tumbling right on the top of his own body and received a burning liquid on his face, neck and on his chest. He howled in pain.
Event 5 :- He felt himself suffocated under the weight that was cursing him and preventing him from moving. He stretched out his hand to find out what was the nature of that object.
Ending (Explain how the problem was solved/solving of conflict) :- The friends came hurrying into the apartment.
Reference to context
3. "My friends were fond of practical joking, as all my friends are. I do not care to know any other sort of people."
a. What sort of people were not the narrator's friends?
= The people who are not fond of practical joking, were not the narrator's friends.
b. What does this tell us about the narrator's personality?
= This tells us that the narrator is a person with sense of humour and he likes his friends very much. Though in the forthcoming cycle of incidents we can see that he is very much conscious to be the object of the practical jokes of his friends.
4. "..... all of a sudden, I was awakened with a start by the fall of a heavy body tumbling right on top of my own body, and, at the same time, I received on my face, on my neck, and on my chest a burning liquid which made me utter a howl of pain. And a dreadful noise, as if a sideboard laden with plates and dishes had fallen down, penetrated my ears."
a. Whose heavy body had fallen on the narrator? Why did this happen?
= The body of the male attendant had fallen on the narrator.
The narrator had made his bed over again with the mattress and sheets at some distance from the suspected bedstead and the corner which had filled him with such anxiety.
b. What was the burning liquid that fell on the narrator?
= The burning liquid was the morning tea which the valet was bringing for the narrator.
c. What made the dreadful noise?
= The cup plate and other utensils of the valet made the dreadful noise.
Reflect and answer
5. What was it that first aroused suspicion in the narrator's mind about his friends' intensions? Why?
= The princely reception of his friends, upon his arrival, aroused suspicion in the narrator's mind about his friends' intensions.
Because he knew his friends well and perhaps he was quite used to it. After the princely reception, they embraced and flattered him as if they expected to have great fun at his expense.
6. The narrator's friends welcomed and flattered him, laughed excessively and escorted him to his room. Why do you think they behaved in this manner?
= The narrator's friends welcomed and flattered him, laughed excessively and escorted him to his room. If we evaluate this from the perspective of hospitality, they are quite natural in their behaviour towards the narrator.
7. "The precautions that the narrator took ultimately led to the disaster." Do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer in brief.
= I totally agree with the statement. The narrator was cautious till he reached at his friends' place. He was suspecting the excessive laughter at the dinner table.
He dragged the mattress and the bedsheets and brought them into the very middle of the room, facing the entrance door.
Then eventually, the valet did not know that. He came to give the author his morning cup of tea. He had tripped over the obstacle and the whole incident happened. His excessive precautions led him to that disaster.
8. "The author uses comedy and exaggeration to highlight a common human flaw." Choose any two examples from the story where he uses this technique and explain the statement.
= First of all, during the entire evening, the narrator smelled a practical joke in the air while the friends were laughing in an exaggerated fashion.
Secondly, at the time to go to bed, he was very much scared and he got an idea the his candle might suddenly go out and leave him in darkness. Then he went across the mantlepiece, and lighted all the wax candles that were on it.
9. Imagine there is a new boy in class and some of your friends want to play a practical joke on him. What would you do? Here are some ideas.
a. Do not participate in the prank and try to discourage your friends. [✓]
b. Tell an authority figure who can and will help.
c. Speak to the new boy and ask him to be careful.
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Summary of the story :
One autumn, the author went to stay for the hunting season with some friends in a chateau in Picardy.
The friends were very hospitable to him but the author was conscious of the premonition of being the victim of his friends' practical joke.
During the evening and dinner, everyone laughed excessively and the author sensed a practical joke in their activities. Everyone seemed to him an abject of suspicion, and he looked distrustfully at the faces of the servants too. It was time to go to bed and everyone came to escort him to his room.
This also seemed unnatural to the author. He thought everyone was spying on him after leaving him in the room. The author thought that they may have spread some traps and tricks for him in the bedroom to make fun of him.
He examined every article of the apartment one by one. He shut the large wooden shutters with great care and drew the enormous velvet curtains.
He dragged the mattress and the bedsheets and brought them into the very middle of the room, facing the entrance door. He made his bed over again at some distance from the suspected bedstead and the corner which had filled him with such anxiety.
Then, he extinguished the candles and went to sleep. The author woke up with a start by the fall of a heavy body tumbling right on the top of his own body and received a burning liquid on his face, neck and on his chest. He howled in pain. He felt himself suffocated under the weight that was cursing him and preventing him from moving.
He stretched out his hand to find out what was the nature of that object. He felt a face, a nose, and whiskers. He hit a blow over that face only to get back other one in return.
Then, he rushed into the opened corridor. The friends came hurrying into the apartment. They found their male attendant, who, while bringing him his morning cup of tea, had tripped over this obstacle in the middle of the floor, and fallen on his stomach, spilling, in spite of himself, his breakfast over his face.