The Hitch-Hiker
by Roald Dahl
COMPREHENSION
1. Answer the following questions.
a. Which words in the first paragraph of the story tell us that the owner of the car is rich?
= The description of the new car of the author in the first paragraph of the story tells us that the owner of the car is rich. It is a new car. It is a big BMW, 3.3 Li. It has long wheelbase, fuel injection. It has a top speed of 129 mph and terrific acceleration. The body is pale blue. The seats inside are darker blue, and they were made of genuine soft leather. The windows are electrically operated and so is the sunroof. The powerful engine growls and grunts at slow speed, but at sixty miles as an hour it begins to purr with pleasure.
b. Why does the driver stop for the hitch-hiker?
= The driver stops for the hitch-hiker as he knows how it used to feel to be standing on the side of a country road watching the cars go by. He hates the drivers for pretending they don't see him, especially the ones in big cars with three empty seats.
c. How does the driver describe the hitch-hiker?
= The driver describes the hitch-hiker as a small ratty-faced man with grey teeth. His eyes are dark and quick and clever, like a rat's eyes, and his ears are slightly pointed at the top. He has a cloth cap on his head and he is wearing a greyish-coloured jacket with enormous pockets.
d. Why does the driver stop questioning the hitch-hiker?
= The driver stops questioning the hitch-hiker as he is getting irritated. The driver also used to get irritated in his hitch-hiking days when drivers kept asking him questions. He used to hate it.
e. What reason does the hitch-hiker give for thinking that the driver was a good writer?
= The hitch-hiker thinks that the driver was a good writer. The driver was driving smoothly. It was a lavish car. This gave the hitch-hiker the idea that whatever job the driver does, he is good at it. If he writes, he must be good at writing too.
f. How does the hitch-hiker manage to coax the driver into driving faster?
= The hitch-hiker praises the author about his writing skill and he also asked him about the speciality of the costly car. He praised the car in a round about way. This flattened the author. He informed the hitch-hiker that the car had a speed of twenty miles an hour and the later challenged him to prove that he was a good driver with a good car. This persuaded the driver to drive faster.
g. Why is the hitch-hiker reluctant to reveal his profession?
= The hitch-hiker is reluctant to reveal his profession as he is scared of getting thrown out of the car as soon as he reveals his identity. The driver is a rich man and a renowned author, he must not give list to a pickpocket.
h. Why is the policeman decided to question the hitch-hiker too?
= The policeman decided to question the hitch-hiker as he was the witness of the author's rash driving. And in addition to that, the policeman suspected something evil by seeing the hitch-hiker's face. He was having strong sense of having the picture of the hitch-hiker in their criminal files.
i. How did the fingersmith first impress the author with his skill?
= The fingersmith impressed the author first with his skill by pickpocketing the author's black leather belt, his brown shoelace and his golden wrist watch respectively. The author did not get the lightest sense when the hitch-hiker took all of them.
j. Why did the hitch-hiker call himself a fingersmith?
= The hitch-hiker called himself a fingersmith as he was an expert with his fingers.
k. Describe how the fingersmith demonstrates his skill to the author.
= The hitch-hiker explains that the goldsmiths are expert with gold and silversmiths with silver. They are named after the the things they are skilled in. Likewise, the hitch-hiker is also got his name as fingersmith because he is skilled in pickpocketing with his fingers.
l. How does the hitch-hiker try to excuse his profession?
= The hitch-hiker tries to excuse his profession by saying that he never takes nothing from a loser. Nor he takes anything from poor people. He only goes after the winners and the rich.
This question is more difficult. Discuss it first.
m. You may have seen magicians performed disappearing tricks or tricks with packs of cards, in which they make cards appear where they want them to. This requires skill and can be entertaining. Is it wrong to use such skills to take things from others?
= The magicians performed disappearing tricks or tricks with packs of cards, in which they make cards appear where they want them to. This requires skill and can be entertaining. They use this skill totally for entertainment purpose. They are constructive in nature.
On the other hand, to use such skill to take things from others, is totally wrong and offensive. This is an criminal offence. This leads astray the person as well as the contemporary society. People forget the value of hard work and perseverance. No moral values persist.
2. Answer the following with reference to context.
a. 'And you ain't goin' to be 'appy, I don't think, until you've found out exactly what the answer is?'
i. Who is the speaker?
= The hitch-hiker is the speaker.
ii. What was the question to which the speaker refers?
= The speaker refers to the question of what his job was.
iii. Did the speaker eventually answer the question? How did he go about doing this?
= No, the speaker did not eventually answered to the question.
Rather he was talking in a whirl about way. He said that he was in a peculiar job. He went on doubting the driver as to be another policeman in plain clothe. Then he took from his pocket a tin of tobacco and a packet of cigarette papers and started to roll a cigarette. The driver got surprised to see his way of making a cigarette so fast. Eventually they started talking about his fingers and the driver forgot about the question of his job.
b. "They were so beautifully shaped, so slim and long and elegant..."
i. What is being referred to?
= The hitch-hiker's fingers are referred to here.
ii. In what way was this feature odd?
= The fingers were quicker and cleverer than the fingers of the best piano player in the world. They did not seem to belong to the rest of him at all. They looked more like the fingers of a brain surgeon or a watchmaker.
iii. Why was it appropriate that they were shaped thus?
= They were shaped thus to execute the job of pickpocketing smoothly. In their journey, he had taken the black leather belt of the driver. But he could not see him doing so. The hitch-hiker also took the brown shoelace and the golden wrist watch of the driver with out giving him a single sense of losing it. He even took out the two offence record books of the policeman without letting him know.
About the Author:
This short story is by Roald Dahl. Is had been abridged. You will find the complete story and many others by the author in the library. You must read them sometime. His books for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916. His parents were Norwegian. He worked for an oil company and later joined the RAF as a pilot. In 1942, while he was in the USA, he began to write stories about his experiences during the war. He has written a number of short stories, many of them with startling and unexpected endings. Dahl died in 1990.