Long Answers - Chapter - 19, Three Men in a Boat | English Class 9 PDF Download

Answer the following questions in detail:

Q1. Describe the three men’s reaction when they saw. “The pride of the Thames.”

Ans. The three friends went to hire a boat where the boy showed them one and called it ‘The pride of the Thames’. It was supposed to be a good sailing boat but it looked as an old fashioned chunk of wood. The writer described it as if it had been recently dug out of somewhere and dug carelessly getting damaged in the process. He, on first seeing thought it to be a Roman relic of a coffin and later addressing the lad he called it his (the lad’s) mother’s washing tub. Seeing it they reacted desperately and asked if it was a fossil of a pre-Ademits whale.

Q2. What made the writer and Harris decide to give up gambling?

Ans. After supper they played penny nap for about an hour and a half, by the end of which time George had won four pence as he is always lucky at cards. Harris and the writer lost exactly two pence each. Then they gave up gambling as Harris said it breeds an unhealthy excitement when carried too far. George offered to go on and give them their revenge, but Harris and the writer decided not to gamble any further against fate.

Q3. Describe how they felt about having dinner at Pangbourne.

Ans. The Three friends decided to abandon the boat and to return to their homes two days before their holiday was to end. George told them that there was a train that leaves Pangbourne soon after five which would land them in town in a comfortable time to get a chop and then go to Alhambra, provided they had not made up their minds to contract their certain deaths in this ‘bally old coffin’ (the boat) They reached Pangbourne at seven and drove straight to the restaurant. They had a hearty supper and drank a toast to ‘Three Men Well out of A Boat’. They had been living on cold meat, cake and bread and jam for about ten days. Now they enjoyed the delicious dinner at the restaurant and left.

Q4. Narrate the beauty of the river as described by the writer.

Ans. The writer explains to us the beauty of the river with changing moods. When it was sunny, he describes– the river-with the sunlight flashing from its dancing wavelets, gilding gold the grey-green beech-trunks, glinting through the dark, cool wood paths, chasing shadows over the shallows, flinging diamonds from the mill-wheels, throwing kisses to the lilies and making the air soft with glory seems to be a golden fairy stream. But when it begins to rain he calls it chill and weary with the ceaseless rain-drops falling on its brown and sluggish waters, with a sound as of a woman weeping low in some dark chamber; while the woods, all dark and silent stand like ghosts.

Q5. Why can’t the writer honestly say, “we had a merry evening”?

Ans. The writer and his friends did not feel happy as the rain poured down with quiet persistency. Everything in the boat was damp and clammy. Supper was not a success. Cold veal pie is apt to cloy when one does not feel hungry. The writer wanted white bait and a cutlet, Harris babbled of soles and white-sauce, and passed the remains of his pie to Montmorency, who apparently felt insulted of the offer, went ant sat over at the other end of the boat by himself. Thus the writer felt troublesome due to bad weather and continuous rain and so they could not enjoy a happy evening.

Q6. State your opinion about the decision of the three men to finish rest of the journey by train.

Ans. In our opinion the three friends made the right decision to finish their boat journey and to return home by train. It rained continuously, all the goods, food and clothes were wet. It could have resulted in their falling ill seriously. It was inconvenient, depressing and foolish to keep on boating in such a bad weather. They did not tell the boatman that they were running away because of the rain, rather they instructed him to stay ready at nine next morning. They left the boat and all it contained in his charge and told him if something unforeseen happens, they would write to him stating they would return or not.