Previous Year: Long Questions with Answers - Poets and Pancakes | English Class 12 PDF Download

Long Answer Questions (2025)

Q1: How do the peddler from "The Rattrap" and ‘the office boy’ from "Poets and Pancakes" compare in terms of their frustration, status, and grudges against others.

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Ans: In The Rattrap, the peddler, a homeless vagabond, is frustrated by poverty, viewing the world as a rattrap, and holds grudges against society, leading to deceit like stealing the crofter’s money. His low status fuels his cynicism. In Poets and Pancakes, the office boy, a low-ranking studio worker, is frustrated by unfulfilled ambitions to become a star, blaming favoritism for his failure, harboring grudges against studio insiders. Both occupy marginal statuses—peddler as an outcast, office boy as a subordinate—and resent those they perceive as privileged. However, the peddler’s frustration leads to criminal acts, while the office boy’s results in vocal resentment. The peddler’s redemption through Edla’s kindness contrasts with the office boy’s persistent bitterness, showing different responses to societal exclusion and personal dissatisfaction. 

Q2: How do the characters of Umberto Eco from "The Interview" and Subbu from "Poets and Pancakes" compare in terms of their resourcefulness?

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Ans: Umberto Eco in The Interview and Kothamangalam Subbu in Poets and Pancakes exhibit remarkable resourcefulness. Eco, a scholar and novelist, maximizes his time by writing in “interstices,” producing extensive academic and creative work, blending philosophy with popular fiction. His resourcefulness lies in his disciplined, multifaceted productivity. Similarly, Subbu, Gemini Studios’ No. 2, is resourceful through his versatility as a poet, writer, and filmmaker, solving production challenges creatively and tailoring scripts to actors’ strengths. Both leverage their talents across domains—Eco in academia and literature, Subbu in filmmaking and poetry—adapting to their environments. Eco’s intellectual resourcefulness contrasts with Subbu’s practical, studio-based ingenuity, but both excel in using limited resources effectively. Their loyalty—Eco to his craft, Subbu to his boss—enhances their ability to innovate, making them indispensable in their respective fields.

Previous Year Long Answer Questions 

Q.1. What do you understand about the author’s literary inclinations from the account?
Ans. The author’s work in the Gemini Studios was to cut out newspaper clippings on a wide variety of subjects. Naturally his work honed his literary taste. He was well informed. He must have fairly good knowledge of English literature. He has named quite a few English poets in this account. He must have been sending his prose pieces to different papers and periodicals. He surely sent his entry to a short story contest organised by The Encounter. Even after his retirement, he did not give up reading. He saw a pile of low-priced edition of ‘The God That failed’ and bought a copy. This shows that he had a taste for serious reading.

Q.2. The author has used gentle humour to point out human foibles. Pick out instances of these to show how this serves to make the piece interesting.
Ans. There are a number of instances of gentle humour in this piece. Especially the description of the make-up department that consumed truckloads of pancakes (they did not eat them, of course) is very interesting. The make-up room with mirrors and lights looked like a hair cutting salon. The make-up department was a symbol of national integration because there was a gang of people from different parts of India. This gang of nationally integrated make-up men could turn any decent looking person into a hideous crimson hued monster. There was a strict hierarchy in the make-up department in the task of making actors ugly. There was an office boy (though he was not a boy but a grown up man of forty). He had joined the Studios years ago in the hope of becoming a star actor, or a top screen writer, director or lyrics writer. He came to the author to enlighten him how great literary talent was being wasted. But the author prayed for crowd, shooting all the time to get rid of a genius of a bore.