NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Literature Reader Chapter 13 - The Dear Departed

TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS (SOLVED)

5. Answer the following questions briefly.

(a) How does Mrs Slater plan to outshine the Jordans? What does it reveal about her character?

Ans. Mrs Slater has managed to procure a black dress for mourning, though it is not complete. She believes that her mourning outfit would still be better than Mrs Jordan’s, who might not have managed to arrange it also. Her obsession for a mourning dress reveals that she is a frivolous and pretentious woman who is not distressed at the death of her father and is bothered more about worldly pretensions.

(b) Why does Mrs Slater decide to shift the bureau from grandfather’s room before the arrival of the Jordans? How does Henry react to the situation?

Ans. Mrs Slater wishes to steal the bureau and shift it in her room and replace it by her old chest of drawers. The bureau was new so now with her father’s death, she wishes to possess it before her sister comes and Henry is not that greedy and suggests that his wife must-discuss it with her sister before taking it away. Later he gets persuaded by his dominating wife.

(c) What is the reason for the Jordans taking a long time to get to the house of the Slater’s? What does it show about the attitude of the two sisters towards each other?

Ans. Mrs Jordan took a lot of time to reach the home of the Slater’s because she wanted to get a complete new mourning dress before coming. Both the sisters are not grief-stricken at the death of their father but are trying to out shine each other in wearing their best mourning dresses. For the sisters grief is to be depicted through mourningdress and not through the feelings in one’s heart.

(d) What does Mrs Jordan describe as ‘a fatal mistake’? What is the irony on the comment she makes on Mrs Slater’s defence?

Ans. Mrs. Jordan believes that not sending for the doctor at her father’s death was a ‘fatal mistake’. Mrs Slater clarifies immediately that since it was Mr Pringle who had always attended on her father, it would be against professional etiquette to call someone else. Mr Pringle was out of town so they didn’t call anyone else.

(e) Ben appreciates grandfather saying “it’s a good thing he did”. Later he calls him a ‘drunken old beggar’. Why does he change his opinion about grandfather?

Ans. Ben appreciates the grandfather for paying the premium of his insurance policy. When he hears that grandfather had not gone that day to pay the premium, he changes his stand and calls him a ‘drunken old beggar’ since the grandfather had gone to ‘Ring-O-Bells.’

(f) What change does the grandfather make in his new will? What effect will it have on his daughters?

Ans. The grandfather decides that he will change his will. He decides to leave all the things to whomsoever he’s living with when he dies. The daughters get agitated and consider it unfair. Both of them compete with each other to keep grandfather with them. None of them wanted to be deprived of their share.

(g) What are the three things that grandfather plans to do on Monday next? [C.B.S.E., 2011 (T-1)]

Ans. The grandfather plans to alter his will, pay his premium of the insurance policy and get married to John Shorrock’s widow.

6. Answer the following in detail :

(a) How does the spat between the two daughters leads to the grandfather discovering the truth?

Ans. Abel Merryweather recognises his bureau and wants to know the reason for its shifting. Mrs Slater had already told her sister that the bureau belonged to them. This lie is enough to set tongues wagging and tempers escalating. Mrs Jordan accuses her sister of stealing her father’s things, thinking him to be dead. That is when Abel discovers that they had gathered there for the official mourning of his death.

(b) Compare and contrast Henry’s character with his wife:

Ans. Henry is timid and honest by nature. Soft at heart, he tends to get bullied by his dominating wife. Initially he protests against stealing the grandfather’s slippers and bureau but when Mrs Slater forces him, he gets carried away. He is a worried looking man who believed what his wife says and ends up supporting her. Mrs Slater by contrast is vain, pretentious and greedy. She makes the plans and he executes them with his wife’s help of course.

SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

Q1. Discuss the significance of the title of the play. Bring out the irony inherent in it?
 [C.B.S.E. 2011 (T-1)]

Or 

In what way is the play satirical? Comment on the nature of its characters.
 [C.B.S.E. 2011 (T-1)]

Ans. The title is very appropriate and packed with great irony and wit that makes a farce of all relationships that are most intense and pious. Children like the Slaters and the Jordans are a blot on humanity and on the bonds of love and affection. Both Amelia and her sister consider their father Abel Merryweather a burden and his death is no loss to them. The father is taken lightly. Immediately after Abel’s supposed death, the elder daughter pinches his slippers, clock and his bureau. For both the daughters, father’s death is a kind of competition to outshine each other. There is no mourning in their hearts, but both the daughters vie with each other to wear the best mourning dress. Mrs Jordan wants to have her tea and snacks rather then looking at her dead father. Accusations are hurled at each other, death announcement is planned but no one spares a thought for the father. An obituary should reflect their feelings, that are non-existent. It is only the grand daughter Victoria, who is a sole witness to this game of pinching things and benefits. In a lighter tone, Abel Merryweather had sensed the mercenary nature of his daughter so he outwits them in their planning. He finds a widow to marry who would look after him better. The lesson ends on a humorous note but outlines a very tragic and pathetic concern – care of the elderly that is a glaring and ugly reality of today’s world.