NOTES (PROSE)

THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (30-40 Words)

1. Briefly describe grandmother as presented by the narrator.
A. Grandmother seemed to look the same for nearly twenty years. She was old, short, thin lady with a
stoop and a wrinkled face. She was dressed in spotless white and hobbled about telling her beads and
reciting her prayers.

2. How were the narrator and his grandmother good and intimate friends in the village?
A. Grandmother woke her grandson up early every morning and got him ready for school. She gave him
breakfast, got him his slate, ink pot and accompanied him to school. He was entirely dependent on her.

3. What was the 'turning point' in their friendship?

A. The narrator's parents sent for them and they shifted to the city. It was the turning point in their
friendship. Grandmother couldn't accompany him to the English school or help him in his studies. She
saw less of him and the distance grew between them.

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS (100-125 WORDS)

1. What was grandmother's opinion of the English school? Why did grandmother hate music?
A. Grandmother was sad that they didn't teach anything about God or the scriptures at the English
school. She didn't understand English words nor help him in his studies. She knew nothing about
western science and learning. She did not believe in topics they taught in the English school.
Grandmother considered that music was indecent and was meant for prostitutes and beggars. It was not
meant for gentlefolk or school children from respectable families.

2 Describe the unique relationship of grandmother with the sparrows. How did the sparrows mourn her
death?
A. Grandmother had love and compassion for animals. In the village, she fed the street dogs with bits of
chapathis. In the city, she took to feeding the sparrows. She would sit in the verandah in the afternoons
and break the bread into small crumbs. She would throw these crumbs to the hundreds of sparrows that
gathered around her. They would perch themselves on her legs, shoulders and even on her head and fill
the air with their noisy chirrupings. It was the happiest half-hour of the day for her. On the death of
grandmother, the sparrows paid a silent tribute to her. Thousands of sparrows gathered around her
dead body. They didn't chirrup or accept the bread crumbs given by mother. They mourned her death in
silence and flew away after her body was taken away for cremation.

3. Draw a character sketch of Khushwant Singh’s grandmother as portrayed in the lesson, ’The portrait
of a lady’ (OR)
Describe in brief the pen-picture of the narrator’s grandmother highlighting her noble qualities.
A.The narrator’s grandmother was true picture of love, affection and care. She had all those virtues
which grandmothers generally have for their grandchildren. She was highly religious, kind hearted but a
conservative lady. The grandmother presented a picture of peace and contentment. Her spotless white
dress and her silver hair reflected her spiritual beauty. The grandmother was not physically very
attractive. But she had a divine beauty. She had deep love and affection for her grandson. She got him
ready for school. She would accompanied him to school, stayed there and came back home along with
him. She was a religious lady and was always telling the beads of her rosary. She had compassion even
for animals and birds. In the village she used to feed the stray dogs and she took to feeding the sparrows
in the city. But the grandmother did not like the English school and science. She hated music and
associated it prostitutes and beggars.

OTHER IMPORTANT SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1Grandmother was "an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment". Elaborate.
"As the years rolled by, we saw less of each other". Why does the narrator say so?
2. Why did grandmother go to school with her grandson? Why did grandmother stop talking before her
death?
3. Describe grandmother's reaction when her grandson seemed to move away from her. Was she upset?
If not why?
4. Draw a contrast of the life of the narrator's grandmother spent in the village with the kind of life she
led in the city particularly highlight her concern for her grandson's educational.