*According to NCERT updated Syllabus 2023-24, this chapter has been removed.
NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Chapter 7 – The Open Window is available on BYJU’S in easily downloadable PDF format for CBSE students. The NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English link of Chapter 7 is given below. All the solutions have been solved by our expert teachers in accordance with the latest CBSE guidelines.
This chapter, “The Open Window”, narrates the story of Mr Framton Nuttel, who was suffering from a nerve disorder. He looks out for a cure in the countryside and goes to meet a family friend, Mrs Sappleton. When he visits her home, she is away, and he meets her young niece, who refers to a family mishap while focusing on the open window. Hence, the entire story is based on an open window with a mysterious backdrop.
Meanwhile, Class 8 students can refer to the NCERT Solutions of the English Supplementary textbook – It So Happened here. All the textbook and additional exercise questions have been solved by subject-matter experts as per the updated CBSE English curriculum. Students can also explore the other important subjects of NCERT Solutions of Class 8 and score good grades in their exams.
NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Chapter 7 – The Open Window
Access Answers to NCERT Class 8 English Chapter 7 – The Open Window
The Open Window
Comprehension Check (Page 57)
Question 1:
Why had Framton Nuttel come to the “rural retreat”?
Answer:
Mr Framton Nuttel was suffering from a nerve disorder and was worried about his health condition. His doctor recommended that he take a break from his city life. Hence, he had come to the “rural retreat” as a measure to undergo treatment for his nerve problem in the peaceful environment of the countryside.
Question 2:
Why had his sister given him letters of introduction to people living there?
Answer:
Nuttel did not know people in the countryside. Hence, his sister gave him letters of introduction to people living there so that he would not feel lonely and isolated while he visited the countryside for his nerve ailment treatment. She was aware that he would speak less and his nerve disorder would get worse from moping. One among those letters of introduction was of Mrs Sappleton.
Question 3:
What had happened in the Sappleton family as narrated by the niece?
Answer:
The niece told Mr Nuttel that around three years ago, Mrs Sappleton’s husband and her two young brothers went off for their day’s shooting. They never returned. While they were crossing the moor to their favourite shooting ground, all three of them were engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It was a dreadful wet summer, and even the places that were once safe in other years suddenly gave way without any warning. However, their bodies were never recovered.
Comprehension Check (Page 60)
Question 1:
What did Mrs Sappleton say about the open window?
Answer:
When Mrs Sappleton met Mr Nuttel, she said that her husband and her two young brothers would enter the house through the open window. Hence, she kept it open till it was dark and hoped that Mr Nuttel had no problem in keeping the window open.
Question 2:
The horror on the girl’s face made Framton swing around in his seat. What did he see?
Answer:
When Framton turned around his seat after seeing the horror on the girl’s face, he noticed a silhouette of three men with guns and a dog in the midst of evening light. Then there was a hoarse young voice that called out to the dog. Seeing this, Nuttel agreed to the description given by Vera and realized it was indeed right.
Comprehension Check (Page 61)
Question 1:
Why did Framton rush out wildly?
Answer:
Vera told Mr Nuttel that her aunt, Mrs Sappleton’s husband and her two young brothers had been missing for three years. When Framton saw a silhouette of three men with guns and a dog in the midst of evening light, he thought these were their ghosts, and he rushed out wildly in fear.
Question 2:
What was the girl’s explanation for his lightning exit?
Answer:
The girl explained that Framton made a lighting exit because of the spaniel dog. She mentioned that Nuttel told her that he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Hence, when he heard the spaniel bark outside, he left the place at lightning speed.
Exercise (Page 61)
Discuss in small groups.
Question 1:
Is this a mystery story? Give a reason for your answer.
Answer:
While explaining the mystery of the big open French window, Mrs Sappleton’s niece created an imaginative story with a mysterious backdrop. Later, when the three men with guns arrive with a dog, it makes Framton believe that he has seen ghosts, and he rushes out of the house wildly in fear. Hence, we can say that the story “The Open Window” contains various elements of a mystery.
Question 2:
You are familiar with the ‘irony’ of the situation in a story. (Remember the cop and the Anthem in Class VII Supplementary Reader!) Which situations in ‘The Open Window’ are good examples of the use of irony?
Answer:
Irony refers to a situation in which something which was supposed to have a particular result, on the contrary, has an opposite or different result. In the story, ‘The Open Window’, Mr Framton Nuttel goes to visit the countryside with the hope of finding a cure for his nerve ailment. But when Mrs Sappleton’s niece pulls a prank on him, he cannot deal with fear and makes a lightning exit from that place. He mistakes Mrs Sappleton’s husband and her two young brothers to be ghosts and leaves the house without bidding goodbye to her.
Question 3:
Which phrases/sentences in the text do you find difficult to understand? Select a few and guess the meaning of each. Rewrite a simple paraphrase of each.
Answer:
Masculine habitation – This implies that some male persons used to live in the room.
Bertie, why do you bound – The word bound means to jump or leap. But in the story, it refers to Ronnie, Mrs Sappleton’s youngest brother, who would often say this to scare her.
Came into the nice division – This refers to nice people.
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