Question

Answer the following questions as briefly as possible:

(a) ‘Oh, he’s just too cute to live!’ the world said. How does this remark almost come true?

(b) On the nineteenth day Cutie Pie woke from ‘a beautiful dream to an appalling reality.’ What was so appalling about the ‘reality’? What had he been dreaming of?

(c) In the story the writer comments on the habit of the media to sensationalise news and the fact that public memory is short lived. Can you pick up instances from the story that illustrate this?

(d) ‘Cutie Pie’ were words they flinched from. Who does ‘they’ refer to? Why did they flinch from the mention of these words?

(e) Though Cutie Pie escaped from his prison, he was not able to return to his planet immediately. Why?

(f) Though the humans had not treated Cutie Pie very well, yet he befriends a human baby. What do you think makes him behave in this manner?

(g) Cutie Pie appears to be very attached to his mother. Can you pick up incidents from the lesson that give us the impression?

Answer 1

(a) The remark almost came true when the atmosphere inside the glass prison in which Cutie Pie (or Ch-tsal) was kept, started killing him. His feathers and whiskers began falling off, and the scientists attending him had no idea as to what diet would be good for him.

(b) The ‘appalling’ thing about the reality was that his feathers, which were not only filters, temperature-controllers, respirators and much more, but also his own style of beauty, had fallen off.

He had been dreaming of his mother and her beauty.

(c) Instances showing the habit of the media to sensationalise news:

Constant coverage of Cutie Pie in his glass prison

Excitement created around the birth of a baby panda and the arrival of a new girl singer Reference to Cutie Pie dolls, colouring books, tee-shirts, fan clubs, cereal cartons, cartoon serials reflects the hype created by the media and its results.

Instances showing that the public memory is short lived:

The baby panda, the girl singer and the Olympic Games became more interesting than Cutie Pie.

Later, the spaceship created much excitement, and people wondered whether there was any link between Cutie Pie and the spaceship. However, this too faded into the background of some other interesting new story.

(d) ‘They’ refers to the scientists who were looking after Cutie Pie. They flinched from the mention of these words because these words reminded them of their failure to cure Cutie Pie of his sickness. Cutie Pie had lost all his whiskers and feathers, and the scientists had no idea as to what was needed to be done to help him. As the writer says, “His sickness accused them of incompetence; his survival was an embarrassment (to them).”

(e) Though Cutie Pie escaped from his prison, he was not able to return to his planet immediately because his whiskers, which were his tool for communication (“his receiver’s antennae, language-carriers, voice”), had fallen off.

(f) Cutie Pie knew that the humans who had captured him did not mean to torture him. He sensed that they were not wicked, and he could feel that they meant well. However, he could not talk to them so as to explain his situation. Later, on escaping from the glass prison, he needed a friend to talk to, a creature to give him comfort. Finally, he found this friendship and comfort in a human baby named C.H. Winters.

(g) Incidents showing that Cutie Pie was very attached to his mother:

When he was inside the glass prison, he dreamt of his mother and her beauty.

The loving emotions that flowed between the mother and the baby reminded him of the mother’s love that he received during his own childhood.

When he reached out to the skies, the faint voice he heard was that of his mother.