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Question

Answer the following questions in your own words:

(a) Why did Mrs. Packletide wish to kill a tiger?

(b) What made her decide to give a party in Loona Bimberton's honour? What did she intend to give Loona on her birthday?

(c) How was the tiger shooting arranged? What kind of a tiger was chosen for the purpose?

(d) In what way did the villagers help Mrs. Packletide shoot the tiger?

(e) Who was Miss Mebbin? Was she really devoted to Mrs. Packletide? How did she behave during the tiger shooting?

(f) Mrs. Packletide was a good shot. Discuss.

(g) What comment did Miss Mebbin make after Mrs Packletide had fired the shot?

Why did Miss Mebbin make this comment? How did Mrs Packletide react to this comment?

(h) How did the villagers react to the tiger's death?

(i) Do you think Mrs. Packletide was able to achieve her heart's desire? Give reasons for your answer.

(j) How did Miss Mebbin manage to get her week-end cottage? Why did she plant so many tiger lilies in her garden?

(k) "The incidental expenses are so heavy," she confides to inquiring friends. Who is the speaker? What is she referring to here?

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Solution

(a) Mrs. Packletide wished to kill a tiger so that she could counter to Loona Bimberton’s claim who had been carried eleven miles in an Algerian aviator.

(b) Mrs.Packletide decided that once she shot a tiger, she would invite Loona Bimberton for a luncheon party. At the party she would display the newly-acquired tiger skin. The party would be an appropriate time to show off the tiger skin and talk about her tiger-shooting experience to Loona Bimberton. She intended to give a tiger-claw brooch to Loona Bimberton on her birthday.

(c) Mrs.Packletide offered a thousand rupees to villagers for arranging an opportunity to shoot a tiger without much risk or exertion. An old tiger that had given up hunting and confined himself to eating domestic animal was chosen for this purpose.

(d) The villagers were very excited at the prospect of earning a thousand rupees. They posted children at the outskirt of the jungle to keep a watch on the tiger in case he wanders off to new hunting grounds. Goats were scattered to keep him satisfied and to prevent him from straying. Mothers with babies walked quietly through the jungle so as to not to disturb its sleep. The villagers were only worried about the tiger that should not die of old age before the day of shoot.

(e) Miss Mebbin was a paid companion. Mrs. Packletide had acquired her so that she could witness the shooting of the tiger. She was very materialistic. She didn’t want to do more than she was paid for. In fact she also instigated Mrs. Packletide not to pay for the goat if the tiger did not eat it. She was not at all devoted to Mrs. Packletide. She was there only for the money.

(f) Mrs.Packletide was definitely a good shot. She did manage to shoot an animal although it was only the goat. The tiger merely died of a heart-failure caused by the sound of the gun shot.

(g) Miss Mebbin brought to everybody’s notice that Mrs.Packletide had not killed the tiger but the goat. The tiger died because of a heart-failure caused by the sound of the gun shot. Miss Mebbin intended to blackmail Mrs. Packletide with this piece of information. She wanted to take more money from her. Mrs. Packletide was very annoyed at this disclosure. However, she told herself that Miss Mebbin was only a paid companion who would keep the secret to herself if given more money.

(h) The villagers were only bothered for their thousand rupees. They did not pay any heed to Miss Mebbin’s revelation that Mrs. Packletide had not killed a tiger but a goat. They readily believed that Mrs. Packletide had shot the beast lest they lose their money.

(i) At the very beginning of the story it is made clear that Mrs. Packletide had made up her mind to shoot a tiger and get her pictures published in newspapers to show off to Loona Bimberton. She managed to shoot an animal, the goat. The tiger died of heart-failure. She, however, got her pictures with the dead tiger published in the newspapers. She also gifted a tiger-claw brooch to Loona Bimberton. She also hosted a luncheon party for Loona Bimberton which the latter declined to attend. Thus Mrs. Packletide achieved what her heart desired.

(j) Louisa Mebbin blackmailed Mrs. Packletide into buying her the weekend cottage or else she would have told Loona Bimberton that it was not the tiger but a mere goat that Mrs. Packletide had shot. The tiger lilies would always remind of how she had procured the cottage.

(k) Mrs. Packletide is the speaker. The lines are said in response to questions regarding why she did not hunt anymore. Mrs. Packletide is referred to the expenses that she incurred when she hunted for the first time, she paid the villagers, she paid Louisa Mebbin and even had to buy her a cottage.


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