Read these lines and guess the answers to the questions given below

It was Mrs. Packletide's pleasure and intention that she should shoot a tiger …. The compelling motive ….was the fact that Loona Bimberton had recently …… personally procured tiger-skin and a heavy harvest of Press photographs could successfully counter that sort of thing.

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

(b) What does it tell you about her?

(c) What is the tone of the storywriter?

(d) Do you think she was successful in her mission?

(e) What do you think the story is all about?

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Solution

Note: This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own. However, sample solutions have been provided for your reference.

(a) Mrs. Packletide wished to shoot a tiger and get her pictures published. This was to show off in front of Loona Bimberton who had recently obtained a tiger-skin and couldn’t stop boasting about it.

(b) Mrs. Packletide is full of vanity. She is a selfish person who seems to be jealous at other people’s success.

(c) It seems that the story has humour laced with satire.

(d) The story begins on a note that suggests that Mrs. Packletide’s has made up her mind to shoot a tiger. With this firm resolve, it seems that she was successful in her mission.

(e) I think the story is all about Mrs. Packletide’s hunting expedition.

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Similar questions

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?

(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?

Discuss the following questions in detail and write the answers in your notebooks:

(a) Do you think the tiger shooting organized by the villagers was a serious affair?

Give reasons for your answer.

(b) Do you think the writer is trying to make fun of the main characters in the story i.e. Mrs. Packletide, Miss Mebbin and Loona Bimberton? Pick out instances from the story that point to this fact.

(c) A person who is vain is full of self importance and can only think of himself/herself and can go to great lengths to prove his/her superiority. Do you think Mrs Packletide is vain? Give reasons in support of your answer.

(d) Sometimes writers highlight certain negative aspects in society or human beings by making fun of it. This is called satire. In your groups discuss whether you would classify this story as a satire. Give reasons to support your answer

(e) How does the writer create humor in this story?

There are many amusing lines in the story. Here are a few of them. Rewrite each one in ordinary prose so that the meaning is retained. One has been done for you as an example:

(a) It was Mrs. Packletide's pleasure and intention that she should shoot a tiger.

Mrs. Packletide wanted to shoot a tiger

(b) Mrs. Packletide had already arranged in her mind the lunch she would give at her house in Curzon Street, ostensibly in Loona Bimberton's honour, with a tiger-skin rug occupying most of the foreground and all of the conversation.

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(c) Mothers carrying their babies home through the jungle after the day's work in the fields hushed their singing lest they might curtail the restful sleep of the venerable herd-robber.

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(d) Louisa Mebbin adopted a protective elder-sister attitude towards money in general, irrespective of nationality or denomination

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(e) Evidently the wrong animal had been hit, and the beast of prey had succumbed to heart-failure, caused by the sudden report of the rifle, accelerated by senile decay

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(f) As for Loona Bimberton, she refused to look at an illustrated paper for weeks, and her letter of thanks for the gift of a tiger-claw brooch was a model of repressed emotions

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(a) Years later Mrs. Packletide writes her autobiography. As Mrs. Packletide, write about the tiger episode with the help of the clues given below.

jealous of the applause Loona was getting-thought of tiger hunt--all arranged-- Louisa Mebbin accompanied; turned out to be a blackmailer-huge price to pay to outdo a rival

(b) In groups of four construct the dialogues and enact the following situations from the story:

1. Mrs. Packletide and the headman of the village/other villagers discussing the details of the tiger shooting

2. Miss Mebbin blackmailing Mrs Packletide into gifting her a cottage

3. Loona Bimberton and a lady-friend discussing Mrs Packletide's hunting success

Do you think she was successful in her mission?

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