Unit 2.5 Father returning home Textual Activity

 2.5 Father Returning Home

Brainstorming

(A1) (i) Discuss with your friend the difficulties faced by the father in the poem.

(a)The father did not get a seat while commuting to office from home.

(b)He worked late in the evening.

(c) He was deprived of fresh tea and food.

(d) He was not entertained at home.

(ii) Discuss the character sketch of the father with the help of the given points.

(His pathetic condition, the treatment he receives at home, his solitude, the

way he tries to overcome it)

(a) Father was a silent commuter wearing soggy shirts and pants.

(b) He had a weak eyesight. At home the children did not treat him well.

(c) He was alone while travelling in the train and home.

(d) He listened to the static on radio and dreamt of his ancestor and grandchildren.

(A2) (i) Given below are the ideas conveyed through the poem. Match the pairs and draw out the hidden meaning from those expressions.

Expressions                                                                Meaning

(a) Children avoid expressing themselves.       (1) Father is so eager to meet family members that he even                                                                             doesn’t bother about his safety.

(b) Father was deprived of refreshing                     (2) Hostility of children

hot beverages or nourishing diet.

(c) The father hurries home crossing railway line    (3) Indulge into his past and future.

(d) The father was destined to listen only                 (4) Uncomfortable journey

to the cracking sounds on media.

(e) His sordid present is devoid of any hope.            (5) His basic daily requirements were also not                                                                                             catered to.

(f) The father’s endless commuting distance            (6) Father is not less than any tribal wanderer, a 

 him from his children                                                modern nomad.

(g) Suburban area, visible through the train,        (7) Has least value in the society where his presence or   is past unnoticed                                                         absence might hardly make any difference. 

(h) He is just as a small word, dropping from a sentence.    (8) Because there is hardly anything                                                                                                                 enchanting / interesting in the                                                                                                                     monotonous routine journey to look out of                                                                                                     the window

(i) He doesn’t get a place in a crowded train.                    (9) The father couldn’t even fulfil the least                                                                                                     expectation of entertaining himself.

Ans : (a) – 2 ; (b) – 5 ; (c) – 1 ; (d) – 9 ; (e) – 7 ; (f) – 6; (g) – 8 ; (h) – 4 ; ( I ) – 6

(ii) Find the lines to prove the following facts from the poem.

Father is deprived of good food

“Drinking weak tea; eating stale chapatti.”

Children did not have a healthy relation with the father.

“His sullen children have often refused to share”

(iii) The poet deals with the theme of man’s estrangement from a man-made world. Analyze it with the help of the poem.

Ans: In the poem the father is described as alienated from the world and his own family. He travels among the silent commuters. He is neglected by the commuters. He is described as a word dropped from the sentence. He is not entertained at home by his children. The children refused to share simple jokes and daily routine with the father.

(iv) The father contemplates about his past and peeps into his future. Give reasons.

Ans: He was alienated from the society and the family. He was not allowed to entertain jokes and stories at home. To overcome his solitude he contemplates about his past and peeps into his future.

(A3) Complete the following using suitable describing words as appeared in the poem with the help of the words given in the brackets :

(weak, dim, muddy, soggy, stale)

(a) Father’s attire

(b) Father’s tea

(c) Father’s footwear

(d) Father’s food

(e) Father’s eyesight

Ans : (a) Father’s attire –soggy  (b) Father’s tea – weak  (c) Father’s footwear – muddy  (d) Father’s food – stale (e) Father’s eyesight – dim

(A4) (i) 'Fade homeward through the humid monsoon night'.

In the above line the weather is humid, not the night. The epithet or adjective is transferred from the weather to the night. This figure of speech is Transferred Epithet. Find out such other expressions from the poem.

Ans : unseeing eyes, weak tea, gray platform

(ii) Identify and write the lines from the poem which express the following figures of speech.

Figures of speech                    Lines                                            Explanation

1. Simile        Like a word dropped from a long sentence   Father is implicitly compared with a word.

2. Alliteration        Suburbs slide            A consonantal sound ‘s’ r repeated pleasingly.

3. Onomatopoeia        Listening to the static            ‘static’ is a sound word. 

4.  Synecdoche     I see him drinking weak tea,

                             eating a stale chapati.                                            Here ‘stale chapati’ stands for                                                                                                 stale food, where the part symbolizes the                                                                                                             whole, i.e. food.

5. Transferred epithet   Fade homeward through the         The epithet or adjective  ‘humid’ is transferred                                       humid monsoon night                              from the weather to the night.

A5.(iii) Compose a short poem in about 4-6 lines on you father.

My father is loving and caring'

guiding us in difficult situation.

He is the pillar of strength for us,

for he stands tall and tough,

in adverse condition.

Father is our mighty light house,

who forever shows us the brighter side of life.

                                      

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