A Helpless Situation Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share A Helpless Situation Questions & Answers.

In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Six Napoleons, Elder Brother and Gorillas in The Mist so, you can check these posts as well.

A Helpless Situation Questions & Answers

Question 1: Why does the author think it will be fine to print the letter from the woman?

Answer: The author thinks that it will be fine to print the letter from the woman as she died years ago and he would not reveal her name and address.

Question 2: What does Uncle Simmons remember very well?

Answer: Uncle Simmons remembers the incident when one night a cow fell down through the canvas roofed shelter in which Twain lived in at one time.

Question 3: How old was the woman when she wrote to Mark Twain?

Answer: The woman was 30 years old when she wrote to Mark Twain. (The incident happened 16 years ago, and the woman was 14 years old at that time.)

Question 4: What reason does the woman give the author for giving such a long introduction?

Answer: The woman told the author that the reason for giving such a long introduction is that, she feels it is the only way to make herself known to him and would like to get her book published through his influence in the literary world.

Question 5: What specific requests does the woman make in her letter?

Answer: The woman wanted Mark Twain to speak good word on her behalf which would help her get recognized in the literary world. She also requested him to write a letter to some publisher or it would be even better if he could meet the publisher on her account.

Question 6: How do we know that Mark Twain thought the letter was absurd?

Answer: We know that Mark Twain thought the letter was absurd as he refers to it as ‘embarrassing’ and ‘pathetic’ and he says he has no idea how to answer it. Even in his reply to the letter, he makes it clear that it is absurd by writing out a hypothetical meeting with a publisher, Mr H, which reveals how little information he has about the woman and her book and how ridiculous it would be if he were to speak to a publisher about her.

Question 7: Which people, according to Mark Twain, are likely to have ‘influence’?

Answer: According to Mark Twain, the following people likely to have ‘influence’ are well-known merchants, railway officials, manufacturers, capitalists, Mayors, Congressmen, Governors, editors, publishers, authors, brokers, and bankers.

A Helpless Situation Questions & Answers

Question 8: Briefly, what two important things does Mr H want to find out from Mark Twain?

Answer: The two important things Mr H wants to find out from Mark Twain are – what he thinks of the book and the author and whether he would recommend them.

Question 9: How does Mr H draw his meeting with Mark Twain to a conclusion?

Answer: Mr H concludes his meeting with Mark Twain by saying that his time is valuable, which means that he is giving a clear indication to Twain that he is wasting his time with irrelevant requests.

Question 10: Answer the following with reference to context.

He got hurt in the old Hal Clayton claim that was abandoned like the others, putting in a blast and not climbing out quick enough, though he scrambled the best he could.

(a) Who says these words and to whom?

Answer: These words are said by woman in her letter to Mark Twain.

(b) Who got hurt?

Answer: The woman’s husband got hurt.

(c) What is a claim?

Answer: Claim is a piece of land staked out by a miner.

(d) What happened as a result of him ‘not climbing out quick enough’?

Answer: As a result, he was thrown by the blast, he flew through the air, landed on the trail and hit into an Indian in the back.

(e) What question is asked about this incident by Mr H later on in the story?

Answer: Mr H asked question about the fatal consequences that happened during premature blast in the mines. He wanted to know who went through those fatal consequences, whether the woman’s husband or the Indian.

Question 11: Answer the following with reference to context.

It goes to every well-known merchant, and railway official, and manufacturer, and capitalist, …

(a) What goes and how does it go?

Answer: The letter seeking help through influence.

(b) What pattern does this (it) always follow?

Answer: It always follow a pattern, the pattern being that the writer of the letter is not directly known to the influential person but there is always a connection between the influential person and a relative of the letter’s writer.

(c) From what type of person would ‘it’ not be sent to people of influence?

Answer: The letter (seeking help) usually always comes from not a very talented person who tries to push himself or herself forward by attempting to gain familiarity with a person of influence.

Question 12: Answer the following with reference to context.

‘No, that isn’t all, there are other ties.’

(a) Who is speaking and to whom?

Answer: Mr Clemens (Mark Twain) is speaking to Mr H.

(b) What is not all? What has been the topic of discussion?

Answer: The connection between the woman and the narrator is not all. The narrator is not having any real relationship with the woman (letter writer) and he is struggling to describe his ties with her, that is the reason he speaks these words. Mr. Clemens and Mr H have been discussing why Mr Clemens (Mark Twain) is interested in recommending the woman’s book.

(c) Which further ties does the speaker go on to describe?

Answer: Mark Twain says he knows the cabin where her uncle lived in the mines, his partners, and the abandoned mine shaft. He says, he also came to know her husband.

So, these were A Helpless Situation Questions & Answers.

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