Swami’s Night Alone Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share Swami’s Night Alone Questions & Answers.

In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Boy with a Catapult, The Remarkable Rocket and Friends and Flatterers so, you can check these posts as well.

Swami’s Night Alone Questions & Answers

Word Galaxy

• Laughing stock – object of ridicule
• Strain – a particular quality in someone
• Crouched – remained close to the ground with knees bent
• Recked – suffered
• Agonized – cry of pain
• Reassuring – comforting
• Mollycoddle – overprotect
• Notorious – famous for something bad

Question 1: Where did Father ask Swami to sleep that night?

Answer: Father asked Swami to sleep in his office room that night.

Question 2: Why could Swami not keep a light burning?

Answer: Swami could not keep a light burning because his father told him that he must learn not be afraid of darkness.

Question 3: Why could Swami hardly breathe?

Answer: Swami had covered himself so completely to shut away all the noises around him that he could hardly breathe.

Question 4: Who did he expect to carry him away?

Answer: Swami expected the devils to come up and carry him away any moment.

Question 5: Which place did Swami think was ‘safer’?

Answer: Swami thought it was safer to sleep under the bench as it would be more compact and reassuring.

Swami’s Night Alone Questions & Answers

Question 6: Why did Swami feel angry?

Answer: Swami was angry because his father threatened him that if he rolled up his bed and went to his granny’s side at night, he would make him the laughing stock of his school. Swami was pained and hated the cruel streak in his father’s nature.

Question 7: Read the line and answer the questions:
“If you do it, mind you, I shall make you the laughing stock at your school.”

(a) Who said this and to whom?

Answer: Father said this to Swami.

(b) Why did the speaker say it?

Answer: The speaker said this to warn Swami that if he dared to roll up his bed and go to his granny’s side at night, he would make him the object of ridicule in the school.

(c) What was the speaker trying to do to the listener?

Answer: The speaker was trying to threaten the listener so that he did not try escaping from the office room at night.

Question 8: Why did Swami keep expecting the devil to come and carry him away?

Answer: Swami remembered all the stories of devils and ghosts he had heard. His friend Mani had seen the devil in the banyan tree at his street-end and Munisami’s father had spat blood because the devil had slapped his face. So, he expected the devil to come and carry him away at any moment.

Question 9: Why did he sleep under the bench?

Answer: He slept under the bench because he thought it was the safest place. It seemed cosy and reassuring to him.

Question 10: Why did his friends treat him with respect the next day?

Answer: His friends treated him with respect the next day because he had caught one of the notorious housebreakers of the district and he was being congratulated and praised by the headmaster and the police. He had become a hero overnight.

Swami’s Night Alone Questions & Answers

Question 11: What did Swami do the next evening?

Answer: The next evening, Swami went to sleep at seven-thirty itself before his father returned home. He was sleeping next to his grandmother as usual.

Question 12: Read the line and answer the questions:
“Something has bitten me!”

(a) Who or what had bitten the speaker?

Answer: Swami had bitten the speaker.

(b) Who or what had the biter bitten into?

Answer: The biter had bitten into the ankle of one of the notorious housebreakers in the district.

(c) What happened to the person who was bitten?

Answer: Father, cook and the servant fell on the person who was bitten and he was caught and later apprehended by the police.

Question 13: We could say that Swami was an ‘accidental hero’. Explain the statement.

Answer: We can certainly say that Swami was an ‘accidental hero’. He was terrified of the dark and crouched under the bench in his father’s office room when he was forced to sleep there all alone. He remembered the stories of the devils and ghosts he had heard. As he was being racked by nightmares, he heard a rustling sound and he saw something moving down. He decided to attack the devil before it could carry him away and holding fast, he bit into it and suddenly there was an agonizing cry and Father, cook and servant came running in carrying lights. Swami had been successful in nabbing one of the most notorious housebreakers in the district. He was hailed as a hero, congratulated and treated with respect by his friends.

Question 14: Do you think Father was right to force Swami to sleep by himself? Give reasons for your answer.

Answer: Father wanted Swami to grow up to be brave and not behave like a coward. So, he forced him to sleep all by himself in the office room. Swami was however terrified of the dark and he thought of all the stories about ghosts and devils that he had heard. Father could have first asked Swami to sleep by himself in a corner of the hall and not banished him to sleep in the dusty, dark room. Swami was racked by nightmares and was in a state of total shock and fear. I feel Father should have let Swami down easily and not been so harsh with him. He should have tried to understand Swami’s fear and be more supportive of him.

So, these were Swami’s Night Alone Questions & Answers.