Hi Everyone!! This article will share A Matter Of Time Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of A Tale Of Two Cities and The Power Of Music so, you can check these posts as well.
A Matter Of Time Questions & Answers
Question 1: ‘His voice, too, had that half-belligerent quality of people who never get used to being on the wrong end of charity.’ Explain the meaning of the sentence. How was he on the ‘wrong end of charity’? Why did that make him belligerent?
Answer: This sentence means that the storyteller was angry and resentful at having to be dependent on others. He was on the ‘wrong end of charity’ because he was the poverty-stricken recipient of the kindness that well-off people might choose to show. This made him somewhat belligerent because he was unable to accept his situation and was angry at having to rely on the pity of others.
Question 2: ‘But he could never resist the temptation to do a little better.’ What did the storyteller mean by these words? Who was he speaking of and how did the person try to ‘do a little better’?
Answer: By this line, the storyteller meant that Chris Selby was always greedy for the opportunity to earn more. Although Selby was doing very well for himself in his job as a London theatrical agent, he tried to increase his profits by smuggling about five thousand watches twice a year, making use of his business trips to Paris.
Question 3: Why does the storyteller say ‘he was poison if you got in the way of his fifteen per cent’?
Answer: The storyteller says this to highlight the fact that though Chris Selby might have come across as charming and admirable, all his charm would vanish if there was an issue with his percentage of profit and he would drive a hard bargain then.
Question 4: What was Selby’s business in Paris? What was the reason he had to fill petrol frequently and why did he not mind it?
Answer: Selby used to make five or six trips every year to Paris on business, picking up acts and vaudeville performances. Twice a year, he would take his car over, using it to smuggle almost five thousand watches back to Dover. The watches were packed in the twelve-gallon tank of his car, which then held only two gallons of petrol. He had to fill petrol frequently because of this, which he did not mind as he used to make a profit of a thousand pounds on each trip.
Question 5: ‘If you or I tried anything like that we’d be as nervous as kittens with a duck for a foster-mother.’ What was Selby trying to do? Why was he not nervous? Identify and explain the literary device used in this sentence.
Answer: Selby was trying to smuggle watches from France to England, hiding them in the tank and floor of his car. He was not nervous because being a theatrical agent, he belonged to the world of show business and was expert at putting on an act of looking confident enough to fool the Customs officers. ‘…as kittens with a duck for a foster mother’ is a simile used to compare the storyteller’s level of nervousness and discomfort if he had to act like Selby while committing illegal acts to that of kittens who would be completely at sea trying to follow a duck’s behaviour and failing miserably.
A Matter Of Time Questions & Answers
Question 6: According to the storyteller, how did he eventually end up? How did the events of the story bear testimony to the storyteller’s words ‘I hate the sight of watches. They started it all.’?
Answer: According to the storyteller, he entered into a partnership with Chris Selby, after being taken in by his charm and confidence. Both of them were caught two years later. The events of the story trace the sequence of events as to how he was eventually caught by the authorities for smuggling because of the ticking watches. If he had not heard the ticking, he would not have known about Selby’s illegal activities, and would not have entered a partnership with Selby, which ultimately led to his downfall.
Question 7: Read the lines and answer the questions:
1. He always went over Dover to Calais and back that way, and most of the Customs boys knew him and liked him…
(a) Who said these lines to whom? Where were they at the time?
Answer: The storyteller said this to the narrator. They were at a restaurant at the time.
(b) Who is referred to as ‘he’ here? Why was the speaker narrating his story?
Answer: ‘He’ here refers to the conman, Chris Selby. The speaker was narrating his story to explain to the narrator the reason behind his hatred of watches.
(c) How did he travel from Dover to Calais?
Answer: He would take the ferry from Dover to Calais, and back again.
(d) Why does the speaker go on to describe him as ‘the kind of man anyone would like’?
Answer: The speaker described Selby in that manner as he was a man with a charming personality, flashing his smile at everyone and quite generous with complimentary tickets for London shows, which made him quite popular.
2. Chris Selby found Audiat and his brothers at the back of the shop and without wasting any time on polite enquiries as to their health and with the smile turned off, he let them have it.
(a) Who was Audiat? What was noteworthy about his brothers?
Answer: Monsieur Audiat was a modest jeweller in Paris who supplied Selby with the watches for smuggling. His brothers were almost half-witted and would hang about in the background while Audiat took care of their business.
(b) What was Selby’s usual routine with Audiat?
Answer: Selby’s usual routine was that he would leave his car overnight in the garage at the back of Audiat’s shop, the day before he would leave Paris. By the next morning, the Audiat brothers would pack all the watches in the car, ready to be smuggled by Selby.
(c) Explain the meaning of the phrase ‘let them have it’. Why did Selby do so?
Answer: The phrase let them have it here refers to Selby shouting furiously at the Audiat brothers. He expressed his anger as the previous shipment had defective watches, and many of them had been broken because of the bad packing, and as a result his profits had fallen.
(d) Explain the irony in the phrase ‘without wasting any time on polite enquiries as their health’ with reference to the Audiat brothers’ situation.
Answer: The irony here is that though Chris Selby was known for being an amiable person, who would smile and turn on his charm when it came to getting his work done, here he dropped all façade of niceties and launched into a tirade against Audiat, who was his accomplice in smuggling.
(e) What was Audiat’s reaction to Selby’s words?
Answer: As a reaction to Selby’s words, Audiat was extremely angry, so much so that he would have gladly stuck a knife in Selby’s heart, but he did want to destroy the source of the nice profit he used to make regularly.
A Matter Of Time Questions & Answers
3. He’d got the all-clear signal and was about to get into the car, when there was a mad wail of sirens. It went on for a few seconds, and then everything stopped.
(a) Who is referred to as ‘he’? Where were they and who else was there at the time?
Answer: Chris Selby is referred to as ‘he’ here. They were at the Dover dockyard. The Customs officer was with him.
(b) What do the words ‘all-clear signal’ signify?
Answer: The ‘all-clear signal’ meant that Selby had successfully cleared his car at the Customs, and could leave with it.
(c) What were the sirens for?
Answer: The sirens were for commemorating the truce between the Allied forces and Germany that had brought the First World War to an end.
(d) What happened after ‘everything stopped’?
Answer: After ‘everything stopped’, there was complete silence for two minutes, and Selby and the officer stood like a couple of wax figures. Then the only sound that was heard was the gentle ticking of five thousand watches from Selby’s car, which made the customs officer aware of the presence of the smuggled goods.
Question 8: What was the twist in the plot at the end of the story? Did you find it ironic? Why?
Answer: The twist in the plot at the end of the story was ironic in two ways. Firstly, the Audiat brothers had wound up the watches to impress Selby, but the ticking watches got Selby caught as well. Also, the revelation that the storyteller was the customs officer who had caught Selby and then became his accomplice is also ironic, because the person meant to abide by the law had been an active participant in the crime.
Question 9: What according to you, were the reasons for Selby’s downfall? Explain with examples from the story.
Answer: Selby’s downfall was brought about by his arrogance and overconfidence. He had felt that he knew the drill well enough to not get caught ever, and depended on his charming persona to see him through at the Customs. But he had not foreseen how the watches would themselves reveal his secret. His excessive greed too was responsible for what happened to him at the end. He was in a respectable profession, and was doing quite well. But his dissatisfaction with his situation and the desire to earn more profit made him commit illegal activities, and as we all know, crime never goes unpunished for long.
So, these were A Matter Of Time Questions & Answers.