Hi Everyone!! This article will share At Dotheboys Hall Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Devoted Friend, Teachers and The Wild Swans At Coole so, you can check these posts as well.
At Dotheboys Hall Questions & Answers
Question 1: Complete the table:
Answer:
| Situation | Action |
| 1. The pump had frozen. | a. Nicholas could not wash himself. |
| 2. Smike told Mrs Squeers that the school spoon might be in her pocket. | b. Smike got another box on the ear for contradicting his mistress. |
| 3. Nicholas really needed the job | c. Nicholas tolerated the coarse language of Squeers, the insults of Mrs Squeers, the bad food and dirty lodging. |
| 4. Nicholas was kind to Smike. | d. Smike could not hold back his tears. |
| 5. Smike was found and brought back within twenty-four hours after he had run away | e. Mr Squeers hit Smike. |
Question 2: Read the lines and answer the questions:
‘I can’t find the school spoon anywhere. And it’s brimstone morning today!’
(a) Who said these words? Who else was present at the time?
Answer: Mrs Squeers said these words. Mr Squeers and Nicholas Nickleby were present at the time.
(b) Describe the speaker’s appearance. Why did the speaker need the spoon?
Answer: Mrs Squeers was in her night clothes and was wearing a beaver bonnet. She needed the spoon to administer treacle to the boys that morning.
(c) What happened on ‘brimstone morning’? What, according to Mrs Squeers, was the purpose of it? What was the real reason for giving it to the boys?
Answer: All the boys were given treacle and brimstone before breakfast, once in a while. It was supposed to purify the boys’ blood. The real reason for giving it to the boys was that these were substitutes for medicine and also reduced their appetite. They were cheaper than giving meals, thereby reducing costs.
(d) Why did the boys agree to have the mixture?
Answer: The boys agreed to have the mixture because they would be punished otherwise.
At Dotheboys Hall Questions & Answers
Question 3: Read the lines and answer the questions:
‘This is the class in English spelling and philosophy, Nickleby.’
(a) What method of teaching was followed in the school, according to Mr Squeers?
Answer: According to Mr Squeers, a practical method of teaching was followed in the school.
(b) How did he demonstrate the method to Nicholas?
Answer: Mr Squeers demonstrated the method to Nicholas with three examples: He explained the action of a boy cleaning the windows by spelling the words ‘clean’ and ‘winder’, mentioning which part of speech the first was and then providing the meanings of both words. This was followed by a boy doing the work indicated by the words.
Another example was of a boy who was weeding the garden. Mr Squeers again spelt the word bottiney (incorrectly; the correct spelling is botany), mentioned the part of speech and the meaning.
Finally, he asked a third boy to define a horse. When the boy answered that it was a beast, Mr Squeers explained that a horse is a quadruped, which is Latin for beast and then told the boy to go and look after his horse, and rub him down. In each case, a brief lesson was followed by the student doing a chore for Mr Squeers. This was the method of teaching that was demonstrated to Nicholas.
(c) Describe the classroom.
Answer: The classroom was quite dismal. The faulty windows were closed by piling old copybooks and paper against them, the desks were old and shaky and the walls were discoloured. In addition, and probably due to the broken windows, the room was quite chilly. There was a small stove in a corner of the room.
(d) Why was Nicholas filled with dismay when he saw the students?
Answer: Nicholas was filled with dismay when he saw the students because they were dressed in odd, ill-fitting clothes and had pale and tired-looking faces. They were malnourished and their faces revealed the cruelty and neglect that they had suffered. They did not look healthy at all.
(e) What did Nicholas understand about the Squeers from this episode?
Answer: Nicholas understood that Mr Squeers was unfit to teach the children and his methods of teaching were incorrect. The Squeers exploited the children and got them to do chores for free. They were punished for mistakes they did not make. It was clear to him that the Squeers did not have the children’s interests at heart.
Question 4: Read the lines and answer the questions:
‘Touch that boy at your peril. I will not stand by and see it done.’
(a) Who said these words and to whom?
Answer: Nicholas said these words to Mr Squeers.
(b) Who is the boy being spoken about? What had he done?
Answer: The boy being spoken about was Smike. Smike was unable to bear this torment at the hands of the Squeers and had run away.
(c) Why was he going to be punished severely?
Answer: Smike was going to be punished severely as Mr Squeers made an example of the boys who had run away, so that others wold be too scared to do so and would tolerate the punishments given to them. In addition, the work that Smike did would have cost the school ten or twelve shillings a week in wages, which Mr Squeers was getting done for free.
(d) What made the speaker say these words? Describe what happened after this.
Answer: Nicholas could not tolerate it when Mr Squeers struck Smike with the cane, making the boy shriek in pain, because he had long tolerated Mr Squeers’ ill-treatment of the boy and had remained silent but could no longer do so. Before this episode, the boy had also shared his pain of losing friends younger than him at Dotheboys HaIl and had lost all hope. An angry Mr Squeers struck Nicholas with the cane. Nicholas lost all control and sprang upon the schoolmaster, snatched the cane from him and turned his anger upon the man until the former screamed for forgiveness.
(e) What role did Mrs Squeers play in the scene? Was it of any help?
Answer: Mrs Squeers, kept shrieking for help, held on to the tail of her husband’s coat and tried to drag him away. It was of no use as no one came forward to help and she was unable to drag him away by herself.
At Dotheboys Hall Questions & Answers
Question 5: Was Smike indeed disrespectful to Mrs Squeers when he suggested that the spoon was in her pocket?
Answer: Spike was only suggesting that the spoon was in Mrs Squeers’ pocket because he must have observed her putting it there on most days. He was just speaking from previous experience and was not being disrespectful.
Question 6: What do you think of the way Dotheboys was run by the Squeers and their treatment of students? Can it be considered discipline, or is it cruelty?
Answer: In my opinion, the way Dotheboys Hall was run by the Squeers bordered on cruelty. The couple deprived the boys of their basic needs by not feeding them properly, making them wear old, odd-fitting clothes, making them work without any payment in the name of education, forcing them to live in unhealthy conditions and physically punishing them regularly, without cause. This behaviour cannot be an excuse to teach children discipline; it is just plain cruelty.
Question 7: ‘The deficiencies of Squeers’ teaching methods were made up for by lavish punishments’. Explain the meaning of the underlined phrase. Can punishments be ‘lavish’?
Answer: We associate ‘Iavish’ with generous things, such as gifts and food, not punishments, so this phrase is an example of irony.
Question 8: Do you think Nicholas should have ‘turned his fury’ on Mr Squeers? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer: It is not right to resort to violence, but in this case, Nicholas was pushed to his limit. He could no longer bear to stand by and watch the boys, and especially Smike, being treated so brutally by the Squeers. He had also heard of the death of other younger children at Dotheboys from Smike, which must have increased his desperation to do something for the boys. As he was their teacher, he must have felt helpless for not acting on their behalf earlier because he had been afraid to lose his job. All this led to his final act of violence.
So, these were At Dotheboys Hall Questions & Answers.