Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Best Christmas Present in The World Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of Jalebis, Geography Lesson and The Open Window so, you can check these posts as well.
The Best Christmas Present in The World Questions & Answers
Question 1: What did the author find in a junk shop?
Answer: The author found a nineteenth century roll-top desk made up of oak wood which was put up for sale in a junk shop in Bridport. The desk was in a bad condition, broken in several pieces, a leg mended clumsily and burn marks on entire one side.
Question 2. What did he find in a secret drawer? Who do you think had put it in there?
Answer: The author found a small black tin box in the secret drawer. The tin box had a piece of lined notepaper sello-taped on top of it. It seemed the box was placed inside the secret drawer by the previous owner of the roll-top desk.
Question 3: Who had written the letter, to whom, and when?
Answer: Captain Jim Macpherson of the British army who was fighting a war against the Germans had written the letter to his wife Connie on 26th December, 1914.
Question 4: Why was the letter written — what was the wonderful thing that had happened?
Answer: Jim Macpherson described a wonderful event to his wife through that letter that happened on the day of Christmas. Although both the armies (the British and the Germans) were at war with each other, however, they celebrated Christmas together. They shared drinks, played football, exchanged carols and had a lovely time together and wished good luck to each other before they went back to their respective trenches.
Question 5: What jobs did Hans Wolf and Jim Macpherson have when they were not soldiers?
Answer: Before joining army, Hans Wolf played cello in the orchestra at Dusseldorf, whereas Jim Macpherson was a school teacher at Dorset in west of England.
Question 6: Had Hans Wolf ever been to Dorset? Why did he say he knew it?
Answer: No, Hans Wolf had never been to Dorset. All that he knew about Dorset or England, he had learned from school, and from reading books in English.
The Best Christmas Present in The World Questions & Answers
Question 7: Do you think Jim Macpherson came back from the war? How do you know this?
Answer: No, it appears Jim Macpherson never came back from war, perhaps due to the same reason his wife Connie has preserved this letter as a part of his memory.
Question 8: Why did the author go to Bridport?
Answer: The author went to Bridport to meet Mrs Jim Macpherson. He wanted to deliver her the letter written to her by her husband.
Question 9: How old was Mrs Macpherson now? Where was she?
Answer: Mrs Macpherson was a hundred and one years old by now. She was in the Burlington House Nursing Home that was located on the Dorchester Road, on the other side of town.
Question 10: Who did Connie Macpherson think her visitor was?
Answer: Connie Macpherson thought that the visitor was her husband, Jim Macpherson
Question 11: Which sentence in the text shows that the visitor did not try to hide his identity?
Answer: The sentence which shows that the visitor did not try to hide his identity is, “I explained about the desk, about how I had found it, but I don’t think she was listening”.
Question 12: For how long do you think Connie had kept Jim’s letter? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer: I assume that Connie had kept Jim’s letter for quite a long period as she explained that she had been reading this letter every day and with that she has always felt the presence of her husband Jim around her.
Question 13: Why do you think the desk had been sold, and when?
Answer: I assume that the desk would have been put on sale when Mrs Macpherson’s house caught fire and most of the things in the house got damaged due to fire. The roll-top desk too had burn marks on it.
The Best Christmas Present in The World Questions & Answers
Question 14: Why do Jim and Hans think that games or sports are good ways of resolving conflicts? Do you agree?
Answer: Both Jim and Hans were soldiers and had witnessed the pain, sorrow and after effects of war. Both wanted peace and thought that games or sports are good ways of resolving conflicts because no one dies in a football match, no children are orphaned and no wives become widows. Yes, I do agree with their thoughts.
Question 15: Do you think the soldiers of the two armies are like each other, or different from each other? Find evidence from the story to support your answer.
Answer: The soldiers of the two armies are similar to each other as per the following reasons derived from the story:
- Both the armies celebrated Christmas together.
- They shared their moments together by eating, drinking, laughing, talking and singing together.
- Both the armies played a friendly football match and approved the fact that conflicts could have been resolved by playing a match.
- They agreed about the pain, sorrow and after effects of war on the families.
- Both the armies longed for peace and wished each other to unite with their respective families soon.
Question 16: Mention the various ways in which the British and the German soldiers become friends and find things in common at Christmas.
Answer: The British and the German soldiers belonged to different camps. They were enemies in war time. But after all they were human beings and therefore, they had similar feelings. They shared the festive spirit of the Christmas. They got over hatred and played games, feasted and drank like good friends. Both hated war and were anxious to go back to their families at the end of war.
Question 17: What is Connie’s Christmas present? Why is it “the best Christmas present in the world”?
Answer: When the narrator visited Connie to deliver her husband’s letter, she mistook him to be her husband, Jim Macpherson. She was looking forward to Jim returning home for Christmas and assuming that it was Jim standing in front of him, she felt that this was her Christmas present.
This was the best Christmas present in the world for Connie because Jim had mentioned in the letter that he would be back home from war by Christmas. She used to read that letter multiple times in a day to feel her husband’s presence around her. Hence, when the narrator visited her to handover the letter, she was extremely happy and felt it was Jim who came back on Christmas as the best Christmas present for her in the world.
Question 18: Do you think the title of this story is suitable for it? Can you think of any other title(s)?
Answer: In my opinion the title is very apt and suits the story. For old Connie, no other present could have given her such joy as the coming home of Jim, her husband. Her presumption might be wrong, but she got the greatest happiness of her life. Since the story revolves around Christmas, the alternate title of the story could be ‘Christmas Gift’ or ‘A Christmas Wish’ or A Wish Comes True’. But neither can be a match to the present title.
So, these were The Best Christmas Present in The World Questions & Answers.