Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Mouse Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Pandavas In Exile, Tremendous Tree and The Voice Of Conscience so, you can check these posts as well.
The Mouse Questions & Answers
Question 1: What was Theodoric’s mother like?
Answer: Theodoric’s mother was kind, caring and loving; she had kept her child away from the rough world.
Question 2: What made Theodoric uncomfortable while he was travelling in the railway compartment?
Answer: Theodoric was uncomfortable because a mouse has found its way into his clothes and was creeping over his flesh. This made him uncomfortable while he was travelling in the compartment.
Question 3: How did Theodoric end up with a mouse in his clothes?
Answer: Theodoric tied the railway rug on either side of the carriage, to create a narrow dressing room, where he started taking away his clothes one by one to end up with a mouse in his clothes.
Question 4: What went on in Theodoric’s mind once the mouse began to move under his clothes?
Answer: As soon as the mouse move under his clothes, Theodoric jumped on the rug and held it to his chin and retreated into the farther corner of the carriage, because it was going in his mind that what the lady would think of him, if she would look him in his current posture i.e. without clothes.
Question 5: Describe the lady who was travelling with Theodoric.
Answer: The lady, travelling with Theodoric was about the same age of Theodoric.
Question 6: How did Theodoric get rid of the mouse?
Answer: Theodoric tied the railway rug on either side of the carriage, to create a narrow dressing room, where he started taking away his clothes one by one to end up with a mouse in his clothes.
The Mouse Questions & Answers
Question 7: Read the lines and answer the questions:
1. The train had scarcely attained its normal speed when he became aware of a warm, creeping movement over his flesh.
(a) Who is ‘he’ here?
Answer: Here in the context “he” refers to Theodoric.
(b) What was moving over his flesh?
Answer: The mouse that found its way into his clothes was moving over his flesh.
(c) Who else was travelling with him?
Answer: A lady of about the same age of Theodoric was travelling with him.
2. Crimsoning to the hue of a beetroot and keeping a worried watch on his fellow-traveller, he swiftly and noiselessly tied the ends of his railway rug to the racks on either side of the carriage…
(a) Who was ‘crimsoning’? Why?
Answer: Theodoric was crimsoning because a mouse has found its way into his clothes was moving over his flesh.
(b) Why was this person keeping a worried watch on his fellow-traveller?
Answer: The person was keeping a worried watch on his fellow-traveller because it was going in his mind that what the lady would think of him, if she look him ¡n his current posture i.e., without clothes.
(c) Why did the person tie the ends of his railway rug to the racks?
Answer: The person tied the ends of his railway rug to the rack, to create a narrow dressing room, where he can get undress to get rid of the intruded mouse.
3. But she just stared silently at him. How much had she seen, Theodoric asked himself and in any case what on earth must she think of his present posture?
(a) Who was ‘she’ here?
Answer: In the given context, “she” is referred to the Lady, who is the fellow-traveller, travelling in the same compartment with Theodoric.
(b) Why did she stare silently at Theodoric?
Answer: She was blind (unknown to Theodoric) and by default sitting facing towards Theodoric, that’s why he thought that she is staring silently at him.
(c) What was his present posture?
Answer: To get rid of the mouse, he had taken away all his clothes and to hide him from the lady, he covered his body with the railway rug by holding it to his chin and it was his present posture.
Question 8: How did Theodoric’s mother bring him up?
Answer: Theodoric’s mother was a kind, caring and loving mother, she had kept her child away from the rough world.
Question 9: What did Theodoric’s clothes smell of? Why?
Answer: Theodoric’s clothes smelled of the mice and the stable, as because to catch the train Theodoric had to go to an ill-lighted stable filled with mice and had to harness the pony himself.
Question 10: Whom did Theodoric share his compartment with?
Answer: Theodoric share his compartment with a lady, who was about the same age of Theodoric.
Question 11: In what ways was the compartment suitable for him?
Answer: The compartment was suitable for him because it was old-fashioned that held no communication with a corridor, therefore no other travelling companion were likely to intrude on Theodoric’s semi privacy.
The Mouse Questions & Answers
Question 12: How did Theodoric get rid of the mouse?
Answer: To get rid of the mouse, Theodoric tied the railway rug on either side of the carriage, to create a narrow dressing room, where he started taking away his clothes one by one, which ended up with the wild leap of the mouse to the floor.
Question 13: What did Theodoric’s companion request him to do? What shocking revelation did she make?
Answer: Theodoric’s companion requested him to get her a porter to put her into a cab; and the shocking revelation that she made by saying “being blind makes one so helpless.”
Question 14: How does the author create humour in this story? Provide two examples from the story to support your answer.
Answer: The poet uses many comic elements in the story to create humour and playful tone of the narration. Some of them are metaphoric, simile and irony.
The two humorous parts from the story are as follows:
1. “It was a mouse that had evidently dashed into his clothes while he was harnessing the pony in the stable.”
2. “he swiftly and noiselessly tied the ends of his railway rug to the racks on either side of the carriage, so that a curtain hung across the compartment. In the narrow dressing room that he had thus created, he proceeded to rid himself partially of his clothes and entirely of the mouse”.
Question 15: How do you think Theodoric’s fear informs his behaviour? Discuss.
Answer: Theodoric’s fear informs his behaviour at many parts of the story. The moment when “the mouse gave a wild leap to the floor, Theodoric came down with a heart-curdling flop and pounced on the rug, held it to his chin and retreated into the farther corner” this completely reveals that Theodoric’s fear informs his behaviour.
Question 16: Theodoric had a harrowing experience with the mouse. What was the most tormenting part of the entire experience?
Answer: The most tormenting part of the harrowing experience of Theodoric with the mouse, was when he completely got discomfort with the activity of the mouse inside his cloth which compelled him to undress in the presence of a lady that made his ear tips tingle in a blush of extreme shame.
Question 17: Comment on the ending of the story.
Answer: The climax of the story is at the very end, when Theodoric’s traveling companion informs him that she is blind, something that he hasn’t noticed before. He feels horribly ashamed as he believes his fellow passenger has seen him disrobing behind his railway rug to extricate a mouse from inside his clothing.
So, these were The Mouse Questions & Answers.