Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Rule of The Road Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Making of The Earth, The Home Coming and A Ballad of Sir Pertab Singh so, you can check these posts as well.
The Rule of The Road Questions & Answers
Question 1: Why was the stout old lady walking down the middle of a road?
Answer: The stout lady was walking down the middle of a road because she thought that she had the liberty to walk wherever she liked.
Question 2: How was the stout old lady mistaken about liberty?
Answer: The stout lady was mistaken about liberty because she failed to understand that rights came with responsibility. And if everyone were to do what he liked then, this individual liberty would lead to universal chaos and social anarchy.
Question 3: What does the policeman at Picadilly Circus symbolize?
Answer: The policeman at the Picadilly Circus is a symbol of liberty. He symbolizes curtailment of private liberty to ensure social order, which, makes one’s freedom a reality. He puts a little check on private liberty so that everyone can go safely on the road.
Question 4: Can we do whatever we feel like doing?
Answer: No, we cannot do whatever we feel like doing because liberty is not merely a personal affair but a social contract. If we ignore others interests, they will ignore ours thereby leading to social anarchy.
Question 5: What was the writer reading during the journey?
Answer: During the journey, the writer was reading a Blue-book.
Question 6: Why did the writer need a reasonable silence ¡n the compartment?
Answer: The writer was reading the book as a task, for a thoughtful purpose and not for pleasure. So, he needed a reasonable silence in the compartment.
Question 7: Who disturbed the writer?
Answer: The writer was disturbed when two men boarded the train. One of the two, was talking loudly and nonstop to the other. His pompous and incessant talk disturbed him.
Question 8: What was the intruding passenger talking of?
Answer: The intruding passenger was not talking specifically of anything. Rather, he was speaking on any and every subject under the sun.
Question 9: What is the basis of social contract?
Answer: A reasonable consideration for the rights and interests of others is the basis of a social contract.
Question 10: ‘We should be a judicious mixture of both’. What does the writer mean by his statement?
Answer: This statement means that we can neither be complete anarchists nor wholly socialists. This means that we have to maintain a delicate balance between our personal liberty and our social liberty.
Question 11: What is the theme of the essay ‘The Rule of the Road’? Explain.
Answer: The theme of the essay is that liberty is not merely a personal affair but a social contract. If we ignore others interests, they will ignore ours thereby leading to social anarchy. Our personal liberty must not become a cause of nuisance for others. Preservation of liberties of all lies in the curtailment of everybody’s liberty. The rights of one individual end where the rights of another begin and we must respect the others’ rights. The theme of this essay is based on the fact that we must understand our own duties if we want to enjoy some rights in the world.
Question 12: Describe, in your own words, how the writer was disturbed during his train journey.
Answer: The writer was trying to utilise his travel time by reading a Blue-book. He was reading this bookas a task, for a thoughtful purpose and not for pleasure. So, he needed a reasonable silence in the compartment. He got disturbed when two men boarded the train. One of the two, was talking loudly and nonstop to the other. He was not talking specifically of anything. Rather, he was speaking on any and every subject under the sun. His pompous and incessant talk disturbed the writer.
Question 13: ‘Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract.’ Explain in 50-60 words.
Answer: Liberty is not merely a personal affair but a social contract. If we ignore others interests, they will ignore ours thereby leading to social anarchy. Our personal liberty must not become a cause of nuisance for others. Preservation of liberties of all lies in the curtailment of everybody’s liberty. The rights of one individual end where the rights of another begin and we must respect the others’ rights. If we give reasonable consideration for the rights and interests of others, we can then travel the road of life smoothly and enjoy the journey.
So, these were The Rule of The Road Questions & Answers.