Chapter 4 : Class 11 The Wish Exercise Question Answer Solution
Understanding the text
Answer the following the questions.
a. What did the child do to the scab on his knee?
-> In the story, The wish by Roald Dahl present`s a child`s frightening childhood event taking us into his imagination, which is full of terrifying. At the beginning of the story, the narrator gives us detail about the child, who is found sitting on the stairs. According to him, the child has a wound on his knee and there`s a scab on it. The child dares to get rid of it and peels it off with his nail. He puts it on his thigh and flings it with his finger.
b. What kind of effect did the carpet have on the child?
-> In the story, a child`s frightening childhood event takes us into his imagination, which makes things go real. After peeling the scab off his wound, he takes a sight of the carpet and it immediately dazzles to his glance. He notices three different colors in which circles of red color have lumps of burning coals, black with poisonous snakes and only yellow ones are safe zones to go him across safely. This image of the carpet makes him create an unbelievable imagination.
C. What was he afraid of while walking across the carpet?
-> In the story, it presents a child`s frightening childhood event taking into his imagination, which makes things go real. After accepting the challenge to go across the carpet full of snakes and fire, he walks on the yellow patches, which are a safe zone. He was in fact much afraid of black circles while walking across the carpet because there were poisonous snakes like cobras, adders. He didn`t want to be beaten.
d. What motivated and encouraged the child to start and continue on his journey?
-> In the story, He notices red colors of burning coals, black colors of snakes, and yellow colors of safe zones to walk on. He steps on yellow patches by wobbling and balancing his body with his hands on either side. When he gets half of his journey, he looks back and is terrified. He decides not to move ahead but instantly remembers a puppy, which is going to be wished with the following day on his birthday. Thus, the thought of getting the puppy motivated and encouraged him to start and continue on his journey.
e. What did the child see as he looked down on the black patterns of the carpet?
-> In the end of the journey, there he saw a curl of black colors as a pattern. He didn`t jump off across it since he wasn`t sure. So he extended his one leg across the pattern/the curl of black colors onto a yellow patch. Sorry to him, he could neither move ahead nor get back. He got stuck there and looked beneath him. He noticed the curl of black colors of poisonous snakes separating from one another and raising their heads towards him.
Reference to the context
a. The writer creates two voices in the story. Who are they?
-> In the story, The wish by Roald Dahl presents a child`s frightening childhood event taking us into his imagination, which makes things go real. To make his story much livelier, the writer creates two voices in the story. In the first couple of paragraphs, an unnamed narrator speaks about the child. He presents the child`s physical description like the child has white golden hair, an oval face, and blue eyes. He describes how the child peels off the scab from the wound and the sight of the carpet dazzles his imagination. Afterward, in the rest of the entire story, the child speaks about the frightening journey that he accepts to accomplish to get the puppy on his birthday the following day.
b. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
“…the black parts are snakes, poisonous snakes, adders mostly, and cobras, thick
like tree-trunks round the middle, and if I touch one of them, I'll be bitten and I'll
die before tea time. And if I get across safely, without being burnt and without
being bitten, I will be given a puppy for my birthday tomorrow.”
i. What does ‘the black part’ mean?
-> Literally ‘ the black part ‘ means the patch/circle of snakes, poisonous snakes, adders mostly, and cobras, thick like tree-trunk round the middle. In the depth level it means the obstacles the child has to face.
ii. Who is the speaker?
-> The young child is the speaker in the poem.
iii. Why doesn’t the speaker want to be burnt?
-> The speaker doesn`t want to be burnt because he is going to be wished with a puppy on his birthday the following day.
c. Which images and metaphors are used in the story?
-> The wish by Roald Dahl is a story full of images and metaphors, by which the child in the story is able to take us into his incredible imagination. The narrator who gives the first voice in the story describes the child so that we might know who the child was and what he looked like. The image of the carpet is pretty more convincing than the child peeling off the scab. It is because the child envisions the carpet alive with lumps of burning coals and poisonous snakes with red and black colors respectively. Yellow the yet another color opens the path for him to go across. Walking across the carpet with great fear and courage, the child fails towards the end of the journey. His right hand falls into the curl of black colors. In fact, there are not any patches/circles of colors on the carpet. They are just images.
The description of the child peeling off the scab without pain is the first metaphor (strong comparison ) of success on an attempt. The fear of the child to see the fire and snakes on the carpet is the second metaphor of his innocence. The lumps of burning coals and poisonous snakes are the metaphors of obstacles and challenges in life. The puppy is the metaphor of hope and greed. The failure attempt by the child at the end of the story is the metaphor of immunity.
d. Summarise the short story “The Wish” in about 200 words.
-> For the summary part Click -> “The Wish summary”.
e. The story shows the events through the eyes of the narrator and the child.
Comparing the two styles, who presents more interesting or effective view for
the readers? Why?
-> In comparison to the narrator, the child presents a more interesting or effective view for the readers. It is because every minute detail the child gives us when he walks through the patches of fire and snakes makes us feel as if we are present there. We feel as if we are stepping on those patches avoiding red and black patches. The fear the child bears looking back upon the scene raise our hair in the body. The narrator merely describes the child and his wound. His description doesn`t sound as adventurous as that of the child. His description can`t make a livelier attachment to the child`s childhood frightening event than the child does. Therefore, after all, it`s the child, who takes us into the fantasy of his freaking world. It`s not the narrator.
f. Is “The Wish” a story about self-confidence overcoming fear or about greed? Give your arguments.
-> According to the story, The wish is primarily a story about self-confidence overcoming fear and greed secondarily. The child happens to see red, black, and yellow colors or patches on the carpet. He decides to face the challenges and puts himself at the risk. He doesn`t mind because he is confident. He has gained this sense of facing challenge after he succeeds to peel off the scab from his wound. The first successful effort gives him strength inside his willpower. And so does he walk on the carpet among the patches of fire and snakes. He has fear but he overcomes it with self-confidence. However, from a little another angle, the child remembers his birthday, when he`s going to be wished with a gift of a puppy. Here in the point, he shows his greed. This greed drives him to risk his life through obstacles to achieve the puppy. Thus, it seems as if primarily there is self—confidence and greed in the second.
Reference beyond the text
a. Do you think our wish can be fulfilled? Why or why not?
-> I think our wishes cannot be fulfilled if we make multiple choices in our life. It depends on what kind of wish we are making. If the wish is a mirror, then that can be fulfilled. For example: meeting our friends, visiting new places, watching favorite movies, meeting celebrities, etc. It takes us a bit longer time but we can fulfill our wish. But if we make many wishes, then we cannot fulfill our wishes. Similarly, if our wish is beyond our approach and totally abstract, then we cannot fulfill our wish. In the story, for example, the boy wishes to get rid of the scab. He succeeds but he sees the abstract things on the carpet. The abstract things are snakes, fire etc. He faces them but at last, he fails. The wish of crossing the carpet full of fire and snake was beyond of his effort. Therefore, his wish was not completed.
b. Why do you think some people might have a frightening nature? What would
you suggest to them to overcome it?
-> I think some people might have a frightening nature because of the environment they abide by or live in. If the people are bought up in an environment, where they are not taught how to face the problems, they show the frightening nature. When people are ignorant towards new situations, new people, new experiences, they can`t show up. If they feel they can`t show up themselves, then they have a frightening nature. In such a situation, I would suggest that they should be bold. They should build confidence in them. They should get rid of fear. They should throw away negatively out of their minds. They should be optimistic. They should find out the solutions for the problems. The life is full of problems. The problems never leave us. They should solve those problems rather than getting away from them.
c.Write a folktale that you have heard or read.
-> Once a king was hunting deer in a forest. The king by mistake ran after one deer which enter a deeper part of the jungle. He fell down. There was no one. His soldiers were far away. They came to help him but he was trapped in the mid of the forest. He stayed in the house, where a pregnant woman and her husband were waiting for their baby`s birth. On that night, the king slept in that house. At midnight, the baby was born and three witches were blessing it. One of the witches told its mother that the baby would marry the daughter of the king, who was sleeping in the house. The next day the soldiers found the king. He ordered the soldiers to kill the parents but later they were freed in a condition they had to desert their baby. He also ordered the soldiers to cut the baby into pieces. They didn`t kill it but made a boat and swept the baby into the river. The baby reached far down in the fishermen`s village. The fishermen who caught it made him a member of that village. The baby grows and is married to the king's daughter with different struggles.
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