An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Class 12 English Exam Questions

Please refer to the below An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum important questions for Class 12 English. These questions and answers have been prepared as per the latest NCERT Book for Class 12 English. Students should go through chapter wise Class 12 English Important Questions designed as per the latest examination pattern issued by CBSE. 

Chapter Summary of An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

• In this poem the poet focuses on the theme of social injustice and inequalities.

• He presents the pathetic and miserable picture of the elementary classroom in a slum.

• Children in these classrooms have pale and lifeless faces.

• They are like rootless weeds which are uncared and unwanted with their disorderly hair torn around their faces.

• They are depressed and oppressed with the burdens of life and keep their heads down. They have stunted growth. They inherit the diseases of their parents.

• Some of them do have dreams. A sweet young boy is sitting at the back of the dim classroom. He is dreaming of a squirrel’s game in the trees and probably other interesting things.

• The walls are dirty and creamy and on them are hung the portrait of Shakespeare and names of donors.

• Civilized domes in the cities and Tyrolese valleys with beautiful flowers are painted on the walls.

• The map on the wall shows the children, the beautiful world outside; but for these children of the slum it is meaningless.

• The children studying in these schools do not have the means to go and explore the world. For them what they see through their classroom windows, the narrow street and the lead sky is the world.

• Shakespeare is wicked for them as he has written only about the rich, beautiful world tempting them to steal.

• The map is of no interest to them because it does not reflect the world they live in (cramped holes and dark lanes- a world deprived of opportunities).

• Their lives start in darkness and end in utter darkness.

• They are undernourished and their poverty has distorted their vision as they spend their whole time in foggy slums.

• The poet feels that the map which shows beautiful and exotic places should be replaced with slums as it is not the world they live in.

• Unless the governor inspector and visitor play a vital role in bringing about a change, their lives will remain in dark.

• The slum children will be able to peep through the window only when the gap between the two worlds is bridged.

• They should break the barriers till they come out of the dirty surroundings and their world should be extended into the green fields, golden sands and bright world.

• They should have the freedom of expression and their outlook be broadened.

• For, only the educated and learned people can create history whose language has strength and power.

Simile

1. Like rootless weeds

2. Like bottle bits on stones

3. Like catocombs

4. As big as dooms  ,  Metaphor  ,  Rats eyes

1. Paper – seeming boy, with rate eyes

2. Squirrel game, in the tree room

3. Father’s ganred disease

4. Future’s painted with fog

5. Lead sky

6. Spectacles of steel ,  Hyperbole – endless night

Question. Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow-
“Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper seeming
boy, with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.”

Question. What does the image ‘rootless weeds’ suggest?
Answer. ‘Rootless weeds’ aptly describes pitiful state of slum children as they are malnourished and unwanted in the society like rootless weeds.

Question. Why is the head of the tall girl ‘weighed down’?
Answer. The head of the tall girl is weighed down because her life might be burdened with poverty, difficulties and responsibilities. Probably she is feeling depressed, ill and exhausted.

Question. What do you understand by “The paper-seeming boy, with rat’s eyes”?
Answer. The phrase “paper seeming boy” suggests that the boy is very thin and emaciated because of undernourishment. His eyes are compared to those of rats because his eyes are timid and searching for food and security like that of a rat.

Question. What does ‘gusty waves’ mean?
Answer. ‘Gusty waves’ means strong wind; it can also be referred to fresh air.

Question. Whose ‘eyes live in a dream’ and what is his dream about?
Answer. A sweet young boy sitting at the back of the class has dreams of playing like a squirrel in the lap of nature rather than sitting in small, dim and dingy classroom.

Question. Who is the “unlucky heir” and what has he inherited?
Answer. The underdeveloped boy who is reading the lesson from his desk is referred to as “unlucky heir”. He has inherited twisted bones from his father. Along with his disease, he has inherited his poverty.

Question. Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow-
“On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words”

Question. What do the classroom walls have?
Answer. The walls of the classroom have a portrait of Shakespeare, pictures of building with domes, sunrise and beautiful Tyrolese valley, and the world map.

Question. Why is the ‘window’ depicted as the world of the children?
Answer. Since their birth to death they lead pathetic life confined to these foggy slums. There is no window of opportunity opened to them unlike rest of the world.

Question. What are the narrow street and lead sky indicative of?
Answer. Narrow streets are indicative of restricted and confined lives of slum children. Lead sky signifies dullness, dreariness and despair invading the lives of the slum dwellers.

Question. What does ‘sour cream walls’ symbolize?
Answer. ‘Sour cream walls’ is used by the poet to depict unhygienic, dull and wrecked state of the classroom where slum children study.

Question. What does ‘open-handed map’ refer to?
Answer. ‘open-handed map’ refers to the world of rich and powerful people as it is awarding to those who are wealthy and mighty but for these slum children this world is a kind of imprisonment and endless torture.

Question. Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow-
“Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal^….
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.”

Question. What do you understand by “slag heap”?
Answer. The bodies of the slum children are diseased and malnourished no better than slag heaps.

Question. Explain “from fog to endless night.”
Answer. “Fog” stands for obscurity and uncertainty and “endless night” signifies endless darkness and misery. The phrase means that slum children have no hope of progress and prosperity. They simply exist in their cramped holes stumbling from one misery to another.

Question. Why has Shakespeare been described as wicked?
Answer. The bust of Shakespeare is out of place and making the mockery of slum children. He represents high-life in its full glory but life of these kids is miserable and bleak. Most probably other reason to call him wicked is that he was a man with unprecedented power of pen to influence masses yet he never used it to improve the life of underprivileged.

Question. Why is the map a bad example?
Answer. Map is used for navigation but no map in the world is able to show these children the path to attain beautiful things in their life. It is a bad example as it gives the children an idea of viewing vast and bountiful world, which for them is a distant dream. In order to fulfil their desires and aspirations they adopt illegal/wrong ways.

Question. Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow-
“Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun”

Question. What do you understand by catacombs?
Answer. Catacombs are long underground graves. Here they stand for the dirty slums which block their (slum children’s) progress.

Question.’History theirs whose language is the sun’. Explain.
Answer. This statement means that those who have the power and confidence in speech to influence others create history. One can make a mark only if one can outshine others. Education only can give them power and strength like the sun which will bring about a change in the lives of the people.

Question. Why does poet invoke ‘governor’, ‘inspector’ and ‘visitors’?
Answer. The poet invokes the ‘governor, ‘inspector’ and ‘visitor’ because they are the powerful people who can bring about a drastic change in the miserable lives of slum children. They can remove the social injustice and class inequalities.

Question. What does ‘this map’ refer to? How can it become ‘their window’?
Answer. This map refers to the beautiful world of the rich. “Their window” refers to holes and the stinking slums of the unfortunate children of the slum. This can become their window only when the difference between the two worlds is abridged.

Question. What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change ?
Answer. He wanted the children of the slums to venture into the outside world, beyond the boundaries of their slums, and experience a better present and future life. The elementary school in the slum did not serve any purpose with its poor infrastructure and disinterested students. The poet felt that the governor, inspector and visitors should take initiative to bring about a real change in their situation. To ensure a better way of living for then, they need to be given proper education and freedom from their present confines. They need to be given proper education and freedom from their present confines. They need opportunity, encouragement and optimism to be able to live life with purpose and zest.

Question. What does the map on the wall signify?
Answer. The map signifies vast and beautiful world. It also represents limitless opportunities which the
slum children are deprived of.

Question. The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’ ‘Buildings with dome’, ‘World maps’ and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children ?
Answer. The picture of ‘Shakespeare’, buildings with domes’, ‘World maps’ and beautiful valley represented honor, education, civility, beauty and vastness. While, the poverty stricken and neglected kind in the classroom lacked beauty, proper education, development and freedom to explore the world. Even their future did not hold any promise. In fact, there were chances that these pictures might tempt them to pressure wrong path in order to find ways to attain the things indicated by them. The picture served as a stark contrast to the reality of life lived by the children.

Question. What is the theme of the poem?
Answer. This poem deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. The poet presents it by talking of the two different and incompatible worlds- the world of the rich and the civilized and the world of the poor and the deprived. This gap can be bridged by the administrative authorities and through education.

Question. ‘So blot their maps with slums as big as doom’. What does the poet want to convey?
Answer. The poet is angry at the social inequalities in the world. There are two worlds ‘ the dirty slums and the prosperous and the beautiful world of the rich. The poet wants map of the world should also have blots of slums as big as the ‘doom’. In reality he wants the gap to be reduced.

Question. Elaborate on the optimistic note of the poem.
Answer. The poem begins with despair and ends on an optimistic note. According to the poet, the slum children’s miserable life could be improved if the powerful people take initiatives to bring them out of the catacomb of poverty and provide them proper education.

Question. How does the poet see the slum children as victims of social injustice?
Answer. The slum children are deprived of good educational opportunities. They study in dim and dingy classroom having colourless walls. Their impoverished and emaciated condition shows that they are not provided with proper health facilities. They are deprived of the bounties of the world and their world comprised of narrow and dirty lanes.

Question. What do you think is the color of ‘sour cream’? Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls ?
Answer. The ‘Sour cream’s indicated a dirty yellowish color. The poet used the expression ‘sour cream walls’ to represent the color as well as the foul smell emitted by the walls.

Extract Based Question

Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces. Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor: The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paperseeming boy, with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease, His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream, Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.

Question. One of the following phrases implies unhealthy children. It is
(a) one unnoted
(b) eyes live in a dream
(c) a paper seeming boy
(d) from gusty waves

Question. Why are children compared to rootless weeds ?
(a) they have no home
(b) they are unwanted like weeds
(c) they are thrown into schools
(d) they are sturdy like weeds

Question. Identify the literary device in `rat’s eyes’.
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) alliteration
(d) personification

Question. Identify the literary device in ‘like roofless weeds’.
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) alliteration
(d) personification