Extra Questions for Class 10th: Ch 8 Novels, Society and History Social Studies (S.St) Important Questions Answer Included
Very Short Answer Questions (VSAQs):Answer
Daniel Defoe.
(Para – 1, Page No. 186)
2. Who is the author of the ‘Jungle Book’?
Answer
(Para – 1, Page No. 186)
2. Who is the author of the ‘Jungle Book’?
Answer
Rudyard Kipling.
(Para – 2, Page No. 185)
3. The hero of which novel finds himself shipwrecked on an island, rescues a native, makes him a slave and gives him the name Friday?
Answer
(Para – 2, Page No. 185)
3. The hero of which novel finds himself shipwrecked on an island, rescues a native, makes him a slave and gives him the name Friday?
Answer
Robinson Crusoe.
(Para – 1, Page No. 186)
4. Which problem of the society was focused in the novel ‘Hard Times’ written by Charles Dickens?
Answer
(Para – 1, Page No. 186)
4. Which problem of the society was focused in the novel ‘Hard Times’ written by Charles Dickens?
Answer
Terrible effects of industrialisation.
(Para – 2, Page No. 180)
5. Who wrote the novel ‘Oliver Twist’?
Answer
(Para – 2, Page No. 180)
5. Who wrote the novel ‘Oliver Twist’?
Answer
Charles Dickens.
(Para – 1, Page No. 181)
6. Which book by Charles Dickens has the tale of a poor orphan who lived in a world of petty criminals and beggars?
Answer
(Para – 1, Page No. 181)
6. Which book by Charles Dickens has the tale of a poor orphan who lived in a world of petty criminals and beggars?
Answer
Oliver Twist.
(Para – 1, Page No. 181)
7. Who wrote ‘Pickwick Papers’, the first serialised novel?
Answer
(Para – 1, Page No. 181)
7. Who wrote ‘Pickwick Papers’, the first serialised novel?
Answer
Charles Dickens.
(Para – 3, Page No. 179)
8. Who is the author of the novel ‘Mayor of Casterbridge’?
(Para – 3, Page No. 179)
8. Who is the author of the novel ‘Mayor of Casterbridge’?
Answer
Thomas Hardy.
(Para – 1, Page No. 182)
9. Which book was written with adolescent girls in mind?
Answer
(Para – 1, Page No. 182)
9. Which book was written with adolescent girls in mind?
Answer
Ramona.
(Para – 4, Page No. 185)
10. Who published the ‘Tom Jones’ in six volumes?
(Para – 4, Page No. 185)
10. Who published the ‘Tom Jones’ in six volumes?
Answer
Henry Fielding.
(Para – 5, Page No. 178)
Short Answer Questions (SAQs):
(Para – 5, Page No. 178)
Short Answer Questions (SAQs):
1. Describe the theme of Charlotte Bronte’s novels, giving an example.
Answer
(i) Charlotte Bronte dealt with women who broke established norms of society before adjusting to them.
(ii) These stories allowed women readers to sympathise with rebellious actions.
(iii) In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, published in 1874, young Jane is shown as independent and assertive. While girls of her time were expected to be quiet and well behaved, Jane at the age of ten protests against the hypocrisy of her elders with startling bluntness.
(Para – 2, Page No. 184)
2. How did Jane Austen portray the women of the 19th century in her novels?
Answer
(i) Jane Austen’s novel gives us a glimpse of the world of women in rural society in the early nineteenth century.
(ii) Her novel makes us think about a society which encouraged women to look for good marriages and wealthy or propertied husbands.
(iii) In the novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Jane Austen portrays the female characters as pre-occupied with marriage and money.
(Para – 1, Page No. 184)
3. Name one famous women novelist in the 19th century England. Describe the different ways in which women novelists portrayed women.
Answer
Jane Austen
The women novelist portrayed women in following ways:
(i) They encouraged women to look for good marriages and find wealthy or propertied husbands.
(ii) They also wrote about women who broke the established norms of society.
(Para – 1 and 2, Page No. 184)
4. Distinguish between Epistolary and Serialised types of novels with examples.
Answer
(i) Epistolary novels were written in the forms of series of letters. Examples: Samuel Richardson’s Pamela.
(ii) Serialised novels were written in a format of a story which was published in instalments, i.e., each part in a new issue of journal. Example: Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers.
(Para – 4, New Words, Page No. 178| Para – 3, New Words, Page No. 179)
5. Explain the theme of the novel ‘Hard Times’.
Answer
(i) The Charles Dicken’s Hard Times was based on industrialised world.
(ii) He wrote about the terrible effects of industrialization on people’s lives and characters.
(iii) He criticized not just the greed for profits, but also the ideas that reduced human beings into simple instruments of production.
(Para – 2, Page No. 180)
6. Elaborate upon the contribution of Charles Dickens in the field of novel writing.
Answer
(i) He wrote about the terrible effects of industrialization.
(ii) Dickens criticized the greed for profits and also the ideas that human beings were treated as simple instruments of production.
(iii) He talked about the terrible conditions of urban life.
(iv) He discussed about the exploitation of children and orphans in ‘Oliver Twist’.
(Para – 2, Page No. 180| Para – 1, Page No. 181)
7. How does Daniel Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’ justify colonialism? Explain.
Answer
(i) The hero of the novel, Robinson Crusoe treats coloured people not as human beings equal to him, but as inferior creatures.
(ii) He rescues a ‘native’ and makes him his slave. He does not ask for his name but arrogantly gives him the name Friday.
(iii) At that time, most of the writers and readers believed that the colonized people were primitive and barbaric and the colonial rule was essential to civilize them.
(Para – 1, Page No. 186)
8. Why did Henry Fielding, a novelist of the early 18th century, claim that he was founder of a new province of writing where he could make his own laws? Explain.
Answer
(i) Readership grew and the market for books expanded, thus, the earnings of authors increased.
(ii) This freed them from financial dependence on the patronage of aristocrats and gave them independence to experiment with different literacy styles.
(iii) The novels allowed flexibility in the form of writing. Hence, Henry Fielding remarked so.
(Para – 4, Page No. 178)
Long Answer Questions (LAQs):
1. Differentiate between the novels written by Charlotte Bronte and the novels written by Jane Austen?
Answer
Jane Austen:
(i) Her novels give us a glimpse of the women’s world in refined rural society in the early 19th century Britain.
(ii) It portrays a society which encourages women to look for a wealthy husband.
(iii) Main characters of her novel Pride and Prejudice are preoccupied with marriage and money.
Charlotte Bronte:
(i) Her novels portrayed women who broke established norms of the society before adjusting to them.
(ii) This won the sympathy of women readers.
(iii) Jane a character in ‘Jane Eyre’, was shown as a quite assertive and independent character who protested against the hypocrisy of her elders.
(Para – 1 and 2, Page No. 184)
2. “Indian novelists in the 19th century wrote for a national cause.” Justify the statement with examples.
Answer
(i) In Bengal many historical novels were about Marathas and Rajputs which produced a sense of a Pan-Indian belonging.
(ii) They imagined the nation to be full of adventure, heroism, romance and sacrifice.
(iii) Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay’s Anguriya Binimoy (1857) was the first historical novel written in Bengali whose hero Shivaji engaged in many battles against a clever and treacherous Aurangzeb.
(iv) The imagined nation of the novel was so powerful that it could inspire actual political movements.
(v) Bankim’s ‘Anandmath’ is a novel about a secret Hindu armed force that fight Muslims to establish a Hindu Kingdom.
(Para – 2 and 3, Page No.197)
2. How were novels useful for the Indians? Explain with examples.
Answer
(i) Indians used the novel as a powerful medium to criticise what they considered defects in their society and to suggest remedies.
(ii) Writers like Viresalingam used the novel mainly to propagate their ideas about society among a wider readership.
(iii) Novels also helped in establishing a relationship with the past. Through glorified accounts of the past, these novels helped in creating a sense of national pride among their readers.
(iv) At the same time, people from all walks of life could read novels so long as they shared a common language. This helped in creating a sense of collective belonging on the basis of one’s language.
(v) Novels also made their readers familiar with the ways in which people in other parts of their land spoke their language.
(Topic - Uses of the Novel, Page No. 191 and 192)
3. Analyse the role and involvement of women in the readership and authorship of novels in India.
Answer
(i) In the early decades of the 20th century, women in South India began writing novels and short stories.
(ii) A reason for the popularity of novels among women was that it allowed for a new conception of womanhood.
(iii) Some women authors also wrote about women who changed the world of both men and women.
(iv) Rokeya Hossein wrote a satiric fantasy in English called ‘Sultana’s Dream’ (1905) which shows a topsy-turvy world in which women take the place of men.
(v) Hunnah Mullens, a Christian missionary and the author of ‘Karuna O Phulmonir Bibaran’ (1852), wrote the first novel in Bengali, which tells her readers that she wrote in secret.
(Topic - Women and the Novel, Page No. 194 and 195)