The Tattered Blanket

TS 8th Class English Guide Unit 1A The Tattered Blanket

Pre-Reading

Look at the pictures and answer the questions that follow.

Question 1. What do you observe in the pictures?

Answer: There are two families in the picture. Picture A shows a nuclear family. There are parents and two children in the picture. Picture B shows a joint family. There are grand parents, parents, uncles and aunts and their children in the picture

Question 2. What type of families do we find in our present society ? Why ?

Answer: In our present society, we find nuclear families because relationships are not being given all that importance. Oral Discourse Debate - "Small families are happy families."

Answer: Speaker - 1 : Respected Chairperson, honourable judges and dear friends. I feel honoured to speak for the motion, "Small families are happy families". There are two types of families. They are 1. Small families and 2. Joint families. When a family has more members, the sole breadwinner has to do lots of work in order to provide all the requirements to everybody in the family. But in a small family, we dont have this issue. So, I strongly feel that small families are no doubt happy families. Speaker - 2: Respected Chairperson, honourable judges and dear friends. My knowledgeable friend is looking at one side of the picture. I am sure that when the responsibility of doing job is shared by all the members of the family, financial problems will be solved. In a joint family, there is a great scope of sharing our feelings with our cousins, uncles, aunts etc. This will ease our stress. So, I vote for the joint families. Speaker-1 : You know, our parents are the ideal persons to understand and clear our problems. If needed, why cant we share our feelings with our parents and siblings? A small family, of course, is a true family especially in this present generation where relationships are given least importance. Speaker - 2 : I am of the opinion that our wise grand parents play a vital role in guiding us towards the right path. They can instil ethics and human values in their grandchildren by narrating epics. Through this, I assert that joint families are really happy families

Answer the following questions

Question 1. Why didnt the mother recognise Gopi and how did he feel ?

Answer: The mother didnt recognise Gopi because she had lost her memory due to her old age. She was 83 years old. Moreover Gopi didnt come to see her for a long time. Gopi felt annoyed when his mother didnt recognise him

Question 2. Why do you think Gopi didnt get anything for his mother ?

Answer: Gopi didnt get anything for his mother because he was a selfish man. He came to her not out of love but to get his share of the property. He came on his way back from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi

Question 3. The mother could not remember Gopi. Do you think Gopi remembered his mother? What does it suggest?

Answer: Gopi didnt remember his mother. He took more than five years to find time to come to his mother. This suggests that he is a selfish and thankless man who doesnt have concern for his mother

Question 4. What is meant by the expression the tattered blanket?

Answer: Tattered blanket is a blanket torn into rags. Tattered blanket is used symbolically in the lesson by the writer. She represented the old mother who was considered useless by her son like a tattered blanket. The tattered blanket also symbolises the broken human relations

Question 5. Why didnt Gopi answer his sisters question, Do you remember your Amma?

Answer: Gopis sister was KamalAnswer: Gopi didnt come for a long time to visit his mother. Gopis mother was 83 years old and couldnt recognise him. He felt annoyed that his mother couldnt remember him. At this, Kamala asked whether he could remembered his mother. Gopi felt guilty as he neither visited his mother for so many years nor showed his concern for her

Question 6. If you were Gopis sister, how would you respond to his behaviour?

Answer: If I were Gopis sister, I would feel very sad and try to educate Gopi to respect and take care of his mother as a son

Vocabulary

I. Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.

Question 1. All my attempts to make him happy proved ________?

Answer: futile

Question 2. It was very cold. So, ________ in a corner?

Answer: huddled

Question 3. Forced by her parents, Sita ________ took the diploma course?

Answer: exasperatedly

Question 4. What are you ________? I cant hear you?

Answer: mumbling

Question 5. The news that he was denied promotion caused ________ to him?

Answer: irritation

II. Tick (?) the words that are similar in meaning to the underlined words.

Question 1. His mother made a futile attempt to get up?

Answer: barren

• limited
• useless
• empty

Answer:

• useless

Question 2. Its all tattered now?

Answer: spoiled

• old
• dirty
• tom

Answer:

• tom

Question 3. There is a cold mist in the mornings?

Answer: ice

• snow
• fog
• win

Answer:

• fog

Question 4. Its iust like a bali of knotted yarn?

Answer: very small

• rounded tightly
• joined
• tied

Answer:

• rounded tightly

Question 5. I cant make both ends meet with my salary?

Answer: earn a lot of money

• spend a lot of money
• earn just enough money
• give all that one has

Answer:

• earn just enough money

Grammar

Phrases and Noun Phrases: I. Look at the following sentences from the text and observe the underlined part in each sentence. She saw a bald, fat, middle-aged man. Discussion : Which word in the underlined part is important? The underlined part in the above sentence has more than one word. It is called a phrase. The underlined part a bald, fat middle - aged man functions as a Noun Phrase. Here the word man is important and all other words add more information to that word. So it is called a Noun Phrase

Identify some more noun phrases from the story and write them below?

Answer:

Answer:a futile attempt

• a thin bath towel
• her wrinkled cheeks
• my salary
• a long time
• a red blanket
• a great help

Complete the sentences with noun phrases using the words given in brackets.

Question 1. I bought ________, (beautiful/a/umbrella/red) ?

Answer: I bought a beautiful red umbrellAnswer

Question 2. We saw ________ in the zoo. (baby/a/elephants/of/couple) ?

Answer: We saw a couple of baby elephants in the zoo

Question 3. Our grandfather lives in ________ (big/house/a/stone-built) ?

Answer: Our grandfather lives in a big stone-built house

Question 4. Ramya has ________ (nice/a/sari/silk) ?

Answer: Ramya has a nice silk sari

Writing

I. Read the following paragraph, taken from the story?

Delhi is too expensive. You know I have four children to look after now. I cant make both ends meet with my salary. And one has to keep up ones status. It will be a great help if I can raise some money by selling my share of the family property. I came to talk it over with you. Now, write a short essay on how to keep up family ties despite economic pressures (You may use the hints given below). Impact of economic pressures Lack of time to spend with the family Lack of love and affection Absence of human relationships?

Answer: Now-a-days every family faces economic pressures. Unless both wife and husband work, they feel it difficult to run the family smoothly. Parents work from dawn to dusk. They find it difficult to spend some fruitful time with their children. Children lack love and affection of their parents. This may lead to absence of human relationships. To compensate this, parents should spend holidays and other leisure time with their children

They need to give moral support to their children and create confidence saying that they love and care for them. Keeping aside the economic pressures, they should spend time constructively with children. Parents have to listen patiently to what children tell about their friends, their studies. Parents (need to / should) appreciate children whenever they do good things. Parents have to take children to excursions, picnics and other entertaining programmes to keep up (or) maintain blissful family ties

Listening Passage :

An Announcement On the Radio Prashanth, a thirteen year old boy has been missing since last Sunday. The boy is in blue trousers and pink T-shirt. He can speak Telugu, Hindi and English. He has fair complexion. He is fond of movies. His parents are much worried about him. Whoever finds Prashanth will be rewarded. You may contact the Sub- Inspector of Police, Vidya Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram. (Mobile No. 9908806600) Listen to your teacher making an announcement and answer the following questions

Question 1. What is the announcement about ?

Answer: The announcement is about the missing boy, named Prashanth

Question 2. What are the features of Prashanth ?

Answer: Prashanth is a 13 year old boy. He has fair complexion. He can speak Telugu, Hindi and English languages. He is in blue-trousers and pink T-shirt

Question 3. Where do you generally listen to such announcements ?

Answer: Such announcements are generally heard on Radio and TV. (or) We listen to such announcements on the Radio or T.V

Question 4. Think of some announcements you may make or listen at school?

Answer: Announcements at school : a) All the students are instructed to stand in a line to attend assembly proceedings immediately. b) The students, who are not in uniform, are instructed to stand aside

Question 5. What are the other ways to trace the missing persons or things ?

Answer: The other ways are: We can exhibit the photos of the missing persons at the bus stops, bus stations and in busy centres. We can display their photos in all railway stations and police stations with their details. We can also publish their details in news papers. We can report to the police

Study Skills

Family related information.

Question : Is yours a nuclear or joint family ?

Answer: Ours is a nuclear family

Question Now write a paragraph describing the types of families using the information given in the above tree diagram. Write which type of family you prefer and why?

Answer: There are two types of families in the present day society. Nuclear families and joint families. In fact, joint families have almost disappeared and nuclear families are increasing day by day. A nuclear family consists of father, mother and one or two children. A joint family consists of father, mother, children and their other family members who live together supporting one another

I prefer a joint family because there is love and affection among the members of joint family as they live together and understand one another. Our family is a nuclear family

The Tattered Blanket Summary in English

The eminent writer Kamla Das beautifully depicted human relations particularly between a mother and children in todays mechanized society

A son Gopi, after a long time, visited his mother. He was working as an officer in Delhi

His sister Kamala felt happy thinking that her brother came to visit her mother and her. Later she felt very sad on knowing that her brother did not visit them out of love but on his way to attend his work

As her mother was 83 years old, she lost her memory and couldnt recognize her son, Gopi

Meanwhile Kamala explained the condition of her mother to her brother. She also explained how his mother expected letters from her son. But the man had never written a letter to his mother. As his sister did not want to make her mother feel sad she told her that her brother was writing letters regularly. He told her that he was busy with his work and couldnt find time to write letters to his mother. Kamala enquired of Gopi why he didnt ask his wife Vimala to write to his mother

Kamala came to know that her brother had come there to sell his share of family property. He couldnt make his both ends meet with the money he was earning. Kamala questioned him why he couldnt remember his mother all those days. As he could not answer his sisters questions, he felt guilty at the end of the story. This story enlightens us on human relations particularly on how parents are neglected by their children at their old age

About the Author

Kamla Das (1932-2009) is the daughter of the famous Malayalam poet- Balamani Amma and V.M. Nair. She is an internationally known poet, short story writer and novelist who writes effortlessly both in English and Malayalam. She has received many awards for her literary work. Some of them are Asian Poetry Prize, Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries, Asian World Prize, Sahitya Academy Award and Vayalar Rama Varma Sahitya Award

Glossary

• futile (adj) : unsuccessful usage: All my attempts to make him happy proved futile
• huddled (v) : held arms and legs close because of fear or cold usage: It was very cold. So, I huddled in a corner
• reluctantly (adv) : not willing to do something usage: Forced by her parents, Sita reluctantly took the diploma course
• screwing up eyes (v): narrowing the eyes to look more carefully
• on toes (idiom) : busy, ready to work
Usage : The employee of a stock exchange is always on his toes
• mumbling (v) : speaking unclearly and quietly Usage: What are you mumbling ? I cant hear you
• exasperatedly (adv) : very annoyed
Usage: They exasperatedly responded in solving his problem
• kesariyogam (n) : well settled (in Malayalam)
• tattered (adj) : torn
• irritation : annoyance Usage: The news that he was denied promotion caused him irritation

Additional Meanings

• arrived = reached
• countryside = village
• thinna (n) = sit out (elevated place on the veranda)
• peered = looked with difficulty or concentration
• grating = irritating
• alarm = fear, warning of danger
• scared = afraid, frightened
• awkward = clumsy
• wrinkled = folded
• mist = thick fog
• yarn = spun thread used for knitting or weaving
• feebly = weakly
• make both ends meet (idiom) = to earn just enough money