Okay, let’s break down “The Portrait of a Lady” chapter from the sources you provided.
First, here is a summary of the chapter based on the text:
Summary of The Portrait of a Lady
The chapter is a memoir by the author about his grandmother. He describes her as being old and wrinkled for the twenty years he knew her. People said she was once young and pretty, but he found this hard to believe. He contrasts her with his grandfather’s portrait, which showed him looking very old. His grandmother was short, fat, slightly bent, with wrinkles everywhere. She was not pretty but was always beautiful, moving around the house in white clothes, balancing her stoop with one hand and telling the beads of her rosary with the other. Her face was pale and puckered, and her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. To him, she was like the peaceful “winter landscape in the mountains”.
The author and his grandmother were good friends in the village, where they lived together and she helped him get ready for the school attached to the temple. She would say her prayers, hoping he would listen, and while he was taught by the priest, she read scriptures inside the temple. They would walk home together, feeding village dogs stale chapattis.
This changed when they moved to the city. This marked a “turning-point” in their friendship. They shared a room, but the author went to an English school by bus. They saw less of each other. She was unhappy with the English school’s focus on Western science and lack of religious teaching. She was also disturbed by the idea of music lessons, associating music with “harlots and beggars”. Her silence showed disapproval.
As the author grew, the distance between them increased. When he went to University and got his own room, the common link of friendship was “snapped”. She “accepted her seclusion with resignation”. She spent most of her day at her spinning-wheel, reciting prayers. Her only relaxation was in the afternoon when she fed sparrows in the courtyard. Hundreds of birds would gather, creating a “veritable bedlam of chirrupings”. She loved this, smiling at the birds that perched on her, even her head. This was her happiest time.
When the author went abroad for five years, his grandmother was not sentimental. She saw him off at the station, praying. When he returned, she met him, looking no older. Her routine was unchanged; her happiest moments were still feeding the sparrows.
The evening before she died, she dramatically changed her routine. For the first time, she did not pray. Instead, she gathered local women, got an old drum, and sang songs of homecoming warriors, thumping the drum vigorously. They had to stop her from overstraining.
The next morning, she fell ill. She knew her end was near and decided not to talk to the family, regretting the previous evening’s omission of prayer. She died peacefully while praying, her rosary falling from her lifeless fingers.
Finally, the sparrows gathered in silence around her body, showing their sorrow by not chirruping or eating the bread offered by the author’s mother. They only flew away when her body was carried off for cremation.
Now, let’s address the questions provided in the sources related to “The Portrait of a Lady”.
Understanding the text
Mention the three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad.
- Phase 1: Village Life - They were good friends and were constantly together. She woke him, got him ready for school, and walked him to the school which was attached to the temple. While he studied, she read scriptures. They fed village dogs together. 🏘️🤝📚🐶
- Phase 2: City Life (Shared Room) - This was a “turning-point”. They shared a room but were less close. He went to an English school by bus, and she no longer came with him. She took to feeding sparrows. She was unhappy with his city education (English, science, no religious teaching) and disturbed by music lessons. They rarely talked after this. 🏢🚌🤐
- Phase 3: City Life (Separate Rooms) - When he went to University, he was given a room of his own, and the “common link of friendship was snapped”. She accepted her seclusion and spent her days spinning, praying, and feeding sparrows. 🎓🚪🧵🙏🐦
Three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school.
- She did not believe in the things they taught at the English school, such as English words, Western science, the law of gravity, etc.. 😟🔬🗺️
- She was distressed that there was no teaching about God and the scriptures. 🙏✝️❓
- She was very disturbed by music lessons, which she felt had “lewd associations” and were not meant for “gentlefolk”. 🎶🙅♀️ scandal
Three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.
- She sat by her spinning-wheel, spinning. 🧵🧓
- She was reciting prayers from sunrise to sunset. 🙏🌅
- She relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows in the afternoon. 🐦🍞😊
The odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
- The evening before she died, she did not pray, which was the first time the author knew her to omit prayer. 🤔🙏❌
- Instead, she collected women from the neighbourhood, got an old drum, and sang of the homecoming of warriors, thumping the drum vigorously. 🥁👵🎶
The way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
- Thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor around where she lay dead. 🐦 Floor
- There was no chirruping. 🤫🐦
- They took no notice of the bread crumbs offered to them. 🍞🐦❌
- They flew away quietly when the grandmother’s corpse was carried off. 🕊️
Talking about the text
The author’s grandmother was a religious person. What are the different ways in which we come to know this?
- Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary. 🙏📿
- Her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. 🤫🙏
- She said her morning prayer. 🙏🌅
- She sat inside the temple reading the scriptures while the author was at school. 📖🕉️
- She was distressed that the city school had no teaching about God and the scriptures. 😔🙏📚
- She sat by her spinning-wheel reciting prayers from sunrise to sunset. 🙏☀️🌙
- Her mind was lost in prayer at the railway station. 🙏🧠
- Even on the author’s return, she could be heard reciting her prayers while she clasped him. 🙏🤗
- She stated her end was near because she had omitted to pray the previous evening. 🙏😞
- She lay peacefully in bed praying just before she died. 🙏🛌
Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for each other change?
- The relationship went from close friendship in the village where they were always together and she actively participated in his schooling, to a relationship with increasing distance in the city.
- The “turning-point” was moving to the city, where she could no longer help him with his English school lessons, and her disapproval of his studies and music lessons created a communication gap.
- The link was “snapped” when he got his own room at University.
- While the physical closeness and shared activities decreased, the text suggests underlying affection. The author loved her voice and cherished her kiss. He noticed her distress and disturbance. He protested her final wish not to talk. The sparrows, linked to her happiness, showed a communal sorrow at her death, which can be seen as reflecting the depth of her connection (and perhaps the author’s perception of it). The source doesn’t explicitly state her feelings changed in terms of love, but her expression of the relationship changed due to disappointment and withdrawal. 🤔❤️➡️😟 silence distance
Would you agree that the author’s grandmother was a person strong in character? If yes, give instances that show this.
- Yes, based on the text, she appears to be strong in character. 💪
- Instances include:
- Her acceptance of seclusion with resignation when the common link with the author was snapped. 🧘♀️🚪
- Her unwavering devotion to her religious practices and daily routines (prayer, spinning, feeding sparrows) despite changing circumstances. 🙏🧶🐦
- Her strong disapproval of the English school curriculum that lacked religious teaching. 🙅♀️📚
- Her firm belief and expression of concern regarding the “lewd associations” of music. 🚫🎶
- Her lack of sentimentality when the author went abroad for five years. 👋 stoic
- Her insistence that her end was near despite the doctor’s opinion, and her prioritization of prayer over talking. 🙏 prioritizing
- Her act of ignoring protests from the family in her final hours to focus on prayer. 🔇
Have you known someone like the author’s grandmother? Do you feel the same sense of loss with regard to someone whom you have loved and lost?
- This question asks for a personal response and cannot be answered from the provided sources. 🤔❤️💔❓
Thinking about language
Which language do you think the author and his grandmother used while talking to each other?
- The source does not explicitly state the language used. It asks the reader to “visualise the language that must have been used”. Given the Indian context (village school attached to a temple, stale chapattis, names mentioned in the overall source list like Khushwant Singh), it was likely a local Indian language or perhaps Hindi/Urdu. 🗣️🇮🇳❓
Which language do you use to talk to elderly relatives in your family?
- This question asks for a personal response and cannot be answered from the provided sources. 🤔🗣️👵🧓❓
How would you say ‘a dilapidated drum’ in your language?
- This question asks for a personal response and cannot be answered from the provided sources. 🤔🥁🗣️❓
Can you think of a song or a poem in your language that talks of homecoming?
- This question asks for a personal response and cannot be answered from the provided sources. 🤔🎶🏠❓
Working with words
I. Notice the following uses of the word ‘tell’… Match the meanings to the uses listed above. 1. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary. * Matches meaning 2: count while reciting. 🙏🔢 2. I would tell her English words and little things of Western science and learning. * Matches meaning 1: make something known to someone in spoken or written words. 🗣️📖 3. At her age one could never tell. * Matches meaning 3: be sure. 🤔✅ 4. She told us that her end was near. * Matches meaning 1: make something known to someone in spoken or written words. 🗣️📢
II. Notice the different senses of the word ‘take’. 1. to take to something: to begin to do something as a habit. * Used in: “she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house.” 🐦 অভ্যাস 2. to take ill: to suddenly become ill. * Used in: “The next morning she was taken ill.” 🤒 suddenly
III. The word ‘hobble’ means to walk with difficulty because the legs and feet are in bad condition. Tick the words in the box below that also refer to a manner of walking. * Words from the box that refer to a manner of walking: * shuffle (walk dragging feet) 👣 * stride (walk with long steps) 🚶♀️ * waddle (walk with short steps, swaying) 🦆 * swagger (walk proudly) 😎🚶♂️ * trudge (walk heavily or laboriously) 🚶♀️😥 * slog (walk heavily or with difficulty) 🚶♂️💦
Noticing form
Notice the form of the verbs italicised in these sentences. Identify the past perfect forms.
- My grandmother was an old woman. She had been old and wrinkled for the twenty years that I had known her. People said that she had once been young and pretty and had even had a husband, but that was hard to believe.
- Past perfect: had been, had known, had once been, had even had.
- When we both had finished we would walk back together.
- Past perfect: had finished.
- When I came back she would ask me what the teacher had taught me.
- Past perfect: had taught.
- It was the first time since I had known her that she did not pray.
- Past perfect: had known.
- The sun was setting and had lit her room and verandah with a golden light.
- Past perfect: had lit.
Things to do
Talk with your family members about elderly people… Write a short description…
- This is an activity for the reader to perform and is not a question answerable from the source text. 🗣️📝👵🧓