Father's Help (8th)

Ch – Father’s Help

Summary of the chapter –

In the short story titled Fathers Help the renowned Indian English author R.K Narayan Unravels the inward mind of school going, child. Through the manufacture of false stories with respect to his teacher and his subsequent endeavours to legitimize his closures by Swaminathan the hero of the story establish the story. This short story features the requirement for comprehension among guardians and children and the hugeness of the perfect teacher-understudy relationship. In the beginning of the story, we discover Swami the hero of the story plays truant and untruths his mother that he has a headache. As he indicated hesitance to go to school his mother inquired as to whether he had any important exercises that day. In answer, Swami opined that the topography teacher had been teaching a similar exercise for over a year now and maths period implied for the entire time frame the students would have been rebuffed. His liberal mother allowed him to remain at home. Despite the fact that he could trick his mother, by the passage of his difficult father, his destiny took another turn. When he understood that he couldn't alter the circumstance to his headache, he changed his tactics. He told his father that he would be rebuffed by his teacher on the off chance that he went late to school. To substantiate his contention, he gave an offensive record of lie in regards to his teacher Samuel, that he would beat children until the point that he saw blood and made them smear it on their temple like a vermillion checking. Hearing this, his inflexible father constrained Swami to school with a letter tended to the headmaster. On his approach to school, Swami felt that he was the most noticeably awful liar on earth. Aside from the noise, there was no information of Samuel savageries inside his psyche. To legitimize what has been written in the letter he needed Samuel to accomplish something. So he chose to convey the letter towards the day's end. At the point when Swami achieved his classroom, Samuel was teaching math. Past the entirety of his desires, Samuel allowed him to enter the class. Thereafter, Swami was deliberately inciting Samuel, while every one of his endeavours was of no utilization. The number juggling time frame arrived at an end. In the last time of the day, when Samuel came to teach Indian history Swami played every one of his traps and his skills without limitations possible degree to anger Samuel. Without having the capacity to tolerate Swami’s unwanted questions and hollers, Samuel caned him. Being jubilant he hurried to the headmaster room yet found the room bolted. At the point when inquisitively got some information about the headmaster the peon educated him that the headmaster would be on leave for seven days, requesting that he could hand over the letter to the right hand headmaster who was Samuel. Hearing this he fled from the place.  When he reached home, hearing Swami’s pardons, father blamed him calling a defeatist. Father tore the letter into pieces and Swami felt relaxed.

Word Meaning

Wailed	Cried with pain
Jutka	Rickshaw
Stubborn	Obstinate
Lurid	Shocking
Apprehensively	Anxiously
Perjurer	False witness
Genial	Friendly and pleasant
Allegations	Charges
Execution	Hangman
Impulse	Urge
Bulge	Big size
Blandly	Gently
Desolate	Miserable
In half langour	With a dull mind
Obtrusive	Difficult to understand
Scowled	Looked angrily
Blenching	Showing signs of fear
Tactics	A specific action
Vermillion	A bright red colour
Throttles	Strangles
Acknowledgement	Owing up, confession
Conscience	Inner voice
Knuckles	Joints of the fingers
Humiliation	Disgrace
Desperate	Hopeless
Drastic	Violent, Dire
Resumed	Continued, restarted
Coward	Weakling, timid
Emphatically	In a forceful way, strongly expressive

Question- Answers

1.      How did Swami’s father react when Swami told him that he was not going to school? How different was his reaction from that of Swami’s mother?

Swami’s father scolded him and ordered him to get ready for the school.

On the other hand, his mother generously asked about any important lesson to be taught and suggested him to stay at home.

2.      Father’s behaviour took an unexpected turn. What was unexpected about Swami’s father’s behaviour?

On the basis of Swami’s description of the cruelty of Samuel, Swami’s father wrote a complaint letter against him. It was unexpected about the behaviour of Swami’s father.

3.      Why didn’t Swami hand over the complaint letter to headmaster in morning?

He did not do so because he thought if the letter was given at the end of the day, there would be chance that Samuel might do something to justify the letter.

4.      Could Swami deliver the complaint letter to the headmaster after the school?

No, Swami could not deliver the complaint letter to the headmaster after the school. Because his headmaster was on leave for one week and Samuel was assistant headmaster in his absence.

Hots –

1.       Swami went to school feeling that he was the worst perjurer on Earth. Describe Swami’s feelings at this point. Why did he feel like ‘the worst perjurer.’? (About 60-80 words)

Swami felt that he was entangled in his own excuse. He felt like a worst perjurer on the earth because he was not at all sure if he had been accurate in his description. He could not decide how much of it was real or imagined.

Life Skills

1.      What impressions have you formed of Swami’s relation with his father? How should children and their parents behave with each other?

His father was very sensitive and conscious person. He was also aware of Swami’s studies. We find a negative point in his character that he believed on Swami’s complaint without checking whether he was right or wrong about Samuel.

Values

1.      Swami gives a very unfair description of Samuel to his father. How would you have behaved, had you been in Swami’s place.

Swami gives a very unfair description of Samuel to his father. If I had been in Swami’s place, I would have behaved unlike Swami. I would not give false description of my teacher.