Footprints without Feet | Lesson 1 | Prose | Questions and Answers |

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English | Class 10th | Tulip Series |

Footprints without Feet | Lesson 1| Prose | Questions and Answers |

 

SHORT SUMMARY

            Written by, H. G. Wells (Herbert George Wells), “Footprints without Feet”, is an extract taken from his science-fiction novel, published in 1897. It is a story of a homeless wanderer scientist named Griffin, who discovers how to make himself, invisible. The story begins when two boys follow the footprints of an invisible man in the chilly season of winter. The man enters a big London store at closing time. He dresses himself, with warm clothes and eats a lot to break his appetite. Escaping from the assistants of the store he decides to try the clothes of a theatrical company and soon enters a shop in Drury Lane whereby he puts of clothes that can make him completely visible. He attacks and robs the shopkeeper and takes a train to Iping and books two rooms at a local inn there. Many curious episodes occur in the inn, after the arrival of Griffin, a stranger to all the people in, the inn. Mrs. Hall makes efforts to know the whereabouts of the scientist but fails to get anything from him. Suspicion grows in Mrs. Hall’s mind and she calls for the village constable’s help. The policeman tries to catch him but the scientist taking the advantage of his invisibility slips away.

 

Thinking about the Text

Q1. How would you assess Griffin as a scientist?

Answer. Griffin could be assessed as a brilliant scientist as he always has an urge to discover something new. He succeeds in making himself invisible. But he misuses the power of his invisibility, which hurts people. This makes him selfish and as a result, he is hated by the people.

 

Q2. The two boys in London were surprised and fascinated. Why?

Answer. The two boys in London were surprised and fascinated because they saw the fresh muddy imprints of a pair of barefoot progressing down the street.

 Q3. What did griffin do inside the shop?

Answer. Inside the shop, he dressed, himself fully like a visible man. He took a meal with sweets and wine and finally settled down to sleep on a pile of quilts.

Class 9th English Solutions are also available on this blog.

Q4. How did Griffin escape from the London store?

Answer. In the morning, when a couple of assistants tried to catch him, he quickly took off his clothes to make himself invisible and escaped from the store.

 

Q5. Griffin entered the shop of a theatrical company. What did he do there?

Answer. Griffin entered the shop of a theatrical company so that he could find not only the clothes but also something that would hide the empty space above his shoulders. In the shop, he wore bandages round his forehead, dark glasses, false nose, big bushy side-whiskers, and a large hat. He attacked the shopkeeper and robbed him off all the money he could find.

 

Q6. Why was the arrival of the stranger in a village inn, an unusual event? Give two reasons.

Answer. One reason of an unusual event for the arrival of the stranger in a village inn was that he arrived in winter season. The second unusual event was his uncommon appearance and behaviour.

 

Q7. How did the scientist look when he came to the inn?

Answer. The scientist looked like a person with uncommon appearance. He was wearing a bandage on his forehead, dark glasses, false nose, big bushy side whiskers and a large hat on his head.

 

Q8. The landlord’s wife was convinced that Griffin was ‘an eccentric scientist’. What made her think of Griffin in these terms?

Answer. The landlord’s wife was convinced that Griffin was an eccentric scientist because of his rude behaviour, strange habits and irritable temper. Moreover, she tried to be friendly with him but he had no desire to talk to her, instead he warned her not to be disturbed in his work.

 

Q9. What was ‘the curious episode’ that took place in the clergyman’s study?

Answer. The curious episode that happened in the clergyman’s study room was the missing of money from the desk even though there was no one in the room but still they heard noises and the chink of money to be taken from the desk.

Curious episode: Clergyman and his wife were awakened by noises early in the morning from the clergyman’s study. While creeping downstairs to verify the matter, they heard a chink of money to be taken from the desk. To their astonishment, there was no body in the room. They even looked under the desk and behind the curtains. The desk was open and the money was missing.

Q10. The landlord and his wife were surprised to see the scientist’s door wide open. Why were they surprised? What three extraordinary things happened in the room?

Answer. The landlord and his wife were surprised to see the scientist’s door wide open because usually the door remained shut and locked, and the scientist allowed no one to enter the room. As there seem nobody in the room, a few extraordinary things happened there. First extraordinary thing that happened in the room was that the hat of the scientist on the bedpost leapt up and dashed itself into landlord’s wife’s face. Second extraordinary thing happened when the bedroom chair became alive and charged straight at her legs. In the third extraordinary thing, the live chair pushed both husband and wife out of the room and then appeared to slam and lock the door after them.

Q11. Mrs. Hall almost fell down the stairs in hysterics. Pick out an example of humour from what follows this incident.

Answer. The humour that followed this incident was that Mrs Hall was convinced that the room was haunted by spirits and that the stranger had somehow caused these to enter into her furniture.

Q12. The scientist was furious. What did he do in anger? Why were the people in the bar horrified?

Answer. The scientist was always quick-tempered. In anger, he threw off bandages, whiskers, spectacles, and even nose. It took him only a minute to do that. The people in the bar were horrified on seeing a headless man.

Q13. What happened to the constable?

Answer. The constable was not able to catch the scientist, instead he was knoked down unconscious when he made his last attempt to catch an unseen scientist.

Q14. The scientist was a man of ‘irritable temper’. Give example to prove this.

Answer. The scientist was a man of ‘irritable temper’ because he was furious and shouted on Mrs Hall when she enquired about how he came out of an empty room and how he entered a locked room.