AUNT JENNIFERS TIGERS

BY:
The poet starts the poem by depicting the central character Aunt Jennifer.
She is a married woman doing embroidery for a wall hanging or some
decorative piece of cloth which has tigers in it. The tigers are prancing in
this portrait. They are set against a forest as a background, and they look
like topaz stones — tigers of yellowish-brown colour set against the green
of the forest. They are in contrast to Aunt Jennifer’s character, who has
suffered a lot under the dominance of her husband. The tigers are fearless
and are not scared of the men standing under the trees of the forest. This is
a representation of Aunt Jennifer’s deepest desire – to be fearless and free.
The men in the forest represent the kinds of restrictions imposed upon her
by her husband.

Aunt Jennifer misses the youthful and carefree attitude she had before
marriage that would make her gracious and confident. It is depicted by how
the poet uses the words ‘sleek, chivalric certainty’ for the tigers’ movement.

Living continuously under fear and torture has made Aunt Jennifer weak
and jittery. She is not even able to execute her daily activities with
calmness and composure. The poet uses the imagery of ‘fluttering fingers’
to show her fear — she is not even able to handle the wool she is knitting.
She finds it difficult to pull the ivory needle during her embroidery work.
Aunt Jennifer is shaken to her core by the long exposure to being told what
to do and what not to do. The experience of the marriage is so brutal that
everything related to it seems a burden that seems to remind her of the
bondage. As a result, she finds her wedding ring too heavy to carry. It is
symbolic of the cumulative effect of suffering and emotional toil she has
gone through in the past years.

This bondage that Aunt Jennifer is suffering is not easy to escape from. She
might be free from it only when she dies. But the poet says that death might
not bring an end to this situation of hers as, even in her death, she will have
the ring on her hand to remind her of all the difficulties and unpleasant
things she had to deal with throughout her married life. The poet is
invoking Aunt Jennifer’s experiences as a married woman, which were
negative in nature. In spite of all this, she had desires that were subdued –
the desire to live without restrictions or bondage. The portrait of tigers that
she has created represents this desire – an alternative side of her
personality.

Conclusion of Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

The summary of Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers shows how it is to live under

dominance as a married woman – under constant fear and restrictions. The
poem ends with the mention of her wedding ring, which shows her
connection to her husband. The poet mentions that she has no way of
freeing herself from this suffocating bondage in this lifetime — not even
after her death, as she will still be wearing the ring. Instead of dying
peacefully, she would be dying with the weight of difficulties she had to
endure as a married woman.

A THING OF BEAUTY
BY:
A Thing of Beauty is about appreciating anything and everything around
us. Anything that looks beautiful is a source of joy for us. A beautiful thing
becomes more attractive as we keep enjoying it. The more we look closely
at its beauty, the more we discover its stunning features. We never forget a
thing of beauty as its memory is etched into our minds due to the joy and
loveliness received from it. The after-effect of a beautiful thing is that it
will always prove to be a source of happiness and peace, just like a shade
under a tree or a sleep full of sweet dreams. Our lives, as a consequence,
will be full of good health and peace.

Humans are connected to nature in a very close way. We participate in

various earthly activities to keep ourselves attached to mother nature.
Bonding with nature around us has been compared to wreathing flowery
bands. There are many negative things in our lives, like dealing with
hopelessness, encountering people who are not kind or compassionate by
nature and facing various immoral and inhuman activities that lessen our
belief in humanity. Despite acknowledging the presence of these things, a
beautiful thing never fails to uplift our moods. It makes us forget our
worries and troubles away.

We can find beauty anywhere if we want to see it. We can find it in

ordinary things around us like the sun, the moon, trees or something as
simple as a shade for sheep. The poet gives more examples to show the
richness of beauty around us, like flowers, rills and the mid-forest brake.
He also points out that we can find beauty in places where we generally do
not look, like the reasons and circumstances behind the deaths of mighty
heroes and warriors. Beauty exists in intangible things like the stories that
we read or hear.

The poet urges us to see the immense reserve of beauty around us. He calls
it an ‘endless fountain of immortal drink’: ‘endless’ because sources of
beauty are limitless and ‘immortal’ to denote the effect of beauty on our
minds. The memory of a beautiful experience is forever. It never dies. We
are blessed to experience beauty in all forms around us. A direct reference
to ‘heaven’ has been made to show that God has provided us with many
sources of beauty.

Conclusion of A Thing of Beauty

As discussed earlier, this is a poem about the role of beauty in our lives and
how it can refresh our perspective towards thinking. Life has negative and
positive aspects, but we can achieve the best by finding beauty in
everything around us. The types of things we can find beauty in can range
from physical items to intangible things like feelings or ideas. The result of
experiencing a beautiful thing is immortal. The joy that beauty brings is
priceless and never fades – providing us with memories that can enrich our
lives forever.
 KEEPING QUIET
BY: PABLO NERUDA
The poem begins with the poet urging everyone around to keep quiet. This
poem is about self-introspection, and he believes staying still is the best
way to do it. He offers to count till twelve to allow everyone some space
and peace of mind. As discussed in the introduction, this poem uses a lot of
imagery and symbolism. The poet suggests abstaining from speaking in any
language or moving our arms at all. Languages unite people and are the
basis of continuous growth in any aspect of life – culture, education,
industrialisation, diplomatic deals, etc. Moving arms symbolise work,
which is an essential part of our lives. We strive to develop ourselves
continuously, and the best way to attain success is through work. The poet
asks us to stop all these for some time.

The after-effects of this phenomenon are visualised by the poet to be very

serene and thought-provoking. He calls it an ‘exotic moment’. He makes
the reader understand its intensity through the use of imagery. He predicts a
‘sudden strangeness’ when we all stop moving and the constant grunt of
moving vehicles is paused. He is trying to refer to a moment of uneasy
silence that might seem awkward in the beginning. But there are good
consequences for this silence. It will help us reflect on ourselves and might
make us realise how we are hurting ourselves as well as others. The poet
here is trying to invoke some sense of humanity in his readers so that the
earth is saved from the greed and ruthlessness we resort to in the name of
creating civilisations.

He gives examples of how we are ruining everything around us. Fishermen

in the sea kill whales for their personal gains even if the whales have not
harmed the fishermen. A man gathering salt would understand how he is
hurting himself if he looked at his injured hands. The first example shows
how innocence is being attacked for personal advantages. The second
example talks about how we ignore our health, happiness and relationships
in pursuit of monetary fame and success. Wars are another destructive
outcome of negativity in humans. The poet cites the types of wars – wars
fought with gas or fire that harm the environment around us do no justice to
us or the animals and other elements of nature around us. These wars have
no meaning, according to the poet, as no one wins. It is humans who are
harmed at the end of the day. The poet believes that keeping quiet will
inspire both war-mongers and victims to see the goodness in each other,
and they will discover feelings of brotherhood among themselves once
again.

The poet warns readers not to confuse staying still with complete inactivity.
He wants to clarify that his desire for a quiet world should not mean that we
are not supposed to work or do anything at all. The poet only wants the
cruelty, violence and destructive activities to stop. He wants us to
appreciate nature and realise its role and value in our lives. We take all
kinds of precautions to live longer and avoid death. This struggle for
survival makes us unleash destruction and violence. Perhaps a little bit of
introspection and silence could reveal how we understand so little about
ourselves and are terrified by the idea of death.

Finally, he cites the example of nature itself – how the Earth teaches us
about rebirth and regeneration of life. Various phenomena on earth like
seasons or cycles of organic substances begin and end to repeat themselves
all over again. Winter seems to freeze everything but is followed by spring
which brings new life and harmony to earth. While summer symbolises the
peak of growth and maturity, autumn comes to shed off all the old and
unnecessary. Life does not stop here. Life is created again. It is a cycle that
never ends, and life and death are part of it. There is no point in struggling
or fighting for immortality. The poet leaves the reader here on a note of
silent introspection that implicitly urges humanity to realise its mistakes
and move towards a more humane future.

Conclusion of Keeping Quiet

Keeping Quiet is a poem that invokes us to reflect on our actions and their
consequences. The poet believes that silence is the way to start this process
of reflection. The poem is an appeal to understand the world, to seek peace
and harmony in the world and to seek brotherhood for the betterment of all.
The poem has a powerful message but conveys it through a very subtle and
serene tone. Reading the summary of the poem Keeping Quiet Class will
shed light on how attaining a peaceful state of mind and body should be our
ultimate goal.

MY MOTHER AT 66
BY:
Ageing is a natural process, and no one has control over it. As human
beings, we are involved in warm relationships with people much older than
us – like that between our parents and us. As much as we love our parents
and wish for them to live forever with us, nature does not seem to heed our
wishes. Our parents do grow old and need help and care. It might be painful
to see them lose their youth with time. It is unfortunate, but it is just like
sand slipping away from between our fingers. We cannot hold on to it
forever.

In the poem My Mother at Sixty-six, Kamala Das explores the loving

relationship between a mother and a daughter. Her mother is old, and she
cannot bear the thought of losing her. The poem describes feelings and
emotions that surface within her as she rides to the airport with her mother
before departing to another place.

The poet describes her ride to Cochin from her parent’s house in the poem.
Her mother, who was sitting beside her, dozed in the car. The poet observed
her closely and realised that her mother had grown old. She did not exhibit
any youthful nature – her mouth was open as she was sleeping, and her face
did not have the lively glow found in young people. The poet described her
face as ‘ashen’. It is indicative of a state after death – the end of life.

She found this thought troubling and looked out the window to distract
herself. The world outside presented a contrast to her recent thoughts and
observations. She could see things that represented the very vibrant spirit of
life. There were several young trees outside the window on the roadside.
They seemed to sprint as the car drove on. The poet could see children run
out of their houses to play. Their happiness was an embodiment of energy
and optimism, opposite to what she felt when she looked at her mother.
At the airport, after the security check, the poet looked at her mother again.
Her face looked colourless and pale. She compared it to a late winter’s
moon – hazy and dim. The poet could relate this to a childhood fear she
used to have – the fear of losing her mother. The situation described here is
a moment of parting, and leaving her mother alone at this age makes her
sad and helpless. She felt a pang of pain and fear here. She knew that her
mother was approaching her end. There was nothing she could do about it.
She controlled her feelings and waved her mother goodbye with a smile.
The poet uses the repetition of the word ‘smile’ here to show how hard she
tried to contain her pain in front of her mother to give out a rather pleasant
demeanour.

The poem ends on a note of sad acceptance of reality. The poet understands
that no matter how much she worries about her mother’s growing age and
eventual demise, life goes on. It is the way nature intends things to be in
life.

Conclusion of My Mother at Sixty-six

My Mother at Sixty-six summary teaches us the concept of acceptance in

life – the need to understand nature and how it affects our roles in life. We
might feel strongly about certain things and people in life. We might form
deep attachments to certain people in life, but even those relationships are
bound to end at some point of time in life – no matter how much we try to
fight the idea of it. Kamala Das has beautifully illustrated this idea in her
poem My Mother at Sixty-six, using apt imagery and symbolism in the
appropriate places.

CH-5 INDIGO
BY:
Louis Fischer starts the chapter by recalling his meeting with Mahatma
Gandhi at his ashram in Sevagram in 1942. He remembers Gandhi
explaining his urge to initiate the departure of the British from India. It
started in 1917. He had gone to attend the annual convention of the Indian
National Congress Party in Lucknow in December 1916. During this event,
a farmer named Rajkumar Shukla came up to him, asking for help. He
wanted Gandhi to help him, and his fellow farmers deal with the injustice
imposed upon them by the landlord system in Bihar.

Rajkumar Shukla followed Gandhi to his ashram until the latter agreed to
go to Champaran. It was decided that Rajkumar Shukla would take Gandhi
to Champaran from Calcutta. After several months, when Gandhi went to
Calcutta, he found Rajkumar waiting for him at the exact spot at the given
time. Rajkumar took Gandhi to the house of Rajendra Prasad – a lawyer.
The lawyer was not there. So, Gandhi decided to go to Muzaffarpur. He
was greeted by a professor at the train station – J.B. Kripalani, whom many
students accompanied. Although the local people were afraid of giving
shelter to home-rule supporters like Gandhi, a government school teacher –
Professor Malkani let him stay for two days at his house.

As a number of lawyers and farmers came to meet him, Gandhi understood

the problem faced by the farmers. They were sharecroppers – tenants that
worked on estates owned by British landlords. This system compelled the
farmers to cultivate fifteen per cent of their land with indigo and hand over
the complete harvest to the landlords. When the landlords discovered that
Germany had developed synthetic indigo, they did not want the farmers to
grow indigo anymore. So, they asked the farmers to pay some
compensatory fees for being released from the fifteen per cent arrangement.
Some farmers signed willingly, while others hired lawyers to fight against
this. But when they came to know about the development of synthetic
indigo, they wanted their money back.

Gandhi faced a lot of troubles while approaching the government officials

about the Champaran issue. They made many excuses and turned him away
a number of times. But he stayed put and filed a case with support from
prominent lawyers and the local farmers. After long meetings with the
Lieutenant-Governor, Gandhi was able to arrange investigations into the
sharecroppers’ issues. A substantial amount of evidence was unearthed, and
the official enquiry agreed to refund the farmers’ money that was taken
from them through illegal and deceitful ways.

Gandhi asked for fifty per cent of the money while the official enquiry
counter-proposed a twenty-five per cent refund. Gandhi agreed gladly. To
him, the amount of money that was to be paid was less important than the
fact that British landlords were compelled to surrender their money. Gandhi
believed that the landlords were surrendering their prestige as well.

The outcome of this event was that the fearful and suppressed farmers
developed a sense of self-reliance and courage to fight for their rights. The
writer stresses the fact that Gandhi’s politics was not about being loyal to
ideals, but it was about being loyal to the people – the human beings
involved in it. He took up various initiatives to improve the lives of people
in Champaran. He started schools along with health and sanitation
campaigns to help the people of Champaran overcome poverty and misery.
His wife, disciples and many other people volunteered to help Gandhi bring
development to Champaran.

Conclusion of Indigo

Indigo Class 12 summary tells us about the journey of self-reliance and

courage during the freedom struggle in British India. Gandhi had
considered an improvement in the physical and mental conditions of people
as a crucial factor in the contribution of nationalistic sentiment and
resistance by farmers against the British. The chapter says that the
Champaran incident was considered the first kind of Civil Disobedience
victory in modern India.

CH-4 THE RATTRAP

BY:
The story is set in the mines of Sweden where iron is extracted from ores. It
is about a rattrap seller who tries to earn his living by selling rattraps made
from materials he gathers by either begging at stores and farms or by
stealing. He led a hard life – full of struggles and suffering which made him
view the world around him pessimistically. He started developing an idea
that the world was like a rattrap where the beautiful elements of nature like
seas and lands and other human needs like riches, clothes, food, etc. were
like baits offered to rats, and the desire to enjoy these things would lure
them into this trap. These thoughts became a habit for him and he started
enjoying daydreaming about this new idea during his spare time.

One day, while selling goods, he came across a small cottage by the
roadside. It was evening and he knocked on the door to ask the owner for
shelter during the night. The rattrap vendor was usually used to being ill-
treated by others. But this time, he was welcomed wholeheartedly by his
host, who not only offered him food and shelter, but also engaged in a
merry conversation with him. The host, who was an old man without a wife
or children, told the rattrap seller about how he used to work at a mine
earlier but presently depended on his cow for his livelihood. He also
showed his earnings of thirty kronor to the rattrap seller – three notes of ten
kronor – to prove his point. The next day both men set out from the cottage
together. But the rattrap seller came back again to the cottage in his host’s
absence, stole the thirty kronor and went on his way to somewhere else.

The rattrap seller felt very impressed with his own deed. As he continued
his journey, he entered a forest and felt lost, tired and cold as the night
[Link] felt trapped as he tried to find his way out. He was about to
give up when he heard thumping noises and finally discovered an iron mill
that was still in operation. He went inside to find a master smith and his
helper working at the furnace. The smith had no objections about providing
him a shelter for the night at the mill. After sometime, the owner of the mill
– an ironmaster – noticed the rattrap seller and mistook him for an old
friend of his at the regiment where he had served in the earlier years of his
life. The rattrap seller considered this to be another opportunity for earning
money and played along with the ironmaster.

The ironmaster invited him to his house for a stay since it was Christmas
season and said that he would love some company. The rattrap seller,
finding this overwhelming and uncomfortable, – refused to go to the
ironmaster’s house. The ironmaster then sent his daughter to persuade him
to stay. As soon as she met the seller, she could understand that the man
had done something wrong like stealing or escaping from jail. She assured
him in a friendly manner that he would be allowed to leave whenever he
wanted; and they wanted him to stay only till Christmas eve. He agreed and
went to the manor where he was treated with care and affection by his
hosts. The next day at dinner the ironmaster discovered to his shock that it
was not his old friend but a stranger whom he had invited to his house. He
threatened to turn him over to the sheriff. But, considering that it was
Christmas eve, he did not want to trouble the sheriff. The rattrap seller also
expressed his views on being trapped like a rat by the good hospitality of
his host – the ironmaster. As he was preparing to leave, the daughter had a
change of heart and wanted the rattrap seller to stay back for Christmas no
matter what the conditions were.

Therefore, the rattrap seller stayed back and spent Christmas with the
ironmaster and his daughter at the manor. At night after dinner, when it was
time for presents, the daughter told him that her father wanted the coat
worn by the rattrap seller to be a Christmas gift for him. She also told him
that if he wanted to spend the next Christmas in peace he was welcome at
their house. He did not reply as he felt mesmerised by the girl’s kind words
and behaviour. The next day, the ironmaster and his daughter went to the
church for service. There they had found out that one old employee of the
mill was robbed by a man selling rattraps. When they returned home, they
found that their guest – the rattrap seller – was gone. He had left a present
for the daughter – a rattrap and the thirty kronor he had stolen. He had also
written a note in which he asked the daughter to return the stolen money
back to its owner. He also explained that it was a Christmas present from a
rat who was freed by their kind hospitality.

Conclusion of The Rattrap

This story captures the essence of faith in humanity. The daughter knew
that the rattrap seller was not the person her father had assumed to be and
his intentions were wrong. Still, she believed that her care and sincerity
towards that person might make him believe in the goodness of humanity
again. The seller always considered the world an evil place and compared it
to a rat trap. After reading The Rattrap Class 12 summary we understand
that the rattrap seller in the story, indeed, had some goodness and
compassion for people around him. He was finally able to realise the
consequences of his wrong deeds and thoughts, and resolved to do the right
thing.

CH-3 DEEP WATER

BY: WILLIAM O DOUGLAS
The author describes the journey of conquering his fear of water. He starts
this account by narrating an unfortunate incident that took place when he
was ten or eleven years old. He had decided to learn swimming at the
Y.M.C.A pool because he felt that place was safer than the Yakima river in
which accidental drownings were common.

He informs the readers that he had an aversion to water because of a past

incident that had taken place when he was three or four years old. His father
had taken him to the California beach, where he was knocked down
brutally by the waves. He was buried in the water, and as a result, it created
a fear of water in him. Nevertheless, he went to the Y.M.C.A pool to learn
swimming with a newfound sense of confidence.

He started by paddling around in the water with his water wings. He tried
copying the other boys who had come to swim in the pool. One day he
arrived at the pool to find himself early and alone. He was scared of going
into the water alone and waited for some other people to show up. A big
muscular boy, eighteen years old, showed up, started bullying him and
tossed him into the pool. He fell into the water in a sitting position and
swallowed a lot of water. As he was drowning, he planned his comeback
out of the water. He imagined he would kick off the floor of the pool as
soon as he hit it.

When he finally felt the floor of the pool, the author kicked hard and made
a big jump to rise to the surface level of the pool. But his ascent was not as
rapid as he had expected. Instead, his ascent was slow and suffocating. He
tried to scream, but no sound came out. Finally, when he could reach the
surface and breathe, he drowned again. He tried to fight it, but his legs did
not move. He started sinking towards the bottom of the pool again. Terror
gripped him, and he screamed, but it was to no avail. He planned to jump
off the floor of the pool and had barely reached the surface of the water
when he started to sink again.

He felt too exhausted from trying and gradually went into a state of
unconsciousness. The next thing he could remember was people talking.
The boy who threw him into the water claimed he was just kidding around.
Another person stated that the author was almost on his way to death. After
he went home, he found himself weak and emotionally shaken – so much
that even the simplest of exertion upset him.

A few years later, he realised that he was still seized by the terror of his past
experience at the Y.M.C.A pool whenever he went to other water bodies.
He would find himself paralysed by terror and unable to move his legs.
This fear deprived him of the joys of swimming and boating in beautiful
waterbodies. He tried to eliminate his fear in various ways, but it stayed
with him.

One October, the author decided to learn swimming properly with the help
of an instructor who used a step-by-step process to carry out this task. The
author was made to practise swimming across the swimming pool back and
forth with a rope tied around him. The other end of it was managed by his
instructor. After three months of practice, he was taught to breathe under
water. He was slowly overcoming his fear of water with this approach
adopted by his instructor. After going through another practice set of
kicking the water with his legs, while being held at the side of the pool, the
instructor declared to the author that he was ready to swim.

Although the author received official approval of his swimming abilities

from an instructor, he was not fully convinced. He tried swimming alone in
a swimming pool till July. He observed that he could still experience little
pangs of fear. He was unsatisfied with his improvement and swam two
miles across Lake Wentworth. This time, his fear returned only once –
when he put his face underwater in the middle of the lake.

He still had his doubts. So, he went swimming in the Warm Lake. To his
surprise, he swam across the lake to the other shore and back without any
trouble. He felt immense joy to discover that he was finally rid of his fear
of water. The author cites this event as an important experience for him. He
describes it as a feeling that only people who have known severe fear and
conquered it can understand. He quotes Roosevelt to explain that there is
peace in death, and the only thing we should fear is the fear of death itself.

Conclusion of Deep Water

Deep Water Class 12 Summary shows the result of showing courage in the
face of fear. We may have many causes for fear in life, but that should not
decide who we are – especially when it is about death. The fear of death
itself might prevent us from experiencing so many wonderful things in life.
William Douglas sets an example of this through his biographical account
of his experience with the fear of water. He did not let the fear of water
overpower him, and his strong resolution to eradicate this fear was
successful after a long process of hard work and determination.

CH-2 LOST SPRING

BY:
Lost Spring’, written by Indian writer Anees Jung, is an excerpt from her
book ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood’. In it, she analyses the
lives of children living in poverty. This chapter presents stories about two
children who face poverty in all aspects of their lives and yet have the
courage to dream big. The writer, Anees Jung, is the narrator in both stories
in the chapter.

‘Sometimes I Find a Rupee in the Garbage’

The narrator talks about a boy named Saheb. He is a ragpicker whom the
narrator sees every morning. She talks to him and finds out that he came
from Dhaka long back when, according to his mother, his house was swept
away by storms. That was the reason why his family had come here to earn
a living. The narrator asks him to join a school, but he replies that there is
no school in his neighbourhood. The narrator promises him that she will
start a school, and he is welcome there. Saheb’s face lights up. A few days
later, Saheb comes up to the narrator, asking her if her school is ready. The
narrator realises that promises like these are made to children like Saheb all
the time, and they are never kept.

The narrator goes on to talk about how children in extreme poverty live and
what the conditions surrounding them are like. She talks about how
children walk barefoot on the streets, and the excuse given for this is that
it’s a tradition to walk barefoot. She thinks that more than tradition, it might
be an excuse to justify a continuous state of poverty. She remembers
another incident where a man from Udipi told her that he used to pray for a
pair of shoes at a temple in his childhood. Thirty years later, when the
narrator visited the temple and the town, she could see a little boy walking
in his shoes. Their prayers were answered.

To give us a background of Saheb, the narrator talks about Seemapuri – a

place near Delhi where the ragpickers who came from Bangladesh in 1971
settled down. They have not been given any identities or permits. Only
ration cards are given to them that help them eat food and vote for
politicians. They are deprived of any other rights. Over the years,
ragpicking has become an art for them. To a child like Saheb, finding a
rupee or a ten rupee note is a big achievement. One day, she sees Saheb
wearing a pair of tennis shoes. One of them had a hole in it, and it did not
seem to bother him because it was a dream come true for a child who had
always walked barefoot.

Later, the narrator sees Saheb with a steel canister in his hand. She learns
that he has started working at a tea stall recently and is paid 800 rupees in
addition to daily meals. When asked if he was happy with his new job,
Saheb looked downcast. He was working under someone, and his freedom
was taken away from him. He no longer had a carefree attitude, and the
steel canister seemed heavier than the plastic bag that he used to carry for
ragpicking.

‘I Want to Drive a Car’

This excerpt is about the fate of bangle makers in Firozabad. The author
portrays the kind of poverty that looms over the houses and streets of
bangle makers in this town. Mukesh, a young boy from Firozabad takes the
narrator to his house, where she discovers the grim conditions under which
the people work — around furnaces with high temperatures without proper
air or light. They do not know that it is illegal for children to be working
under these kinds of conditions.

The narrator observes that bangle-making is done by people belonging to a

particular caste specialising in it. The art has been passed down from
parents to their children for generations. Even after the whole family
worked at the bangle factory, they remained poor. Mukesh’s family was not
able to build a proper house yet. The same is the fate of other people living
in this area. The sorrow and desperation of being unable to feed themselves
even three proper meals daily reduced their courage to fight against the
situation.

When asked why they cannot form a cooperative to improve their living
conditions, they said they fear being beaten and hauled away by the police
for doing something illegal. Their fathers and forefathers were trapped by
middlemen. The younger generations are still paying the price for that. The
bangle makers are downtrodden due to the poverty and stigma of their
caste. The narrator points out the presence of a vicious circle here: The
involvement of sahukars, policemen and middleman who do not let these
people rise up in society.

Therefore no one dares to break away from this line of the profession, from
this tragic world of poverty and suppression. Mukesh dreams of being a
motor mechanic, and the narrator sees a flash of rebellion in his eyes. She
asked him if he would like to be a pilot someday. Mukesh seemed
embarrassed and replied that he was happy dreaming about being a motor
mechanic. Flying a plane was a dream beyond his reach.

Conclusion of Lost Spring

The lost spring summary shows how we humans create a vicious circle of
suppression and torture for our fellow human beings that leads to a social
and economic imbalance in society. While one class of human beings get to
enjoy the benefits of human rights and identity, another class of human
beings is subjected to fear of entrapment and punishment with the wrongful
use of socioeconomic politics. The most affected victims of these processes
are innocent children who miss out on their rights as human beings, when
they are employed before they come of age or are deprived of basic needs
such as education, clothes, shelter and food. These children lead to another
generation of impoverished and illiterate children — a vicious circle that
keeps continuing till they are obliged to accept that it’s their fate.

CH-1 THE LAST LESSON

BY:
The narrator of the story is Franz – a student in the class of M. Hamel. One
morning Franz was late for school. His teacher, M. Hamel, had told his
class that he would be asking questions on participles on that day. Franz felt
like bunking school for a moment. But he resisted the urge and went to
school. On his way to school, he saw people clustered in front of the
bulletin board, and, as usual, he assumed that there was some bad news. It
had been happening since Prussia annexed their district of Alsace.

The day felt unusual compared to regular days, as there was no commotion
in the classroom. Everything was quiet, and instead of being scolded by M.
Hamel, Franz was asked to go to his seat quickly. He noticed something
odd about his teacher. M. Hamel was not wearing his usual clothes – he
wore extravagant clothes only meant for school inspection or prize days.
Another odd thing that day about the school was that most of the villagers,
including the former mayor, former postmaster, etc., were sitting on the
back benches and looked sad.

As the class began, the teacher, M. Hamel, announced that this was his last
French lesson for his students as the Prussians had announced that French
would no longer be taught in schools. Franz felt a sudden pang of remorse.
He realised what the bad news on the bulletin board was: French was no
longer to be taught in schools. Franz felt sorry about bunking his classes
and not bothering about his lessons. He realised the villagers had come
there to pay their respects to M. Hamel’s forty years of service as a teacher.
It was also about showing respect for their country, which was not theirs
anymore.

When it was Franz’s turn to recite, M. Hamel was patient. He did not scold
Franz. He went on to discuss their district’s problem – the assumption that
they always had plenty of time. That is how the students lagged in their
lessons – because they had taken their freedom and time for granted. Then
M. Hamel blamed himself and Franz’s parents for making him do chores
rather than letting him focus on his studies. M. Hamel went on to talk about
the beauty of French – their mother tongue – and how everyone should hold
on to it even if it were not taught at schools. He explained that when people
are enslaved, the only key to redeeming their freedom is the common
language that they share. He had brought new copies for the students and
decorated the classroom for them.

Franz felt that everything his teacher was teaching was lucid and easy to
understand. He blamed himself for not listening to the lessons properly.
Franz discovered that M. Hamel was supposed to leave the country. He
realised how difficult it must have been for his teacher to leave a place he
had stayed and served in for forty years. As the clock struck twelve and the
Prussians blew their trumpets, the class ended, and M. Hamel said goodbye
to his class by writing ‘Vive La France’ on the blackboard since he was too
emotional to speak. He leaned his head against the wall and made a gesture
with his hand – implying that the school was dismissed.

Conclusion of The Last Lesson

The story ends on a very sentimental note. On the one hand, the citizens of
Alsace were disappointed about losing their freedom under the reign of the
Prussians. But also, on the other hand, they had come to realise what they
were going to miss – the freedom and the privilege of learning their
language, both of which they had taken for granted. The Last Lesson Class
12 summary shows how the teacher’s departure inspires patriotism in the
villagers at the end of the story. We can see how the citizens of Alsace are
getting ready for a new tomorrow of bitter realities by showing exceptional
mental resolve.
 CH-1 THE THIRD LEVEL
BY: JACK FINNEY
The Third Level is a short story that shows us how trauma can manifest
inside us and take a psychological toll. The main character Charley is a
thirty-one-year-old man who earns his living by working at an office just
like most other people. He is the narrator of the story and starts by telling us
about the presence of a third level at the Grand Central Station in New
York. But his psychiatrist judges it as waking-dream wish fulfilment. The
psychiatrist stated this because the narrator was not happy with his life – he
was trying to find refuge from his troubles by imagining the existence of a
third level.

One day, Charley was caught up with some work, and he had to stay late in
the evening. He wanted to reach home as quickly as possible. Therefore, he
decided to take the subway instead of the bus. He walked into a third level
at the Grand Central Station – a station which is supposed to have only two
levels. He found the third level weird as the infrastructure and people
seemed to be from a different era. He finally found out from a newspaper
that it was the year 1894. He remembered this era before the First and
Second World wars. He went to the ticket counter to book two tickets to
Galesburg, Illinois but the clerk at the ticket counter accused him of using
fake money and threatened to turn him in to the police. The narrator ran
away from the station the same way he came inside.

The next day, Charley withdrew almost all his money – three hundred
dollars and bought old-style currency worth the same. He wanted to return
to 1894 in Galesburg and settle down with his wife Louisa, but he could
never find the third level again. When his wife learned about all this, she
got very worried and asked him not to look for the third level again. The
narrator returned to his hobby of collecting stamps. At that time, he realised
that the third level did exist. His friend Sam, whom he had always told
stories about Galesburg during his childhood, had disappeared. The narrator
assumed that Sam might have gone to Galesburg in 1984.
One night as Charley was going through his stamps, he noticed a letter
among one of his oldest first-day covers. It had the address of his
grandfather in Galesburg, Illinois, and it was dated 18th July 1894. But he
opened the envelope to find it was actually a letter to him from Sam telling
him about how things were in 1894 and how he was enjoying those
moments. Sam asked the narrator to keep searching for the third level
because it was worth it. The narrator went to the stamp and coin store to
find that Sam had bought eight hundred dollars worth of old-style currency.
He figured that Sam might have settled down comfortably with this kind of
money in 1894 with an investment in the food and grain business because
he would not have been able to pursue his actual profession, which was that
of a psychiatrist.

Conclusion of The Third Level

The Third Level is an interesting story that uses science fiction as a theme
to talk about the kind of trauma people went through in post-war life. The
Third Level Class 12 summary will help students understand the concepts
involved quickly and precisely. The story’s narrator is unhappy with the
present state of the world following the first two world wars. This
unhappiness manifests as an inner trauma for which the narrator finds a
coping mechanism. He develops a tendency to escape from the present by
supplanting it with a nostalgia for a past that was peaceful and unaffected
by wars. His imagination helps him find this escape by creating a third level
at the Grand Central Station that takes him to a different time in 1894.

CH-2 THE TIGER KING

BY:
The protagonist of the story is the Maharaja of Pratibandapuram. The story
is about how he gets the name ‘Tiger King’. Before the story starts, the
writer tells us that the protagonist of the story is presently dead. However,
the interesting event that will help us understand the story is the astrological
prediction made after his birth.
When the king was just 10 days old, the astrologers predicted that the child
would grow up to be a very strong king and the greatest of warriors,
champions, and heroes, but they hesitated to announce that the king would
meet his death one day. After hearing this, the ten-day-old baby called the
astrologers. For a moment, they were baffled about the source of the sound.
The baby directed their senses toward him and asked them to tell him the
reason for his death. He reasoned that death was a natural phenomenon and
it did not need to be predicted.

The astrologers were surprised as well as intrigued by the baby’s behaviour.

They announced that since the king was born in the hour of the bull and
since the bull and the tiger are enemies, the king would be killed by a tiger.
The prince growled deeply and threatened to kill all the tigers.

II

As time went by, the crown prince grew taller and stronger. He drank the
milk of an English cow, was brought up by an English nanny, was tutored
by an Englishman and watched only English films just like the other crown
princes of Indian states. The responsibility of the state was handed over to
him when he became twenty years old. People started talking about the
king’s tragic fate, and it reached his ears. The king decided to kill the tigers
in the forests of Pratibandapuram. The Maharaj was thrilled when he killed
the first tiger and showed its dead body to the State astrologer challenging
the prediction made for him. The astrologer clarified the prediction saying
that he would not face death while killing the first ninety-nine tigers, but he
should be careful with dealing with the hundredth tiger. To challenge the
astrologer further, the king announced that the hundredth tiger would also
be killed. The astrologer replied that he would cut off his tuft, shorten his
hair and become an insurance agent.

III

From that day, the king announced that tigers in the forests of
Pratibandapuram would be hunted by none other than him. Anyone who
dared even to harm a tiger would be punished. With his firm resolve to kill
the hundred tigers, he decided to return to his management of state affairs
only after it was accomplished. Sometimes, he missed the bullet while
hunting but always managed to kill the tiger with his bare hands.
The king almost faced the trouble of losing his throne once when a high-
ranking British officer expressed his desire to hunt tigers in the forests of
Pratibandapuram, and he denied it. The officer replied that he was not as
much interested in killing the tiger as he was interested in a photograph
with the dead tiger. The king denied this as well and sent fifty samples of
diamonds to his wife to choose a gift of three. Next, he knew that the
British officer’s wife had kept all the diamonds to herself and sent him a
letter thanking him for the gift.

Although the king had to pay a hefty bill, he was pleased that he was able
to retain his kingdom.

IV

The Maharaja was successful in his attempts and killed seventy tigers
within ten years. But a new problem arose – the tiger population had
become extinct. He called the dewan and asked him to fix his marriage to a
princess of a state with a huge tiger population. Thus, he got married and
killed five or six tigers each time he visited his in-laws. He decorated the
walls of his palace with the skins of ninety-nine dead tigers.

The Maharaja developed a sense of anxiety when he was not able to

complete his count of hundred tigers. Even the tigers in his father-in-law’s
kingdom were all killed. Good news embraced him when he got to know
that sheep were disappearing from his state. He went out on a frantic search
for the last tiger. He could not find it, and it seemed like the tiger was
teasing him deliberately. He refused to leave the forest until the tiger was
found. Many officers lost their jobs due to the king’s strange behaviour.

Once the Maharaja called the dewan and asked him to increase the land tax
by twice its value. When the dewan pleaded with the king to see reason, he
was left with a warning of losing his post. The hopeless dewan dragged a
tiger (from People’s Park in Madras) hidden in the palace with the help of
his wife and let him out at the spot where the king was hunting. The king
aimed sharp, and the tiger dropped down, only to be discovered alive by his
men. They did not want to lose their jobs. So, one of the hunters took good
aim and shot the tiger dead. The king celebrated the death of the hundredth
tiger in grandeur. The king now peacefully returned to his family affairs.

A few days later, the king bought a wooden tiger for his son to play with.
The shopkeeper feared punishment and had sold it at a much higher value
than its original price to the king. The toy was not crafted well and had a lot
of tiny slivers on it. One sliver pierced the king’s right hand while playing.
Within four days, it developed into an infection that spread all over his arm.
Three famous surgeons were brought in to operate on the king from
Madras, but the surgery turned out to be unsuccessful, and the king passed
away. Thus, the hundredth ‘tiger’ took the life of the king, and the
prediction was true.

Conclusion of The Tiger King

The Tiger King Summary highlights the truth that however powerful one is,
one cannot control fate. Death is an inevitable part of human lives, and it
cannot be averted no matter what we do. The use of power and might can
not change the course of our lives. We have to accept our lives in whatever
form they are. Also, the story uses a satirical tone while narrating the plot.
It shows how vain and self-centred people with power can be. The king
could have ignored the prediction as death was inevitable in his life, just as
it was in others. But he could not resist his temptation to use his power to
challenge death. Instead of falling for that vain resolve, he could have used
his energy and time to look after his state affairs.
 CH-3 JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE
EARTH
BY: TISHANI DOSHI
The author talks about Gondwana – a giant amalgamated southern
supercontinent that existed six hundred and fifty million years ago. It was
centred roughly around present-day Antarctica. Humans had not arrived for
quite a long time, and the climate was warmer. Gondwana thrived for 500
million years with a variety of flora and fauna. By the time of the advent of
mammals, the landmass was forced to separate into smaller parts or
countries.

This journey to Antarctica was an attempt to understand the formation of

countries and find out about our origins. India had pushed northwards into
Asia to form the Himalayas. South America had drifted towards North
America to form the Drake passage, which created a cold circumpolar
current to keep Antarctica frigid at the bottom of the world.

The author belonged to the Southern part of India – a sunny place where
cold temperatures are rare occurrences. Spending two weeks in Antarctica
was overall a chilling prospect for her. It contains ninety per cent of Earth’s
ice volume and has no human markers like trees or billboards throughout
the continent. One lost a sense of perspective or time here. Visible things
ranged from the microscopic to the mighty, e.g., from midges and mites to
whales. Days were of a duration of twenty-four hours and immersed in
complete silence, disturbed occasionally by avalanches or calving ice
sheets.

Human impact

The author says that humans have been on this planet for only 12,000 years
and have managed to create havoc with their ambitious dreams of
development. Rapid human population growth has made survival difficult
for other species. Limitless burning of fossil fuels has increased the levels
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Climate change is an important part of
the environmental debate, and Antarctica is a crucial part of it because it
holds half-million-year-old carbon records in its layers of ice.

The author was working on a programme named Students on Ice on the

Shokalskiy. High school students were taken to Antarctica for educational
purposes that would help them understand and respect the planet. The
programme, headed by Geoff Green, had been operating for six years. He
was tired of taking celebrities and rich curiosity-seekers to Antarctica who
gave back to the world in a limited way. With Students on Ice, Geoff
offered the future policy-makers a life-changing experience at an age when
they were ready to absorb, learn and act.

The reason why the programme was so successful was that being near the
South Pole always affected people in some way. We cannot observe
environmental changes from the comfort of our homes. But when we see
the glaciers retreat and the ice shelves collapse, we realise how serious the
threat of global warming is. The simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity
in Antarctica make it easy for us to study how minor changes in
environments can have big repercussions. For example, further depletion of
the ozone layer could disturb the activities of phytoplankton, which can, in
turn, affect the birds and marine animals of the region – finally affecting the
global carbon cycle.

Walk on the ocean

While the author had a number of epiphanies during her Antarctic

experience, the best one was when they were asked to walk on the ocean.
The Shokalskiy was wedged into a thick white sheet of ice that prevented
them from going further south. The captain decided to turn around and go
back to the north. Before going, the participants of the programme were
asked to climb down the gangplank and walk on the ocean. All 52 members
spread out on the one-metre-thick ice pack. Crabeater seals were stretching
and sunning themselves on ice floes nearby, just like stray dogs do under
the shade of a banyan tree. The author found it to be a new revelation –
everything connected.

The author reflected upon how our planet has been balanced beautifully.
She wondered what would happen if Antarctica became a warm place. She
wondered if we would meet the same fate as that of dinosaurs, mammoths
and woolly rhinos. After meeting the optimistic teenagers on the
programme, the author felt that a lot could happen in a million years, but a
single day was capable of making drastic changes to the environment.

Conclusion of Journey to the End of the Earth

Summary of Journey to the End of the Earth depicts the gravity of climate
change and its effects on our lives. Our comfortable lifestyles and easy
accessibility of resources do not allow us to reflect upon the damage we are
causing to our environment through our actions. The change in global
climate is a cumulative effect, and we become blind to the changes owing
to our commitment to rapid economic development. Because of the
biodiversity around us in the habitable continents, the minute changes that
lead to climate change are not easily noticeable as long as we are able to
live comfortably. Antarctica, on the other hand, does not have a complex
ecosystem, and a small change can trigger a major change in its landscape.
This makes the continent a perfect place to learn about the catastrophic
effects of climate change.

CH-4 THE ENEMY

BY:
Dr Sadao Hoki is portrayed in the story as a very virtuous physician. He
had lived life according to the dire necessities and demands of traditional
Japanese society. Because his father wanted Sadao to have excellent formal
education, he went to America as a student of surgery and medicine at the
age of twenty-two. He met his wife Hana there at a professor’s house.
Although he liked her, he waited to confirm her pure Japanese roots before
he fell in love with her. He knew his father would not have blessed their
union otherwise. He did not marry Hana right away in America. Instead, he
introduced Hana to his father first after his return to Japan, and their
marriage was arranged in the traditional Japanese way.
Due to Sadao’s skills and extraordinary talent as a doctor, he was not sent
to fight in the World War. Also, the General was being treated for some
condition that might need an expert surgeon like Sadao.

One evening, as Sadao and his wife, Hana, were standing on the veranda of
their house, looking at the ocean, they saw a worn-out man wash up against
the shore. As he lay there, the couple went to examine him. They saw that
he was wounded, and to their astonishment, they discovered that he was a
white man – a U.S. soldier who looked like a tortured prisoner who had
escaped somehow. He was an enemy to them. Given the political climate of
their country, they knew it was illegal to harbour a white man from
America.

They pondered the situation for a long time, assessing every single outcome
of their actions. They knew they could be punished for saving an enemy
prisoner, but their conscience did not allow them to leave a wounded man
unattended. They also worried about how the servants might react to this
situation. They decided to take this man to their house and inform the
servants that they would hand the prisoner back to the police when he was
healed.

Dr Sadao and his wife laid the young, white, American prisoner in Dr
Sadao’s father’s room which had not been used after his death. An urgent
operation seemed vital to save the white man’s life. Dr Sadao and his wife
informed their servants about the situation. They seemed to be in a state of
shock and denial. When Hana asked their servant Yumi to wash the
prisoner, the latter refused to obey her orders, saying that she had never
washed a white man in her life and she never intended to do so. Hana let
out a furious response but replaced it with a dignified attitude that showed
maturity. She cleaned the prisoner herself.

Dr Sadao started his operation and seemed wholly absorbed in his work. He
asked Hana to help him with certain things, but Hana had never seen an
operation and felt distressed when she saw the brutal wounds of the man
being operated on by her husband. Sadao felt irritated at his inability to
console his wife and became more ruthless in his task. When the prisoner
woke up after the surgery, Hana served him herself.
The prisoner, who had earlier looked like he would be in his early twenties,
now looked like he was seventeen years old after the surgery. When he
asked Dr Sadao about his intentions with him, the doctor told him that he
had not decided what he would do with him and asked the prisoner to keep
introductions and informal conversations at bay. As the prisoner was in his
recovery stages, Sadao and Hana found it difficult to manage the servants –
as they did not want to be part of this unpatriotic act. After Dr Sadao pulled
out the last stitches of the prisoner, he calculated that the invalid would
require a fortnight to recover fully. He drafted a letter to the Chief of police
to report the incident but did not send it.

On the seventh day after this event, the servants left the couple. Dr Sadao
continued the treatment of his enemy as usual, and Hana accepted the
resignation of the servants gracefully without creating any fuss. In the
afternoon, Dr Sadao was taken to the palace to treat the General, who was
dealing with unbearable pain. The General valued Dr Sadao a lot. So, when
Sadao told him about the wounded prisoner, he offered to help Sadao by
killing the prisoner with the help of his trusted assassins. He asked Sadao to
keep the prisoner’s door ajar at night and promised him that the task would
be carried out swiftly.

Sadao did not sleep properly for three nights in a row as he kept
anticipating the prisoner’s assassination. But, each morning, he found the
prisoner sound asleep and recovering well. On the third day, when he went
to see the prisoner, he informed him that he was strong enough to escape on
a boat to an island near the coast. He could escape with the help of Korean
fishermen who frequented the waters beyond it. Sadao explained that it was
no longer a secret that the prisoner was being treated at his house. The
young man seemed to understand the circumstances and agreed to the plan.
Dr Sadao explained how the prisoner was supposed to survive and escape
the coastal regions without getting caught. He instructed the prisoner to use
his flash to signal if he was out of food and water or to inform that he was
alright. The prisoner thanked Dr Sadao and set off on the boat at night.

Dr Sadao operated on the General, and a week later, when the latter looked
well enough to discuss serious affairs, Sadao informed him that the prisoner
had escaped. The General apologised to Dr Sadao for not following his
promise – he was preoccupied with his condition and had forgotten entirely
about the assassination. Dr Sadao understood that he did not have to worry
about the General. He played along with the conversation between them
and pledged his loyalty to the General in case of any official enquiry into
this matter.

Later that night, when Sadao looked at the sea, he could not see any flashes.
He concluded that the prisoner had left that place safely. As he stood there,
he remembered all those white faces he had known in America. When his
teachers were kind to him, other people, like his landlady, were ruthless to
him. He stood there wondering why he was not able to kill that white
prisoner.

Conclusion of The Enemy

The Enemy Class 12 Summary shows us how Dr Sadao is stuck between

duty and humanitarian obligations. Although he knows well that treating
his enemy may lead to unpleasant consequences for him and his family, his
conscience is bound to save the prisoner’s life, as he finds it unreasonable
to abandon a wounded man to his fate in dire circumstances. He knows that
it is his duty as a responsible citizen to report the arrival of an American
prisoner at the Japanese shores to the lawful authorities. But, the urge to
save a human is stronger than his feelings of patriotism. This feeling
intensifies towards the end of the chapter when he helps the prisoner
escape.