Chapter 3.1
Q1. What forced the scorpion to take shelter in the poet’s house?
Ans: It was a rainy night and water streamed down into the scorpions hole. The scorpion had entered the house without any intention of stinging anyone. It came to the poet’s house only for shelter and warmth.
Q2. What does the phrase ‘to paralyse the evil’ mean in stanza 3 ?
Ans: It means the villagers tried to reduce and stop the effect of the scorpion’s poison.
Q3. Who are ‘they’ in stanza 4?
Ans: ‘They’ refers to the villagers trying to help his the mother.
Q4. Who does the word ‘him’ refer to in line no. 3?
Ans: The ‘him’ refers to the scorpion.
Q5. Why does the poem begin with the poet remembering the night?
Ans: It was a night when a superstitious culture made his mother suffer from a scorpion-sting, which she could have escaped with the help of medicines. It was a night when the poet, a child at that time, witnessed the evil and superstitious face of his society.
Q6. When did the Mother find relief?
Ans: The mother found relief twenty hours later, when the pain finally stopped.
7. The child is afraid but admires
(a) the initiative of the peasants.
(b) his father trying every way to cure.
(c) the bravery of his mother.
Ans: Option (c) : the bravery of his mother
8. His father and the villagers panic and hastily suggest .
(a) to take her to the hospital.
(b) ayurvedic treatment.
(c) religious remedies to help.
Ans: Option (c) : religious remedies to help
9. The poet seems to see the villagers as impractical and almost irritating which suggests that
(a) the poet is critical of caste
(b) the poet is critical of religion
(c) the poet is critical of tradition.
Ans: Option (b) : the poet is critical of religion
10. This is a poem as it tells a story.
(a) reflective
(b) imaginative
(c) narrative
Ans: Option (c) : narrative
11. Using the first person gives the feeling that it is told from
(a) personal experience
(b) public experience
(c) private experience
Ans: Option (a) : personal experience
12. ‘The scorpion picked on me. And spared my children’ depicts
(a) mother’s bravery
(b) mother’s endurance
(c) selfless and unconditional love of mother.
Ans: Option (c) : selfless and unconditional love of mother
13. The poem does not have a rhyme scheme, which means the poem is a perfect example of a
(a) Ballad
(b) Sonnet
(c) Free verse
Ans: Option (c) : Free verse
14. The poem is titled ‘Night of the Scorpion’, for, the major part of the poem,
(a) the mother remains triumphant at the end.
(b) the scorpion is the victor.
(c) the father succeeds in curing the mother.
Ans: Option (b) : the scorpion is the victor
15. The peasants chant the name of God to
(a) nullify the stinging experience
(b) praise God.
(c) appease God.
Ans: Option (a) : nullify the stinging experience
16. The click of tongues reflects their to the predicament.
(a) individual response
(b) collective response
(c) group response
Ans: Option (b) : collective response
17. Write an appreciation of the poem in a paragraph format. (Refer to page no. 5)
Ans: The poem ‘Night of the Scorpion’ is by Nissim Ezekiel.
The poem is written in free verse without any rhyme scheme. There are many figures of speech, e.g., Onomatopoeia, ‘and buzzed the name of God a hundred times’. Here, we feel we can actually hear the buzzing of the prayers of the many peasants. The other figures of speech are metaphor, simile, alliteration, antithesis, etc.
The poem depicts not only the superstitions of the peasants but also the selflessness and unconditional love of a mother who is stung by a scorpion. It also explains the care and affection of the villagers and their efforts to comfort the pain of the mother.
