NCERT-solution for class 9, chapter the lost child
The lost child by
(Mulk. Raj Anand)
The lost child class 9
Table of Content
- About the Author
- Introduction
- Theme
- Main points
- Explanation
- summary
- word-meanings
- Question and answer
(1) About the Author
Mulk Raj anand (12 December 1905-28 september 2004) was an India writer in English notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society . one of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction. he together with R.K narayan, Ahmad all and Raja Rao was one of the first India-based writers in English to gain an International readership Anand is admired for his novels and short-stories, which have acquires the status of classics of modern Indian English literature, they are noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and for their analysis of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune he became known for his protest novel untouchable” (1935). followed by other works on the indian poor such as coolie” (1936) and ” Two leaves and a bud”(1937).
(2) Introduction.
The lost child is one of the famous stories of Mulk Raj anand. this story shows the working of the child’s mind, it shows that a child has great love for his parents. in this story, a child goes to see the village fair in the company of his father and mother. he is attracted by different things in the fair, he asks his parents, again and again, to buy him something or the other but they don’t buy anything for him. by chance the child gets separated from his parents, he start running here and there shouting for his parents, A kind man sees, him he tries to console that child, he takes him to different shops, but the child goes on weeping now he has lost interest in everything he only cries, want mother, I want my father”
(3) Theme
young children get attracted by little things around them and often press their parents with demands to buy those things, however their real happiness lies in being with their parents, the lost child” is a story about one such boy who cannot be tempted by anything in the absence of his parents.
(4) Main points
- the child is being taken to the fair by his parents
- there are many attractions in the fair for the child like balloons, merry go round toys and eatables, the child asks his parents for these things.
- parents have no desire to purchases these things for the child
- the crowd is large, so the parents are holding the hand of their child
- suddenly the child gets separated from his parents,
- the child start crying and asking for his father and mother
- A kind person picks up the child and tries to console him,
- he offers him balloons and other things which he wanted ealier.
- but now the child wants only his mother and father
- he keeps crying and says, I want my father, I want my mother”
(5)Explanations:
it was the festival of spring.from the wintry shades of narrow lanes and alleys emerged a gaily clad humanity .some walked some rode on , others sat, being carried in bamboo and bullock carts, one little boy ran between his father,s legs brimming over with life and laughter,,
,come ,child come called his parents, as he lagged behind , fascinated by the toys in the shops that lined the way. he hurried towards his parents, his feet obedient to their call his eyes still lingering on the receding toys, as he came to where they had stopped to wait for him, he could not suppress the desire of his heart, even though he well knew the , cold stare of refusal in their eyes, i want that toy, he pleaded his father looked at him red-eyed -in his familiar tyrant’t way , his mother, melted by the free spirit of the day tender and , giving him her finger to hold , said look child what is before you,, it was a flowering mustard -field pale, like melting
The lost child class 9
gold as it swept across miles and miles of even land. a group of dragon-files were busting about on their gaudy purple wings intercepting the fight of a lone black beer or butterfly in search of sweetness from the flowers , the child followed them in the air with his gaze ,still on of them would still its wings rest, and he would try to catch , it but, it would go fluttering, flapping up into the air, when he had almost caught it in this hands, then his mother gave a cautionary call, come child , come on to the footpath”
he ran towards his parents gaily and walked abreast of them for a while , being however soon left behind , attracted by the little insects and worms along the footpath that were teeming out from their hiding places to enjoy the sunshine come , child come” his parents called from the shade of a grove where they had seated themselves on the edge of a well, he ran towards them a shower of young flowers fell upon the child as he entered the
grove forgetting his parents , he began to gather the raining petals in his hands, but lo he heard the cooing of doves and ran towards his parents, shouting “the dove, the dove the raining petals dropped from his forgotten hands. come child , come they called to the child , who had now gone running in wild capers round the banyan tree, and gathering him up they took the narrow . winding footpath which led to the fair through the mustard fields.
as they neared the village the child could see many other footpaths full of throngs, converging to the whirlpool of the fair, and left at once repelled and fascinated by the confusion of the world he was entering, a sweetmeat seller hawked , gulab-jaman, rasagulla ,burfi ,at the corner of the entrance and a crowd pressed round his counter at the foot of an architecture of many coloured sweets, decorated with leaves of silver and gold . the child started open-eyes and his mouth watered for the burfi that was his favourites sweets i want that burfi , he slowly murmured . but he half knew as he begged that his plea would not be heeded because his parents would say he was greedy. so without waiting for an answer he moved on.
a flower-seller hawked, a garland of gulmohur a garland of gurmohur ” the child seemed irresistibly drawn. he went towards the basket where the flowers lay heaped and half murmured i want that garland .but the he well knew his parents would refuse to buy him those flowers because they would say that they were cheap.so without waiting for an answer, he moved on
a man stood holding a pole with yellow , red green and purple balloons flying from.it the child was simply carried away by the rainbow glory of their silken colours and he was filled with an overwhelming desire to possess them. all but he well knew parents would never buy him the balloons because they would say he was too old to play with such toys, so he walked on farther.
a snake-charmer stood playing a flute to a snake which coiled itself in a basket. its head raised in a graceful bend like the neck of a swan , while the music stole into its invisible ears like the gentle rippling of an invisible waterfall . the child went towards the snake charmer. but, knowing his parents had forbidden him to hear such coarse music as the snake-charmer played, he proceeded farther ,there was a roundabout in full swing , men women and children , carried away in a whirling motion, shrieked and cried with dizzy laughter . the child watched them intently and then he made a bold request , i want to go on the roundabout , please , father mother there was no reply,. he turned to look at his parents. they were not there, ahead of him, he turned to look on either side, they were not there. he looked behind. there was no sign of them
a full, deep cry rose within his dry throat and with a sudden jerk of his body he ran from where he stood, crying in real fear, mother , father tears rolled down from his eyes, hot and fierce , his flushed face was convulsed with fear. panic -stricken , he ran to one side first then, to the other hither and thither in all directions knowing not where to go having run to and fro in a rage of running for a while , he stood defeated , his cries suppressed into, sobs .at little distances on the green grass he could see, through his filmy eyes, men and women talking he tried. to look intently among the patches of bright yellow clothes, but there was no sign of his father and mother among these people , who seemed to laugh and talk just for the sake of laughing and talking.
The lost child class 9
he ran quickly again , this time to a shrine to which people seemed to be crowding every little inch of space here was congested with men, but he ran through people’s legs his little sob lingering mother, father , near the entrance to the temple , how ever , the crowd became very thick. men jostled each other heavy men with flashing murderous eyes and hefty shoulderous . the poor child struggled to thrust a way between their feet, but knocked to and fro by their brutal movements, he might have been trampled underfoot. had he not shrieked at the highest pitch of his voice , father mother a man in the surging crowd heard his cry and, stooping with great difficulty, lifted him up in his arms,
(6) summary.
it was a day of spring -festival and all the villagers were going brightly dressed to a fair, A little boy and his parents were also among them, the kid was excited and thrilled to see the small toy shops on the way and the flies and bees in the fields his parents kept calling him over and reminded him to walk beside them at last, they reached the fair and a large crowd of people left the boy confused he was happy and bewildered at the same time, he saw a sweetmeat seller at the entrance and was tempted to have the burfi displayed on the counter. he demanded the sweet half-heartedly because the knew that instead of buying it for him, his parents, would term him greedy,
so he moved on and soon came across a flower -seller fascinated by the gulmohur garlands, he again made a faint demand for flowers but-knew well that his parents would not buy anything, for flowers cheap in their opinion, moving on he saw a balloon -seller he was thrilled to see the brightly coloured balloons but knew that his parents would not buy one for him because they thought that he was too old to play with balloons,
next, a snake-charmer playing the flute drew his attention, the child moved towards, him a little but withdrew his steps because he knew that his parents, had forbidden him to hear such rough music, on moving ahead the child was charmed by a roundabout in full swing, failing to resist his desire,he made a bold request to his parents to let him go on the roundabout, the child did not get any reply, so he turned to took at his parents, they were not to be seen anywhere near him,
he got extremely scared and started crying he ran here and there but could not find them, he rushed in panic to a shrine which was, crowded with people he tried to make his way through the feet of his crowd but was knocked down and began crying loudly, A man heard his cries, and rescured him from being trampled, lifting the little boy in his arms, the kind man asked him how he had got there and whose baby he was the scared child did not answer and kept crying and asking for his parents, the good man tried to soothe him and took him to the roundabout offering to get him a ride on the horse, but the child did not want anything else other than mother and father,
The lost child class 9
(7)word-meanings:
- gaily clad-सुंदर वस्त्र पहने हुए
- emerged-बाहर निकले
- brimming over-भरे हुए
- supress-दबाना
- fascinated-लुभावना आकर्षित
- fluttering-उड़ते हुए
- grove-बगीचा
- winding-टेढ़ा -मेढ़ा
- decorated-सजावटी
- repelled-धक्का -मुक्की
(8) Question and answers
Question: 1 what are the things the child sees on his way to the fair? why does he lag behind?
Answer: on his way to the fair the child sees toy-shops, balloons, garland of gulmohur, and a group of dragon flies he lags behind because all these things fascinated him,
Question:2 In the fair he wants many things, what are they? why does he move on without waiting for an answer?
Answer: he wants to buy many things like colourful balloons, toys flowers , burfi etc, he wants to hear the flute of a snake charmer, to go on the round about on a swing but he moves, on because he knows that his parents, will not buy them for him,
Question; 3 when does he realise that he has lost his way? how have his anxiety and insecurity been described?
Answer; he was attracted by many things on his way, there was a round about in the fair, the boy wanted to go on ,it he requested his parents, for many things, but there was no reply, he turned to his parents, but he found that he had lost his way, he shouted with fear,
Question;4 why does the lost child lose interest in the things that he had wanted earlier?
Answer; the lost child had separated from his parents, now his only interest was to find out his parents, that’s why he has lost his interest in the things that he had wanted earlier,
Question; 5 what do you think happens in the end? does the child find his parents?
Answer; In the end a man took the boy in the fair, he helped him persuasively, he wanted to distract his mind, it is not clear that the child his parents or not.