CHAPTER 14
"OVERCOAT"
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EXERCISE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Answer the following questions, each in about 40-50 words:
Q.1. What was the colour of the young man’s overcoat? What do you think of its quality?
Ans: It was an old overcoat, but made of fine material. It was only outwardly impressive. In fact, it was a coat from a shop for second-hand clothes. The young man could not afford to buy a new fashionable coat. But it did serve as a covering for his old sweater and dirty unbathed body. It was a symbol of his outward respectable position.
Q.2. What was the appearance of the young man in an overcoat? (or) what did he look like?
Ans: This young fashionable man had soft, smooth, and shiny hair. He had kept sideburns and a thin moustache. He wore a brown overcoat, and a green felt hat (soft flexible hat made of wool or hair) and had a rose in a buttonhole. He held a short polished cane which he revolved actively.
Q.3. Why did the people come out on the Mall?
Ans: The people came out on the Mall to walk actively and to keep warm. Their second aim was to enjoy looking at the passing vehicles, shops and buildings around. They also visited the shops and restaurants whenever they liked. They took special pleasure in window shopping.
Q.4. What were the people wearing who came out to the Mall?
Ans: Most of the people who came out on the Mall were wearing overcoats of every kind. These overcoats were the astrakhan, rough military khaki and others, mostly got from secondhand clothes shops. It shows how much overcoats were in fashion then, Now it is not so.
Q.5. Why was the cat shivering? Why do you think the people were enjoying their walk in the open?
Ans: The cat was shivering because it was a very cold night. The people were enjoying their walk because they were wearing heavy overcoats. They were to sit or lie in their homes soon afterwards. Their walk in the open surely brought fine sleep to them.
Q.6. How did the young man in the overcoat get hurt? Why did the driver of the truck speed away after the accident?
Ans: The man in an overcoat was walking towards Mcleod Road from the Mall in Lahore. A truck loaded with bricks came from behind him and crushed him. The driver of the truck sped away from the scene of the accident. He feared that if he was caught he could be challenged and arrested.
Q.7. Who took the young man to the hospital after the accident? What can you say about those people?
Ans: Some passersby stopped a car at the scene of the accident. They loaded the injured young man into it and took him to a nearby hospital. They were surely ordinary people. They helped the helpless young man. We find a connection between the poverty of most of these people and the injured young man.
Q.8. What music was playing in one of the restaurants? How did it affect the atmosphere?
Ans: An orchestra (an asset of different musical instruments) was playing in one of the restaurants. It made the atmosphere lively and uplifting (making others feel happy). So the people standing outside were listening to the musical tunes with interest. They felt like moving more actively.
Answer the following questions, each in about 40-50 words:
Q.1. Give the list of the articles, which were found in the coat of the young man.
Ans: A small black comb, a handkerchief, six annas and a few pies, a half-smoked cigarette, a little diary with the names and addresses of a few people, a list of gramophone records, and a few handbills (advertisements) which distributors or suppliers of goods had given him during his evening walk.
Q.2. What is the moral or lesson of the story?
Ans: Young healthy men and women should use their energies and time in studies and useful activities. They should not remain idle in any way. If they are able and engaged in useful work, they will earn and live well. There should be institutions in society to arrange work and income for such people.
Q.3. Write a few sentences about the young men and women in our society who are unemployed, idle or of little use to themselves and others like the young man in an overcoat.
Ans: There are many young men and women who have no profitable work to do and do not know how to spend their time well. They live hopelessly and try to kill time in useless activities. Many watch TV for long hours, sit in public parks or walk along roads like the man in an overcoat.
Q.4. Explain the theme or central idea of the story.
Ans: “Overcoat,” the present story, brings out the theme of poverty and helplessness in a cruel society that is our own. The young man in the story was aimless. There was none to guide or lead him. The young man in the story was aimless. There was none to guide or lead him. The young man could have been very useful to society if he had been given chance to work and earn.
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