F 4: A SHADY PLOT

CLASS X
ENGLISH

Question 5: Answer the following questions briefly.

(a) What genre of stories does Jenkins want the narrator
to write? Why?
Answer: Jenkins wanted the narrator to write in
the supernatural genre. The public wanted ghost
stories and the narrator’s skill in writing ghost
stories was exceptional. Jenkins thought his ghosts
were live propositions and therefore asked him to
come up with a ghost .

(b) Does the narrator like writing ghost stories? Support

your answer with evidence from the story.
Answer : No the narrator dowsnot like writing stories . It
is more of a necessity for him to come up with good
stories whenever Jenkins demands them. He says that
the stories seemed to specialise in him. He had been
able to produce good ghost stories under pressure in the
past and had been overconfident regarding his ability.
(c) What makes Helen, the ghost, and her other co-
Ghosts organise The Writer’s Inspiration Bureau?
Answer : When Helen was a human she had worked
as reader for a magazine. The quality of stories and
other work made life difficult for her. When she died,
she found other ghosts who had suffered similarly
and they organised “The Writer’s Inspiration Bureau”
to help writers who were looking for inspiration.

(d) Why had Helen, the ghost been helping the

Narrator write ghost stories? Why was she going on
Strike? What condition did she place for providing Continued
help?
Answer : Helen tells the narrator that she wanted to be a writer but
became a magazine reader in her ‘other life’. This led her to start ‘The
Writers’ Inspiration Bureau’ in her afterlife to help out writers who lack
new ideas for writing stories. She helped the narrator to write ghost
stories as he had an impressionable mind and would often call on heaven and
earth to help him for ideas.
Helen and co-ghosts were going on a strike because they were tired of
answering questions of the Ouija board fanatics. They felt they were
disturbed too often to answer silly questions and they could not enjoy their
favourite pastime of haunting people. She urged the narrator to influence his
friends and acquaintances to stop using the Ouija board. It was on this
condition she promised to help the narrator to write stories.
(e) How does the ghost undermine the narrator’s
faith in his ability to write ghost stories?
Answer : Helen tells the narrator that she had helped him write his
ghost stories. She tells the narrator of the many times when she had
leaned on the narrator’s shoulder and had given him ideas, when he
was thinking hard while writing a ghost story. Helen tries to tell the
narrator that had she not been there for him as a muse, he would not
have been able to write good ghost stories.
(f) Why does John want the ghost to disappear before his wife appears
on the scene? What impression of his wife’s character do you form
from his words?
Answer : John wants the ghost to disappear before his wife arrives
because he fears his wife, Lavinia, would not feel nice seeing a lady in
his room and further could also react hysterically to the sight of a ghost.
This suggests that Lavinia is portrayed as a sensitive, perhaps even
fragile, woman who might easily be overwhelmed by unexpected or
unsettling situations.
(g) Why does the narrator hesitate to be a partner to Laura
Hinkle during the Ouija Board Party?
Answer :
Helen, the ghost, had asked the narrator to influence his friends to stop
using the Ouija board. It was only on this condition that Helen
promised to help the narrator to write ghost stories. If Helen sees him
now himself trying to communicate ghosts through the Ouija board, he
fears how and what she would do to him. That is why the narrator was
reluctant to be a partner to Laura Hinkle during the Ouija Board party.
He also considered Laura Hinkle to be a flirtatious crocodile
(h) What message does the ghost convey to the group that had
assembled in the narrator’s house? What is their reaction to the
message?
Answer :
Helen called John a traitor as he bluffs her. He had promised Helen that
he would convince his friends to stop contacting ghosts; rather here he
himself was doing the same. She is annoyed and filled with anguish and
so goes to everyone’s Ouija board one by one and tells that Mr. Hallock
is a traitor. After this revelation everybody suspected John of cheating
upon his wife. ,
Do you agree with the narrator calling the assembly of women
“manipulators?” Give reasons.
Answer :The narrator felt that everybody in the room was looking at
him suspiciously. That is why he called the assembly of women
“manipulators”. They were trying to create a scene where Hallock was
the culprit.
(j) Why is John’s wife angry? What does she decide to do?
Answer : John’s wife, Lavinia is angry because she, like other women,
believed what the spirit said through the Ouija board, about her
husband. A woman even reported that Helen has called John a traitor.
Lavinia thought that her husband was cheating on her. She decided to
go to her grandmother’s house. She also decided to separate from her
husband.

(k) Why does John wish himself to be dead?

Answer :John wished he was dead because a brief meeting with a ghost
had created such situations that he was about to lose his wife, whom
he loved dearly; it destroyed his happiness and home.
(l) When confronted by Lavinia about his flirtations over the Ouija
Board, John insists that ‘the affair was quite above-board, I assure you,
my love’. Bring out the pun in John’s statement.
Answer : John assures his wife that his flirtations with Helen the ghost
are above board. He tries to tell her that whatever that has happened
between him and Helen is over the board of Ouija and there was
nothing that he wished to hide from his wife, in fact there was nothing
to tell.
(m) John’s apprehensions about his wife’s reaction to her encounter
with the ghost are unfounded. Justify.
Answer : John thought that his wife would become hysterical if she saw
the ghost Helen.However, when the encounter happened, she
confidently spoke to the ghost and was not at all scared of it.

Extracts
1. "Madam, I must ask you to leave, and at once. Consider the
impression if you were seen here----" (Para 49)
a) Who is the speaker and whom is he speaking to?
Answer: The speaker is John Hallock. He is speaking to the ghost of
Helen, who appears before him.
b) Why was he asking 'Madam' to leave at once ?
Answer: John was extremely nervous and frightened he heard his wife
coming towards his room. He feared his wife Lavinia might come in and
see him talking to a Ghost, which would make her hysteric. So, he
requested “Madam” (the ghost) to leave at once.
c) Why had madam come to the speaker?
Helen, the ghost, had come to John because the “Writers’ Inspiration
Bureau” (a group of ghosts who supplied ideas to writers) had decided
to go on strike.
d) Describe the appearance of 'Madam'.
Answer: 'Madam' who is Helen the Ghost, is a tall and angular woman
with enormous, fishy eyes behind big bone-rimmed spectacles, and her
hair is always in a tight bun.
2. "I do not know how that party ended . I do not want to know. I went
straight upstairs, and undressed and crawled into bed, and lay there in
the burning dark while the last guest gurgled in the hall below about
the wonderful evening she had spent. I lay there while the front door
shut after her, and Lavinia's steps came up the stairs and--- past the
door to the guest room beyond. And then after a couple of centuries
elapsed the clock struck three and I dosed off to sleep. " (Para111)
a) Which party is being referred to here?
Answer: It refers to the Ouija board party organized by Lavinia Hallock
(John’s wife).
b) Why did the speaker leave the party?
Answer: The speaker (John Hallock) left the party because his name was
being constantly called out by the Ouija boards, creating suspicion and
embarrassment. He felt humiliated and uncomfortable, so he slipped
away quietly.
c) Who was the partner of the speaker at the party?
Answer: Laura Hinkle was the partner of the speaker (John Hallock) at
the party.
d) What was the after effect of the party?
Answer: After the party, Lavinia became angry and suspicious of John,
as the Ouija board had spelled out his name repeatedly. She believed
John was secretly involved with a woman named Helen. This led to a
misunderstanding and tension between them and thus Lavinia, his wife
decided to leave him.