The Portrait of a Lady Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 1 Extra Questions are available here. These extra questions were carefully prepared by our team of subject experts to make it easier for you to grasp the concepts and perform excellently in the exam. We hope you like these notes and have a great time studying with them.
The Portrait of a Lady Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 1 Extra Questions
Question 1: How long had the narrator known his grandmother?
Answer: The narrator had known his grandmother for twenty years.
Question 2: What did people say about the grandmother’s appearance when she was young?
Answer: People said that she had once been young and pretty.
Question 3: Where was the grandfather’s portrait hung?
Answer: The grandfather’s portrait was hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing room.
Question 4: How did the grandfather look in the portrait?
Answer: In the portrait, the grandfather wore a big turban and loose-fitting clothes. He had a long, white beard that covered most of his chest, making him appear at least a hundred years old.
Question 5: What did the narrator think about his grandmother’s past?
Answer: The narrator found it hard to believe that his grandmother had been young and pretty, considering her current old and wrinkled appearance.
Question 6: How did the grandmother’s stories about her childhood games make the narrator feel?
Answer: The narrator found the idea of his grandmother playing childhood games absurd and undignified, treating it like the fables of the Prophets she used to tell him.
Question 7: How did the narrator describe the grandmother’s physical appearance?
Answer: The grandmother was described as short, fat, slightly bent, and her face was covered in wrinkles.
Question 8: How did the narrator feel about the grandmother’s appearance?
Answer: The narrator believed that the grandmother had always looked the way he knew her – old and unchanging for twenty years. Despite not being conventionally pretty, the narrator considered her beautiful.
Question 9: How did the grandmother move around the house?
Answer: The grandmother hobbled around the house, wearing spotless white clothing. She balanced her stoop with one hand on her waist and held a rosary with the other.
Question 10: How did the grandmother’s hair and face look?
Answer: The grandmother had untidy silver locks scattered over her pale, puckered face.
Question 11: How did the narrator compare the grandmother’s beauty to something else?
Answer: The narrator compared the grandmother’s beauty to the winter landscape in the mountains, describing her as an expanse of pure white serenity that emanated peace and contentment.
Question 12: What was the relationship between the narrator and his grandmother?
Answer: The narrator and his grandmother were good friends.
Question 13: Why did the narrator’s parents leave him with his grandmother?
Answer: The narrator’s parents went to live in the city, so they left the narrator with his grandmother.
Question 14: What did the grandmother do in the morning for the narrator?
Answer: The grandmother woke up the narrator in the morning, bathed and dressed him, and said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song.
Question 15: Did the narrator bother to learn the morning prayer?
Answer: No, the narrator listened to the grandmother’s voice but never bothered to learn the morning prayer.
Question 16: What did the grandmother prepare for the narrator for school?
Answer: The grandmother prepared a wooden slate washed and plastered with yellow chalk, a tiny earthen ink-pot, and a red pen, which she tied in a bundle and handed to the narrator.
Question 17: What did he have for breakfast before going to school?
Answer: He had a thick, stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it for breakfast.
Question 18: What did the grandmother carry with her for the village dogs?
Answer: The grandmother carried several stale chapattis with her for the village dogs.
Question 19: Why did the grandmother always go to school with the narrator?
Answer: The grandmother went to school with the narrator because the school was attached to the temple.
Question 20: Who taught the children at the school?
Answer: The priest taught the children at the school.
Question 21: What did the priest teach the children?
Answer: The priest taught the children the alphabet and the morning prayer.
Question 22: What did the children do in the verandah of the school?
Answer: The children sat in rows on either side of the verandah and sang the alphabet or the prayer in a chorus.
Question 23: What did the grandmother do while the children were in the verandah?
Answer: The grandmother sat inside the school and read the scriptures.
Question 24: How did the narrator and the grandmother go back home from school?
Answer: The narrator and the grandmother walked back home together.
Question 25: What happened when the narrator and his grandmother reached the temple door on their way home?
Answer: The village dogs would meet them at the temple door and follow them home, growling and fighting with each other for the chapattis that the narrator and the grandmother threw to them.
Question 26: What happened when the narrator’s parents were settled in the city?
Answer: When the narrator’s parents were comfortably settled in the city, they sent for him and his grandmother.
Question 27: How did the narrator’s friendship with the grandmother change?
Answer: The narrator’s friendship with the grandmother changed after they moved to the city. They no longer shared the same room, and the grandmother didn’t come to school with the narrator anymore.
Question 28: How did the narrator commute to school in the city?
Answer: The narrator went to an English school in a motor bus.
Question 29: What was different about the streets in the city compared to the village?
Answer: There were no dogs in the streets of the city.
Question 30: What did the grandmother start feeding in the courtyard of their city house?
Answer: The grandmother started feeding sparrows in the courtyard of their city house.
Question 31: How did the narrator’s interaction with the grandmother change over the years?
Answer: As the years passed, the narrator saw less of the grandmother.
Question 32: What did the grandmother used to do for the narrator in the morning?
Answer: The grandmother used to wake the narrator up and get him ready for school.
Question 33: What did the grandmother ask the narrator when he returned from school?
Answer: The grandmother would ask the narrator what the teacher had taught him.
Question 34: What kind of things did the narrator share with the grandmother about his English school education?
Answer: The narrator shared English words and little things about Western science and learning, such as the law of gravity, Archimedes’ Principle, and the concept of the world being round.
Question 35: How did the grandmother feel about the things taught at the English school?
Answer: The grandmother did not believe in the things taught at the English school and was distressed that there was no teaching about God and the scriptures.
Question 36: How did the grandmother react when the narrator announced they were being given music lessons?
Answer: The grandmother was very disturbed by the announcement of music lessons. She associated music with lewdness and considered it to be the domain of harlots and beggars, not meant for gentlefolk.
Question 37: How did the grandmother’s behavior change after the narrator started music lessons?
Answer: The grandmother rarely talked to the narrator after that, indicating her disapproval through her silence.
Question 38: What happened when the narrator went up to University?
Answer: When the narrator went up to University, he was given a room of his own, and the common link of friendship with the grandmother was snapped.
Question 39: How did the grandmother react to her seclusion?
Answer: The grandmother accepted her seclusion with resignation.
Question 40: What did the grandmother do most of the time during the day?
Answer: From sunrise to sunset, the grandmother sat by her spinning-wheel, spinning and reciting prayers.
Question 41: When did the grandmother take a break from her spinning-wheel?
Answer: In the afternoon, the grandmother took a break from her spinning-wheel to feed the sparrows.
Question 42: How did the sparrows behave when the grandmother fed him?
Answer: When the grandmother broke bread into little bits in the verandah, hundreds of little birds collected around her, creating a noisy chorus of chirping. Some perched on her legs, others on her shoulders, and some even sat on her head.
Question 43: How did the grandmother react to the birds’ presence?
Answer: The grandmother smiled but never shooed the birds away.
Question 44: When was the happiest half-hour of the day for the grandmother?
Answer: The happiest half-hour of the day for the grandmother was when she sat in the verandah feeding the sparrows and enjoying their company.
Question 45: How did the narrator expect his grandmother to react when he decided to go abroad for further studies?
Answer: The narrator expected his grandmother to be upset when he decided to go abroad for further studies.
Question 46: How long would the narrator be away for?
Answer: The narrator would be away for five years.
Question 47: Did the grandmother show any sentimentality when the narrator was leaving?
Answer: No, the grandmother did not show any sentimentality when the narrator was leaving.
Question 48: What did the grandmother do when she came to leave the narrator at the railway station?
Answer: The grandmother came to leave the narrator at the railway station, but she did not talk or show any emotion. Her lips moved in prayer, and she was lost in prayer. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary.
Question 49: How did the grandmother bid farewell to the narrator?
Answer: Silently, the grandmother kissed the narrator’s forehead. The narrator cherished the moist imprint of the kiss as perhaps the last sign of physical contact between them before leaving.
Question 50: What happened when the narrator came back home after five years?
Answer: The narrator was met by his grandmother at the station.
Question 51: How did the grandmother appear after five years?
Answer: The grandmother did not look a day older.
Question 52: Did the grandmother have time for words when she met the narrator?
Answer: No, the grandmother still had no time for words when she met the narrator.
Question 53: What could the narrator hear while being clasped in the grandmother’s arms?
Answer: The narrator could hear the grandmother reciting her prayers.
Question 54: What were the grandmother’s happiest moments on the first day of the narrator’s arrival?
Answer: On the first day of the narrator’s arrival, the grandmother’s happiest moments were spent with her sparrows. She fed them longer and playfully scolded them.
Question 55: What change occurred in the grandmother in the evening?
Answer: In the evening, the grandmother stopped praying and started to sing.
Question 56: Who did the grandmother gather in the neighborhood?
Answer: The grandmother gathered the women of the neighborhood.
Question 57: What instrument did the grandmother use to accompany her singing?
Answer: The grandmother used an old drum to accompany her singing.
Question 58: How long did the grandmother play the drum and sing?
Answer: The grandmother played the drum and sang for several hours.
Question 59: Why did the family members have to persuade the grandmother to stop?
Answer: The family members had to persuade the grandmother to stop playing the drum and singing to prevent overstraining.
Question 60: What was significant about the grandmother not praying during this time?
Answer: It was the first time since the narrator had known her that the grandmother did not pray.
Question 61: What happened to the grandmother the next morning?
Answer: The grandmother fell ill with a mild fever.
Question 62: What did the doctor say about the grandmother’s illness?
Answer: The doctor told the family members that the illness was mild and would go away.
Question 63: How did the grandmother view her own condition?
Answer: The grandmother believed that her end was near.
Question 64: Why did the grandmother refuse to waste any more time talking to family members?
Answer: The grandmother believed that since she had omitted to pray a few hours before the close of the last chapter of her life, she didn’t want to waste any more time talking to him.
Question 65: How did the family members react when the grandmother ignored their protests?
Answer: The family members protested when the grandmother ignored their protests.
Question 66: What was the grandmother doing in bed before she passed away?
Answer: The grandmother was lying peacefully in bed, praying and telling her beads.
Question 67: What happened to the grandmother while she was in bed?
Answer: While in bed, the grandmother’s lips stopped moving, and the rosary fell from her lifeless fingers.
Question 68: How did the grandmother’s face appear after she passed away?
Answer: A peaceful pallor spread on the grandmother’s face after she passed away.
Question 69: How did the family members realize that the grandmother had passed away?
Answer: The family members knew that the grandmother had died when her lips stopped moving, the rosary fell from her fingers, and a peaceful pallor spread across her face.
Question 70: What did the family members do after lifting the grandmother off the bed?
Answer: After lifting the grandmother off the bed, the family members laid her on the ground and covered her with a red shroud, as is customary.
Question 71: What did the family members do after a few hours of mourning?
Answer: After a few hours of mourning, the family members left the grandmother alone to make arrangements for her funeral.
Question 72: What did the family members do in the evening?
Answer: In the evening, the family members went to the grandmother’s room with a crude stretcher to take her for cremation.
Question 73: What did the family members notice when they reached the courtyard with the stretcher?
Answer: In the courtyard, they noticed thousands of sparrows scattered all over the verandah and in the room, up to where the grandmother lay dead and wrapped in the red shroud.
Question 74: What did the family members do for the sparrows?
Answer: The family members felt sorry for the sparrows and the narrator’s mother fetched some bread for them. She broke it into little crumbs, similar to how the grandmother used to, and threw it to him.
Question 75: How did the sparrows react to the bread?
Answer: The sparrows took no notice of the bread and did not eat it.
Question 76: What happened to the bread crumbs the next morning?
Answer: The next morning, the sweeper swept the bread crumbs into the dustbin.