An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Short Questions and Answers

An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Short Questions and Answers edumantra.net

An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Short Questions and Answers are writtenby experts. Go through and gain confidence. We at edumantra highly appreciate your feedback regarding An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Short Questions Answers.

An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Short Questions and Answers

 By-  Stephen Spender

1. What is the theme of the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a slum’?

 Ans In the poem, Spender depicts the pathetic life of slum children who are victims of government apathy. He presents social injustice and class inequalities that prevail in society. The poem is a bitter criticism of the state of education in elementary schools in slum areas.

2. What picture of the slum children is depicted in the poem?

Ans. The slum children in an elementary school look pathetic. Their hair is like wild weeds. They are undernourished and diseased. They are used to dark, dirty, narrow cramped areas and a polluted grey sky. They have no hope of any change in their future.

3. What do slum children receive an inheritance?

 Ans. The children inherit their parents’ poverty and disease. A boy has twisted bones like his father. The slum children, like the paper-seeming boy, inherit the disease. They are also subjected to inhuman, dirty, cramped conditions with no sun or greenery.

4. Explain ‘far from gusty waves’.

Ans. `Gusty waves’ represents energetic children who are like strong waves. The slum children are unlike the rich children. They are undernourished and miserable.

[pt_view id=”0f31a0c6sa”]

5. What is the comparison drawn with squirrel’s game?

 Ans. This is suggestive of the world of dreams the sweet and young boy lives in. He dreams of squirrel’s game in trees away from his gloomy classroom.

6. Explain ‘like bottle bits on stones’.

Ans. This simile describes the shattered glasses of the spectacles some slum children have to wear. It looks like the bits of glass on stone walls. It highlights the poverty and hardships of people in slums and the fact that they cannot afford spectacles.

7. In spite of despair and disease, the slum children are not devoid of hope. Give an example of their hope or dreams.

 Ans. Even though the world of the slum children is dark and their future bleak, there are a few unnoted children, probably backbenchers who dream of a better future which is distant and beyond their reach. They dream of open seas, green fields and squirrel’s game.

We hope you are enjoying the An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Short Questions and Answers

8. Explain ‘future’s painted with a fog’.

Ans. This refers to the future of the slum children which according to the narrator is uncertain and bleak. Just as fog blurs one’s view in winter, poverty and apathy of the officials and those in power have dimmed the future of the slum children.

9. How is ‘map’ a bad example?

Ans. The map opens before the slum children a beautiful world. The map is a bad example because it tempts them to aspire for a world which is beyond their reach. Their world is confined to the dark narrow lanes in the slums.

10. Bring out the optimism in the last stanza.

Ans. The narrator feels education is the instrument of change which can release the slum children from the miserable lives they lead. He appeals to the officials to become sensitive to the needs of these children so that the bathers that hinder their growth can be broken.

11. How can powerful people improve a lot of slum children?

 Ans. Powerful people can liberate slum children by removing social injustice and class inequalities. They must provide opportunities to these children so that their child does not get lost in the dreary ‘foggy’ slums.

12. Explain ‘history is theirs whose language is the sun’.

 Ans. This line means that these children can create history when their language is like the sun. Through this metaphor, Spender feels that only those people who have courage can leave their mark. To create history, their language must have the power, brightness and warmth of the sun.

13.To whom is does the poet in the poem ‘An Elementary School Class m in a Slum” make an appeal? what is his appeal?                                                                                                                                

Ans. The poet appeals to the inspectors, visitors and governors to improve a lot of the slum children by providing them with a quality life and quality education.

14. Which words phrases in the poem show that slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition?

Ans.‘Stunted’, ‘twisted bones ‘paper-seeming boy’, ‘skin peeped through my bones’, etc. are some of the words/phrases that show the conditions of acute malnutrition of the slum Children.

15. What changes does the poet hope for in the lives of slum children? [Foreign 2014)

Ass. The poet hopes that these children will get rid of their poverty and will be nourished properly. The doors of the world will be thrown open to them. They will get a quality education and quality life.

16.  What message does Stephen Spender convey through his poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?

Ans. Through this poem, Stephen Spender wants to convey the idea of social injustice and class inequality. Expressing his concern at the plight of the slum Children, he appeals to the governors, visitors and inspectors to provide equal opportunities for education to these children.

This content has been designed by the experts keeping in mind the exam score.  Go through An Elementary School Classroom in A Slum Short Questions and Answers and add highest value to your studies.

17. What is the theme of the poem?                                                         

Ans. The poem deals with social injustice and class inequality. The poet highlights the lack of political will on the part of the authorities and indifference on the part of society that compels these children to live a life of poverty and hunger. They are deprived of their basic rights.

18. How does the poet describe the classroom walls? What do they symbolize?

Or

 What do you think is the colour of ‘sour cream’? Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?                                                                                                                 

Ans. The classroom walls are painted in a dull creamy colour which symbolizes the bleak future of the slum children who study these. They are deprived of quality education.

19. How is the world depicted on the classroom walls different from the world of slum children?

Or

The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, ‘World maps’ and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children? [NCERT]

Ans. The walls of the classroom depict pictures of Shakespeare, sky-high buildings, maps and valleys of flowers. The world of slum children is a real contrast to this. These children live in an environment of Poverty, hunger, scarcity and disease. Here the children live in a pathetic condition in contrast to the Prosperous and developing world as depicted on the classroom walls.

20. What does the poet want for children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?

Ans. Stephen Spender wants a quality life with equal opportunities for slum children to learn and earn.

21. What does the world of the slum children consist of?

Ans. The world of the slum children consists of dark classrooms and narrow lanes. Their world is full of poverty, hunger, malnutrition and disease. It is confined to grey and black colours.

22. What, according to the poet, is the only hope for the slum children?

Ans. According to the poet, the only hope for these children lies in the hands of inspector, visitors and governors. They should take immediate action to provide them with equal opportunities for education so that they can move out of their slums and be part of the real world.

23. How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in a slum?

Ans. The lives of slum children are far removed from what is displayed on the walls. Shakespeare represents literature and the map shows the foreign land with beautiful landscapes. This civilized world is meaningless for them and will tempt them to take the wrong path.

24. What does Stephen Spender want to do for the child of the school in a slum?

Ans. Stephen Spender wants their lot to improve. He wants education for the slum children which will broaden their horizons, liberate them truly and empower them to create their own history. He wants them to get rid of their dismal lives.

[pt_view id=”9a24bf56u9″]

Need our help or have some question