CBSE Class 10 English Footprints without Feet Assignment Set 03

Short Answer Type Questions
 

Question. How did Griffin become invisible? Or What experiments did Griffin carry out? What was the final result of these experiments?
Answer: Griffin had carried out several experiments to prove that the human body could become invisible. Once he swallowed certain rare drugs and his body became as transparent as a sheet of glass.

Question. Why were the landlord and his wife surprised to see the scientist’s door open ?
Answer: They were surprised because typically the door to the scientist’s room was shut and locked, and he would be very angry if anyone entered it.

Question. Why did Griffin not get a suitable house to live in ?
Answer: Griffin was a lawless person, who was largely disliked by all. When his landlord tried to evict him, he set fire to the house, and escaped due to his invisibility. Thereafter, it became difficult for him to find a proper place to live in.

Question. How did Griffin try to become visible?
Answer: Griffin went into a shop in Drury Lane, the heart of the theatre world, with the aim of finding something to wear, and becoming visible. He emerged from the shop wearing bandages around his forehead, dark glasses, a false nose, bushy sideburns and a large hat.

Question. How did Griffin enjoy himself at the big London store?
Answer: Griffin gave himself the pleasure of clothing and feeding himself without thinking of the expenses. He broke open boxes and fitted himself with warm clothes. In the kitchen of the store he found food and had a hearty meal before sleeping on a pile of quilts.

Question. Why was Mrs. Hall angry with Griffin, the strange scientist ?
Answer: Griffin had attacked Mr. and Mrs. Hall and even threw her mother’s chair at her. Moreover, Griffin had not paid the rent for a long time. This made Mrs. Hall angry.

Question. “The two boys stared in surprise at the fresh muddy imprints of a pair of bare feet.” What did the bewildered boys observe ?
Answer: The two boys were surprised to see the fresh muddy imprints of a pair of bare feet. They wondered what a barefoot man was doing on the steps of a house, in the middle of London. They even observed that the footprints were appearing from out of nowhere as they could not see a person. It is was a remarkable sight that bewildered the boys.

Question. What kind of discovery had Griffin made ? What was Griffin’s nature ?
Answer: Griffin was a brilliant scientist. He had made an unusual discovery due to which a man could become invisible. But, at the same time, he was short-tempered, selfish and engaged in unlawful activities. He had set his landlord’s house on fire and hit the shopkeeper and the policeman just for his own selfish needs and gains.

Question. What did the boys follow and why were they “fascinated” ?
Answer: The boys were fascinated because fresh footprints of a barefooted man were appearing from out of nowhere. They followed the footprints, one after another, progressing down the street, until the footprints became fainter and then disappeared altogether.

Question. What reasons does Griffin give to Mrs. Hall for coming to Iping ?
Answer: Griffin remained secluded in the village of Iping. He did not speak and mix with anybody in the village. He told Mrs. Hall that he wanted solitude and did not wish to be disturbed in his work. He further added that an accident had affected his face so he should just be left alone.
 

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. What happened when Griffin went to Iping ?
Answer: It had become difficult for Griffin to hide his identity in London. Also, he could not survive without clothes in the severe cold. So, he decided to go to a small village Iping. At this place, he hired two rooms at the local village inn. But soon, he had used all the money he had robbed from the shopkeeper. Griffin then committed another theft at the clergyman’s house in his invisible form. But eventually, his landlord and his wife became suspicious of Griffin. Later, he even charged the landlady with the chair when she peeped round the door of Griffin’s room to investigate. He was in invisible form when he committed these actions.
In the end, Griffin had become furious when Jaffers, the constable, who had come to arrest him with the magistrate’s warrant. To escape the mess, he became invisible and hit blows on Jaffers, who was eventually knocked down unconscious.

Question. What did the scientist do when he became furious? What happened to the constable and the people at the bar?
Answer: When the scientist was furious, in anger he threw off bandages, whiskers, spectacles and all other worn costumes over the shoulders and became a headless man. The people in the bar were horrified because they found themselves staring at a headless man. The constable tried to arrest the scientist. He threw off his clothes one by one in order to become invisible. After sometime he could not be seen at all. Then the constable was trying to get hold of the invisible scientist. Some people tried to help him, but found themselves getting back blows which seemed to come from nowhere. At the end, the constable was knocked down unconscious by the scientist.

Question. How did the scientist look when he came to the inn? Give examples to show that he was a man of irritable temperament.
Answer: The scientist came to the inn with an uncommon appearance. He had bandages around his forehead. He had put on dark glasses and had also put a false nose with big bushy side whiskers and was wearing a large hat. The scientist was indeed a man with an irritable temper because he foiled all of Mrs Hall’s attempts to be friendly with him and told her that he had no desire to talk. His irritable temper also forced him to tell Mrs Hall that he wanted solitude and did not wish to be disturbed in his work.

Question. How did Griffin’s invisibility come to his help whenever he found himself in trouble?
Answer: Griffin invented a formula to become invisible. His landlord was suspicious of his activities. He processed himself to hide from his landlord, and set fire to the building to cover his tracks. He wound up alone, wandering invisible and naked through the streets of London, struggling to survive out in the open, unseen by those around him.
To make himself visible again, Griffin stole some clothes from theatre shop, including a trench-coat and hat. He wrapped his head in bandages to conceal his invisibility, covering his eyes with large dark goggles. He took up residence in the Coach and Horses Inn in the village of Iping. To pay the bill, Griffin burgled the home of Reverend Bunting. The police pursued him, and in a fit of frustrated anger he revealed his invisibility by throwing off his clothes and escaping.

Question. Describe Griffin’s activities in the village of Iping.
Answer: The Invisible man’s first adventure in Iping was at the vicar’s house. He stole money from the vicar’s desk. The vicar and his wife heard the chink of money. But they saw nobody in the room. Still the desk had been opened and money was missing. His next adventure was at Mrs. Hall’s inn, remaining invisible he threw his hat at Mrs. Hall. Then a chair rose and pushed her out of the room. His third adventure was with Mr. Jaffers who had a warrant against him. When Jaffers tried to arrest him, the man started taking off his clothes and soon became invisible. He hits jaffers with unseen blows and escaped from Iping.

Question. “Discoveries of science can be used for welfare as well as for destruction”. How is this applicable to Griffin’s scientific discovery? Explain giving examples from the text. Or Science is a good servant but a bad master. How is this applicable to Griffin’s scientific discovery? Give examples from the text.
Answer: Discoveries of science can be used either for benefit of the society or to harm the society. Griffin’s discovery was no doubt unprecedented. But he was rather a lawless person. He misused his discovery of being invisible to trouble the people around him. He missed no opportunity to harm the people. His discovery could help police to arrest criminals but he used his ability to break the law. While escaping from the shop he callously attacked the shopkeeper from behind, after which he robbed him of all the money he could find. He troubled Mr. Jaffers, the constable, a lot and knocked him unconscious.

Question. It was a remarkable scene when Mr. Jaffers tried to arrest Griffin. What was remarkable about it ?
Answer: At Iping, Griffin did not stop his criminal actions and continued to be lawless. He stole money from the clergyman’s desk by becoming invisible. Then, soon thereafter Griffin hit Mrs. Hall with his hat and hurled a chair at her just to make her get out of his room. Since, he was invisible he thought that he could not be caught by anybody. But the people reported the matter to the police and Griffin was suspected of committing the theft. Eventually, the village constable Mr. Jaffers arrived at the scene. But he found it very difficult to arrest an invisible man. The constable tried his best to arrest him, but Griffin took advantage of his being invisible and knocked down the constable. After freeing himself, Griffin then disappeared from the sight of everybody.

Question. Imagine that you are Jaffers, the village constable. Write a letter to your wife Isabel telling about your encounter with an invisible man.
Answer: Police Quarters,
Iping,
U.K.
7 December, 20xx
My dear Isabel,
Today I had a very strange experience. It has never happened in my life before. Can you believe me if I say that today I had an encounter with a man, who threw off his clothes one by one, and became invisible. It happened just before my own eyes. The man who turned invisible was a strange scientist who had hired two rooms at the village inn. He was suspected of having stolen clergyman’s money from his house.
Today, I had gone to arrest him with the magistrate’s warrant. I fought bravely, but he took advantage of his invisibility. I was hit by so many unseen blows that I soon became unconscious. He knocked me down and escaped.
Yours affectionately,
Jaffers

Question. Describe the scene which took place after the arrival of Mr. Jaffers, the constable, in the story ‘Footprints Without Feet’. Or Describe the scene when Mr. Jaffers tries ‘to arrest a man without head’.
Answer: Mr. Jaffers, the constable, arrived and he was quite surprised to find that he had to arrest a man without a head. But it does not matter. There followed a remarkable scene as the policeman tried to get hold of a man who was becoming more and more invisible as he was taking off one garment after another. Finally the constable found himself struggling with someone invisible. Some people tried to help him, but found themselves hit by blows that seemed to come from nowhere. In the end the constable was knocked unconscious as he made a last attempt to hold on to the Invisible scientist.

Question. “Griffin indeed made a great discovery, yet we do not sympathise with him”. Why?
Answer: Griffin’s discovery of making the human body transparent was unprecedented. But he was rather a lawless person. He misused his discovery of being invisible to trouble the people around him. He missed no opportunity to harm the people. His discovery could help police to arrest criminals but he used his ability to break the law. We saw him troubling innocent people throughout the story. Griffin set fire to the house and became a homeless wanderer. He also robbed a shopkeeper of all the money he could find. He stole the housekeeping money from the clergyman’s desk. Griffin also attacked Mrs. Hall when she entered his room. All these activities and instances prove that he was really a lawless person. We cannot sympathise to such a lawless person.
 

Extract Based Questions

1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follows :
As she and her husband turned away in terror, the extraordinary chair pushed them both out of the room and then appeared to slam and lock the door after them. Mrs Hall almost fell down the stairs in hysterics. She was convinced that the room was haunted by spirits, and that the stranger had somehow caused these to enter into her furniture. “My poor mother used to sit in that chair,” she moaned! To think it should rise up against me now! The feeling among the neighbours was that the trouble was caused by witchcraft.

Question. State any one inference about Mrs. Hall ‘moaning’ about ‘the extraordinary chair’ from the given context. ‘the extraordinary chair pushed them both out of the room and then appeared to slam and lock the door after them.’
Answer: Mrs. Hall was alarmed as well as pained on realising that the eccentric stranger had caused even her mother’s favourite chair to be possessed by an evil spirit that was out to harm her.

Question. State TRUE or FALSE. The spirits haunted the house and the furniture in Griffin’s room was surely possessed according to the Halls. None of the terms (a)-(d) below, can be applied to the given statement.
(a) a hypothesis
(b) an assumption
(c) just a superstition
(d) a theory waiting to be proved
Answer: False (term (c) can be applied to the given statement)

Question. Elaborate in about 40 words, with reference to the extract. Mrs. Hall ‘was convinced that the room was haunted by spirits’ and other people thought so too.
Answer: The violent conduct of the chair convinced the Halls about the furniture being haunted and that the stranger had somehow caused spirits to enter into their furniture. Even the neighbours believed that the trouble was caused by witchcraft.

Question. Which phrase would correctly substitute ‘in hysterics’ as given in the extract? Mrs. Hall almost fell down the stairs in hysterics.
Answer: getting panic attacks.

2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follows :
The village constable was secretly sent for. Instead of waiting for the constable, Mrs. Hall went to the scientist, who had somehow mysteriously appeared from his empty bedroom. “I want to know what you have been doing to my chair upstairs,” she demanded. ‘And I want to know how it is you came out of an empty room and how you entered a locked room.” The scientist was always quick-tempered; now he became furious. “You don’t understand who or what I am!” he shouted. “Very well — I’ll show you.”

Question. Why did Mrs. Hall feel that the room was haunted by spirits?
Answer: Mrs. Hall felt that the room was haunted by spirits because she had witnessed strange things like a chair mysteriously pushing her out of the room had happened there.

Question. State TRUE or FALSE. The neighbours thought the trouble was caused by ‘witchcraft’. This statement tells us that the neighbours were superstitious.
Answer: True

Question. Why was the village constable secretly sent for? Answer in about 40 words.
Answer: The village constable was sent for because the neighbours felt that Griffin had stolen the clergyman’s money. Moreover, they also believed that he was involved in some kind of witch craft.

Question. What did the scientist do on becoming furious?
Answer: He threw off bandages, whiskers, spectacles and even nose.