CBSE Class 12 English HOTs A Road Side Stand Set 05

“Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear
The thought of so much childish longing in vain,
The sadness that lurks near the open window there,
That waits all day in almost open prayer
For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car,”

Question. What can't the poet tolerate?
(a) The farmers dashed hopes
(b) The travellers not stopping at the stand
(c) The poor condition of village
(d) Attitude of the rich people
Answer: (a) The farmers dashed hopes

Question. Identify the figure of speech.
(a) Metaphor
(b) Alliteration
(c) Personification
(d) Simile
Answer: (c) Personification

Question. The word in the extract 'squeal' means ......
(a) fawning
(b) misery
(c) hide
(d) scream
Answer: (d) scream

Question. What is the prayer of the villager sitting at open window?
(a) A generous traveller to stop at the stand
(b) To sell something
(c) A good amount to dwindle their distress
(d) All of the options
Answer: (d) All of the options

“No, in country money, the country scale of gain,
The requisite lift of spirit has never been found,
Or so the voice of the country seems to complain,
I can’t help owning the great relief it would be
To put these people at one stroke out of their pain.”

Question. How is money important for the village people?
(a) For the accomplishment of their expensive desires
(b) For the prosperity of the village
(c) To improve their state of life
(d) Both (b) and (c)
Answer: (d) Both (b) and (c)

Question. 'Requisite lift of spirit' in the context, implies
(a) feeling of confidence and carefree life
(b) to be in misery and sorrow
(c) quick and sudden upward movement
(d) the required money
Answer: (a) feeling of confidence and carefree life

Question. 'Scale of gain' in the extract implies
(a) enormous wealth
(b) huge buildings
(c) vast sources of income
(d) Both (a) and (c)
Answer: (d) Both (a) and (c)

Question. The word 'sane' means .......
(a) sound mind
(b) loud
(c) insane
(d) irrational
Answer: (a) sound mind

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS 

Question. Why didn't the 'polished traffic' stop at the roadside stand?
Answer: The city people who passed by the roadside stand, labelled as 'polished traffic' by the poet, did not stop at the roadside stand as they were self-centred and their minds were restless with greed for money and ambitions for great profits in their business.

Question. What is the 'childish longing' that the poet refers to? Why is it vain?
Answer: The poor people's uncertain and futile expectation for the city money is the childish longing. It is in vain as the rich city people do not have the generosity to help them.

Question. Why does Robert Frost sympathise with the rural poor and is anguished at the plight of the stand owners? Why?
Answer: The poet, Robert Frost, is anguished at the plight of the stand owner because the cars do stop occasionally, but the passengers have their own selfish motives to achieve.

Question. Why are the cars called 'selfish'?
Answer: The poet uses a transferred epithet here. He actually means to say that the owners of the cars just pass by without a thought for the plight of the stall owners.

Question. Why can't the poet bear the childish longing of the poor people?
Answer: The poet is a true humanitarian who is genuinely concerned for the poor people's misfortunes. He wants a solution for their poverty. But seeing how childish their longings are, the poet feels it unbearable.

Question. What are the two significant roles of money in the lives of the poor people?
Answer: Money is the measuring scale of growth for the village people. They estimate their economic growth by means of the small amount of money at hand. Similarly, money is necessary for a villager to feel confident. He feels a 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.

Question. What is the childish longing of the poor people? Why is it in vain?
Answer: The poor people's uncertain and futile expectation for the city money is the childish longing. It is in vain as the rich city people do not have the generosity to help them. They are not bothered about the miserable life led by the villagers.

Question. Near the end of the poem, why does the poet seek an unrealistic solution for the poor people's distress even though earlier he had blamed them for their 'childish longing in vain?'
Answer: The poet, unlike the greedy good-doers, genuinely wishes to get the poor people out of their pain, poverty and endless miseries. However, he is saddened by observing that there is no one to help them come out of their poverty. This helplessness drives the poet to seek an unrealistic solution for the poor people's misery.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS 

Question. How does Robert Frost, the poet, bring out in this poem that progress and development is unequal between the cities and the villages leading to feelings of distress and unhappiness among the rural people?
Answer: Robert Frost, in his poems, usually focuses on the theme of human tragedies and fears and their ultimate acceptance or their solution. In 'A Roadside Stand', he deals with the lives of poor deprived people of the villages with a clarity that is perceptive and at the same time portrays his deepest sympathies and his feelings of humanity. In this poem, the poet describes the feelings of the owners of a roadside shed who seem to wait interminably for the motorists passing in their shiny cars, to stop and buy something from what has been displayed there for sale. They long for the cash that is a symbol of poverty alleviation in their lives of deprivation. It appears to be a vain hope, however, because nobody buys anything. The poet is outraged at the callous attitude of the government, the civic authorities and the social service agencies who appear to help them but actually end up harming them. The news says that these poor people are to be relocated to the vicinity of the towns and that they will be well looked after. However, the poet regards this as a great disservice to the people who will be thus robbed of their voices, their freedom and the ability to find solutions to their problems.

Question. What is expected to happen to the rural folk when they are relocated to live near the cities, as expected by the poet?
Answer: A new relocation plan for these poor villagers is in the news. Through the pretence of giving them the comforts of urban life, these simple folk will be forcefully uprooted from their land and made to live inside the urban limits, where they will have the theatres and malls to entertain them. But no one has bothered to take their consent for this move, nor has studied how disoriented the village folk will feel in their new location. By sweet-talking the gullible rural folk, the land sharks will fleece them of their ancestral lands and condemn them to live in the urban centres. Such trickery will never be found out and the villagers will painfully struggle to adjust to the new methods of earning a living in an urban environment. Undoubtedly, the change will bring them misery. Their simple lifestyle will be destroyed, and in their new surroundings, they will 'lose sleep', implying that life will become riddled with difficulties. On the other hand, the manipulators and the wolves in the garb of benefactors will enjoy their lives in more luxury.

Question. How does the poet represent the pathetic state of mind of the people who run the roadside stand?
Answer: Robert Frost, in his poem, 'A Roadside Stand', has very clearly understood the plight of the people living in rural areas. The city folk who drove through the countryside hardly pay any heed to the roadside stand or to the people who run it. However, the poet has urged that balanced development of both the rural and urban areas is necessary. At the roadside stand the poor villagers wait all day for any of the sophisticated city motorists passing on the road to stop for a while and buy what the rural people have displayed for sale. However, hardly any of the cars stop there. Even those who stop do not buy any of the wares displayed, so that no cash is earned by the rural folk. Thus, the rural folks' sorrow is visible on their faces. They feel that their 'childish longing' has gone in vain. It appears as if the city people are not co-operating in raising the financial status of the rural folk. Instead, some of the politicians and other agencies are looking for calculated benefits by relocating them in urban areas and taking over their land. Even then, the poet hopes for some miracle to happen so that the villagers' pain is removed. In turn, it will also remove the insufferable pain for them which the poet is feeling.