ISC Class 12 Elective English Board Exam Question Paper 2015 with Solutions

ISC Class 12 Elective English Board Exam Question Paper with Solutions

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Harper Lee

Question 1. What treasures did the knot hole of the oak tree that stood at the edge of the Radley lot afford Jem and Scout? Describe how the interest in the tree ended. What in your opinion is the significance of this episode in the novel? [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Two oak trees stood at the edge of the Radley lot, one of which had a knot-hole. The treasures found by Scout and Jem in this knot-hole over time included: two pieces of chewing gum without their outer wrappers; a small box patch-worked with bits of tinfoil containing two scrubbed and polished Indian head pennies (from 1906 and 1900); two small soap figures carved to resemble themselves (one of a boy and one of a girl); a packet of chewing gum; a tarnished spelling medal; and a pocket watch on an aluminum chain with a knife.
2. The children decided to write a note of thanks to their unknown benefactor and went the next morning to place it in the knot-hole. However, they were aghast to discover that the hole had been cemented up. Jem questioned Nathan Radley about it, who admitted he filled it because the tree was dying (though Atticus later doubted this). This marked the abrupt end of their interest and communication through the tree, leaving Jem devastated and crying at the injustice.
3. In my opinion, the significance of this episode is profound. The knot-hole represents Boo Radley's innocent, clear-hearted attempt to reach out and establish a connection with the children, expressing care and warmth from his isolated world. The cementing of the hole by Nathan Radley symbolizes the adult world's cold, prejudiced reaction, destroying this innocent bridge of communication. This act acts as another instance of society killing a harmless mockingbird, reinforcing the novel's central theme of prejudice smothering harmless nobility and serving as a crucial coming-of-age (bildungsroman) moment for Jem.

Teacher's Note:
a) Ensure all items found in the knot-hole are listed accurately in chronological sequence as they reflect the growing depth of Boo Radley's gestures.
b) Students often lose marks by narrating the items without analyzing the symbolic significance of the knot-hole and its sealing by Nathan Radley.

Question 2. Discuss the various mockingbirds in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. The title of the novel stems from Atticus's philosophy that it is a "sin to kill a mockingbird" because mockingbirds do not do anyone any harm, are not pests, and only sing beautifully to live peacefully. They represent ultimate goodness, purity, and innocence, while the sin lies in corrupting or destroying them.
2. Tom Robinson is a primary human mockingbird. An innocent black man falsely accused of raping and beating Mayella Ewell, he is convicted and eventually killed because of the town's rampant racial prejudice. His kindness and willingness to help Mayella are twisted against him, making his tragic death the senseless slaughter of a songbird.
3. Boo Radley is another prominent mockingbird. Imprisoned in his own home by an overzealous father due to a childhood mistake, Boo causes harm to no one and ultimately saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell. Protecting him from public attention at the end is essential to prevent destroying his gentle, harmless soul.
4. Other characters can also be viewed as mockingbirds or innocents touched by evil. Jem and Scout (whose last name, Finch, is another small bird) are vulnerable innocents whose worldview is shattered by the harsh racial injustice of Maycomb. Similarly, characters like Dolphus Raymond are marginalized and injured through contact with societal evil.

Teacher's Note:
a) Link the symbolic definition of a mockingbird directly to each character discussed, providing textual justification rather than generalized statements.
b) Avoid classifying every minor or negative character (such as Mayella) as a mockingbird without strong textual backing, as mockingbirds must embody harmlessness and purity.

Question 3. What is your impression of Atticus Finch as a lawyer and a pillar of the community from the way he handles the trial of Tom Robinson? Substantiate your opinion by narrating aspects of the Tom Robinson trial that illustrate the point. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Atticus Finch is presented as a man of immense moral integrity, courage, and professional competence. Appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a Black man accused by a white woman in a deeply racist society, Atticus takes the case not for glory, knowing it is a losing battle, but because it goes to the "essence of man's conscience" and he must be able to live with himself.
2. His moral courage is further demonstrated when he single-handedly faces an antagonistic lynch mob at the jailhouse to protect his client. He teaches his children tolerance and calmness amidst extreme racial hostility, maintaining his composure even when spat upon by Bob Ewell.
3. During the trial, Atticus conducts himself with absolute calm, courtesy, and legal sharpness. He methodically exposes the contradictions in the prosecution's case by establishing that Bob Ewell is left-handed and capable of beating Mayella, highlighting the lack of a medical examination, and crucially proving that Tom Robinson's left arm was crippled and useless, making it physically impossible for him to have inflicted Mayella's injuries.
4. In his closing address, Atticus appeals to the jury's integrity and equality under God, pointing out the false accusations born of shame. Although he loses the verdict due to societal prejudice, his rigorous defense and quiet dignity earn him the profound respect of the Black community in the gallery and vindicate Judge Taylor's faith in him as a pillar of justice.

Teacher's Note:
a) Ensure the answer balances Atticus's ethical stance outside the courtroom with his specific legal strategies and courtroom cross-examinations during the trial.
b) Students often write general essays on Atticus as a father; the focus must strictly remain on his role as a lawyer and community pillar during the Tom Robinson trial.

THE HUNGRY TIDE - Amitav Ghosh

Question 4. Comment on Amitav Ghosh's use of history and myth that surrounded the Sunderbans. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Amitav Ghosh establishes a powerful sense of place in The Hungry Tide by deeply intertwining the geography of the Sundarbans with its layered histories and myths. He explores the etymology of the Sundarbans, reflecting on whether the name derives from the sundari tree or simply means beautiful forest, and depicts it as a shifting, intermittently submerged archipelago where the boundaries of modern nation-states dissolve among fishing folk.
2. A central historical event in the novel is the 1979 eviction of refugee settlers from the island of Morichjhapi by the Left Front government of West Bengal. Ghosh uses this brutal display of state power against Dalit refugees fleeing Dandakaranya to critique political betrayal and the trauma of Partition, which shatters idealists like Nirmal.
3. The novel weaves together multiple strands of history and folklore, including the aquatic history and life cycle of the Orcaella dolphins, the colonial folly behind the founding of the port town of Canning, the devastation caused by historical cyclones named by Henry Piddington, and Sir Daniel Hamilton's visionary cooperative community in Gosaba.
4. Alongside recorded history, Ghosh incorporates powerful mythology, most notably the legend of Bon Bibi, a guardian spirit whose worship fuses Muslim and Hindu faiths. Through these myths and histories, Ghosh illustrates the sedimentation of human experience in a landscape regularly obliterated by tides and cyclones.

Teacher's Note:
a) A comprehensive answer must include both historical milestones (like Morichjhapi and Canning) and cultural myths (like Bon Bibi).
b) Avoid merely narrating the Bon Bibi myth or the Morichjhapi eviction in isolation; the focus must be on how Ghosh uses them to shape the thematic fabric of the Sundarbans.

Question 5. Give an account of what Sir Daniel Hamilton did to achieve his dream in the Sunderbans. After his death, what was the ultimate outcome of all his efforts? [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Sir Daniel Hamilton, guided by the Scottish belief that "Labour conquers everything," came to India and amassed a fortune through MacKinnon and McKenzie. Observing the fertile tide country lying fallow and abandoned due to natural hazards like tigers, crocodiles, and tempests, he envisioned a thriving, exploitation-free cooperative community instead of treating the region merely as a source of personal luxury.
2. In 1903, he purchased 10,000 acres of tide land from the British government, encompassing islands like Gosaba, Rangbelia, Satleja, and later Lusibari. He established settlements, offered free land to thousands of poor settlers from across the country without having to migrate abroad, and instituted progressive rules stating that settlers could not bring caste divisions such as Brahmins or Untouchables.
3. To build his ideal society based on the cooperative model and Marx's Labour Theory of Value, Hamilton provided infrastructure including a generator for electricity and telephones in Gosaba long before they existed in Kolkata, while offering financial rewards for killing dangerous wildlife.
4. However, the ultimate outcome after his death in 1939 was tragic. The estate passed to his nephew, James Hamilton, who lived in Scotland and had never visited India. Management took over the estate, the ideals of the Republic of Co-operative Credit collapsed, its currency and banks vanished, and according to Kanai, the visionary utopia degenerated into destitution and what were dismissed as rat-eaten islands.

Teacher's Note:
a) Students must divide their answer equally between Sir Daniel's visionary efforts and the subsequent post-mortem decline of his cooperative dream.
b) Ensure accurate referencing of specific locations like Gosaba and Lusibari, as well as the ideological principles (cooperatives, abolition of caste) that drove his initiative.

Question 6. What is your assessment of the character Nirmal in the novel The Hungry Tide? [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Nirmal is introduced posthumously through Kanai's memories and his hidden journal, revealing a complex character who was once a prominent leftist intellectual, writer, and school headmaster in Calcutta before moving to Lusibari with his wife Nilima as a refuge from political persecution.
2. Despite his initial leftist radicalism and passionate lectures, Nirmal struggled with the practical realities of rural life and social service, often feeling alienated and burdened by what he perceived as the stigma of charity, contrasting sharply with his pragmatic and dynamic wife, Nilima, who successfully built the cooperative hospital and network.
3. Nirmal's character undergoes a profound transformation when he becomes obsessed with the Morichjhapi refugee settlement. Inspired by Rilke's concept that "life is lived in transformation" and seeing Kusum as its embodiment, Nirmal finds renewed purpose and feels existence swelling in his veins as he witnesses the settlers' revolutionary dream of creating a new society.
4. In his final days, after wandering in the rain and contracting pneumonia during the violent eviction at Morichjhapi, Nirmal emerges as a vulnerable yet courageous visionary poet and prophet. Through his journal written during those final turbulent days, he manages to leave behind a vital record of history, ensuring that the tragic truths of the tide country are not forgotten.

Teacher's Note:
a) Trace Nirmal's evolution chronologically despite the non-linear structure of the novel, addressing his intellectual background, marital dynamic with Nilima, and obsession with Morichjhapi.
b) Avoid writing a mere plot summary of Nirmal's life; anchor the response in an analytical assessment of his psychological and ideological shifts.

A DOLL'S HOUSE - Henrik Ibsen

Question 7. One of the surprises of the play is that Krogstad is not really the central antagonist. Trace how this transition occurs. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Initially, Nils Krogstad appears to be the primary villain and antagonist of A Doll's House. He blackmails Nora Helmer, revealing that she forged her dead father's signature to secure a loan for Torvald's health, threatening to expose her crime and ruin Torvald's reputation unless Nora protects his position at the bank.
2. As the plot progresses through the first two acts, Krogstad acts as a relentless catalyst, intensifying Nora's panic, driving her toward despair and thoughts of suicide, and embodying social corruption. However, parallels between Krogstad and Nora emerge; both committed forgery out of a desperate desire to save loved ones, and both contemplated suicide.
3. The transition in Krogstad's role occurs early in Act Three during his confrontation with Mrs. Linde, his former lost love. When Mrs. Linde agrees to marry him and offers to provide a family and care for him, Krogstad experiences a genuine change of heart, shedding his bitterness and reclaiming his humanity.
4. Having mellowed and realized the redeeming power of love, Krogstad decides to retract his blackmail and withdraw his letter from the mailbox. Although Mrs. Linde convinces him to leave the letter so that Torvald and Nora can face the unvarnished truth, Krogstad's transformation strips him of his antagonist status, shifting the true antagonism of the play inward toward Torvald's hypocrisy and the oppressive societal structures of the Helmer marriage.

Teacher's Note:
a) Clearly distinguish between Krogstad's initial menacing function as a blackmailer and his subsequent moral redemption through Mrs. Linde.
b) Do not stop at a character sketch of Krogstad; the response must explicitly trace the structural transition that deposes him as the central antagonist.

Question 8. Narrate the confrontation of Mrs. Linde and Krogstad in Act III of the play. What, in your opinion, is the significance of this confrontation in the play? [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. The confrontation takes place in Act Three while Nora and Torvald are upstairs at the dance party. Mrs. Linde waits alone for Krogstad, whom she once jilted out of financial necessity to support her family. When Krogstad arrives, bitter and reproachful, Mrs. Linde confesses that she acted out of desperation and now realizes she needs someone to look after.
2. Discovering that Krogstad is the man whose job at the bank she is slated to take, Mrs. Linde proposes that they join forces and reignite their romance, expressing absolute faith in his essential goodness. Overjoyed, Krogstad realizes the extent of his actions and offers to retrieve his incriminating letter from Torvald's mailbox.
3. However, Mrs. Linde insists that the letter remain, believing that Nora and Torvald must stop hiding behind falsehoods and confront the truth of their marriage for complete understanding. Krogstad departs, leaving behind a second note to clarify the situation, while Mrs. Linde finds renewed purpose in having a family to care for.
4. The significance of this confrontation is manifold: it redeems Krogstad and softens his villainy, resolving the external plot threat to Nora. More importantly, Mrs. Linde serves as a foil to Nora. While Nora leaves her family to seek individual independence and identity, Mrs. Linde chooses to give up solitary independence to find fulfillment in nurturing the man she loves, proving that self-fulfillment can take different valid paths.

Teacher's Note:
a) Structure the answer by first detailing the dramatic narrative of the meeting between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad, followed by a robust analysis of its thematic significance.
b) Highlight Mrs. Linde's role as a dramatic foil to Nora, as many students miss this crucial literary comparison.

Question 9. Write short notes on the symbolism of:
(a) The Christmas tree
(b) The Tarantella [20 Marks]

Answer:
(a) The Christmas tree
1. The Christmas tree functions primarily as a decorative festive object that symbolizes Nora's position in her household as a plaything meant to be pleasing to look at, adding charm and superficial beauty to the Helmer home.
2. Ibsen draws explicit parallels between Nora and the tree: just as the tree must be kept hidden and unlit until decorated, Nora insists that no one see her in her costume before the dance. As Nora's psychological condition begins to erode under the pressure of Krogstad's blackmail, stage directions indicate that the Christmas tree becomes correspondingly disheveled.
3. By Christmas Day, once Torvald has rejected Krogstad and the truth is inevitable, the tree is stripped of its ornaments and its candles are burnt out, symbolizing the disintegration of the carefully maintained, beautiful appearance of the Helmer marriage under the encroachment of truth.

(b) The Tarantella
1. The Tarantella is a wild southern Italian folk dance historically associated with curing the poisonous bite of the tarantula spider through frantic dancing to exhaustion. Modern psychologists view it as an outlet for repressed hysteria and suppressed moral constraints.
2. In the play, Torvald tells Nora to practice the Tarantella while he shuts himself away in his office, highlighting her profound emotional isolation within her marriage. Nora dances with increasing wildness and unspooled hair, using the performance to distract Torvald and prevent him from opening Krogstad's mail.
3. Symbolically, Nora's frantic dancing represents her desperate attempt to rid herself of the deadly poison of deception, hypocrisy, and the impending doom posed by Krogstad's revelations before her inevitable breakdown.

Teacher's Note:
a) Treat both symbols with equal depth, linking physical stage descriptions directly to psychological and thematic interpretations.
b) Avoid writing mere descriptive summaries of the Christmas tree decorations or the dance steps without explaining their underlying literary symbolism.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN - Arthur Miller

Question 10. With close reference to the dialogue between Willy and Howard in Act II, bring out your assessment of his subservient relationship with his boss and its significance to the play. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. In Act II, Willy Loman visits his young boss, Howard Wagner (son of Frank Wagner, whom Willy had deeply revered), expecting to secure a permanent position in New York and relief from his grueling traveling job. Instead, he encounters a cold, self-indulgent, and entirely materialistic employer who dismisses Willy's career ambitions.
2. Howard's office symbolizes the modern technological future, dominated by his new wire recorder, which he continuously obsesses over while ignoring Willy's desperate pleas. Howard patronizes Willy by repeatedly calling him "kid" and treating him with casual condescension, displaying no common courtesy or respect for Willy's decades of service.
3. Willy's subservience is starkly highlighted by his pathetic attempts to appease Howard, such as picking up Howard's lighter for him, clinging to past promises made by Howard's father, and progressively shrinking his salary demands out of sheer desperation. When Willy finally asserts himself by declaring that "a man is not a piece of fruit" to be used and thrown away, Howard remains unmoved and ultimately fires him.
4. This relationship is highly significant to the play as it dramatizes the clash between the outmoded, sentimental values of personal loyalty and the cold, ruthless reality of modern capitalist business. Willy's absolute subjugation to a man half his age underscores his tragic obsolescence and his failure to recognize that corporate systems care nothing for human dignity or past service.

Teacher's Note:
a) Ground the answer in specific textual details and dialogue exchanges from the office scene, including Howard's wire recorder and Willy picking up the lighter.
b) Emphasize the thematic contrast between Willy's outdated reliance on personal relationships and Howard's embodiment of modern, soulless capitalism.

Question 11. Comment on the title of Arthur Miller's play -Death of a Salesman. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. The title carries multiple layers of meaning, beginning with the most literal and tragic: Willy Loman's actual physical death by suicide, committed in a desperate bid to secure life insurance money for Biff.
2. It refers to Willy's idealized dream of death, modeled after the massive, well-attended funeral of Dave Singleman. Willy envisions a grand outpouring of grief and popularity, but the tragic irony is laid bare at his actual graveside, where only his immediate family attends, proving that he was neither successful nor deeply liked.
3. The title signifies the death of Willy's "salesman dream", his core belief in the American Dream that charm, being "well-liked", and relentless selling would bring financial success and happiness. By the end of the play, fired, bankrupt, and rejected by his sons, Willy's dreams lie utterly shattered.
4. On a figurative and psychological level, the title encompasses Willy's mental collapse and loss of identity long before his physical demise. His steady retreat into delusional memories, his loss of reality, and his ultimate dehumanization by the capitalist system signal the tragic destruction of a man consumed by false values.

Teacher's Note:
a) Ensure all dimensions of the title—physical death, funeral irony, death of the American Dream, and psychological collapse—are thoroughly addressed.
b) Avoid treating the title merely as a reference to suicide; emphasize the symbolic and socio-economic critique embedded in the phrase.

Question 12. Discuss Biff as a character who is compelled to seek the truth about himself, unlike his father Willy. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Throughout the play, Biff Loman serves as a catalyst who drives Willy's memories and anxieties. Unlike Willy and Happy, who willfully and happily delude themselves in a fantasy world of false grandeur, Biff is compelled to confront painful truths about his life and identity.
2. In his youth, Biff adored Willy and absorbed his philosophy of success through charm, even stealing under Willy's uncritical praise. However, his perception is shattered during his trip to Boston when he discovers Willy having an affair with a woman, destroying his idealized image of his father and plunging him into a prolonged identity crisis.
3. Biff struggles against his father's inherited tendency toward exaggeration and self-deception, such as his delusion about having been a successful salesman for Bill Oliver. Only by confronting Oliver directly does Biff shed this illusion and embrace the humbling reality of his status as a shipping clerk.
4. At the climax of the play, Biff achieves a profound breakthrough, recognizing that the Loman household has been built entirely on lies. By declaring "We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house," Biff bravely accepts who he is, rejects his father's materialist philosophy, and frees himself from self-deception, achieving true tragic heroism in contrast to Willy's tragic delusion.

Teacher's Note:
a) Contrast Biff's psychological journey of self-discovery and acceptance with Willy and Happy's persistent delusions.
b) Highlight the pivotal turning point of the Boston hotel incident and Biff's confrontation in Bill Oliver's office as foundational to his search for truth.

NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY VERSE - Edited by Chris Woodhead

Question 13. Comment on the imagery and theme of The Ship of Death by D.H. Lawrence. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Written when D.H. Lawrence was dying of tuberculosis at age thirty-five, The Ship of Death is one of the twentieth century's most profound meditations on mortality, exploring the psychological and spiritual preparations required for imminent demise.
2. The poem opens with powerful autumnal imagery reflecting personal decay, comparing falling apples to great drops of dew that bruise themselves in an exit from themselves. Lawrence rejects suicide, alluding to Hamlet's daggers and bodkins, before issuing his central exhortation: to build the ship of death for the longest journey to oblivion.
3. Lawrence employs rich sensory and maritime imagery—ranging from the smell of ashes, silence, and the darkness of the voyaging soul to the body as a worn sea-shell—to depict the harrowing dissolution of mind and ego into nothingness.
4. Despite the dark imagery of decay and oblivion, the poem's ultimate theme transcends death into rebirth and resurrection. Through delicate imagery of a flush of yellow and rose breaking through the dark waters, Lawrence envisions a spiritual renewal where "the whole thing starts again," affirming the cycle of life, death, and renewal.

Teacher's Note:
a) Ensure the answer provides equal analytical weight to both the poem's vivid sensory imagery and its core thematic progression from decay to rebirth.
b) Avoid summarizing the poem line by line; focus on how Lawrence uses poetic devices to articulate his philosophical stance on death.

Question 14. As the Team's Head Brass is an account by Edward Thomas of the effects of war on the simple routine of everyday lives. Comment. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. Written on May 27, 1916, shortly before Edward Thomas enlisted in the Artists' Rifles and subsequently died at the Battle of Arras, As the Team's Head Brass examines the First World War not from the frontline trenches, but through its quiet, disruptive impact on the peaceful English countryside.
2. The poem unfolds as a deceptively casual dialogue between a ploughman and a poet-soldier sitting near a fallen elm tree—an elm tellingly felled by a blizzard, symbolizing the destructive storm of war raging miles away. The conversation begins casually about the weather before turning inevitably to the devastating loss of local men, including the ploughman's mate who died on his second day in France.
3. Thomas uses precise pastoral observations and enjambment to mirror the rhythmic movement of the plough across charlock fields, while embedding jagged line turns that signify the intrusion of war into the idyllic rural landscape. The soldier's reflections on what he would mind losing (an arm, but not his head) convey a poignant, dry humor masking the grim reality of impending combat.
4. Ultimately, while acknowledging the futility and void left by the war—where only two teams work the farm and the fallen tree remains unremoved—the poem does not end in despair. The emergence of young lovers from the woods and the continued turning of fresh earth by the plough signify enduring hope, regeneration, and the resilience of life amid tragedy.

Teacher's Note:
a) Contextualize the poem within Thomas's biographical background and impending enlistment during World War I.
b) Explain how the contrast between pastoral routines and the shadow of wartime casualties highlights the broader social disruption caused by the conflict.

Question 15. Analyse W.H. Auden's The Unknown Citizen as a socio-political statement. [20 Marks]

Answer:
1. W.H. Auden's The Unknown Citizen is a biting satirical elegy critiquing modern capitalist society and the totalitarian state's determination to quantify and reduce human life to mere bureaucratic statistics collected by technology.
2. The poem opens with an epigram identifying the protagonist not by name, but by a cold bureaucratic serial number (JS/07/M/378), symbolizing how individual identity is obliterated by modern institutions. The protagonist's life is summarized through impersonal records from organizations like Fudge Motors Inc., health cards, and installment plans, illustrating how consumption and conformity replace true individuality.
3. Auden satirizes the superficial criteria used by the state to evaluate a "good citizen"—that he held proper opinions for the time of year, was insured, served in the war, paid his union dues, and added five children to the population according to eugenist ideals—while noting that no one ever bothered to ask if he was free or happy.
4. Written shortly after Auden emigrated to the United States, the poem serves as a broader indictment of Western capitalism and bureaucracy, arguing that systems ostensibly championing freedom often enslave individuals through enforced conformity, producing a compliant, unthinking citizen who is ultimately unknown to both poet and reader.

Teacher's Note:
a) Emphasize Auden's satirical tone and specific textual references such as Fudge Motors Inc., social security, and installment plans.
b) Ensure the socio-political critique extends beyond general totalitarianism to address Auden's specific disillusionment with modern capitalism and bureaucracy.