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SUMMARY
The Looking Glass by Anton Chekhov
This story is about Nellie. She was the daughter of a landowner. She was young and beautiful. She was unmarried. She had a problem related to dreaming. She saw in her dream days and nights of being married and was sitting in her room, gazing with tired, half-closed eyes into the glass. She would be motionless as glass. She could see many images, one after another. It would be difficult to tell by looking at her image whether she was sleeping or awake. At first, she saw a beautiful smile, then a sweet expression of eyes in the grey background, and then she saw a head, face, eyebrows, and beard. It was the face of her expected one. He was her hope, fate, happiness, life, and everything. Then she heard his voice and found herself living with him in the same house.
She saw many images in the grey background. She found herself knocking at the door of the district doctor at night. She heard the old dog barking behind the gate. It was dark and silent. At last, the garden gate opened. She saw the doctor's cook. She asked if the doctor was there, but she replied that he was sleeping and gave her an order not to wake him up. Then Nellie reached into the doctor's bedroom. The doctor was lying on his bed. Without speaking a single word, she sat down and started to cry.
She bitterly wept, saying her husband was ill. But the doctor was lying on his bed. The doctor slowly sat up and looked at her with fixed, sleepy eyes. She told him her husband was ill. She requested that he go with her. He told me that he would come tomorrow. She again told the doctor that it was urgent and that her husband was going to die. The doctor replied that for the last three days he had been away and he was not feeling well. Then the doctor went to sleep again. She had been trying to make him understand her problem. The doctor asked her to go to another doctor, Zemstvo. She replied that it was impossible because he lived away from there. She again requested that he do heroic deeds. But the doctor replied that it was impossible. He would not go. She threatened him to report to the court. At last, the doctor was ready to go. Nellie supported him in searching for a coat. But after wearing the coat, the doctor again laid down. She got up and dragged him to the hall. At last, they started their journey. The earth was wrapped in darkness. The cold winter wind was blowing. They were silent all the way. At five in the morning, she was at home. She made him sit down on the sofa in the dining room, and she went to see her husband. When she came back, she found the doctor lying down. He was serious. She decided to go to Zemstvo. There again followed darkness. She was suffering in body and soul. She remembered the past days with her husband. She realised that death was sure. At last, she found out her husband was dying. She saw the coffin and the candles, and she even heard the footmark of an undertaker. She was so sad, and she jumped up, and when she opened her eyes, she found glass on her feet. She looked at the looking glass and found a pale and tear-stained face. There was no grey background there. She thought that she had fallen asleep.
WAYS WITH THE WORDS
A. Match the words with their meanings.
a. exhausted 》 vi. tired
b. apparent 》 vii. clear
c. vista 》 i. vision
d. undulating 》 ii. wavy
e. destined 》 iii. predetermined
f. stuffy 》 v. suffocating, airless
g. restrain 》 iv. prevent, hinder
B. Write the meaning and word class of the following words. Then use them in sentences of your own.
implore
Answer:
Meaning: To beg urgently or earnestly.
Word class: verb
Sentence: Jane implored me for some money.
despair
Answer:
Meaning: To be hopeless; to have no hope
Word class: noun
Sentence: I found him in despair state.
beseech
Answer:
Meaning: to request or beg for
Word class: verb
Sentence: beseech you to let me go.
eloquent
Answer:
Meaning: effective in expressing meaning by speech
Word class: adjective
Sentence: He seems quite eloquent in his words.
whirl
Answer:
Meaning: To rotate, revolve, spin or turn rapidly.
Word class: verb
Sentence: The tornado whirls much.
egoism
Answer:
Meaning: The tendency to think selfishly with exclusive self-interest in mind.
Word class: noun
Sentence: Her egoism made her separate from her friends.
agony
Answer:
Meaning: extreme physical and mental pain
Word class: noun
Sentence: He is suffering from extreme agony.
delirious
Answer:
Meaning: An temporary mental state with a sudden onset, usually reversible, including symptoms of confusion, inability to concentrate, disorientation, anxiety, and sometimes hallucinations. Causes can include dehydration, drug intoxication, and severe infection.
Word class: adjective
Sentence: Mr. John seemed delirious when he spoke to me.
delusive
Answer:
Meaning: not real or true
Word class: adjective
Sentence: I just hate all these delusive ideas.
compensate
Answer:
Meaning: To pay or reward someone in exchange for work done or some other consideration.
Word class: verb
Sentence: The government compensates those who were killed in plane crash.
mortgage
Answer:
Meaning: To borrow against a property, to obtain a loan for another purpose by giving away the right of seizure to the lender over a fixed property such as a house or piece of land; to pledge a property in order to get a loan.
Word class: verb
Sentence: He obtained a huge loan from the bank mortgaging his property.
brood
Answer:
Meaning: The children in one family; offspring.
Word class: noun
Sentence: brood of this family are so mannered.
prelude
Answer:
Meaning: An introductory or preliminary performance or event.
Word class: noun
Sentence: He got selected in prelude.
C. Adjectives ending in -ing describe what someone or something is like, whereas adjectives ending in -ed describe how someone feels.
D. Choose the correct word.
a. Sarita was shocking/shocked to hear about earthquake.
Answer:
Sarita was shocked to hear about earthquake.
b. I think that rainy days in winter are depressing/depressed.
Answer:
I think that rainy days in winter are depressing.
c. The football match was very exciting/excited. I enjoyed it.
Answer:
The football match was very exciting. I enjoyed it.
d. The meals at Delight Café are satisfying/satisfied.
Answer:
The meals at Delight Café are satisfying.
e. I've got nothing to do. I'm boring/bored.
Answer:
I've got nothing to do. I'm bored.
f. Tanka is very good at telling funny stories. He can be very amusing/amused.
Answer:
Tanka is very good at telling funny stories. He can be very amusing.
g. The teacher's explanation was confusing/confused. Most of the students didn't understand it.
Answer:
The teacher's explanation was confusing. Most of the students didn't understand it.
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h. He is such a boring/bored person. He never wants to go out.
Answer:
He is such a boring person. He never wants to go out.
i. I will be surprising/surprised if she does well in her test.
Answer:
I will be surprised if she does well in her test.
j. Are you interesting/interested in politics?
Answer:
Are you interested in politics?
E. Write the correct form of the adjective in the blanks as in the example.
Example: Grammar rules frustrate me. They're not logical. They are so frustrating.
a. They frustrate me but they don't bore me. I never get ............ when I study grammar.
Answer:
They frustrate me but they don't bore me. I never get bored when I study grammar.
b. If teachers want to interest the students, they must use ................. materials.
Answer:
If teachers want to interest the students, they must use interesting materials.
c. Certain stories interest almost everybody. For example, most students are ............ in fairy tales.
Answer:
Certain stories interest almost everybody. For example, most students are interested in fairy tales.
d. Certain things frighten me, but I never get ............ when I speak English.
Answer:
Certain things frighten me, but I never get frightened when I speak English.
e. If I get a good grade, that excites me. And if I get more than ninety percent, I am really ............
Answer:
If I get a good grade, that excites me. And if I get more than ninety percent, I am really excited.
COMPREHENSION
Answer these questions
a. Who was Nellie? What did she use to dream of?
Answer:
Nellie was the daughter of a landowner and general. She used to dream about her future after getting married.
b. What was she doing with the looking glass?
Answer:
She was sitting in her room, gazing with exhausted, half-closed eyes into the looking glass.
c. Why did she go to the doctor on one winter night?
Answer:
She went to the doctor on one winter night because her husband was seriously sick. She went there to Dr. Stephan Lukitch to make a house call.
d. What was Stepan Lukitch doing when she reached his bedroom?
Answer:
Stepan Lukitch was lying on his bed, dressed but without his coat, and with pouting lips, breathing into his open hand.
e. Why was the doctor not ready to go to see her husband?
Answer:
The doctor was not ready to go see her husband because he was very exhausted and ill due to his three-day continuous task of treating sick people away from his house.
f. Why did Stepan Lukitch suggest Nellie go to the Zemstvo doctor?
Answer:
Stepan suggested Neillie go to the Zemstvo doctor because he was not in the condition to help her due to his exhaustion and illness.
g. Nellie said, “Come, perform that heroic deed! Have pity on us!" What was that pity to be done?
Answer:
As her husband was seriously ill, the pity was to check up and provide some medicine to him.
h. When Nellie said, "I must have fallen asleep." What does it mean?
Answer:
It means she realises she has been dreaming when she wakes up.
i. What is the main theme of the story?
Answer:
The main theme of the story is the daydreaming of unmarried young girls about their future husbands and married lives.
CRITICAL THINKING
a. “The looking glass (mirror)” is used as a symbol in the story. What does it symbolise?
Answer:
The Looking Glass represents Nellie's creative mind and her longing to be married. The mirror plays an important role in the story because it fills in as a window to her unconscious quality. A significant portion of the story revolves around Nelly's imagination and how this proceeds to haunt her given her failure to track down the answer to the problem.
The mirror provides an outlet for Nelly to escape from the daily routine that she is experiencing. A day-to-day existence in which she is a solitary and unattached woman who longs to see a man who will love her and whom she can also cherish. Actually, she is looking for satisfaction through marriage. Using her imagination, the storyteller demonstrates her inner struggle and her difficulties in connecting her concerns with others.
In the story, the looking glass or mirror remains important in that it reveals what is to come. Chekhov uses this item to uncover Nellie's inner feelings, her fears, and the way she continues to feel vulnerable. The use of mirrors makes the story effective, as it connects its objectives and goals to the readers.
b. Chekhov employs the magic trick in the story, using a very elegant transition from reality to imagination to reality sequence. Discuss its relevance to life of young people.
Answer:
Chekhov utilises the magic trick in the story, utilising an extremely rich change from reality to a creative mind to the real-world sequence. Chekhov has used the picture of the grey background to move from the real world to the creative mind.
Towards the start of the story, she was seeing her mirror in her room. She began staring off into space against the grey background of her mirror. She envisioned being married, and her husband was sick. At last, her mirror tumbled from her hand, and the grey background vanished. In this way, Chekhov has cunningly used the picture of the grey background to introduce Nellie's dream. The progress from reality to the creative mind is relevant to the lives of youngsters because the majority of them live in an imaginative world.
They love to live in dreams. Youth make the universe of a creative mind for themselves. In the story, Nellie's inventive soul mate's name isn't referenced. It shows that she addresses normal youngsters who have the same sort of imagination as their ordained ones.
Each young lady like Nellie envisions her life accomplice to be attractive and smart with a charming smile. In this way, Anton Chekhov uses progress from reality to a creative mind to catch the hearts and opinions of youngsters like Nellie.
The vast majority of the youngsters are survivors of their so-called ideal individual's public activity. They are affected by motion pictures, books, and, furthermore, unscripted TV dramas. They attempt to duplicate it, but because of their monetary status, they neglect to follow it. Accordingly, they are obliged to fantasize. It is the best way to satisfy their unfulfilled desires.
WRITING (IMPORTANT FOR EXAM)
Write a couple of paragraphs about an interesting dream that you have had.
Answer:
Dream refers to the imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping. Most people see dreams after they sleep. Dreams are so powerful, and we can't have control over them. They are the consequences of our day-to-day activities. Last night, I saw an interesting dream of a beautiful, unknown girl who danced with me at one of my friends' parties. In my dream, I saw myself at the birthday party of Ramesh, one of my friends. I saw myself sitting on the sofa in one of the corners. There were lots of unknown faces who were dancing. The environment in the room was so noisy. A group of girls approached me and started talking with me. I hesitated to talk with them at first. A bit later, a beautiful girl among them smiled at me and requested that I dance with her. I asked her name, but she didn't reply to my question's answer. She started behaving with me in a quite familiar way. She held my hand and pulled me to the dance floor.
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We started our dance. We danced for a long time, holding each other's bodies. We had a lovable eye connection. I felt so close to her. I kept on looking at her lovely face all the time while dancing. When I was about to ask her name, my interesting dream ended. My brother made me wake up in the morning. I kept thinking about that girl lying on my bed.
GRAMMAR
B. Match the expressions with their functions.
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NEB ENGLISH GUIDE CLASS 11: ALL NOTES [ C. ENGLISH| M. ENGLISH] NEB ENGLISH SUPPORT
CLICK HERE 👇 TO SELECT CHAPTERS
NEB ENGLISH GUIDE CLASS 11: ALL NOTES [ C. ENGLISH| M. ENGLISH] NEB ENGLISH SUPPORT
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