Best Seller Extra Questions and Answers Class 9 English Literature

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Best Seller Extra Questions and Answers Class 9 English Literature

Best Seller Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type

Answer the following questions briefly.

Question 1
What were the topics discussed by the narrator and John when they recognized each other in the train?
Answer:
The narrator and John discussed about their health, family, the weather, and their successes since they last met each other and finally their destinations.

Question 2.
Were the narrator and John close friends?
Answer:
No, the narrator says that they had never been too close. They had exchanged views on local topics and pleasantries. They had never discussed more important topics like romance, literature, or ethics.

Question 3.
Why was the narrator surprised to see John getting down at Coketown?
Answer:
Coketown was a small town which looked poor and dismal. The narrator wondered whether John would get any business there.

Question 4.
Why do you think the Colonel allowed the salesman to marry his daughter even though he came from a lineage of Earls?
Answer:
The Colonel’s family was no longer rich and all the glory they once had was a thing of the past. He was probably impressed by the honesty of the salesman and the fact that he was quite prosperous in his own way. He may also have felt he genuinely loved his daughter and would keep her happy. Moreover, he iqade him laugh with his humorous stories. (Answers may vary.)

Question 5.
“You don’t see or hear of any such capers in real life.” Who is the speaker? What is he talking about? What is so ironical about his statement?
Answer:
The speaker is John Pescud. He is discussing the romance described in the best-selling novel. The irony is that the details of his romance with his wife were as daring and adventurous as the story he was ridiculing.

Question 6.
“No romance nothing like that!” Is this statement made by John Pescud strictly true?
Answer:
No, the statement is not true because the events leading to his marriage are highly romantic. He actually meets his wife during a train journey and follows her home, changing a number of trains in the bargain, moving completely away from his proposed destination and almost falling from the train and losing his life on the way. Finally, he finds out the details of her family and goes to meet her father expressing his intentions to marry her. Hence, his true life story had been as exciting, adventurous, and thrilling as any bookish romance.

Question 7.
Describe the girl’s father.
Answer:
The girl’s father was a retired Colonel from the army. He was a dignified looking man, tall, and aristocratic . looking. He belonged to a lineage of Earls but had now fallen upon hard times which could be seen in his shabby manner of dress. fJis family was the oldest family in Virginia.

Question 8.
Describe the house in which Jessie had lived.
Answer:
The mansion was a huge house as big as the Capitol at Washington with round white pillars about a thousand feet high, with porches and balconies. The ceilings in the reception-rooms and the ballroom were twenty- eight feet high. It had’ fifty rooms. The yard was full of rose- bushes, box-bushes, and lilacs.

Best Seller Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer type

Question 1.
Describe John Pescud.
Answer:
John Pescud was a small man with a wide smile, and an eye that seemed to be fixed upon that little red spot on the end of your nose.
He believed that when a man is in his home town, he ought to be decent and law-abiding. He worked at Cambria Steel Works as a travelling salesman selling plate glass. He was quite successful and had his salary raised twice since the last time he had met the narrator. He had bought some property and his firm was going to sell him shares as well. He was quite prosperous. He had met his wife during a train journey and been so impressed by her that he had followed her home, met her father, and got him to agree to his marrying her.Hence, we can see he was quite determined and romantic and could go to great lengths to achieve his ends.

Question 2.
Describe the sequence from the time John saw his wife till he married her.
Answer:
Pescud first saw his wife, Jessie reading a book in the train in which he was travelling. He got instantly attracted to her and followed her as she changed several trains till she finally reached Virginia. Her father came to receive her at the station and Pescud followed them till they reached their mansion. He booked himself in a hotel and found out details of the mansion and the people living in it from the landlord of his hotel. Finally, he met Jessie alone for the first time and spoke to her informing her of his intentions to marry her. Jessie informed him that her father may not approve of him and could set the hounds on him. Pescud was not a man to be frightened so easily and so he went to meet Jessie’s father at the mansion. The meeting was a surprisingly pleasant one and a year later, he married Jessie and her father moved in with them.

Question 3.
Bring out the irony in the story “The Best-seller”.
Answer:
The story is full of ironical instances. For example, the main protagonist of the story, John Pescud denounces best-selling novels as something inferior with no relation to real life but we find that the story of his marriage is even more dramatic and adventurous than any fictional romance. He ridicules the story of Trevelyan’s romance for a princess by saying that he finds it difficult to believe that people would like to marry people from different strata of society or different backgrounds. According to him, people generally marry within the same social circle, from the same background, or old school friends. Ironically, he himself marries a girl from an aristocratic . background, and goes to great lengths to ensure that the marriage takes place. In fact, even in the end he gets down at Coketown to look for a petunia sapling for his wife just because she had admired it on a previous trip. Therefore, we see that he does all that he believes is not possible for a normal suitor to do.

Question 4.
A newspaper reporter hears of the marriage of Pescud and Jessie. He interviews them and writes an article for the paper entitled: A Modern Romance.
Answer:
Pittsburgh, 19 March, 20xx
And we thought romances were the creations of highly imaginative minds! Recently I had the privilege of interviewing Mr and Mrs Pescud of Pittsburgh on their fairy-tale romance which culminated in marriage a year ago.Mr John Pescud is a highly successful man working for Cambria Steel Works as a travelling salesman selling plate-glass. He comes from a humble background while Mrs Pescud belongs to an old aristocratic family of Virginia. How they met can make any best-selling novel pale in comparison!

Well, Pescud first saw his wife, Jessie reading a book in the train in which he was travelling. He got instantly attracted to her and followed her as she changed several trains till she finally reached Virginia. In fact he says that during that time his business took a back seat! Jessie’s father came to receive her at the station at Virginia and Pescud followed them till they reached their mansion. He booked jiimself in a hotel and found out details about the family from the landlord of his hotel. On the third day, he met Jessie alone for the first time and informed her of his intentions of marrying her.

Jessie was obviously taken aback and informed him that her father may not approve of him and probably would set the hounds on him. Pescud was not a man to be frightened so easily. He met Jessie’s father at the mansion. The meeting was surprisingly a pleasant one and a year later he married Jessie. Today, the old Colonel, her father lives with them in Pittsburgh! As Shakespeare had wisely said—“All’s well that ends well!”

Best Seller Extra Questions and Answers Reference to Context

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Question 1.
“I wish you might know John. A. Pescud. He is of the stuff that heroes are not often lucky enough to be made of”
(a) What is the narrator’s tone here?
Answer:
The narrator’s tone here is sarcastic.

(b) Why was Pescud unlike a romantic hero?
Answer:
Pescud was unlike a romantic hero as he was neither good-looking like a romantic hero nor was he employed in an exotic profession.

Question 2.
“Say, ” said Pescud, stirring his discarded book with the hand, “did you ever read one of these best sellers? I mean the kind where the hero is an American swell—sometimes even from Chicago—who falls in love with a royal princess from Europe who is travelling under an alias andfollows her to her father’s kingdom or principality? ”
(a) What was Pescud’s attitude towards the best seller?
Answer:
Pescud’s attitude towards the best seller was one of dislike and contempt.

(b) Explain “American swell”.
Answer:
An “American swell” is a wealthy, fashionably dressed American.

(c) What does “Princess under an alias” mean?
Answer:
“Princess under an alias” means the lady is a rich man’s daughter, travelling in disguise.

Question 3.
“Well, this fellow chases the royal chair-warmer home as I said, andfinds out who she is. ”
(a) Whom does “this fellow” refer to?
Answer:
Here “this fellow” refers to the man from Chicago.

(b) Who does the narrator refer to as “the royal chair warmer” and where does the fellow chase it to?
Answer:
The narrator refers to the princess as the royal chair warmer. The fellow chases her to her father’s kingdom in Europe.

(c) What does he mean by ‘“the royal chair warmer’?
Answer:
The royal chair warmer means somebody who holds a position in the royal court.

Question 4.
“He slaps the king’s Swiss bodyguards around like everything whenever they get in his way. He’s a great fencer, too. ”
(a) Whose qualities are being described in these lines?
Answer:
The qualities being described in these lines are of the hero of a best seller.

(b) What is the speaker’s attitude towards the hero of a romantic novel?
Answer:
The speaker’s attitude towards the hero of a romantic novel is one of ridicule.

(c) What is the true intention of the speaker towards best sellers?
Answer:
The true intention of the speaker towards best sellers is that he wishes to make fun of the stories of the best sellers.

Question 5.
“These kind of love-stories are rank on-the-level. I know something about literature, even if I am in plate glass. ”
(a) By “these kind of love stories” what does the writer imply?
Answer:
By “these kind of love stories” the author implies romances described in best sellers.

(b) Why are these stories described as “rank on-the-level”? What does rank on the level mean?
Answer:
These stories have been described as “rank on-the-level” as the narrator feels the stories are of a poor quality. Rank on the same level means true and believable.

Question 6.
Maybe I’ve had notions about them somewhat like yours. But tell me more about yourself. Getting along all right with the company?
(a) Who asks the question? Of whom?
Answer:
The narrator asks the question to John Pescud.

(b) What does the speaker want to know and what was the listener’s reply?
Answer:
The speaker wanted to know if the listener was enjoying his work and making enough money. The listener replied that he was enjoying his prosperity.

(c) Can you think of other words that has the same meaning as “notions”.
Answer:
The word notion means an idea, belief or an opinion.

Question 7.
“Met your affinity yet, John?”
(a) What did the speaker want to know?
Answer:
The speaker wanted to know whether John had met the girl he wanted to marry and had falling in love.

(b) What does the author mean by the word “affinity”?
Answer:
The word “affinity” in this context refers to someone with whom the person has a close relationship.

(c) What was John’s reply and how had John met his affinity?
Answer:
John replied that he was already married and John recounted how he had seen her on the south-bound, going to Cincinnati, and fell in love with her.

Question 8.
“I saw, across the aisle, the finest looking girl I’d ever laid eyes on. Nothing spectacular, you know, but just the sort you want for keeps. ”
(a) Who is the speaker?
Answer:
The speaker here is John Pescud.

(b) What is he describing?
Answer:
The speaker is describing his first meeting with his wife.

(c) Explain the phrase “want for keeps”.
Answer:
The phrase “want for keeps” means the wish to have something forever or permanently.

Question 9.
“But I let the plate glass business go to smash for a while. ”
(a) What is “plate glass business”?
Answer:
The speaker’s profession of a travelling salesman selling sheet glass used for window panes etc. is the “plate glass business”.

(b) “Go to smash” means
Answer:
To fall into ruins.

(c) Why did he do this?
Answer:
The speaker did that so that he could spend time finding out all he could about the girl he had seen in the train.

Question 10.
“By-and-by, I got him down to local gossip arid answering questions. ”
(a) Who is the speaker? Who is he speaking about?
Answer:
John is the speaker here. He is speaking about the landlord of the hotel.

(b) About whom did he want information?
Answer:
John wanted information on the girl he had seen in the train

Question 11.
“Not ifyou hadn’t woken up when the train started in Shelbyvffie.”
(a) Who is the speaker of these lines?
Answer:
The speaker of these lines is Jessie, the girl John Pescud married.

(b) Who is the person being spoken to?
Answer:
The person being spoken to is John Pescud.

(c) What does this statement show the speaker knew as she changed trains?
Answer:
This statement shows that she always knew she was being followed as she changed trains.

Question 12.
“He’ll feed you to his fox-hounds. ”
(a) Who is the speaker of these lines? Who is being spoken to?
Answer:
Jessie is the speaker of these lines. She is speaking to John.

(b) Who is being referred to as “He”?
Answer:
In the extracted line, the speaker’s father, Colonel Allyn is being referred to as “He”.

(c) Why does the speaker make this statement?
Answer:
The speaker makes this statement because she wants to discourage the listener from speaking to her father.

Question 13.
“The relating of anecdotes and humorous occurrences has always seemed to me…to be a particularly agreeable way ofpromoting and perpetuating amenities between friends. ”
(a) Who is the speaker?
Answer:
The speaker of the extracted lines is John A. Pescud.

(b) What quality of the speaker is revealed in these lines?
Answer:
John Pescud’s wisdom, power of observation and his insight into the human mind are revealed in these lines.

(c) Explain: “perpetuating amenities between friends”.
Answer:
The given phrase means strengthening existing relationships.

Question 14.
“One of the dotted brown ladies insisted on having windows raised, now that the rain beat against them. The porter came along with his mysterious wand and began to light the car’’

(a) Whom does “dotted brown lady” refer to and how had she behaved earlier?
Answer:
“Dotted brown lady” refers to one of the ladies in the narrator’s train. Earlier she had refused to open the window.

(b) What attitude would the writer like to depict here?
Answer:
By this incident, the narrator wanted to highlight the contradictory behaviour of the women on the train.

(c) What does he mean by mysterious?
Answer:
It seemed to the narrator that the object the porter was carrying was peculiar and interesting.

Question 15.
“Good-luck to you, Trevelyan”
(a) Who was Trevelyan?
Answer:
Trevelyan was the name of the hero of the best-selling novel.

(b) Who is being called “Trevelyan”?
Answer:
Here John A. Pescud is being called Trevelyan.

(c) Why does the speaker call the other man Trevelyan?
Answer:
The narrator felt that the travelling salesman was as much of a romantic as the hero in the best-selling novel.

Question 16.
“Say, did you ever crack open a wormy English walnut? That’s what that house was like. ”
(a) Whose house is being mentioned here?
Answer:
The house being described here is Jessie’s house.

(b) Name the literary device used here?
Answer:
The literary device used here is a simile.

(c) What does the writer want to say here about the house?
Answer:
The writer wants to say that the inside of the house was very shabby unlike the grand exterior.