NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Literature Chapter 5 Best Seller are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Literature Chapter 5 Best Seller.

Board CBSE
Textbook NCERT
Class Class 9
Subject English Literature
Chapter Chapter 5
Chapter Name Best Seller
Number of Questions Solved 7
Category NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Literature Chapter 5 Best Seller

TEXTUAL EXERCISES
(Page 43)

Question 1.
Before you read the story write down the answers to these questions.

  1. Which was the latest hook that you read ?
  2. Who was the author ?
  3. Who were the main characters ?
  4. When did you read the book ?
  5. How long did you take to complete reading it ?
  6. What genre did it belong to ?
  7. Why would/ wouldn’t you recommend it ?

Answer

  1. It was Jude the Obscure.
  2. Thomas Hardy.
  3. Jude, Sue, Arabella, Phillotson.
  4. a month before.
  5. 12-15 days.
  6. Fiction.
  7. I would recommend it to my friends to read it because it is a gripping story. In it the hero struggles hard to fulfil his dreams. But the more he tries the more he fails. It seems that his own natural instincts and pressures of life become hurdles for him. Finally, he feels defeated at the hands of fate and physical situations. In the end he dies a tragic death.

Question 2.
Now read the story :
Answer
For students to read the story.

Question 3.
Based on your reading of the story, answer the following questions by choosing the correct option.
(a) The narrator says that John was “___ of the stuff that heroes are not often lucky enough to be made of. ” His tone is sarcastic because___

  1. he hated John.
  2. he felt that John was a threat to him.
  3. John was not particularly good-looking.
  4. nobody liked John.

(b) Pescud felt that best-sellers were not realistic as _____

  1. American farmers had nothing in common with European princesses.
  2. men generally married girls from a similar background.
  3. American men married girls who studied in America.
  4. American men did not know fencing and were beaten by the Swiss guards.

(c) “Bully”, said Pescud brightening at once. He means to say that _____

  1. he is a bully.
  2. his manager was a bully.
  3. he was being bullied by his co-workers.
  4. he was doing very well at his job.

(d) The narrator says that life has no geographical bounds implying that _____

  1. human beings are essentially the same everywhere.
  2. boundaries exist only on maps.
  3. one should work towards the good of mankind.
  4. he was happy to travel to other countries.

Answer
(a) 3
(b) 1
(c) 4
(d) 1

Question 4.
Answer the following questions briefly.

  1. One day last summer the author was travelling to Pittsburgh by chair car. What does he say about his co-passengers ?
  2. Who was the passenger of chair No. 9 ? What did he suddenly do ?
  3. What was John A. Pescud’s opinion about best sellers ? Why ?
  4. What does John say about himself since his last meeting with the author ?
  5. How did John’s first meeting with Jessie’s father go ? What did the author tell him ? [V. Imp.]
  6. Why did John get off at Coketown ?
  7. John is a hypocrite. Do you agree with this statement ? Substantiate your answer. [V. Imp.]
  8. Describe John A. Pescud with reference to the following points:
    • Physical appearance ………………
    • His philosophy on behaviour …………….
    • His profession …………….
    • His first impression of his wife …………..
    • His success ……………

Answer
1. He says that the most of the passengers were ladies. They were in brown-silk dresses cut with square rocks, laced ones and with dotted veils. There was the usual number of men. They might be in almost any business and were going anywhere.

2. John A. Pescud was in chair No. 9. He suddenly hurled a book to the floor between his chair and the window. It was ‘The Rose Lady and Trevelyan’.

3. John Pescud’s opinion about best sellers was that these were the kind where the hero was an American wealthy man. He was in love with a royal princess from Europe. The man was travelling under a false name to the girl’s father’s kingdom.

4. John says about himself that his salary had been raised twice. He was getting some commission. He had bought some real estate. Next year he was expecting to buy some shares of the company. Also he had built a house in the East End and had married too.

5. John’s first meeting with Jessie’s father went on well. At first he felt quite nervous and developed cold feet. He felt that the Colonel would throw him out of the window. But he soon developed rapport with him and their talk went on for two hours.

6. John A. Pescud got down at Coketown. He wanted cuttings and blossoms of petunia flowers for his wife. She desired them as she had been growing them in her old Virginia home.

7. I think John is a hypocrite. He criticizes the plot of the best sellers. But he himself has supported it (himself being the hero of the novel) by illustrating it from his own story. His story is actually the same plot of the best seller ‘The Rose Lady and Trevelyan’ which he had been reading. In a way he is ‘Trevelyan’ himself. The narrator calls him as such in the end after Pescud has alighted at Coketown.

8. John A. Pescud was made of a stuff that heroes were not often lucky enough to be made of. He was a small man with a wide smile. He had an eye. It seemed to be fixed upon that little red spot on the end of his nose.

  • His philosophy was that a man ought to be decent and law-abiding.
  • Pescud’s profession was of a travelling salesman. He was, at present, the travelling salesman of a plate-glass company named Cambria steel works.
  • His first impression of his wife was that she was the finest looking girl he had ever laid eyes on. She was not very spectacular. But she had the attributes that enabled her to be an ideal wife.
  • Pescud had progressed much. His salary had been raised twice since he met the narrator last. He got a commission. He had also bought a neat piece of real estate. Next year he was buying some shares of the company. He had built a house in the East End and had married. He had been living in his own house with his wife Jessie and her Colonel father.

Question 5.
Complete the flow chart in the correct sequence as it happens in the story.
Hint : it begins from the time John Pescud first saw Jessie till the time they marry.

  1. Jessie takes a sleeper to Louisville.
  2. Pescud sees a girl (Jessie) reading a book in the train.
  3. Pescud speaks to the girl (Jessie) for the first time.
  4. Pescud follows her but finds it difficult to keep up.
  5. Pescud goes to the village to find out about the mansion.
  6. Jessie arrives at Virginia.
  7. Pescud meets Jessie’s father.
  8. They get married a year later.
  9. Pescud instantly gets attracted to the girl (Jessie).
  10. Jessie informs Pescud that her father would not approve of them meeting.
  11. They meet alone two days later.

Answer.
The correct sequence as it happens in the story will be as follows :
2 → 9 → 4 → 1 → 6 → 5 → 3 → 7 → 10 → 11 → 8
2. Pescud sees a girl (Jessie) reading a book in the train.
↓
9. Pescud instantly gets attracted to the girl (Jessie).
↓
4. Pescud follows her but finds it difficult to keep up.
↓
1. Jessie takes a sleeper to Louisville.
↓
6. Jessie arrives at Virginia.
↓
5. Pescud goes to the village to find out about the mansion.
↓
3. Pescud speaks to the girl (Jessie) for the first time.
↓
7. Pescud meets Jessie’s father.
↓
10. Jessie informs Pescud that her father would not approve of them meeting.
↓
11. They meet alone two days later.
↓
8. They get married a year later.

Question 6.
Irony refers to the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of their literal meaning. Working in pairs, bring out the irony in the following:

  1. The title of the story, “The Best seller”.
  2. Pescud’s claim, “When people in real life marry, they generally hunt up somebody in their own station. A fellow usually picks out a girl who went to the same high-school and belonged to the same singing-society that he did.”
  3. The name Trevelyan.

Answer
Meant for class level and for working in pairs. The following hints shall enable the pairs to discuss the use of irony in these situations.
1. What a best seller should be is well defined by John A. Pescud. It should be a story taken from the real-life situations. It should not be purely imaginative and as per the set formula. But the story of Pescud, which is the best seller, is not as per this definition.

2. Pescud claims that usually people in real life marry among their own kith and kin and of their own community. They also marry among people with the equal social status. But Pescud who is Trevelyan himself of the best seller ‘The Rose Lady and Trevelyan’ doesn’t conform to this. He is a travelling salesman of a plate-glass company. But his wife is the daughter of Colonel Allyn, a British titled nobleman.

3. ‘Trevelyan’ is the hero of the best seller ‘The Rose Lady and Trevelyan’ but he is Pescud himself.

Question 7.
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.
Working in groups of four, write the article.
Answer
Meant for class level and for working in groups of four. The article is given below.

A MODERN ROMANCE

The literacy meaning of‘romance’ is an exciting relationship between two people who love each other. Modern romance knows no caste, creed, colour, status or traditions. But in the past such things carried weight. The marriage of Pescud and Jessie is an appropriate example of a modern romance. There is an element of excitement and adventure throughout the story. Pescud sees Jessie for the first time and in a second chooses her to be his wife. He forgets all about his plate glass business and follows her to her place of living.

Not only that, he gathers courage to meet her and her father. His pursuing Jessie from one station to another is no less than a film romance. The suspense is maintained throughout. He meets her father, the Colonel who could throw him before the fox-hounds. But he meets him and reveals to him his heart. He is specific in calling a spade a spade. He tells him that he will try to get Jessie like him. His conversation with the Colonel appeals to the latter. The Colonel and Jessie like Pescud.

For the Colonel humorous anecdotes strengthen friendship. Both enjoy the company of each other. Soon Pescud marries Jessie. They build a house in East End and live happily. The Colonel waits for Pescud to relate him another story.

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