Hey frds these are the qns of the lesson Keeping it from Harold which I prepared myself for FA-4 if some1 want then take.
1)1)Why this chapter is named “Keeping it from Harold”? or Justify the title keeping it from Harold.
Ans: This is a story of Bramble, Mrs. Bramble and their precocious son Harold. Mr. Bramble is a professional boxer. The story is about how Harold’s father’s profession is kept a secret from Harold, thinking that Harold will be ashamed and what happens when the secret is revealed. However Harold was proud of his father, but upset and annoyed that his parents had kept the truth from him all the time. Therefore the title of the story is totally apt.
2)2)What was strange about the manner in which Mrs. Bramble addressed her son? What did Harold feel about it?
Ans: Mrs. Bramble felt amazed that she had brought such a prodigy as Harold into the world. Harold was so different from ordinary children, so devoted to his books. He was a model of behavior and hence admirable. Mrs. Bramble never expected that being the wife of professional boxer she would be a mother of such a gifted child. So she took a special care for Harold. She treated him well and was proud of him. However Harold did not like the habit of his mother addressing him in the third person and it jarred upon him as he felt she was addressing him the way one addresses a baby. He felt offended especially as he felt all grown up since he had won a prize for dictation and spelling.
3)3)What kind of a child was Harold?
Ans:Harold was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Bramble. A spectacled child was just ten years old but much more intelligent than the boys of his age.He has been shown to be a very intellectual student, who has been brought up in a very protective environment.Harold was in fact a prodigy. His mother prided herself that she was the mother of prodigy and bringing him up. Harold began to show signs of being a model of goodness and intelligence. He was ten and was at a local private school where students wore mortar boards and behaved like dons. But Harold was different from ordinary children. As he grew up, his parents saw that Harold was devoted to his books and became a model of behavior and admirable. He had learned to read and write with amazing quickness and sang in the choir. He wanted perfection in everything and loved truth.He was also very much different from his father. Harold, in fact, seemed to have defied the laws of heredity as he 'had run to intellect as his father had run to muscle '. His father was a professional boxer while Harold was a perfect and self centered child and accepted the commercial traveler fiction.The curate of the parish advised Bramble that he should keep the fact of his profession and shady deeds secret from Harold. And both his mother and father took every care not to let Harold know of his father’s profession.
4)4)Write a character sketch of Mr. Bramble.
Ans: Bramble was a professional boxer. In private life he was the mildest and most obliging of men and always yielded to everybody. He was caring and understanding person. The very naming of Harold had caused a sacrifice on his part.
When it was certain that he was about to become father he had expressed a desire that the child should be named John, if a boy after Mr. John Sullivan(American Boxing legend from 1858 to 1918, lasting the bare knuckled boxing), or if a girl, Marie, after Miss. Marie Lloyd( a music hall artist 1870 to 1922). But Mrs. Bramble told that Harold was a sweet name and Bill withdrew his suggestion with the utmost good-humor. He was an excellent man. Before coming of Harold he had been proud of being a professional boxer. He was affectionately known to a large section of the inhabitants of London, as a young porky. He had the ability to paste his opponent in the eye while aiming an attack at his stomach and vice versa. As a boxer, he felt a sense of satisfaction that there was almost none in London whom he could not overcome in a twenty round contest. He was delighted to be the possessor of a left hook which had won great approval of the newspapers. Mr. Bramble was very much conscious of Harold’s well-being and welfare. Since Mr. Bramble was a professional boxer he didn’t want that Harold, his son should know of his profession because Mr. Bramble thought that Harold had a different way of life.
5)5)What did Mrs. Bramble think of Bramble and their future while she was darning?
Ans: While darning, Mrs. Bramble’s mind went to Bramble. For the first time since Harold had reached years of intelligence, she thought of their future. There would be an end to all her anxieties when Bramble would take part in the boxing due next Monday. He was fighting his last fight , the twenty round contest with the American Murphy at the National Sporting Club for which he was training at the white hart. He was thirty one years and would give up the game. Then he would try to get a job of an instructor at one of the schools and colleges. He had splendid record for respectability and sobriety. These qualities were demanded by the headmasters. The job was extremely soft. So she thought that all might be considered well. She smiled happily to herself as she had been darning her sock. She was thinking of their bright future.
6)6)What interrupts Mrs. Bramble when she was thinking about their future and darning the sock? What happened then? Who came in ?
When Mrs. Bramble was busy darning the sock and thinking of their future she was interrupted by a knock at the front door. Martha, the general, pattered along the passage. She heard some sound of voices speaking in an undertone.Major half entered the room and tilted his eyes towards Mrs. Bramble. He asked whether Harold is there anywhere. Mrs. Bramble told that he had gone for nice walk and she asked him what brought him there so late. He withdrew his head and he then reappeared, this time in his entirety, and remained holding the door open. Then Mr. Bramble a short, sturdy, red headed man with a broken nose and a propitiatory smile entered.
Mrs. Bramble asked Bill what he was doing there when he should have been at the white hart, training. Percy said that he himself was emphasizing this fact and had had guaranteed his victory. But Bramble told that Jerry Fisher, his trainer, never liked people coming while he was training. Mrs. Bramble asked Bramble again why he was there. At this Bramble told her that he was not going to fight. Mrs Bramble asked what would happen to the money and Percy interrupted and asked what money is. So Mrs. Bramble told Percy that he had borrowed enough of it from her. Again Mrs. Bramble asked Bill what would happen to the money. She told him that she never liked his profession but she told that it had earned him good money and it possible for them to give Harold a good education. She told that he himself said that the fight could give them 500 pounds if he won and 120 pounds if he lost and it would be a blessing because it would let us give Harold a better start in life. She was worried what would happen if he did not fight. Mrs. Bramble began to sob.
7)7)What reason did Mr. Bramble give to give up the boxing?
Ans: Bramble told Mrs. Bramble that he too had been thinking of Harold when he returned from White Hart. He said that his bout would be published in the newspapers and Harold would come to know of it as he read his mail regularly. If he came to know there would be a great trouble. That’s why they kept it from Harold.
8)Why did Mrs. Bramble want Bramble to fight his boxing bout?
Ans: For, Mrs. Bramble, the money was important that Bramble would bring after winning the boxing bout. It had given and would give Harold a good start in life. The money, was indeed, a blessing for them and for Harold. For that she would not let anyone come in the way.
8)9)Who was Jerry Fisher? How did he say or try to convince Bill to change his mind?
Ans: Jerry Fisher was the trainer at White Hart. He was training Bramble to fight his boxing bout next Monday. He was not afraid of anybody and even told Harold about his father’s profession that he is not a commercial traveler but a professional boxer. He compelled Bramble not to give up. When Bramble asserted his decision of not fighting he tried to convince him by reminding him about his purse, he told him to think of all swells that will be coming to see him and told him to think of the trouble he had taken for the last weeks. But Bramble was concerned about his son, Harold.
9)10)Why Jerry Fisher came to Bramble’s house?
When Bramble was trying to say about his return from White Hart to Mrs. Bramble there was a knock at the door and Jerry Fisher a little, ferret-faced man in a woolen sweater and cycling knickerbockers entered in house. He stood staring wildly at the little group. When he saw Percy he shot through the air towards Percy. He told that to break Percy’s neck because it was he who had made Bramble to give up boxing. He also accused Percy indirectly as being a bad companion. He then asked Bramble to go with him. But Bramble said that he was not going to fight on Monday. This made Fisher little excited. Bramble told Fisher that he was to think of Harold. His fight with Jimmy Murphy would be in print and Harold would surely read it. He would die of shame and disgrace if he knew of it. SO they were keeping it from Harold. Tears appeared in Jerry Fisher’s eyes. He tried to convince him by reminding him about his purse, he told him to think of all swells that will be coming to see him and told him to think of the trouble he had taken for the last weeks. But Bramble was concerned about his son, Harold.
10)11)What happened when Harold returned after a nice walk?
Ans: When Harold returned from a nice walk his spectacles gleamed in the gaslight, his cheeks glowing with the exertion of the nice walk, his eyebrows were slightly elevated with surprise. Harold entered and he heard a little of talks about him. He asked his mama to listen to his poetry because he thought that he forgot it. The four adults surveyed the innocent child in silence. On the face of three of them consternation was written. In the eyes of the fourth, Mr. Fisher, there glittered the nasty, steely expression of the man. Fisher thought that he had been badly treated. So he wanted revenge on Bramble and disliked Percy. At this Fisher wanted to say something to Harold. But Bramble asked him politely not to say. Percy asked Fisher not to be so revengeful. But fisher ignored it and told Harold that his father whom he thought was a commercial traveler is a fighting man, doing his eight- stone- four ringside, and known to all the heads as ”Young Porky”. Bramble sank into a chair. Harold was staring at him. Bramble told Fisher that at such a situation he could have fixed the man who had acted like that. Fisher reacted that he himself would have taught lesson to the one who had broken training a week before the fight. At this Percy told Harold that his papa was a boxer but he had given that up .He mustn’t be ashamed of that. Bramble also added that he had given that up and hr won’t fight Murphy at the National next Monday. Harold took a deep breath. He wondered what would happen to his two coin bet with Dicky Saunders that Jimmy Murphy won’t last ten rounds. Harold called it thick. Harold said that it was really bad that he would lose his bet. He called it rotten and he lamented that it was rotten thing they kept it from him that Bramble is the Young Porky. He told that a fellow at his school had been displaying Phil Scott’s autograph and belittled him saying “Goggles”. He told when students looked at that fellow awfully. He asked them how long they would call him “Goggles” if they knew that Young Porky was his father! He would go on fighting if won in this fight with Sid Sampson, Ted Richards etc. He asked his papa to give him a picture of himself boxing. So that he could swank that like anything. This had had a serious effect on Bramble and he decided to fight his boxing bout next Monday for the sake of his son. Fisher told Bramble that they had better get back to the White Hart for training. Bramble followed him without saying anything. This made Mrs. Bramble and Harold cheerful.
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