Short Answers

1. What precaution had the Slaters taken before the arrival of the Jordans?Mrs. Slater was a very cunning and greedy woman who had loved her father's belongings more than her father himself. Before the arrival of her sister Mrs. Jordan and her husband, she had pinched her father's bureau and his wall clock. She made her husband make use of her father's new pair of slippers.
2. “How can you gallivanting about in the street with your grandfather lying dead and cold upstairs!” Bring out the irony in Mrs. Slater’s comment.
3. Why was Mrs. Slater a little nervous about the Jordans’ arrival?
4. “And Ben and Elizebeth will never have thought about mourning yet, so we will outshine them there…” How was Mrs. Slater planning to outshine the Jordans?
5. Why did Henry doubt the Jordan’s arrival at all?
6. “I suppose it is in the family.” What did Henry mean by this?
7. “They will stretch, won’t they? I am not going to have them wasted.” What is being referred to here?
8. Why did the Slaters bring the bureau down before the arrival of the Jordans?
9. What do you make of Mr. Slater’s character?
10. “Are we pinching it before Aunt Elizebeth comes?” What were they pinching? How was that pinching? What does this reveal about Victoria’s character?
11. Why did Mrs. Slater instruct Victoria that Mr. Abel hadn’t been drunk that morning?
12. “That was a near thing. Open the door, Victoria.” What was a near thing?
13. How did the Slaters and the Jordans respond to Mr. Abel’s death?
14. How was Mr. Slater different from Mrs. Slater?
15. What kind of a character is Mr. Ben Jordan?
16.  
17. Why was Mr. Abel glad that his bureau had been brought down stairs?Mr. Abel, though very old for another marriage, had been all prepared to get married to a widow. After seeing that his daughters didn't really love him and that their eyes had been upon his assest, Mr. Abel decided to leave his daughter's house with all his furniture. He was glad to see that his bureau had been brought down.
18. Why did Mr. Abel decide to make a new will?Mr. Abel decided to make a new will because he saw very clearly that his daughter didn't at all love him and therefore didn't deserve his assets as well. He wanted his wealth pass to someone who would lovingly take care of him in his old age and thus decided to make a new will.

Long Answers

1. Justify the title of the play.Dear Departed is a satire that criticises the peripheral relations and showy love between parents, siblings and children. Though the title itself appears to be an emotional one, it soon becomes clear that the dear deaprted is not Mr. Abel, father of Amelia and Elizebeth. What departed them dearly was their father's assets and belongings. What the two daughters and their husbands had waited for was the death of Mr. Abel, not his well being. They never loved him. The two daughters fought with each other not for making their father feel at home, but to get him rid off. The poor old man learnt the true nature of his children's love too late but was able to escape their cruel hospitality and cunning care for him.
2. How does the author bring out the modern world's insensitivity to the old and dying?The play moves around an old man, Mr. Abel.

Reference to Context Questions

MRS. SLATER : After all I've done for him, having to put up with him in the house these three years. It's nothing short of swindling.MRS. JORDAN : I had to put up with him for five years.

1. What was nothing sort of swindling in Amelia’s opinion?The thing that was nothing sort of swindling in Amelia’s opinion was the great trouble that she had born to keep her father for three long years.
2. What does this statement speak about Amelia’s character?
3. How was Mrs. Jordan different from her sister?

MRS. SLATER : Don't talk so silly. There's no one can hurt you. (VICTORIA goes out reluctantly.) We'll see if he's locked the receipt up in the bureau.BEN : In where? In this thing? (He rises and examines it.)MRS. JORDAN : (also rising) Where did you pick that up, Amelia? It's new since last I was here.

1. What is Victoria reluctant about?
2. Which receipt is being talked about?
3. What is Ben examining? Why was it examined with extraordinary curiosity?

They look at the door. A slight chuckling is heard outside. The door opens, revealing an old man clad in a faded but gay dressing-gown. He is in his stockinged feet. Although over seventy, he is vigorous and well colored; his bright, malicious eyes twinkle under his heavy, reddish-grey eyebrows.

1. Whose chuckling is heard?
2. Why is the person coming down on his stockinged feet?
3. What example can you find in the play to approve the person’s malicious eyes?

ABEL : What's the matter with little Vicky? (He sees BEN and MRS. JORDAN); Hello! What brings you here? How's yourself, Ben? (ABEL thrusts his hand at BEN, who skips back smartly and retreats to a safe distance below the sofa.)

1. What surprises awaited Abel Merry Weather when he came from the world of the ‘dead?’
2. How did Ben react when Mr. Abel offered him his hand for a shake? Why did he do so?
3. What makes this scene the most dreadful and painful for the others?

ABEL : Aye, I'm right enough but for a bit of a headache. I wouldn't mind betting that I'm not the first in this house to be carried to the cemetery. I always think Henry there looks none too healthy.

1. Why did Mr. Abel believe that he was not the first one to be carried to the cemetery?
2. According to Mr. Abel, who was going to die before he did?

ABEL : 'Melia, what the dickens did I do with my new slippers?MRS. SLATER : (confused) Aren't they by the hearth, grandfather?ABEL : I don't see them. (Observing HENRY trying to remove the slippers.) Why, you've got 'em on. Henry.MRS. JORDAN : (to BEN) Well, I don't call that delicate, stepping into a dead man's shoes in such haste.

1. What had really happened to Mr. Abel's slipperes?
2. How did Mrs. Slater escape from being caught for her heartless thoughtlessness?
3. Bring out Mrs. Jordan's op