What do you think was Jo’s problem?
Jo was a child who had different perspective and sensibility compared to adults. So she wanted the story to end happily, she wanted that Roger Skunk should get the rose smell forever and could play with his friends. But according to Jack’s story Skunk’s mother went to wizard and hit him on his head asked him to give the foul smell back to the Skunk which Jo didn’t like. So Jo asked her father to change the ending of the story and recite it again tomorrow. The main problem was that Jo was a child and not matured therefore she wants the story according to her perspective.
What makes Jack feel caught in an uglymiddle position?
Why is an adult’s perspective on life different from that of a child’s?
What is the moral issue that the story raises?
What is your stance regarding the two endings to the Roger Skunk story?
How does Jo want the story to end and why?
Who is Jo? How does she respond to her father’s story-telling?
What possible plot line could the story continue with?
Why does Jack insist that it was the wizard that was hit and not the mother?
Who is the Tiger King? Why does he get that name?
Who was Dr Sadao? Where was his house?
The two accounts that you read above are based in two distant cultures. What is the commonality of theme found in both of them?
What does the third level refers to?
‘The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica.’ How is the study of this region useful to us?
What kind of a person was Evans?
It may take a long time for oppression to be resisted, but the seeds of rebellion are sowed early in life. Do you agree that injustice in any form cannot escape being noticed even by children?
What are Geoff Green’s reasons for including high school students in the Students on Ice expedition?
What were the precautions taken for the smooth conduct of the examination?
Bama’s experience is that of a victim of the caste system. What kind of discrimination does Zitkala-Sa’s experience depict? What are their responses to their respective situations?
Is there any film you have seen or novel you have read with a similar theme?
Do you agree that between crime and punishment it is mainly a battle of wits?
Does the story remind you of ‘Birth’ by A. J. Cronin that you read in Snapshots last year? What are the similarities?
While we condemn the crime, we are sympathetic to the criminal. Is this the reason why prison staff often develop a soft corner for those in custody?
Do you think the doctor’s final solution to the problem was the best possible one in the circumstances?
What could the Governor have done to securely bring back Evans to prison when he caught him at the Golden Lion? Does that final act of foolishness really prove that “he was just another good-for-a-giggle, gullible governor, that was all”?
While hatred against a member of the enemy race is justifiable, especially during wartime, what makes a human being rise above narrow prejudices?
When Stephens comes back to the cell he jumps to a conclusion and the whole machinery blindly goes by his assumption without even checking the identity of the injured ‘McLeery’. Does this show how hasty conjectures can prevent one from seeing the obvious? How is the criminal able to predict such negligence?
Reflecting on the story, what did you feel about Evans’ having the last laugh?
What explains the attitude of the General in the matter of the enemy soldier? Was it human consideration, lack of national loyalty, dereliction of duty or simply self-absorption?