10 STD English Prose Chapter 2 The Night the Ghost Got in
The Night the Ghost Got in In Text Questions
a. Where was the author when he heard the noise?
Answer:
The author had just stepped out of the bathtub, when he heard the noise.
b. What did the narrator think the unusual sound was?
Answer:
At first, he thought it was his father or his brother Roy. Next, he suspected that it was a burglar. Later on, he thought that it was a ghost.
c. What were the various sounds the brothers heard when they went downstairs?
Answer:
The brothers heard like a man running and started up the stairs towards them. They thought that they were coming two at a time. They saw nothing, but only heard the steps.
d. Who were the narrator neighbours?
Answer:
The narrator’s neighbours were a retired engraver named Bodwell and his wife.
e. How did the Bodwells react, when a shoe was thrown into their house?
Answer:
Mr. Bodwell was shouting, frothing a little and shaking his fist. Mrs. Bodwell wanted to sell their house and go back to Peoria. For some years, he had been in a bad way and was subjected to mild attacks.
f. What did the Bodwells think when they heard the mother shout?
Answer:
Bodwell thought that there were burglars in his house when they heard the mother shout.
g. What was the grandfather wearing?
Answer:
The narrator’s grandfather was wearing a long flannel nightgown over long woollen pants, a nightcap and a leather jacket around his chest.
h. What conclusions did grandfather jump to when he saw the cops?
Answer:
His grandfather was going through fits where he believes he is in the war. He thinks that General Meade’s men are deserting under fire from Stonewall Jackson.
i. Were the policemen willing to leave the house?
Answer:
No, the policemen were not willing to leave without getting their hand on somebody besides grandfather.
j. What made the reporter gaze at the author?
Answer:
The author had put on one of his mother’s dress, as he couldn’t find anything else. The reporter looked at him with mingled suspicion and interest.
The Night the Ghost Got in Textual Questions
A. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two.
Question 1.
Why was the narrator sorry to have paid attention to the footsteps?
Answer:
The imagination of the ghost getting into his house lead to a commotion. It caused his mother to throw a shoe through a window of the neighbouring house. It ended with his grandfather shooting a policeman. So the narrator was sorry to have paid attention to the footsteps.
Question 2.
Why did Herman and the author slam the doors?
Answer:
Herman and the author slammed the doors because they thought that someone was coming up their stairs. They were scared as they heard the steps of someone.
Question 3.
What woke up the mother?
Answer:
The slamming of the doors had awakened their mother.
Question 4.
What do you understand by the mother’s act of throwing the shoe?
Answer:
His mother enormously fancied the thrill of throwing a shoe through a glass window of her neighbour. She is a highly excitable woman.
Question 5.
Why do you think Mrs. Bodwell wanted to sell the house?
Answer:
Mrs. Bodwell wanted to sell the house, as she wanted to go back to Peoria, due to the frequent mild attacks.
Question 6.
How did the cops manage to enter the locked house?
Answer:
The cops managed to enter the locked house by breaking the glass of the front door.
Question 7.
Why were the policemen prevented from entering grandfather’s room?
Answer:
The policemen were prevented from entering into grandfather’s room because the narrator realized that it would be bad if they do so. His grandfather was going through a phase, in which he believed that General Meade’s men were beginning to retreat. They were under the control of Stonewall Jackson.
Question 8.
Who used the zither and how?
Answer:
Zither was used by the guinea pig to sleep on it. It would never sleep anywhere except on the zither.
Question 9.
Mention the things that the grandfather imagined.
Answer:
His grandfather imagined that the cops were deserters from Meade’s army. He thought that they were trying to hide away in his attic.
very Short Questions & Answers – Additional
1. How many members were there in the family?
Answer:
There were six members in the family.
2. Where did the noise come from?
Answer:
The noise of the footsteps came from the dining room.
3. Why did the narrator’s brother Herman, slam the door?
Answer:
Herman slammed the door because he was afraid of the sound of the footsteps.
4. Why was Mrs. Bodwell talking about selling the house?
Answer:
Mrs. Bodwell was talking about selling the house, as she wanted to go back to Peoria, due to the frequent mild attacks.
5. How many policemen entered the house?
Answer:
There were about eight policemen who entered the house.
6. How did the cops manage to enter into the locked house?
Answer:
The cops managed to enter the locked house by breaking the glass of the front door.
7. Why were the police pushing the furniture here and there?
Answer:
The police were pushing the furniture here and there to make a thorough search of the burglars.
8. Where was the grandfather sleeping?
Answer:
The grandfather was sleeping in the attic on the old walnut bed.
9. What was the time, when the mother threw a shoe a the neighbour’s window?
Answer:
It was about two o’clock of a moonless night, when the mother threw a shoe at the neighbour’s window.
10. What did they hear in the attic? Why?
Answer:
They heard a creaking in the attic because the grandfather was turning over in his bed.
Short Questions & Answers – Additional
Question 1.
What was the mother’s reaction? How did she manage the situation?
Answer:
When the narrator’s mother got to know of the situation she shouted ‘Burglars’ and decided to call the police. She alerted the immediate neighbour, a retired engraver Bodwell.
Question 2.
How would you react, if on a dark night, there were any sounds in your kitchen?
Answer:
Being quite bold and daring, I would venture into the kitchen and try to find out the cause of the sounds. Then I will try to call my neighbours to help me out.
Question 3.
Do you think it was right on the mother’s part to throw a shoe and break the neighbour’s window?
Answer:
It was right to the extent that the mother was trying to alert in throwing a shoe and breaking their window.
Question 4.
What type of action did the police start taking once they were inside the house?
Answer:
The police went all over the place, checking drawers and cupboards, ransacking the floors, pulling beds away from the walls, tearing clothes off the hooks and pulling boxes and suitcases off the shelves.
Question 5.
Why were the cops reluctant to leave?
Answer:
The cops were reluctant to leave without getting their hands on somebody besides grandfather. The night had been distinctly a defeat for them.
Question 6.
Describe the appearance of a reporter, who spoke to the narrator. What did he ask him?
Answer:
The reporter was a wispy man with a thin face. He went up to the narrator and looked at him with mingled suspicion and interest. He questioned the narrator about what had happened. When the narrator said that they had ghosts, he gazed at him for a long time and walked away.
Question 7.
What was the comment given by the mother about the policeman who was shot by the grandfather?
Answer:
She commented that the policeman who was shot by the grandfather was “such a nice-looking young man”.
B. Answer the following questions in about 100-150 words.
Question 1.
Describe the funny incident that caused the confusion in the house.
Answer:
James, the author comes out of the bathroom, drying himse dining table. He wakes up his brother Herman. They both listen to the footsteps and gets scared. Their mother wakes up. When she comes to know lf. At that moment, he hears the footsteps of someone walking downstairs near theshe alerts her neighbour to call the police. The police arrive with some reporters. They search all over, upstairs and downstairs. When they find nothing, they rush to the attic. The narrator’s grandfather believes that he is still in the war. He thinks that the policemen are deserters. So he starts shooting at them. The policemen leave their house immediately, creating a lot of confusion everywhere.
Question 2.
Narrate the extensive search operation made by the policemen in the house.
Answer:
The police were on hand in a commendably short time. They began banging at the narrator’s front door. When nobody responded, they broke into the house. They searched downstairs and upstairs messing up everything. They opened all the doors and windows. They pulled the drawers and furniture. They began to ransack the floor, pulled beds away from the walls, tore clothes off the hooks in the closets. They also pulled suitcases and boxes off the shelves. Later, they heard some creaking in the attic. They stepped into the attic. As his grandfather thought that they were the deserters from Meade’s army, so he started shooting at them. Then he went back to bed. The cops were unwilling to leave without getting their hand on somebody. They felt it was a defeat for them. They began to poke into things again and finally left the place.
Paragraph Questions & Answers – Additional
Question 1.
What is the theme of the story ‘The Night of the Ghost got in’?
Answer:
One of the central theme of this story is paranoia, which is a mental condition characterized by false beliefs. When the narrator hears footsteps downstairs, he immediately suspects that an intruder has broken into the family home. His mother wakes up, becomes ‘all excited and alerts the neighbours, the Bodwells to call the police. Mrs. Bodwell’s reaction to the news is also one of hysterical paranoia. She says that they ought to sell the house and move away. When the police arrive, their reaction is also one of paranoia. They accuse the narrator of an instance of being a criminal and demand to know what he is doing at the house.
Similarly, the police are “all over the place”, as they search for an intruder, literally leaving no stone unturned. The narrator’s grandfather also believes that the police are “deserters” from the army. While much of this paranoia is tinged with instances of comedy, it also has important consequences. Like the intruder, this supernatural paranoia has no factual basis, leaving the reader to wonder what really happened that night and therefore creating a deeper sense of mystery.
Question 2.
Give the character sketches of (a) Narrator’s Grandfather, (b) Narrator’s mother.
Answer:
(a) Narrator’s Grandfather is a veteran of the Union army of the civil war, which ended fifty-two years earlier. His bedroom is in the attic. When the police come to the house to search for an intruder, the grandfather thinks that they are soldiers who are deserting because they are losing to the south. He calls them “cowardly dogs” and “lily-livered cattle” and then reaches for a policeman’s holster and shoots a man with his own gun. The police retreat afraid of the crazy old man, but next morning at the breakfast table, Grandfather seems perfectly aware of the previous night’s situation, asking everyone what so many police had been doing around their house.
(b) Narrator’s mother is a highly excitable woman, scatterbrained in some regards, yet practical when she needs to be. Hearing a sound in her house and suspecting that it is a burglar, she thinks of the clever plan of alerting a neighbour by throwing a shoe through his closed window. After he has gone to phone to the police, however, she considers throwing the matching shoe, “because the thrill of heaving a shoe through a window glass had enormously taken her fancy”. She is surprised to hear that grandfather has shot a policeman, not because of the daring violence of the act, but because, “He was such a nice-looking young man.”
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