the umbrella man essay questions

The Umbrella Man – Roald Dahl: Summary, Analysis and Theme

Table of Contents

The Umbrella Man – Roald Dahl

Introduction ‘The Umbrella Man’ is a popular short story written by Roald Dahl. He was a Welsh novelist, born on September 13, 1916, and died on November 23, 1990. He has written novels, short stories, and screenplays, as well as other types of stories. His books are good for both kids and adults. For more than sixty short stories, he’s written. In 1954, he was given the Edgar Award for his short story collection, “Someone Like You.”

In this story, there are three people: the mother, the girl, and a little man with an umbrella. The girl is the narrator in the storey. She talks about an event that happened to her and her mother. Interesting and funny, too. It shows the difference between how things look and how they really are.

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Summary of The Umbrella Man

The girl noticed him walking quickly and crossing the street. They decided to pursue him and ascertain the truth. After a lengthy pursuit, they spotted him entering a pub. They observed the man order whisky and gently consume it. Then he produced a pound note that had been given to him by the mother and paid the bartender. This time, it was a tall, slender gentleman without a coat or hat. He received one pound and resumed walking, but in a different direction. He returned to the location where he had hung his hat and coat. He lifted one of the umbrellas hanging there along with his coat and hat. He exited the bar and began walking in the direction he had come. Mother and daughter continued to follow. Thus, the small looking gentleman, who appeared to be gentle and polite, revealed himself to be a trickster. What he appeared to the mother did not substantiate this.

Analysis of The Umbrella Man

This is a funny story written by Roald Dahl Fans. It contains a humorous incident that is narrated by a small child. The mother and daughter visited the dentist in London one day. The young lady was having difficulty with a tooth. They returned to the cafe after the dentist’s clinic. The mother drank coffee, while the girl enjoyed a banana split. They emerged from the cafe shortly after six p.m. Rain had begun to fall. Mother and daughter were not wearing raincoats or hats. They were dressed in their customary garb. As a result, the mother chose to travel by taxi. They took their places on the pavement and began waiting for a taxi.

The small man was polite, gentle, and pleasant in his demeanour. He was well-spoken, as well as well-dressed. Additionally, his mother took note of his shoes. That they were pleasant added to the evidence that he was gentle. The mother determined a man’s worth by the shoes he wore. “You can always spot a gentleman by the shoes he wears,” she stated. The elderly man politely requested assistance from his mother. He stated that he was elderly and had developed forgetfulness. He’d left his wallet behind at home. The mother reasoned that the man must be requesting money. He politely declined. The mother rushed because they were beginning to get wet in the rain. He was reminded of the same thing by his mother. He extended an invitation to the mother to take the umbrella he was holding. In exchange, he requested a pound for his taxi fare home.

This story is one of the most memorable stories. The story is a humorous incident that is narrated by a small child. The mother and daughter visited the dentist in London one day. The young lady was having difficulty with a tooth. They returned to the cafe after the dentist’s clinic. The mother drank coffee, while the girl enjoyed a banana split. They emerged from the cafe shortly after six p.m. Rain had begun to fall. They took their places on the pavement and began waiting for a taxi.

Theme of The Umbrella Man

The girl observed him walking quickly and crossing the street. Even he did not attempt to hail a taxi. The mother locked her gaze on him; he appeared to be in a great hurry. They decided to pursue him and ascertain the situation. After a lengthy pursuit, they observed him enter a pub. It was a pub called the Red Lion. From outside, the mother observed through the large glass window. The man-made his way through the crowd to the bar at the far end. They observed the man ordering whisky and drinking it delicately. Then he produced a pound note that had been given to him by his mother and handed it to the bartender.

Thus, the storey highlights the contrast between appearance and reality. The elderly gentleman appeared polite and gentle. Furthermore, he appeared to be in need. His situation appeared to be legitimate. The mother exercised caution to avoid being duped. However, the man was successful in his deception.

Questions and Answers

The story’s narrator is a twelve-year-old girl, and her mother, 34, is in London for a dentist appointment. After the girl had her tooth filled, they went to a café together. While the mother drank coffee, the girl ate a banana split. It had begun to rain as they attempted to return home. They do not possess a canopy. As a result, they opted for a taxi ride home. Despite the fact that numerous taxis passed by, they were all full of passengers. While the mother continued to look for a vacant taxi, an elderly gentleman approached them and offered them a twenty-pound umbrella in exchange for hiring the taxi. In the meantime, both mother and daughter were completely soaked. These events resulted in the small child and her mother searching for a taxi in the rain.

Ans: “The Umbrella Man” is a well-known short storey by Roald Dahi, a British novelist, short storey writer, poet, and former fighter pilot. Among his most celebrated works are ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ ‘Matilda,’ and ‘The Witches,’ among others. The storey has a genuine twist that makes it enjoyable to read, and we can appreciate the irony, the disconnect between appearance and reality.

c) Describe the mother’s approach to the old man who asked for their assistance.

d) What did the young lady and her mother discover about the gentleman upon his entrance to the pub?

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‘The Umbrella Man’ by Roald Dahl: Short Story Analysis

May 12, 2020 By fizapathan Leave a Comment

‘The Umbrella Man’ by Roald Dahl was published in the year 1980 in the short story collection More Tales of the Unexpected . Today, it’s one of the best-remembered short stories of the master of the twist in the tale – Roald Dahl . ‘The Umbrella Man’ is a story of a master trickster who for a pound robs umbrellas from pubs worth even twenty pounds. He aims to show his vulnerability and ‘so-called’ genuine concern for the person he is tricking to loan him the money. The point is, he tries to say that he has forgotten his wallet while out on a walk. He asks for a pound note for taxi fare home and in return to the person who gives him the note he bestows upon them as a gift an umbrella. The pound note is for a tumbler of neat whiskey. The umbrella is just a ruse to get the pound. In this story, this elderly alcoholic called simply the Umbrella Man tricks a thirty-four-year-old stern mother and her twelve-year-old daughter. Although there are only three characters in the story, thanks to Dahl’s unique descriptions and suspense, ‘The Umbrella Man’ is a tale worth your money.

The story is told from the point of view of a twelve-year-old girl who has just been taken to the dentist by her mother. This reminds us of all the wonderful Roald Dahl novels which are always told from the perspective of the child and had children as main protagonists of the novels. This nameless girl gives the bare minimum description of who she is, which sums up her character quite well:

• She is twelve years old.
• She is a girl.

What more could a child say in all honesty at that age during Roald Dahl’s time. The girl is perky, extroverted, and very humorous. Her narration of the story indicates a great judge of character on her part. Though in the story her mother claims that she is the better judge of character, it is quite evident that the daughter is much more precocious than the mother. The mother is young but already a mother of a soon-to-be teenager. She is strict with her daughter but also allows the girl to have a banana spilt ice cream, after the child’s dental appointment. The mother is wary of strangers and comes across as a very coldhearted personality. She is shrewd but even her shrewdness was not enough to catch on to the umbrella man’s trick. She yearns for material comforts, which she does not have, like a car with a chauffeur. She believes the nicer a strange man seems to be the more suspicious should a woman be of his intentions. She is stuck-up but ready for an adventure which is evident when she and her daughter scurry after the old umbrella man to see what he was up to. Roald Dahl, as usual, gives wonderful descriptions of his characters that remain with you long after the story is done. The person who is described the most is the Umbrella Man. He is a marvelous actor and ready to do anything to get his tumbler of neat whiskey. He is clever enough to not go to the same pub twice for a drink so that he wouldn’t be caught stealing the umbrellas. There are many humorous scenes in the story which add color to the otherwise simple ‘twist in the tale’ story of ‘The Umbrella Man’:

• The daughter mentions that the mother is suspicious even of boiled eggs, for she pokes around the inside of it which makes the daughter wonder whether the mother is looking for a mouse.
• When the daughter, in the middle of the chase, asks her mother what would they do if the elderly man spotted them, the mother states quite frankly that she didn’t care as he had lied brazenly to them and was running them off their feet.
• The daughter sarcastically asks the mother if the man was not a ‘titled gentleman’ as she earlier supposed, indicating that the girl was very cheeky and highly precocious.
• The humorous image that we see in our minds of a mother and daughter under a silk umbrella stalking a wiry old man to a pub in the pouring rain.
• The frosty nose stares of both mother and daughter to other people and each other.
• The daughter mentions that once when her mother gave her principal a frosty nosed stare, the poor principal started simpering and stammering.
• The shock of the mother and daughter when the umbrella man entered the pub. The fact that they were shocked is indicative of the social backwardness of the decade when this story was penned by Roald Dahl.
• The parting line in the story where the mother checkmates the daughter by saying that however clever the Umbrella Man was, his whole ruse would have failed if it didn’t rain on a particular day. So, she says that the man must be praying like crazy for rainy days.
•  The image of the Umbrella Man drinking down his tumbler of neat whiskey with such relish when he had tried to portray to the mother and daughter that he was an old man who just wanted to go home after a long walk.

Note in the story how the mother and daughter mistakenly think that the Umbrella Man had spent more in gifting his silk umbrella to them and only taking a pound. They are misled by this thought only for a while until they see him flick an umbrella after collecting his hat and coat. The Umbrella Man comes off as a cool character, a real fraud, but someone good at heart who likes to help others indirectly by at least giving them an umbrella in exchange for their pound note. His eccentricities endear us to him and make us smile from within when he goes flitting from one pub to another for a tumbler of neat whiskey which he doesn’t even get any change in return for.

All in all, ‘The Umbrella Man’ is one of the short story classics that appear in most school textbooks. I have never gone through a single year in my ten-year teaching career without teaching this extraordinarily brilliant Roald Dahl story which is certainly, a story of the unexpected. If you are interested in more book reviews, book analysis, short story analysis, poems, essays, essay analysis, and other bookish content, you can visit my blog insaneowl.com . If you are interested in buying my books then visit my website fizapathanpublishing.us or fizapathan.com . Happy reading to you this week!

Copyright ©2020 Fiza Pathan

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Roald Dahl Fans

Fan site for author Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

“The Umbrella Man”

Sections: Information  | Plot Description  

Information

• A Second Roald Dahl Selection: Eight Short Stories
• Completely Unexpected Tales
• Further Tales of the Unexpected
• More Tales of the Unexpected
• Tales of the Unexpected (Volume 1)
• The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl
• The Complete Short Stories: Volume Two
• The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories
• The Umbrella Man and Other Stories
• The Australian Women’s Weekly (1981-03-11) - March 11, 1981
• Further Tales of the Unexpected read by Geoffrey Palmer, Joanna David, Tom Hollander
• Tales of the Unexpected (1979)

Plot Description

Spoiler warning! The narrator of this story is a 12-year-old girl who has gone to London with her mother to visit the dentist. The girl has a tooth filled, and then she and her mother go to a café afterwards. When it’s time to go home, they discover that it’s pouring rain and they have no umbrella. They decide to get a taxi. While they’re watching for a cab, an old gentleman sheltering under an umbrella approaches them. He asks for a favor. The girl’s mother is very distrustful of strange men. The old man explains that he has forgotten his wallet and would like to sell them his umbrella in return for taxi fare back to his home. He explains that it’s a very nice silk umbrella worth twenty pounds, but his legs are weak and he simply must take a taxi home. The mother likes the sound of the deal, but the little girl worries that they’re taking advantage of the old man. The mother offers to simply give him the cab fare, but he insists that they take the umbrella. The transaction is made and everyone is happy.

As the mother is proudly explaining the importance of correctly judging people, the daughter notices that the old man has quickly crossed the street and is hurrying away. “He doesn’t look very tired to me,” she said. The mother is displeased. “He’s up to something.” They decide to follow him and find out. They quickly follow him as he rushes through the rainy streets. Eventually they find themselves at a pub called “The Red Lion” and watch through the window as the old man enters and uses the pound note to pay for a triple whiskey. “That’s a jolly expensive drink,” said the little girl. “It cost him a twenty-pound silk umbrella!” They watch as the old man finishes his drink and goes to retrieve his coat and hat. Just before he leaves the pub, he smoothly plucks a wet umbrella from the coat rack and takes it with him. “So that’s his game!” the mother explained. They see him head back to the main street and sell the umbrella to another unsuspecting person. Then he heads off in another direction for another pub. “He could be doing this all night,” the girl says. “Yes, of course,” says the mother. “But I’ll be he prays like mad for rainy days.”

Luke’s ENGLISH Podcast

Learn british english with luke thompson.

710. The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl (Short Story)

In this episode I read out a short story written by Roald Dahl and then comment on the style, language and plot. Enjoy some storytelling and learn some English in the process. Video version available .

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Video Version

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Transcript & notes.

Hello listeners, how are you today? In this episode I’m going to read a short story to you, which I hope will be an entertaining and pleasant way to learn English with my podcast. I’ll also give some comments on the story afterwards and I will highlight a few bits of vocabulary at the end, but the main thing is that I’d just like to let you listen to a good-quality and entertaining short story in English. I am currently videoing myself while recording this episode and the video will be available on my YouTube channel and on my website, and I’m sharing my screen in the video so you can read my notes and the text for this story with me, if you like – sort of like an on-screen transcript. The notes and stuff will also be available on the page for this episode on my website. Check the show notes for the link for that. The story I’m going to read today is called The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl. I think it was originally published in 1980 in his book “More Tales of the Unexpected”. Do you know Roald Dahl? I have read a Roald Dahl story on this podcast before – that was The Hitchhiker in episode 545. It was a popular one, so let’s do it again. Roald Dahl is one of the UK’s favourite authors, and of course he’s popular around the world too. You might already be aware of him and his work. He was born in 1916 and died in 1990 and most of his writing was done in the 70s and 80s. His most famous stories were written for children (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, James & The Giant Peach, the BFG, Matilda and plenty of others) and my childhood was full of Roald Dahl stories (maybe yours too), but he also wrote a lot of short stories for adults or young adults, particularly earlier in his career. This is one of those stories. Get some of Roald Dahl’s books!

I’d like to suggest that you purchase some of his work – his books. I’ve got two books of his short stories for adults. The books are called “Roald Dahl: The Complete Short Stories Vol.1 & 2” and I highly recommend them. They are available from all the usual bookshops. “Roald Dahl: The Complete Short Stories Vol.1 & 2” The Umbrella Man appears in “The Complete Short Stories Vol.2” Notes on Language & Style The story was published over 30 years ago now, and was probably written earlier than that. I’m not sure when the story is set, but it feels a bit old fashioned. For the most part the English is the sort of modern, neutral English that you would come across today and so almost all of it is appropriate for you to learn and use, but some of the dialogue is a bit dated. I’ll point out some of that old fashioned language later. By today’s standards the characters sound quite posh and upper-class (and I’ll try to reflect this in the way I read it out). I’ll give more comments at the end. I’m going to start in just a moment. How to use this episode 1. Just listen, follow what I’m saying, enjoy the story and don’t feel pressured to do anything else. 2. If you want to take it further and push your learning more, then you could get a copy of the story, and use it as a learning resource. If you want the text of the story you could buy “The Complete Short Stories Vol.2” and read it there. Alternatively, I found a PDF copy of the book which has been posted by someone online, so you could click the link to the PDF and read that (link in the show notes and on the episode page)

Click here for the PDF of the story

You could read it while you listen to me so you can connect the written word to the spoken word, or you could read it again later and take more time over it.

For pronunciation , you could shadow the story with me – read aloud at the same time as you listen, perhaps with the text in front of you. You could record yourself reading the story, and then listen back and compare it to my recording, perhaps focusing on different aspects of pronunciation. For vocabulary , you could find any words or phrases that you don’t know and check them using an online dictionary like www.collinsdictionary.com (Oxford, Cambridge, Longman and Macmillan dictionaries are also available and I often use them as a teacher too) Or, as I said, just relax and listen to the story without worrying about doing anything else. Let’s get started! I will summarise this at the end in plain English so you can be sure you understood the main events.

Luke reads the story

I hope you enjoyed that!

A summary of the story

Here’s a summary from www.roaldfahlfans.com It neatly summarises the story in plain English in a couple of paragraphs. This should help you to make sure you got the main plot. As I said if you have specific bits of vocabulary that you’d like to check, you can do that on your own using one of those dictionaries. We might go through a few little details in a minute. First let me read out this summary. https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/short-stories/the-umbrella-man/ I like this because it’s enjoyable to listen to the way the man persuades even this very suspicious woman to give him some money. I don’t think tricking people for money is good or anything like that, but I do find it interesting when people have fairly complex but effective techniques for fooling people. It’s also interesting how the woman’s attitudes about class and social status make her quite susceptible to this man’s trick, and I’m sure she wouldn’t be the only one. She judges people by their appearances and seems a bit snobbish, and he uses that to his advantage. He gives the impression of being a gentleman, and this is what allows him to take advantage of the woman. We all have natural prejudices, which can affect the way we judge people. It seems this old man uses people’s prejudices as part of his trick. Here are some comments about the way the characters are described and the English used. One of the strengths of this story is the way the characters are given depth. The story is told in a relatively simple manner with short sentences and not a lot of extraneous detail but the small details that are given make the characters 3-dimensional. This is done by showing us little contradictions in the things they say or do or at least hinting at some little conflicts that they seem to have inside them, some positive and negative traits, particularly the mother. The mother is strict, but she’s willing to give her daughter a banana split after her dental appointment. I guess she is kind and loving and wants to treat her daughter to something nice after the frightening ordeal of going to the dentist, but is it a good idea to treat your child to such a sugary dessert after the dentist has filled a hole in her tooth? I guess we all have to balance being strict, giving treats and managing the dental health of our children. But it’s interesting that we wonder slightly about what kind of mother she is. Maybe I’m reading too much into it here, but what did you think? What do you think is going on between the mother and the daughter? Does she seem to be a good mother? I suppose that’s a subjective thing. But I’d be interested to know what you think. She’s a bit stuck up and snobbish. She looks down her nose at the man when she believes he is begging for money, but then she can’t hide her admiration for him when she believes he is perhaps a titled-gentleman, maybe someone who comes from the upper-classes in society. Her attitudes about people and their status are clearly revealed by her reactions to the man at different moments. This is a good example of the principle of “show, don’t tell” which I think is a good method for telling stories. “Show, don’t tell” basically means that it’s always better to show the reader how to feel rather than telling them how to feel. Roald Dahl could have told us directly that the mother was a bit snobbish, by saying something like “My mother was always a bit snobbish and looked down on people lower than her and yet admired the upper classes highly” but it’s more effective for him to show us her attitudes by describing her reactions to the man at different moments in the story. This allows us to work out for ourselves that the mother is a bit of a snob, or maybe she’s just trying hard to get the best life for her and her family. She dreams of living a more wealthy and privileged life, having a car and a chauffeur. This shows us something about her position in society and that she’s probably middle class or upper-middle class and dreams of having more comfort and convenience in her life, like upper-class people have. She’s very untrustworthy and suspicious. Are these negative traits or is it wise to be cautious of others? But she’s also willing to be quite adventurous, chasing after the old man when she realises that he’s up to something. All of these little conflicting things, so efficiently described, help to flesh out her character and make her a lot more human and relatable. We kind of see how the daughter might feel – being a bit wary of her mother’s strictness but enjoying spending time with her, having just been treated to a nice banana split and sharing the afternoon together, also her disappointment with the way her mother treats the old man at first, learning about how to deal with strangers in the street and then the excitement of chasing after him. Roald Dahl always does this – somehow allows you to experience the excitement of being with certain other people. Then there’s the little old man who just loves a drink of whiskey but apparently doesn’t have any money of his own, and yet he has cleverly come up with a genius little plan to get money from people in the street. I suppose he won in the end, and the mother was shown up to be a bit of a snob or something. (Maybe I’m being a bit mean to the mother – is she a snob, or is she just wary of certain types of person?) I wonder if this little event affected the way the daughter saw the mother, if it brought them closer, or if the mother was embarrassed. In the end it seems that the mother and daughter just shared a funny little experience together. Ultimately it is quite adorable the way the two of them interact and I get quite a warm feeling from them. I like the neatness of the story, the cleverness of the man’s plan, the mischievous elements and the moment when the old man drinks his whiskey – it seems like he really enjoys it. What about you? What do you think of the story? Leave your comments in the comment section.

Posh / Old-Fashioned Sounding Vocabulary

• Again, if there are specific words or phrases that you’d like to check, I’ll let you do that yourself using the book or the PDF and a good dictionary, but I mentioned before about how some things sounded quite old fashioned and posh, and I’d like to point those things out. Things that sound posh or formal, or at least old-fashioned. (posh people often sound a bit old fashioned for some reason) I wouldn’t really use these phrases in my normal everyday life. Obviously you can speak how you like. I’m just pointing out things which I think sound a bit old-fashioned or posh.
• “I assure you!” → “Honestly!”
• “Old people like me become terribly forgetful” → “really”
• “I beg you to believe me, madam” → “Believe me, please!”
• “Isn’t it the silliest thing to do?” → “Isn’t it such a stupid thing to do?”
• “I summon a taxi to get me home” → “I get a taxi” or “I call a taxi to get me home”
• “Oh mummy ” (a lot of posh kids call their Mum, “mummy” – I think most British kids call their mother “Mum”)
• “Don’t be so beastly to him!” → “Don’t be so horrible to him!”
• “It’s of no importance so long as I get home” → “It’s not important…”
• “I wanted to satisfy myself that he wasn’t a trickster” → “I wanted to be sure…”
• “ Goodness Mummy, what a hurry he’s in” → “Oh my god!” “Wow”
• “ Good heavens , it’s a pub!”
• “ By golly , he’s got a nerve!”
• “That’s a jolly expensive drink” → “That’s a really expensive drink”
• “ Super ” → “Amazing, brilliant”

Fancy another Roald Dahl story?

I have read a Roald Dahl story before on the podcast. Some of you might remember. I read The Hitchhiker in episode 545. You can check it out in the archive if you’d like to listen to it. There’s also a link to that on the page for this episode on my website. https://teacherluke.co.uk/2018/09/07/545-the-hitchhiker-by-roald-dahl-short-story/ Finally, let’s listen to the author himself introducing the story at the start of an episode of Tales of the Unexpected, the TV show. Check this out.

I believe that Roald Dahl witnessed a real umbrella man on the streets of New York, but I wonder if he really did try the trick himself, and whether you are tempted to try it too, but I’m not sure the whole world needs more tricksters, does it?

Thanks for listening, speak to you again in the next episode, but for now – good bye bye bye…

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Umbrella Man Part 1

10th - 12th grade.

18 questions

Introducing new   Paper mode

No student devices needed.   Know more

Who is the author of the story "Umbrella man"?

Ronald Duck

Richard Gere

Chuck Norris

Mother and daughter went to ....

How old was the daughter?

How old was the mother?

Why did they go to London?

to go to a cafe

to go shopping

to see the dentist

to see the queen

Who needed the dentist?

The daughter

The umbrella man

What did the doctor do to the girl?

He pulled her tooth out.

He took her temperature.

He filled her tooth.

He tested her for the Corona virus.

Where did they go after the dentist?

to a restaurant

Te daughter ordered...

sliced banana

a banana split

a glass of orange juice

a cup of coffee

The mother ordered...

a cup of tea

a couple of croissants

By the time they got up to leave it was about ...... o'clock.

When they came out....

it was dark

it was windy

they took a taxi

it had started to rain

The mother wanted...

to walk home

to take a taxi

to go back into the cafe and wait for the rain to stop

to drive home

The daughter wanted....

to go back into the cafe and wait for the rain to stop.

Why did the girl want to go back into the cafe?

She was hungry.

She was afraid to get wet.

She wanted another banana split.

She wanted to make her mother mad.

Why did not they get a taxi at once?

There were passengers inside them.

There were no taxis.

They wanted to walk.

They wanted to have a car.

Who is a chauffer?

"Gorgeous" means...

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KCSE SET BOOKS ESSAY QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

Enjoy free KCSE revision materials on imaginative compositions, essay questions and answers and comprehensive analysis (episodic approach) of the set books including Fathers of Nations by Paul B. Vitta, The Samaritan by John Lara, A Silent Song by Godwin Siundu, An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro and Parliament of Owls by Adipo Sidang'. This blog is useful to Kenyan students preparing for KCSE; and their teachers.

Friday 25 December 2020

The umbrella man siddhartha gigoo pdf, the umbrella man- siddhartha gigoo.

·         The need for hope in the face of adversity. 

The Umbrella Man Synopsis 

“A thing which had been discarded and instead of having been disposed off with other useless things, had found refuge in the solitary ward of Number 7”

The Umbrella Man by Siddartha Gigoo is a story of a mentally ill patient confined to the depressingly dull and bleak life of an asylum. The main character has lost identity due to insanity and is simply referred to as Number 7. This is a story about having hope in a colourless, bland world of patients in a mental facility. 

Due to his calm disposition and compliance, Number 7 is allowed to wander out of the asylum gates and spend time in the street nearby. Other inmates could only stroll within the walls of the asylum.

“Beyond that brick and stone wall was vast darkness, oblivion”

Although rain had evaded the place for months, Number 7 hopes that it would rain that evening. He has an umbrella with yellow and red stripes which has become his playmate. No one knows how he acquired the umbrella. Like the other inmates, he has not received any visitors for years. The umbrella has become his inextricable companion.  

“It was the most beautiful thing in the entire asylum; more beautiful than the bed of wild flowers along the wall of the compound. The very sight of it in the mornings brought a smile on his lips.”

The inmates have no worldly possessions. The other inmates look at Number 7 with amazement, admiring his beautiful umbrella. “But no one was attracted to the dazzling beauty of his dainty yellow-and-red stripped umbrella as Number 7.”

“Not many in the asylum knew what beauty was.”

The gloomy nights in the solitary wards are lonesome. Number 7 imagines he is not alone but with an illusory child. He would wake up from his apprehensive sleep to comfort the child and lull him to sleep. He would pray in silence, convinced that some power would answer his prayer. He tells the child, “You are not alone my child” . As much as he seemingly lives in a world of hopelessness and sheer despair , he still clings on to hope and even offers his imaginary young friend companionship. He knows that with hope there is power and that is why he prays hoping for help from the infinite universe.

“For years during his life in isolation in the asylum, the child never grew up. The man grew old”

Number 7 grows old but remains hopeful like a child. His face is covered with white strands of hair and he has little strength in his bones but he keeps hope alive. It does not fade.

Number 7 also spends time beyond the gates of the asylum conversing with his other friend, a puny little fellow. They talk about the hope brought about by the bountiful nature, the bees, the flowers, the beehive, and the bees. The puny little fellow reminds number 7 of hope and nature’s miracles.

“Do you believe that someday it will rain here and that the earth will turn moist and smell of wild flowers?”

It does not rain for several days after that. Some months later, Number 7 is discharged from the facility. He receives the news from two smiling doctors. The doctors never smiled. They tell him the committee had agreed that he be set free. Their efforts had borne fruit, they say. After careful examination, evidence and facts, Number 7 is deemed fit to leave. Keeping hope alive finally pays off. This is his last night in confinement. This is an ordinary night for him. He narrates a story to his imaginary child companion who falls asleep. He also falls asleep.

It rains on the day of his release.

  “He woke up to a strange smell that wafted into his cell from the compound. A strange fragrance flooded the ward. Outside, a wet puddle greeted him. The wild flower drooped in the wet soil.”

After a long wait clinging on to nothing but hope, it finally rains on the day he is released from the grim forbidding walls of the asylum. Finally his umbrella is useful.

“What good was an umbrella if it had not been used in the rain? The dance of the raindrops on the nylon cloth held together by slender aluminum strips was a distant dream.”

Without rain, an umbrella is surely worthless. It has no real value or use. The same can be said about a man living without hope.

In life, the wait may be lengthy and the path lacerating but one needs to stay hopeful no matter how bleak and murky the future seems.

Challenges facing the inmates at the asylum

1.      Restricted movement/ Limited liberty (Pg46)   ·        Allowed to go out of their wards only in the evening ·        Could only stroll within the compound of the asylum ·        Due to his obedience and calm disposition, Number 7 is the only inmate allowed to saunter out of the gate to the nearby street but the 90-something yards narrow avenue also ends at a wall ·        Thus, he earned this limited liberty. It had taken months ·        Restricted by a wall enclosing the 120 square metres asylum ·        Nowhere to go beyond the wall – their life ended at the wall ·        Beyond the brick-and-stone wall was vast darkness, oblivion. ·        Booming siren to return to the cell (Pg49) ·        Number 7 seems to envy the puny little fellow when he says, “But you are free to do whatever you want to do and roam around without any restrictions” (Pg 50) ·        Rely on a committee of “serious people who never concurred” (Pg50)   2.     No visitors or worldly possessions (Pg48)   ·        Number 7 has not had any visitors for many years ·        None of the inmates had visitors ·        Had no worldly possessions – just two sets of clothes (woolen and cotton) ·        The umbrella is number 7’s only companion ·        He lives in a solitary ward ·        His umbrella makes him smile – it is beautiful ·        Not many in the asylum knew what beauty was   3.     Loneliness (Pg 48)   ·        On lonesome nights, number 7 imagines he’s not alone in the cell ·        He would see the image of a child ·        He had nervy sleeps ·        He comforts the child, “It is just a dream” ·        Strokes the child's hair tenderly, “Go back to sleep, I’m by your side.” ·        Talk to the child night after night ·        Worries about the child every single night ·        Prays for it ·        He has become a father and a mother ·        The child never grows up, Number 7 grows old   4.     Doctors   ·        Two attending doctors beaming with smiles give Number 7 good news ·        The doctors don’t smile on most days ·        The good news – Number 7 is free to go now ·        According the doctors, “Our efforts have yielded fruit”. The committee agreed to their assessment. They assess evidence,   facts and conduct a careful examination.

·       Committee had serious members, never concurred, never signed any discharge papers   - the inmates freedom is in other people’s hands.

·        Day of his release and permanent freedom

  Number 7’s conduct earns him a better life at the asylum  compared to other inmates

·        Given limited liberty by the doctors (Pg46) ·        The umbrella may be a gift from one of the asylum orderlies or doctors (Pg48) ·        He has leisurely walk on sunny afternoons – other inmates watch from windows of their wards (Pg48) ·        He’s released by the doctors, committee unanimously (Pg50) ·        When he is released, orderly says, “ I will miss you” (Pg50)

Moral lessons

Hope is essential (absolutely necessary) for man's survival.  One who clings on to hope in the face of affliction sees the light at the end of the tunnel.  

Next: Window Seat by Benjamin Branoff 

See analyses of all stories in  Memories we Lost  here

Wednesday 23 December 2020

No need to lie-rolf schmid,   no need to lie – rolf schmid.

• Strong willpower and determination lead to victory 
• Coping with cancer

What would you do if you were diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease?

Rolf Schmid, a 50 year old chef, had resolved to live a healthy lifestyle when he is diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. What started as harmless bout of tonsillitis turns out to be cancer. When it persists and needs the doctors to carry out a biopsy, Schmid is fearful that it may be AIDS. He is somewhat relieved when Dr. Rupani informs him that it is cancer. It is still devastating news nonetheless. His wife Asmahan receives the traumatic news with tears in her eyes. (Pg 125) 

Rolf Schmid is certainly a strong-willed character. When he books himself into a spa and loses 12 kilograms, he receives praises from his wife and friends. He later develops a sore throat that he mistakes for tonsillitis that could be soothed with Strepsils sweets. (P 122)

His doctor, Mrs. Ven Enk, refers him to Doctor Rupani, a specialist, since she knows this is not your ordinary tonsillitis. Schmid infers that it may be more serious than he had imagined. He is gripped by fear when he thinks of AIDS, a death sentence at the time. He imagines the stigma. A bullet to the head could solve the problem; 

“Suicide is for cowards and I am not one of them,” - comes his strong conviction. (P 123)

He seems determined to fight through his afflictions which since remains a mystery to him-at least for now.

After the biopsy, Schmid learns from a family friend, one professor Alberto, that his condition is grave. Is it cancer or AIDS?

Schmid says, “I just could not let myself die” .  

He wilfully adds that he was not going to give in to cancer. 

When Dr. Rupani calls him at 8 o’clock in the morning to inform him that he has cancer, he thanks God saying “my willpower was strong and determined.” (Pg 125)

Schmid feels that he is too young to die.

At the radiation room, he sees patients who had lost hair and looked appalling. The appliances in the radiation room look humongous and terrifying.

It is not long before the cancer takes a toll on Mr. Schmid. He suffers excruciating pain, oral ulcers and the peeling of the skin covering his gums. He is a pale shadow of his former self. He now weighs a measly 87.3 kg from 125. His wide biceps and 54 centimetre chest have been chewed away by cancer. (Pg 126)

Does he capitulate? Your guess is as good as mine. The unyielding cook is devastated at the thought of imminent death. However, his ardent personality keeps on reminding him not to give up.

“When I was at my lowest, I summoned the faces of my children one by one as a visual reminder of the reason I had for living, I kept telling myself, ‘you can’t die now’”   (Pg 126)

Schmid suffers pain and endless medication. He is forced to eat and take at least three litres of liquid lest the doctor feeds him intravenously while confined to a hospital bed. He is scared about the thought. Schmid is forced to feed by a half inch rubber pipe. It is a painful but inevitable ritual.

Schmid compares his battle against cancer to a judo match. He alludes to the words of a Japanese judo sensei, adorned in a white judogi,  commanding him to meditate and focus on the task at hand to knock out the opponent.

“The confidence of years of training years of service and years of pain assured me of victory”

But this was not a judo match! 

“This was life and death, my life” . (Pg 127)

The feeding is painful and Schmid would often scream in severe pain. He loses several friends due to his predicament. The insurance company he assumed would pay for his medical expenses would not pay much since he is self-employed. Some of his friends opt to fundraise for him. He does not give up. (Pg 127)

Schmid realizes that many cancer patients die not because of the malignant malady but because of despair and lack of hope. This gives him an unstoppable desire for health.

“I was going to live and see my children grow up, play more polo, do more sculptures and be with Asmahan, my beautiful wife.” (Pg 128)

He wilfully endures four agonising sessions of chemotherapy. He had heard about people losing hair and going completely bald, among other miseries. (Pg 128)

In the face of adversity, Schmid is optimistic that he was going to beat cancer. “but am I going to be alright? I mean no more cancer?”  (Pg 128)

Alberto does little to calm his anxiety. He tells him that he has to be brave. It all depends on how his mind copes with it. Our good old mulish chef concludes that cancer, like any other adversity or predicament, is a process that requires a strong willpower, (food) and optimism. (Pg 128) 

When Mr. Schmid attends his first chemotherapy on a Saturday evening at seven o’clock, he feels like a condemned convict on the way to the gallows. He endures a nerve wracking 8 hours intravenous drip without feeling sick. The lovely nurse is astounded by his unyielding strength. “Heee Bwana, you are strong really strong.”  She calls him a real ndume (strong man).

The headstrong chef decides to head down to the polo club after the chemo session to show everyone how tough he was. This is testament to his strong will and optimism Alberto thought he was crazy. He had lost almost 36 kilograms! He used to weigh 125 kilograms now weighs only 56 kilograms. His horses must think he is somebody else!  (Pg 129-131)

After the four chemo treatment Schmid has lost half his hair but was spared by the devastating ill experience most cancer patients undergo. He vomits while playing polo but declares this his turning point after going back to finish the chucker (a period of a polo game).

“If I could do that, death could not be waiting round the corner.” (Pg 131)

Such buoyant positivity!

Mr. Schmid has to catch a flight to Germany for specialised treatment. There is a glimmer of hope since tumour on his neck has shrunk to an almost unnoticeable size. He is, however, angry. He dismisses the doctors and their diagnosis and prognosis. He is confident that he is going live; that he has a chance. He is iron-willed; such an admirable trait.

Rolf Schmid’s children do not know about their father’s predicament. All they know is daddy is going to Germany to visit his friend Roland and will return with many presents. He fights back tears and stomach cramps while driving to the airport. (Pg 131) 

Asmahan, his wife, asks him to pray and believe in the power of prayers. He recalls Dr Meister who had died after suffering from a similar malady. Was he going to die in Germany and be buried next to his grandmother? He resolutely pushes the ominous thought out of his head. He had not even written a will. He hopes the paralyzing anaesthesia in Katharinen Krankenhaus hospital, Stuttgart would melt his worries.

In Germany, he meets his caring friend Roland, who is ever so buoyant and sanguine. Roland predicts that Rolf was going to out live him. Sadly, this comes to pasd when he dies a year later in a freak accident. 

Mr. Schmid goes under the knife in Doctor Terrahe's hands without fear or anxiety. After the operation, he is upbeat about the fact that he is alive.

“Ooh I am alive...Great. No more cancer!”  (Pg 133)

He suffers a few bouts of nausea and faints when he realizes that his swollen head is twice its original size and there is a chunk of muscle missing from his neck. The doctor reassures him that normalcy will return in two weeks or so.

Schmid is as stubborn as a mule. He sneaks out of the hospital feeling triumphant. 

“I am alive! Look at me, I’ve beaten cancer.”  (Pg 134) 

He faints again and is reproached by the doctor for his imprudence.

Weeks go by and he feels better and better. He calls all his friends to share his happiness.

It feels like a rebirth, a return to normalcy, a new beginning; the start of a new life. 

He returns to Nairobi to a hero’s welcome. His obstinate willpower and mind over matter attitude win over cancer!

“Of course, my stubborn refusal to be defeated by cancer and mind over matter attitude made me an example to a lot people.” (Pg 135)

Strong willpower and optimism is key to beating adversity, misfortune or affliction.

KCSE SAMPLE QUESTION ON MEMORIES WE LOST -  NO NEED TO LIE 

In the face of misery, one needs to be strong willed and optimistic. Write a composition to validate this statement making reference to Rolf Schmid’s No Need to Lie .

Write an essay on the challenges faced by cancer patients citing evidence from No Need to Lie by Rolf Schmid. 

Next: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel  Garcia Marquez 

See analyses of all stories in  Memories we Lost  here.

Monday 21 December 2020

My father's head okwiri oduor, my father’s head – okwiri oduor.

My Father’s Head by Okwiri Oduor is an exquisite tale about a young woman trying to cope with the death of her father. As we get immersed into the riveting prose poetry, we soon get entangled in the mystery of grief and mourning.

The story opens with the words: “I had meant to summon my father only long enough to see what his head looked like but he is here now and I did not know how to send him back”.

Simbi is the first person narrator. She works as a caregiver in an old people’s home. Her father is dead. The solitude and vacuum created by his death compel her to summon him from the mysterious world of the dead. Now he is here and she does not know how to send him back. Of course her father is not here physically; he is only here as an illusion created by her memory.

Many Africans believe that dead relatives can visit sometimes in form of spirits and we can actually see them. Okwiri seeks to debunk this mystifying myth. Ghosts and spirits are actually images we create in our minds -a figment of imagination

One night Simbi spends the entire night on her stomach on the sitting room floor drawing her father. She could see his face, his mouth, irises, ear and temple and even a thick line of sweat and brown veins. His head, however “refuses to appear within the borders of the paper”

When she shows Bwibo (the cook at the old people house) some of the drawings, Bwibo says, “Your father was a good man. Good men never show you their heads; they show you their faces”

Indeed Simbi’s father was a good man. His memories linger in Simbi’s mind. She remembers how her father could chew a handful of groundnuts and feed the mush to her. She was old enough to chew with her own teeth but young enough to desire that hot masticated love. 

She remembers the day he mourned the death of his friend Sospeter son of Milkah, who taught Agriculture, in Mirere Secondary when he heard about it through the radio.

After listening to a sermon by father Ignatius Okello from Kitgum, Simbi is reminded of her own father. She says “I was stringing together images of my father, making his limbs move and his lips spew words so that at the end he was a marionette and my memories of him were only scenes in a theoretical display”

She remembers him as an industrious reliable man who was ready to help people who flocked their house every Saturday morning when the water pipes burst or when a maid flushed a baby down the toilet.

As much as he was a good man, people only saw his face and not the head. People judge a book by its cover. The face represents the superficial outward (physical) appearance. What people fail to see is the inner spiritual realm. A man’s trait, values or what he truly espouses.

As we try to understand Simbi’s vague stream of consciousness, we appreciate the recollection of painful pent-up memories. The father appears to her as a form of memory. 

The story is therefore about coping with loss or grief. The incomplete drawing symbolizes the incompleteness of memory as we try to recreate the past. Our dead loved ones can only return in form of hazy dim recollections, not in physical form. The fact that they existed and now they don’t may create a puzzling state of confusion.

When her father appears to her he looks paradoxical to say the least; “he was something at once strange and familiar, at once enthralling and frightening- he was the brittle, chipped handle of a ceramic tea mug and he was the cold yellow stare of an owl.”

Simbi serves him tea and tells him about his friend Pius Obote who died four years ago. He grieves bitterly. After the tea, her father asks to leave. She asks him to stay for a couple of days. She confesses, “I did not really want him back. I just wanted to see his head.”

Grief is indeed a difficult thing to comprehend. Just like death and loss, some of the characters in the story are shrouded in mystery and only vaguely described. Take for instance the woman who hawked candy, or a man whose one roomed house is a kindergarten in the day time and a brothel in the evening, or the woman whose illicit brew had blinded five people in January.

It is important to appreciate people when they are alive. Look at their head (character traits) not just their faces (appearance).

Next: Analysis of Umbrella Man by Siddartha Gigoo . 

See analyses for all stories in Memories we Lost here

Sunday 20 December 2020

Hitting budapest analysis [pdf], hitting budapest noviolet bulwayo.

Characters:

Basta – 11 years old Chipo – 10 years old Godknows- 9 years old Sbho – 8 years old Stina Narrator – 9years old

Main concern

·         The devastating impact of poverty on children (juveniles)

Other issues;

·         Poverty ·         Immigration ·         Social classes ·         Exploitation ·         Delinquency

Hitting Budapest explores the hardships encountered by children living in a poor neighbourhood ironically named Paradise. These are Basta, Chipo, Godknows, Sbho, Stina and the (unnamed) narrator.

They lack basic needs like food because of poverty. They are forced to steal guavas to quell their hunger pangs. They used to steal guavas from Chipo's uncle’s tree but now they steal from strangers who live in an affluent neighbourhood called Budapest.

Getting out of Paradise is easy since the adults are too preoccupied with plaiting hair or playing draughts. As they ran, it turns out Chipo who was the fastest among them is slower today. She is pregnant after being sexually exploited by her grandfather. She has to sit down and rest.

Chipo describes Budapest as “a country where people who are not like us live” There is social stratification. The children are accustomed to the life in the shanty where there is pollution from burning things and smell of cooking food and rotting things.

Their mission in Budapest is stealing guavas. At Budapest they meet a thin woman from London known as Mello. To their surprise, she smiles at them. Nobody at Budapest smiles at them. When Chipo asks about the food she is eating, the woman mistakenly thinks she’s asking about the camera she was holding. They have different worries; point of views. The children are surprised when woman throws away food.

The narrator has dreams of moving to America where her aunt Fostalina lives. She expects to live a better life there. Africans feel life is better overseas especially in Europe and America. Godknows’ uncle, Polite, lives in London.

As they go back to paradise the ill-mannered children spit and litter the streets of Budapest with guava peels. Chipo vomits. They admire the big houses in Budapest. Sbho says she will live in houses like those one day. Basta dismisses this as a pipedream and throws guavas at the house. Basta is violent. He has beaten all the children except Stina. Sbho dreams of marrying a man from Budapest to escape the shanties of Paradise, Heaven and Fambeki.

Basta also dreams of going out of the country where he will make lots of money and buy houses in Budapest, Paris or Los Angeles. He wants to go to South Africa or Botswana.

Chipo remembers what her teacher Mr. Gono told her-that you need education to make money. Now she doesn’t attend school anymore but she thinks she does not need school to make money- that’s what the Bible says in her understanding.

Basta says nasty things about America and this hurts the narrator who dreams of living there. She feels boiling rage and has fantasies about violently accosting him.

Later, they are rounded up and taken to the Juvenile correctional centre. The narrator can now read and write. She is now reformed. She will write to Mello to apologise for their misdemeanour to the people of Budapest. She still hopes to go to America after her studies. Chipo who has since delivered, would like to continue with her studies and become a counsellor to guide and help children from Paradise.

Apart from basic needs like food, shelter and clothes, children also need love, compassion and guidance. They also need education and protection from predators. Without these, they engage in serious detrimental behaviour. 

NEXT: Missing Out by Leila Aboulela

Saturday 12 December 2020

Window seat benjamin branoff, window seat, benjamin branoff .

Challenges of urbanization in developing countries

Over loaded van (P 62) Inefficient public servants-The indifferent sentry (P 63) Poor dusty roads (P 63) Noise pollution (P 64) Poor waste management/disposal (P 66) Poverty/depravation of luxuries (P 66) Corruption/bribery (P 68) Crime/The lost wallet (P 69)

This short story captures the journey of a mzungu traveling in an African country. The author takes us on a bumpy ride through the roads of Dar es Salaam. Through the narrator’s eyes, we appreciate the challenges of urbanization in developing African countries.

The narrator has a window seat in an old Hyatt minivan commonly referred to as daladala . The van is overloaded; twenty four passengers are squeezed inside a van meant to carry about ten people. The conductor stands by the sliding door. During rush hours four more people would stand with the conductor. The old van old van build for ten could carry twenty eight people. The greedy owner of the van added more rows of seats not made with the van to accommodate more people

The narrator experience inefficient public service at the gate leaving Chuo. The indifferent sentry does a poor job of checking the van for something amiss. As the journey commences, the narrator notes, that the roads a dusty. One cannot, however, shut the window since they need fresh air.

At Mwenge, noise pollution is apparent. Horrible 80s music plays from a large stereo of a man selling CDs. Apart from that, conductor screams at the top of their voice trying to persuade people to board their daladalas .

As the mzungu heads toward the post buses after alighting from the old minivan, he notices that the town is crowded. There is high population. He fails to meet and greet a young French foreign exchange student called Monique (whom he fondly refers to as Le Fille ). The bus has to maneuver through a sea of humans who walk dangerously close to it oblivious of the danger. This is probably due to poor infrastructure; lack of sidewalks or pavements.

We also notice dumping of waste and poor waste disposal; people burn rubbish and dead foliage on the roadside. The pollution is evident by the rancid smell of garbage and human filth and decomposition. The waste is pulled and left to rot or burnt by the road side.

After the next stop we meet a beautiful young woman the narrator refers to as Kanga. She looks healthy and beautiful but we can tell that she’s poor, deprived of luxuries and has to endure endless work in her lifetime. Kanga seems amiable or sincerely friendly.

The police in Dar es Salaam are corrupt and incompetent. They are not concerned with the safety of the passengers. To the dismay of impatient bus drivers and conductor, they forcefully squeeze a bribe out of them. The police man is indifferent about the overloading of the bus.

After the bumpy 45 minute ride, the narrator is shocked to find his wallet missing. In the crowded bus, anyone could have pinched it but all evidence points to Kanga. Developing African countries are riddled with crime and insecurity due to poverty.

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The Umbrella Man Multiple Choice Test Questions

Pages 115-117

1. How does the narrator describe what happened to her and her mother? (a) Thought-provoking. (b) Frightening. (c) Irritating. (d) Funny.

2. When did the incident that the narrator describes happen? (a) Three days ago. (b) Two days ago. (c) Yesterday evening. (d) Yesterday morning.

3. How old is the narrator? (a) 10. (b) 13. (c) 11. (d) 12.

4. How old is the narrator's mother? (a) 35. (b) 33. (c) 34. (d) 31.

5. Where did the narrator and her mother go yesterday? (a) Cambridge. (b) Liverpool. (c) London. (d) Manchester.

6. Why did the narrator and her mother travel yesterday? (a) To visit a museum. (b) To go to the doctor. (c) To see the dentist. (d) To shop for clothes.

7. How many cavities did the narrator have? (a) 3. (b) 4. (c) 1. (d) 2.

8. Where did the narrator have cavities? (a) A back tooth. (b) Teeth on the right and left bottom of her mouth. (c) A front tooth. (d) Teeth on the right and left top of her mouth.

9. What did the narrator have at a cafe? (a) Banana split. (b) Chocolate shake. (c) Ice cream cone. (d) Hot fudge sundae.

(read all 180 Multiple Choice Questions and Answers)

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