By A.R. Barton
A. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.
Ans: The greatest dream of Sophie is to have a boutique. She wants to be a bit sophisticated and rise above her lower-middle class status. Her other dream is of being an actress as “there’s real money in that”. Moreover, actresses don’t work full time. She can look after her first love i.e. boutique as a side business. She has another option. She can be a fashion designer, and do something sophisticated.
Ans: Jansie knows Sophie’s family background and financial position. She knows that both of them are earmarked for that biscuit factory. Sophie dreams of big and beautiful things like having a boutique or becoming an actress or a fashion designer. All these things need a lot of money and experience. Sophie has neither of them. So Jansie being down-to-earth advises her to be sensible and stop having wild dreams.
Ans: Sophie belongs to a lower middle class family. Geoffs is an apprentice mechanic. He travels to his work each day to the far side of the city. His jacket is shapeless. Her father lacks sophistication. He is a heavy breathing man. He sits in his vest at the table. He grunts and tosses one of little Derek’s shoes from his chair on to the sofa. There is stove in the same room where dirty washing is piled in a comer. Sophie’s father goes to pub on his bicycle. All these indicators confirm their lower middle-class family background.
Ans: Danny Casey was a young Irish football player. He played for the United. The Irish prodigy could easily dodge the defenders and score goals. Sophie’s father was a football fan. He admired old heroes like Tom Finney and young wonder boy Casey. Geoff had a large poster of United first team squad on his bed room wall. There were three coloured photographs of Casey in the row below it. Every Saturday they went to watch United play.
Ans: Sophie’s father was a keen footfall fan. He took great interest in the career of Danny Casey, the Irish prodigy. Geoff, too was interested in football. Sophie considered Danny Casey her personal hero. She always dreamt of him. Casey was playing for United. The family visited the stadium regularly to watch him. So the family’s visit was like a religious or holy weekly ritual—a pilgrimage.
Ans: Geoff was almost grown up now. He spoke little. Sophie knew that when he was not speaking, he was lost in the memory of those places she had never been. She wanted to experience those places riding behind Geoff. Therefore, she always shared her secrets with him.
Ans: Geoff informs his father that Sophie had a meeting with Danny Casey. He turns his head on his thick neck to look at her in disbelief. His expression is one of disdain. He ignores the news and goes on to talk about Tom Finney. When Sophie says that Casey is going to buy a shop, he reacts sharply. “This is another of your wild stories.”
Ans: Jansie was very interested in things that did not concern her. She wanted to know other people’s affairs. She would spread the news in the whole neighborhood. So, Sophie didn’t want Jansie to know about her story with Danny. It may also be mutual rivalry and one-upmanship on her part. Sophie was startled to learn that Geoff had told Jansie about her story with Danny.
Ans: Before sharing her secret Sophie took a promise from Geoff not to share it with anyone, especially with Jansie. But when Jansie herself talked about it to Sophie she came to know that it was an open secret now. It means Geoff did not keep his promise. He told Jansie’s brother Frank about it. Sophie cursed Geoff for sharing her secret.
Ans: No, Sophie did not really meet Danny Casey. She was very fascinated by the young Irish footballer. She imagined his coming. She sat in the park, waiting for Casey and knowing that he would not come. She felt sad. Sadness was a hard burden to carry. She was always lost in a dreamy world where she imagined Casey meeting her.
Ans: The only occasion when Sophie got to see Danny Casey in person was when the family went to watch United on Saturday. United won two-nil. Her idol Casey drove in the second goal. She saw the Irish genius going round two big defenders on the edge of penalty area. He beat the hesitant goal keeper from a dozen yards. Sophie glowed with pride. She was very happy.
Ans: Sophie walked by the canal along a sheltered path. It was far away from the noise and crowd of the city. It was a place where she had often played when she was a child. There was a wooden bench beneath a solitary elm tree. Lovers sometimes came there. That was the most suitable place where she could dream of her hero Danny Casey.
Ans: At first Sophie was optimistic. She imagined him coming out of the shadows. When time had elapsed, pangs of doubt stirred inside her. She became sad and despondent. Danny would not come there at all. She feared that people would laugh at the story of her meeting with Casey.
Ans: I fully agree with the observation. She has no real reason to be happy or disappointed. The Irish prodigy is her hero. She imagines her meeting with him and takes it to such an extent that she starts feeling it as something real. The worst part was that she even went to meet him at the place she had herself thought of and feels disappointed when he does not show up. Her day-dreaming makes her sad and despondent.
B. Answer the following in 150 words each.
Ans: Sophie and Jansie are classmates as well as friends. Only after a few months they would pass out of their school and join a biscuit factory for which they have been earmarked. They both belonged to lower middle-class families. But that is where their similarity ends. There is a striking contrast between their characters.
Sophie is a day-dreamer who lives in a world of dreams and does not want to come out of this fairyland. Sophie wants to do something sophisticated. She is an incurable escapist and dreams of having a boutique, becoming an actress or a fashion designer.
Jansie, on the other hand, is practical and grounded. She knows big things require big money and experience which they lack desperately. She is aware of her socio-economic condition and knows that they are both ‘earmarked for the biscuit factory’. She advises Sophie to be sensible and not entertain wild dreams. While Sophie shares her dreams only with one person, her brother Geoff, Jansie on the other hand is nosey. Sophie believes Jansie can spread other’s secrets in the whole neighborhood.
There is nothing wrong with having big dreams. In fact, every teenager must aim high so that s/he can utilize his full potential. However, such dreams are meaningless and cause disappointment if they are not accompanied by an effective plan and are not grounded in reality.
Sophie’s dreams are faulty as they lack planning and are completely away from reality. She wants to be sophisticated and rise above her lower-middle class status. Her dream is of being an actress as “there’s real money in that”. Moreover, actresses don’t work full time. She can look after her first love i.e. boutique as a side business. She has another option. She can be a fashion designer, and do something sophisticated. All these things need a lot of money and experience. Sophie’s lower middle-class background does not give hope of either of them.
Her brother, Geoffs, is an apprentice mechanic. Her father goes to pub on his bicycle. They can’t afford a house with a kitchen. Her mother prepares their meals on a stove kept in a corner of the same room where they sit and rest. Her schooling also does not show any of such kind of promise as she has already been earmarked for a biscuit factory. Moreover, her irresistible desire to win attention of others for which she even lies and does not fear public shame also indicates that she doesn’t have that dignified personality even which is the biggest surety of getting someone a big success.
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