12th std The Rattrap by Selma Lagerlof

 12th std The Rattrap by Selma Lagerlof

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Q1. Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and invite him home ?

Answer: The ironmaster spoke kindly to the peddler because he thought that he was the captain and an old regimental comrade who had resigned from the regiment. Thus the ironmaster thought that he was an old acquaintance. That is why the ironmaster invited the peddler to have his company for Christmas.

Q 2. What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap ?

Answer: After stealing the crofter’s money, the rattrap peddler did not think it proper to walk on the public highway. So he turned off the road, into the forost. But he got entrapped in a big and confusing forest. He tried to walk in a definite direction, but the paths twisted back and forth in a strange manner.

He walked and walked without coming to the end of the forest. Finally, he realised that he had only been walking around the same part of the forest. Then he recalled his thoughts about the world and the rattrap. Now his own turn had come. The rattrap peddler thus thought that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap from which he might not be able to escape.

Q3. Why did the peddler decline the invitation of the ironmaster?

Answer:

The peddler declined the invitation of the ironmaster to go to his house. He had stolen thirty Kronors from the house of the crofter who lived in that area. So the peddler thought that going up to the his house would be like throwing himself voluntarily into the lion’s den.

Q4. What made the peddler accept Edla Willmansson’s invitation ?

Answer:

The peddler accepted Edla Willmansson’s invitation, who was the daughter of the ironmaster. In a very compassionate and friendly manner, Edla Willmansson had won the confidence of the peddler. She told the peddler that he would be allowed to leave just as freely as he would come to their house. She requested him to stay with them only oyer Christmas Eve. Because her genuine and friendly request, the peddler accepted her invitation.

Q5. Why was, Edla happy to see the gift left by the peddler?

Answer: Edla was happy to see the gift left by the peddler because the peddler did not prove himself to be a thief and had not taken anything with him at all. He had left behind a little package which Elda was to be kind enough to accept as a Christmas present. He had also kept thirty kronor he had stolen from the crofter’s house.

Q6. Why did he show the thirty kronor to the peddler ?

Answer: The crofter was making his livelihood by selling milk in his old age. He told the peddler that last month he had received thirty kronor in payment. Thinking that the stranger might not believe this, he showed the wrinkled three ten-kronor bills to him from a leather pouch.

Q7. Did the peddler expect the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter ?

Answer: No, the peddler had not expected the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter. It was because he would usually find harsh faces when he knocked the doors of the strangers previously to seek shelter.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Q1. How does the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the human predicament ?

Answer: In the story The Rattrap’, the peddler goes around selling small rattraps of wine. Thinking of his rattraps, he was struck by the idea that the whole world around him with its lands and seas, its cities and villages-was nothing but a big rattrap. He thought that the world had never existed for any other purpose than to set baits for people.

The world offered riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing, exactly as the rattrap offered cheese and pork. As soon as anyone let himself be tempted to touch the bait, it closed in on him, and then everything came to an end. This is how the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the human predicament. The more we are allured by the worldly things, the more we are entrapped by them. And then there is no way out.

Q2. How does the peddler interpret the acts of kindness and hospitality shown by the crofter, the ironmaster and his daughter ?

Answer: The peddler was a man who went around selling small rattraps of wire. He was leading a sad and monotonous life of a vagabond. He knocked at the door of the cottage of the crofter who turned out to be an old man without wife and children. He showed his ‘ kindness and hospitality towards him which the peddler had not expected.

But the rattrap peddler stole his thirty kronors. Thus he betrayed the confidence reposed in him by the crofter. The ironmaster, thinking him as an old acquaintance Captain Von Stahle, showed kindness to him and invited him to spend the Christmas evening with him.

But the peddler thought that if the ironmaster thought that he was an old acquaintance, he might give him a couple of kronor. That is why he did not reveal his true identity. Edla Willmansson, the daughter of the ironmaster requested him to go to her home in a very compassionate and friendly manner. He accepted to go to their home. But while he was riding to the manor house, he had “evil forebodings”.

He was feeling guilty for stealing the crofter’s money. The ironmaster, after knowing that he was not the captain, asked him to go out of the house immediately. But due to the insistence of Edla he was allowed to spend the Christmas evening in their house. The peddler wondered why she did it. But he interpreted it as her nobleness, kindness and generosity.

Q3. The story has many instances of unexpected reactions from the characters to others’ behaviour. Pick out instances of these surprises.

Answer: The story “The Rattrap’ has many instances of unexpected reactions from the characters to others’ behaviour. One dark evening while walking along the road, the peddler saw a light gray cottage by the roadside. He knocked on the door to ask for shelter for the night. Usually under such circumstances he would meet “the sour faces”. But unexpectedly the owner of the house, the crofter, an old man without wife or child, welcomed him cheerfully. He showered his best hospitality by serving food, playing cards with him and taking care of him in all the possible manner.

Thereafter, the peddler was entrapped in the forest and when he thought that he might not find a way out of the forest, he sought shelter at the Ramsjo ironworks. There unexpectedly the ironmaster came and insisted him to spend the Christmas evening at his home.

The ironmaster mistook him as an old regimental comrade. When the peddler declined his offer, quite unexpectedly Edla, the ironmaster’s daughter came there and pursuaded him to go to their house. There the ironmaster realising that he had mistaken the stranger’s identity and asked him to leave his house immediately. But again unexpectedly Edla in a compassionate manner convinced her father to let him stay for the Christmas in the house.

Q4. The peddler comes out as a person with a subtle sense of humour. How does this serve in lightening the seriousness of the theme of the story and also endear him to us ?

Answer:The peddler was endowed with a great sense of humour. He compares the world about him with a rattrap, which sets baits for the people. As the world had never been kind to him, so it gave him “unwai d joy” to think ill of it in this way. It was his pastime to think Of the people he knew who had let themselves be caught in the dangerous snare, and of others who were still circling around the bait. It shows his sense of humour. As he walked alongwith the stolen money of crofter, he felt “quite pleased with his smartness”.

When he was entrapped in the forest he recalled about the world and the rattrap. He thought that “his own turn had come”, which also shows his sense of humour. He thought that he had let himself be fooled by a bait and had been caught. When the blacksmith “nodded a haughty constent” without, uttering a single word, he did not mind.- He thought that he had not come there to talk but only to warm himself and sleep.

He did not reveal his real identity to the ironmaster because he thought that thinking him as an old acquaintance, the ironmaster might perhaps 'throw him a couple of kronor'. While riding up to the manor house he thought that he was sitting in the trap and will never get out of it. When the ironmaster realised that he was not his old acquaintance and threatened to call the sheriff, he told him that the whole world is nothing but a big rattrap and the ironmaster began to laugh. His letter written to Edla also shows his sense of humour. His sense of humour serves in lightening the seriousness of the theme of the story. It also endears him to us as it evoked our sympathy with him.