The Snake and The Mirror

 

The Snake and The Mirror

  1.What were the narrator’s feelings as he looked into the mirror?

Answer:At that time the narrator, who was unmarried and a doctor, was a great admirer of beauty and he believed in making himself look handsome. He felt he had to make his presence felt by improving his appearance. He began to comb his hair, adjusting the parting so that it looked straight and neat in order to appear more handsome.

 2.As he looked at himself in the mirror, which two ‘important’ and ‘earth-shaking’ decisions did the doctor make?

Answer:The doctor made two important decisions while looking at himself in the mirror. The firstdecision, an ‘important’ one, was that he would shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome. The second decision the doctor made was an ‘earth-shaking’ one. It was that he had an attractive smile and that he should keep that attractive smile on his face to look more handsome.

 3.What kind of a woman did the doctor decide to marry? Why?

Answer:The doctor, who had just started his medical practice, decided to marry a doctor with a lot of money and great medical practice. He also wanted her to be fat, so that in case he made a silly mistake and needed to run away she should not be able to run after him and catch him.

 4.What was the narrator’s reaction to the sight of the snake?

Answer: The narrator was frightened at the sight of the snake slithering down his shoulder and coiling itself around his arm. He could not breathe for a while. He was frightened, yet he didn’t jump, didn’t tremble, didn’t cry out as he did not wish to make any sudden movement that would provoke the snake.

 5.What did the writer think of when the snake was coiled around his arm?

Answer:The doctor felt like a foolish and weak person when the snake was coiled around his arm. There was a distinct possibility of the snake biting him and the doctor thought of the various medicines he had in his room and cast his mind about to think if any medicine was good enough to save him if the snake did bite him. He felt that God had punished him for being so proud and arrogant. The vanity and pride he had moments ago had vanished. He felt helpless and frightened and smiled feebly at his stupidity and ill-luck.

  6.What did the doctor do as the snake sat in front of the mirror?

Answer: When the snake slithered from the narrator’s arm into his lap, crept onto the table and then moved towards the mirror, the narrator at once availed of the opportunity. He changed from a man cut in granite to a man of flesh and blood. Still holding his breath, so as not to disturb the snake, he got up from the chair and quietly went out through the door into the veranda. From there he leapt into the yard and ran for all he was worth to his friend’s house to save his life.

 7.What kind of room was the doctor living in and why did he decide to leave that room?

Answer:The doctor was living in was a small, uncomfortable room that was actually an outer room with one wall facing the open yard and two windows. The room was not electrified and he had to depend on a kerosene lamp for lighting. The roof was tiled and had long supporting gables which rested on a beam over the wall. The room did not have any ceiling and it was infested with rats that kept squeaking all the time. Since his medical practice was yet not well-established, the doctor did not earn much and could not afford a better place. He was not happy with this poor accommodation but it was all he could afford on his meagre earnings. However, it was only after his encounter with the snake that he decided to leave it. The frightening experience left him shaken and he decided not to live in the room any longer.

 8.What kind of a person was the doctor? What kind of a person did he want to be?

Answer:The doctor had just started his practice. His earnings were, therefore, meagre. He lived in a small rented room, which was not electrified. He had only sixty rupees in his bag. Apart from a few shirts and dhotis, he had one solitary black coat. He lived alone in a house that was full of rats. On the other hand, the doctor laid great emphasis on the fact that he was unmarried and a doctor. He was a great admirer of beauty and he believed in making himself handsome. He was pleased with his appearance. He decided to shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome. He also decided to smile more as it improved his appearance.

 9.Describe the doctor’s feelings when the snake coiled round his arm.

Answer:The doctor was petrified when the snake landed on his shoulder. He didn’t jump, tremble or cry out. He sat there holding his breath, turned to stone. He thought his end was near, so he remembered the Almighty and prayed to God for his safety. However, he retained his presence of mind as well as his sense of humour. He forgot his danger and smiled feebly at himself. From admiring himself and vainly thinking of ways of making himself appear more handsome and arrogantly declaring he was a doctor and a bachelor, the doctor thought of himself as “a poor, foolish and stupid doctor.”He did not have even the medicine to save himself in case he was bitten by the snake. As he sat there, with Death lurking four inches away, the narrator did not panic. With great patience he sat still, on the lookout for an opportunity to escape and as soon as the snake unwound itself from his arm, the doctor got up from the chair and went out quietly, and ran away to his friend’s house.

 10. “I was but a poor, foolish and stupid doctor.” Justify.

Answer: Initially, the doctor had a very high opinion of himself regarding both his appearance and profession. He laid great emphasis on the fact that he was unmarried and a doctor. As an admirer of beauty, he was conscious of his looks and wanted to look even more handsome. He admired himself in the mirror and combed his hair this way and that and decided to grow a moustache and smile more to look more attractive. But an encounter with a snake – a cobra – cured him of his pride. When the snake wriggled over his shoulder and coiled itself around his arm, the doctor lost all arrogance and was reminded of the existence of God. Face to face with death, he realised what a weak and foolish man he had been. When he recalled that there were no medicines in his room to cure him of a snake-bite, he regarded himself to be a stupid and helpless person. Thus, then counter with the snake transformed the doctor from a vain and foolish person into a humble and God-fearing man.