L-9 The Book That Saved The Earth-Q&Ans

 

L-9 The Book That Saved The Earth

Q1. ‘Pride has a fall’. Justify this statement, giving relevant points from how Think-Tank reacted to the readings from Mother Goose.

Answer. Martians invaded Earth and made their way into a library. Their boss was Think-Tank. He was very proud of his wisdom, owing to his large balloon-like head. He considered himself to be the wisest person on Mars. Nobody could disobey him or even dare to speak against him. He claimed to have a quick mind. He had no regard for anyone and dismissed other people’s opinions as trivial. He was also inconsistent.

He misinterpreted the rhymes in a complete verbal manner. Mar, the rhyme mistress, made him think about the discovery of the Earth. He was alarmed by the poem diddle-diddle, and he was so terrified by the poem Humpty-Dumpty that he decided to flee his kingdom and travel to Alpha Centauri. Thus, his great wisdom was defeated and he had a great fall.

 

Q2. Historians speak highly of books. How can books help in averting a catastrophic situation? Explain with reference to ‘The Book That Saved The Earth’.

Answer. The setting for The Historian is the twenty-fifth century. He is attempting to escape the twentieth century. He refers to it as the Era of the Book and speaks highly of books. Books, he believes, control all aspects of life. Books educate children. Books teach people how, when, where, and why to do things. They illustrate, educate, punctuate, and even decorate people’s lives. According to the Historian, only the books saved the Earth from Martian invasion, for the Martians had misunderstood the meaning of the poems and got frightened of them. So they rushed away from Earth, even evacuating Mars, and headed for Alpha Centauri.

Even in our day-to-day life, we get all our solutions from books, whether it is health-related or anything else. So we can say that books help us in preventing a catastrophe.

 

Q3. Comment on the appropriateness of the title of the play ‘The Book that Saved the Earth’.

Answer. A good title should reflect a character’s theme, idea, or traits. It gives us a glimpse into the plot. It should be centered on one of the above. The story or the play should be woven around any one of them. In the play ‘The Book That Saved The Earth,’ a book of ‘Mother Goose’ nursery rhymes is responsible for stopping the Martian invasion on Earth. Mars’ ruler, Think-Tank, plans to invade Earth before lunch and sends Probe One to learn more about the Earthlings. They walk into a library but have no idea what the books are. They take vitamins, boost their intelligence, and then read ‘Mother Goose’ rhymes.

Think-Tank interprets the rhymes incorrectly, mistaking them for threats to him and Mars. Scared, he summons Probe One, abandons the plan to invade, and flees with his subjects to Alpha Centauri, a hundred million miles from Mars. As a result, the book ‘Mother Goose’ was responsible for preventing the Martian invasion of Earth. The title “The Book That Saved the Earth” is an apt title because it reflects the theme of the play.

 

Q4. Half-baked knowledge is always dangerous. Rushing to conclusions without going deep into the details of things always leads to uninvited chaos and disasters. Explain the above-mentioned statements in the light of Think-Tank’s interpretations of the rhymes of the book ‘Mother Goose’.

Answer. Nothing is more dangerous than half-baked knowledge. The truth is more than meets the eye. And so is understanding. We must take a broad view of the situation. We must delve deeply into the details before making broad generalizations. Statements that are too broad are never good. Misinterpretation of things can sometimes lead to unavoidable disasters. Think-Tank represents how a half-baked mind could have resulted in an invasion of another planet.

Think-Tank excelled in misinterpreting and misrepresenting information. They couldn’t tell what books were when they saw them. He jumped from one conclusion to the next. He mistook them for sandwiches. He misapplied the phrase “had a great fall” to his own demise. He screamed and immediately ordered the evacuation of Mars. He had the impression that Mars was about to be invaded. He made the decision to flee in a space shuttle as soon as possible. He stated that they could travel 100 million miles away from Mars.

-----------------------END---------------------