CBSE Class 10 English The Dear Departed Assignment

PLOT OF THE PLAY

Mrs. Slater discovers that grandfather is dead.
Mrs. Slater instructs her daughter to put her white frock on a black sash.
Mr. Slater fetches the bureau and the clock from the upstairs.
The Jordans arrive and know in detail about grandfather's demise from the slaters.
The family sits down to have a tea.
They discuss about obituary announcement in the papers and the insurance premium payment.
Victoria is asked to fetch the bunch of keys to the bureau to look for the insurance receipt.
Grandfather comes down and is surprised to see the Jordans.
Grandfather comes to know how his daughters were in hurry to divide his belongings between them.
Grandfather announces his intention to change the will and to marry Mrs.Shorrock.

DIFFICULT WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS

• PEARSON'S WEEKLY - A British weekly magazine founded by Sir Cyril Pearson (1866-1921) in 1890.
• Precocious - a person whose mental attitude is developed beyond his/ her age.
• Gallivanting - go about seeking pleasure.
• Colours - wearing gay dress
• Drive a hard bargain - to argue in an aggressive manner and force somebody to agree on the best possible arrangement.
• Money-grubbing - seeking greedily to obtain money at every opportunity.
• Ostentatiously – showily
• Piqued - experienced indignation
• As merry as a sandboy - extremely happy and care free.
• Poetic license - freedom to change facts or normal rules of language.
• 'Ring-O-Bells' - the name of a restaurant.
• Tomfoolery - foolish behavior
• Dickens - informal way of saying that you are annoyed or surprised.

MAJOR CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
MR.ABEL MERRYWEATHER
Victoria's grandfather, an old widower.
Enjoys life,used to drinking.
Knows people have many faces.
Has an affair with Mrs. John Shorrock
Destroys his will and gets married again, leaving nothing for his daughters.

AMELIA SLATER/MRS. SLATER
Abel's daughter.
Looks after her father only for his possessions.
Is more interested in what mourning dress she should wear to out-stage her sister than having genuine feelings for her father.
Detests her sister and doesn't want her to gain anything for their father's will.
Steals her father's belongings so that her sister can't have them after his supposed death.

HENRY SLATER
Henry Slater, the husband of Amelia.
He is a stooping, heavy man with a drooping moustache.
He is not mean like his wife but he has no strength to contradict what his wife says.
When Amelia asks him to put on the slipper of grandfather, he is reluctant to do it.
He is a selfish and cunning, but not to the extent his wife is.

VICTORIA SLATER
Ten-year-old daughter of the Slaters.
Different from her parents and aunt.
Ignorant to the intentions of her mother.
Shows a streak of goodness despite being young.
Is fond of her grandfather

BEN JORDAN
Ben Jordan is the husband of Elizabeth.
He is a jolly little man accustomed to be humorous.
He has bright Chirpy little voice. Chirpily he remarks,We have all got to die sometime or other.
Even on a grave occasion, He humorously remark about the grandfather,  If there was one thing he couldn't bear, it was water.
Internally he is very timid.
More money minded than Henry-throughout the play what keeps him worried is to find the receipt of the premium that the grandfather had paid at the insurance office.

ELIZABETH JORDAN
She is Ben's wife, Amelia's sister and Abel's daughter.
Equally insensitive, impolite and money minded like her sister.
She is real hypocrite.
She has a habit to drive a hard bargain over whatever she likes
Has a habit of grabbing all good things in the world-eyed on her father's valuable gold watch.
She does not leave any chance to disgrace her sister to get his father's property.

CBSE Class 10 English The Dear Departed  Extrect Based Questions

1. I am amazed at you, Victoria; I really am.How you can gallivanting about in the street when your grandfather is lying dead and cold upstairs, I don't know. Be off now, and change your dress before your Aunt Elizabeth and your uncle Ben come. It would never do for them to find you in colours.

a) Who is the speaker of these lines?
b) Why does the speaker ask Victoria to change her dress?
c) What does the word amazed mean?
Answer. a) The speaker is Mrs.Slater.
b) The speaker asks Victoria to change her dress because Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Ben would be upset to see her in coloured dress as her grandfather is lying dead upstairs.
c) Surprised.

2. Elizabeths that sharp shell see )m after it, and she'll drive a hard bargain over it.Eh,what it is to have a low money grubbing spirit!
a) Who is the speaker of these lines?
b) Who will drive a hard bargain and why?
c) Who has a low money grubbing spirit?
Answer. a) Mrs. Slater is the speaker here.
b) Aunt Elizabeth will bargain hard over things which her sister is trying to get.
c) Elizabeth has low money grubbing spirit

3. No, for myself it's such a relief to get into the black. And now perhaps you' tell us all about it.What did the doctor say?
a) What is a great relief for the speaker?
b) What does the speaker mean by telling us all about it?
Answer. a) To get into the black dress for mourning is a great relief for the speaker.
b) It means that they want to know how grandfather died.
c) Mrs. Jordan is the speaker of these lines.

4. Well he must have gone round to the Ring-O-Bells afterwards ,for he came in as merry as a sand-boy.I says, We are only waiting for Henry to start dinner. Dinner, he says I don't want no dinner. Am going to bed!
a) Who must have gone to the Ring-O-Bells?
b) What is the Ring-O-Bells?
c) What does the word Sand-boy mean?
Answer. a) Abel Merryweather must have gone to the Ring-O-Bells.
b) It is a restaurant owned by Mrs.Shorrock.
c) Happy and jolly.

5. Amelia and Henry.They have stolen your clock and bureau. (Working herself up.)They sneaked into your room like a thief in night and stole them after you were dead.
a) Who is Amelia?
b) How did they steal the clock and the bureau?
c) Give the meaning of the word sneak?
Answer. a) She is Mrs. Slater.
b) They entered like thieves into grandfather's room after he was dead and stole the clock and the bureau.
c) Without being seen or heard.