THE OX
.....H.E.Bates.....
Herbert Ernest Bates,(16 May 1905 – 29 January 1974), better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer and author. He wrote many famous short stories. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas. The Ox is one such great creation.
SUMMARY:
Mrs. Thurlow was a poor hard working, miserly woman. She lived at the top of a hill with her husband and two children. She worked in various houses like an ox from dawn to dusk to earn her living. She had saved fifty-four pounds after fifteen long years of hard labour. She wanted to complete a hundred. She was worried about the future of her sons, but could not devote any time to their upbringing. Her husband was a hedge-cutter. He often remained away from home. It was because his wife was old, cold, unattractive and miserly. Mrs. Thurlow was quite cut-off from the world. Her only entertainment was the old news papers which she read in the evening. She was thick headed and unimaginative.
One Sunday, her husband entered the house very mysteriously and stole away her bag of savings. She became mad with grief when she discovered her loss. After some time, two police men brought the news that her husband had been arrested for murdering a man. She was not at all moved by this news. She was only thinking of her lost money. She asked the policemen if they had found some money in her husband's pockets. After that, she met her husband in jail just to enquire about her lost money.
Mrs. Thurlow's brother was a rich man. After the prosecution of her husband, her brother asked her to leave her sons at his house if she could not support them. She accepted the offer and left her children with her brother. The children got attracted by the rich living there. So, after some time, when she went there to take them back, they flatly refused to go back with her. They felt absolutely no love for her. This was the last unbearable shock for her. It was harder than the loss of money or the separation of her husband. The story tells us the tragedies in the lives of poor people. Poverty estranges children from parents and wives from husbands."
TEXT:
WORD NOTES:
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
1. Mrs. Thurlow started her daily work at...
6 o' clock
2. How many children Mrs. Thurlow have ?
Two sons.
3. How much money Mrs Thurlow save?
54 pounds.
4. Who has stolen her money ?
Her husband.
5. Mrs. Thurlow's brother was a?
Carpenter.
6. What did Mrs Thurlow do on saturday and sunday?
Rode the bicycle up the hill.
7. Why did Thurlow steal the money?
He needed the money to fele from the place.
8. How did Mrs Thurlow look when she worked in the field?
Bony OX.
9. Thurlow was proud of ....
A silver plate in his head.
10. What did Thurlow do when his plate hurt him?
He would stand wild and vacant.
11. What did Mrs Thurlow do when she saw that her money was stolen?
She went back to the bed and lied there.
12. "For sometimes she pondered on the memory of this look, not understanding it"- whose look is referred to here?
Mr. Thurlow.
13. "She now felt as if she were pushing forward into nowhere " why?
Her children declined to come back with her.
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It is mentioned before that " At half past seven every morning Mrs. Thurlow pushed her great rusty bicycle...."
ReplyDeleteNow again it is said " from six to nine she cleaned....."
Her daily routine, as calculated, is expected to start at 7.30 am.!
I can not understand the incompatibility of these two lines!
Please clear Sir/ Ma'am.
She used to ride bicycle on Saturdays and Sundays when she had no work. Her working days used to commence on and from 6 AM. ~ Soumen Sahoo, a student from West Bengal.
DeleteI want to know the same. Please clear Sir/Madam.
ReplyDelete