Achilles Class 8 Questions And Answers
Q1. How was the Rose-Beetle Man dressed?
Ans : Rose-Beetle Man was very strange and fascinating character wearing fantastic character wearing fantastic dress. He was wearing a loose, wide brimmed hat .He shirt was worn and extremely bright and blue cravat was loosely hanging round his neck. He had worn a coat with bulged pockets, patched trousers and a pair of leather shoes with upturned toes.
Q2. How do we know that the Rose-Beetle Man cared well for his pets?
Ans : When Rose-Beetle Man undid a small sack, some tortoises tumbled out whose shells had been polished with oil and he had decorated their front legs with little red bows. This showed that he really cared well for his pets.
Q3. How did Achilles enjoy eating strawberries?
Ans : The wild strawberries were something Achilles would die for. He would devour small strawberries at once but for the bigger ones, he had a different style of eating. He would grab the fruit in his mouth and rush to the flower-beds. Then, he would place himself comfortably and start eating
the strawberries at leisure.
Q4. What made the narrator select one particular tortoise from among the other animals?
Ans :
Of all the tortoises that came out of the sack, one small tortoise caught the narrator’s attention.
The narrator selected one particular tortoise because its cup sized shell seemed very cute enough to the narrator. Plus this particular tortoise had bright eyes, they appeared sprightlier than the others and its walk seemed quiet alert.
Q5. How were Roger and Achilles rivals?
Ans: Roger and Achilles both were fond of grapes. Before the arrival of Achilles, Roger was the only claimer of the whole quantity .Now to his disappointment, Achilles too had a share in that quantity of grapes .Therefore, Roger started to develop hatred for Achilles and would irritate the poor creature whenever he could. So this was the cause of the rivalry between the two.
Q6. Why did Achilles find Roger irritating?
Ans: Achilles was very fond of grapes ,when he would eat grapes ,the juice oozed from his mouth and ran down his chin which made Roger’s mouth drool out the saliva. Roger couldn’t control his temptation and would creep upto Achilles and lick him vigorously to get the taste of the grape juice which irritated Achilles.
Q7. How did Roger feel at the Achilles’ funeral?
Ans : Roger felt extremely happy at his rival’s death as he kept wagging his tail throughout the funeral ceremony.
Q8. The family wandered about the olive-grooves shouting ,”Achilles….strawberries,
Achilles……”.At length we found him.
a. How had Achilles escaped?
Ans: Achilles would walk through the whole garden .One day, garden gate was left open and Achilles got an opportunity to escape from the garden.
b. Explain why the family shouted strawberries during the search?
Ans: Achilles was very fond of strawberries. He would become hysterical at the mere sight of them.
Therefore the family thought, hearing the word strawberry Achilles would come running to them in order to take pleasure of his favourite fruit.
c. Where did family finally find Achilles? What had happened to him?
Ans:At length the family found Achilles in the well. Achilles had fallen into the well for the walls of the well had been damaged and the poor creature had died.
Q9. There are many instances of humour in the story? Pick out any two of them.
Ans: There are too many laugh-out- loud moments in the story. Two of them are as under:
a. Achilles mumbling the grapes and letting its juice dribble down off his chin, the sight of which
makes Roger’s mouth drool saliva, is extremely humourous.
b. The tied beetles circling round and round.
c. Rose-Beetle Man’s hat is humourous sight.
ADDITIONAL QUESTION
Q.What in your opinion are the qualities that make the tortoise earn the name Achilles?
Ans: Achilles was a Greek hero and as a hero is supposed to be superior to his peers in looks and all the capabilities. So was the tortoise sprightlier, more active, more alert than the other tortoises. He
possessed a sound intelligence like a hero is supposed to have. Moreover, like Achilles’ heel ,the tortoise had strawberries as his weakness ,seeking which caused his death.(Tortoise’s long life and hard shell acting as a shield of Achilles)
Literary Devices
Imagery
Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that itappeals to our physical senses. The different types of imagery are:
Visual:
It stimulates our sense of sight and create visual images in our mind. It pertains to graphics
,visual scenes or pictures e.g. ;she ran through the dark gloomy passage until she could see the exit .
The iced branches shed crystal shells.
Auditory:
It stimulates our sense of hearing and creates images of sounds in our mind e.g;the children were screaming and yelling in the fields.
The rumbling sound of clouds indicated start of Monsoon.
Examples From The Chapter:
1.Visual Imagery:
Rose-Beetle Man’s description and Achilles’ activities in the garden.
2.Auditory Imagery :
Lilting tune of shephered’s pipe.
Rose-Beetle Man’s curious nasal voice.
Humour:
Humour is a tool that makes audience laugh, or that intends to induce amusement or laughter. Its
purpose is to break the monotony/boredom and tedium and make the audiences’ nerves relaxed.
Examples from the chapter:
Roger and Achilles’ rivalry.
Language Work
Anagrams: An anagram is direct word switch or word play, it is the result of rearranging the letters of
a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase ,using all letters exactly once. Interestingly,”
William Shakespeare” forms the anagram “Hear me as I will speak “.The original word or phrase is
known as the subject of the anagram.
Example
Subject of the anagram Anagram
Mother-in-law Hitler woman
Debit card Bad credit
Dormitory Dirty room
Schoolmaster The classroom
Scare Cares
Shrub Brush
Sinks Skins
Coal Cola
Remain Marine
Nameless Salesman
Sail Ails
South Shout
Astronomer Moon starer
Silent Listen
The eyes They see
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