ICSE Class 10 English — 2023 Literature

(i) Option (a) is correct.

(ii) Option (a) is correct.

(iii) Option (b) is correct.

(iv) Option (b) is correct.

(v) Option (d) is correct.

(vi) Option (b) is correct.

(vii) Option (c) is correct.

(viii) Option (b) is correct.

(ix) Option (c) is correct.

(x) Option (a) is correct.

(xi) Option (d) is correct.

(xii) Option (b) is correct.

(xiii) Option (a) is correct.

(xiv) Option (b) is correct.

(xv) Option (d) is correct.

(xvi) Option (d) is correct.

SECTION B

(i) Portia refers to Bassanio as ‘my lord’.

(ii) Her lord, Bassanio, is in Venice. Bassanio had left in

such a haste because his friend Antonio had been

arrested and he had to return to Venice to rescue

him.

(iii) The ‘secret vow’ that Portia talks means that she

is going to live a life of prayer and contemplation

until her husband comes back from Venice and for

this purpose, she will stay in a monastery.

(iv) Portia asked Lorenzo to manage her household

until her husband returns. She makes this request

because she, accompanied by Nerissa, will stay in

a monastery, a life of prayer and contemplation till

their husbands return. A little later, Portia instructs

her servant Balthazar to take the letter which she

has given him and give it to her cousin, Doctor

Bellario. Balthazar should also bring the notes and

clothes that Doctor Bellario gives and take them to

Venice as soon as possible.

(v) From Portia’s conversation with Nerissa we learn

that they both will dress up as men. The reference

to notes and clothes indicate that Portia and Nerissa

will dress up as lawyers fight the legal battle for

Antonio against Shylock in the court.

I prefer the businesslike Portia that we meet in this

scene because this Portia is more confident and

independent enough to get things done when her

husband is not around.

(i) ‘Principal’ is the amount of money, 3000 ducats,

that Shylock gave to Antonio.

Portia refuses to give the principal amount to

Shylock as according to the agreement,he can only

receive the penalty and not the principal amount.

(ii) The forfeiture is the penalty, i.e. a pound of flesh

from near Antonio’s heart.

According to the agreement, Shylock could only

take ‘a pound of flesh’ from near Antonio’s heart

assuring that not a single drop of blood is dropped

from his body. If Shylock took the forfeiture, he will

surely drop Antonio’s blood and then he will be

sentenced to death.

(iii) The law of Venice also states that if a foreigner

tries to kill a citizen, that citizen will take half of his

goods and the other half will be confiscated by the

state. The life of this foreigner will be at the mercy

of the duke.

(iv) Antonio offers Shylockhis share of half of the goods

owed to him.

He makes this offer on the basis of two conditions,

first that Shylock converts to Christianity and

second that after his death, he will give everything

to his daughter and son-in-law, Lorenzo.

(v) Shylock was in a hurry to leave the courtroom

after the trial because he was not feeling well after

hearing the proceedings in the court.

Shylock can be blamed much for what happened in

the court as he could have easily shown mercy and

forgiven Antonio. He could also have taken 6000

ducats instead of 3000 ducats. But he chose not to

show mercy and did not forgive Antonio.

SECTION C

(i) The children’s mother was an excessive alcoholic

person who died at the threshold of her house. Due

to excessive drinking, the mother had a drunken fit

and died.

(ii) The people of village treated the woman

differently. The woman is ‘scoffed at’ and is ‘angrily

denounced’ by everyone in the village. And so she

has no friends or family.

After the woman died, the anger of the people is

replaced by pity and ‘sorrow’ by ‘denunciation’.

This tells us that people can change and get

emotionally attached to others. Though the people

of the village did not like the woman, after her

death they planned a modest funeral for her and

also looked after her children.

(iii) The names of the three children are John, Kate, and

Maggie. John is a ‘stout lad’, Kate is a ‘bright and

active girl’, and Maggie is ‘hopelessly diseased’.

(iv) After the mother’sdeath, farmerJones takes Johnso

that he could help him with farming. Mrs Ellis takes

Kate as she wanted a bound girl. Initially, nobody

wanted to take Maggie and it was decided that she

would be left in the poorhouse. But later, Mr Joe

Thompson showed pity and took her to his house.

(v) Maggiecanbeconsideredasthe‘AngelinDisguise’.

Maggie turns out to be a blessing in the Thompson home. Initially, he states the fact that he plans on

taking her to the poorhouse possibly the next day.

She agrees somehow, but after spending a day and

night with the small child, with every moment Mrs.

Thompson’s heart grows compassionate tending to

the small orphan girl. Not having a child of her own

or any interests or things to take care of, had led her

to become less compassionate. Caring for the child

gives her a sense of purpose and meaning in her

otherwise dull housewife’s life. Thus, the little girl

notonlychangedherattitudetowardsthembutalso

brought light and joy into their home. She becomes

extra careful for Maggie and gives up the idea of

sending her to the poorhouse. She accepts her as

herchildandcarriesherinherheartaswellasarms.

From a rude, ill-tempered and selfish lady, Mrs.

Thompson becomes a living and compassionate

person. Thompson house is filled with boundless

joy which they had never experienced before. Thus

Maggie, becomes an ‘Angel in disguise’ for the

Thompsons.

(i) Margot is a nine year old girl whose family had

moved from Earth to Venus when she was four

years old.

The author describes Margot as a ‘very frail girl’

who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for

years. She looked very pale as if the rain had taken

the ‘blue from her eyes’, the red from her mouth,

and the yellow from her hair. The author also

describes her as an ‘old photograph’.

(ii) ‘They’ are the classmates of Margot. These children

live on planet Venus. One fact about planet Venus

is that it rains heavily throughout and the sun can

only be seen once in seven years.

(iii) The two words that describe what the children

were experiencing is remorse and guilty.

The mention of Margot’s name affect them because

they had locked her in the closet and so she could

not see the sun.

(iv) The children had eagerly waited to see the sun

that day. This event was special because on planet

Venus it always rained and only after seven years

sun could be seen. That day was the day when the

sun would appear for two hours.

This event meant so much to Margot in particular

because she remembers the warmth of the sun and

she has tried to explain to other children what sun

was like and what sunshine was. But the children

hardly believed her. So now when the sun would

appear the children will agree that whatever

Margot had told them about the sun was true.

(v) Thecentralthemeofthestory“AllSummerinaDay”

isjealousy,bullying,andisolation.Thestoryisabout

a group of children ostracizing and bullying a child

who doesn’t fit in. Margot, who moved to Venus

from Earth several years before, has real memories

of the sun, unlike her classmates who have seen

only constant rain. As sunlight is the experience

thatthechildrenonVenuscherishthemost,Margot

becomes a scapegoat for the children’s frustration

and longing. Their jealousy of her experiences leads

them to a profound act of cruelty, which suggests

that jealousy and deprivation, rather than outright

hatred, are the engines of bullying. The children

are jealous of Margot because, while they can only

speculate about what sunlight is like, Margot spent

her early childhood on Earth. As the classroom

prepares for Venus’ short period of sunlight,

Margot writes a clever poem about the sun. Because

only Margot remembers the sun. The children who

inflict great harm on Margot do so not because

they personally hate her, but because of a very real

sense of deprivation. Margot is unjustly tormented

for having seen the sun, but the children are also

intensely aware that she has access to the thing that

is most scarce and desirable to them. Ultimately, the

story shows that even extremely cruel bullying is

driven by more complicated motives than hatred

alone.

Since the children had always treated Margot

badly, they must have felt ashamed. The only

grounds of discrimination were because Margot

had actually seen the sun and the other children

hadn’t. Now, that they too had seen the sun, they

must have realised why Margot remained sad

and cut off from them. They must have regretted

locking her in the closet and must have felt guilty

that she alone had missed witnessing the sun. The

realisation that Margot had always been right and

they had been wrongly mistreating her must be

very strong among them.

The story is said to end on a note of hope because

the children towards the end realise that they have

treated Margot wrongly and bullied her. There is

a possibility that the children will become friends

with Margot and treat her well.

SECTION D

(i)Thesewordscreateamelancholicmood.Itshows

that the poet is wandering aimlessly and is lonely.

On seeing the daffodils ‘fluttering and dancing’ in

the field, the mood of the poet changes.

(ii) The poet says that when he was wandering lonely

over valleys and hills, he suddenly saw a ‘crowd’

of golden daffodils. These daffodils were ‘fluttering

and dancing’ on a breezy day by the lake. It looked

as if the daffodils were dancing and inviting the

poet to join and enjoy the breeze flowing in the

fields.

(iii) The poet compares this sight to the numerous stars

that ‘twinkle on the milky way’. The shine of the

daffodils is compared to the twinkling of the stars.

The poet seems to be profoundly charmed by the

swaying movement of the flowers due to the breeze

and he remarks that the flowers seem to dance in

exuberance.

(iv) The poet in the line ‘Ten thousand saw I at a glance’

means that at one look he could see innumerable

Oswaal ISC Question Bank Chapterwise & Topicwise, ENGLISH-2, Class-X 8

daffodils as if there were ten thousand of them.

Two other words that create the impression of large

numbers are ‘crowd’ and ‘host’.

(v) The sight of the daffodils being present in large

numbers along the shore of the lake, spellbinds the

poet and he, in a quick glance guesses them to be

‘ten thousand’.

The poet could not help to be happy in such a

joyful company of flowers. He says that he stared

and stared, but did not realise what wealth the

scene would bring him. For now, whenever he

feels “vacant” or “pensive”, the memory strikes

“that inward eye” that is “the bliss of solitude” and

his heart fills with pleasure, “and dances with the

daffodils.”

ThistellsusthatWordsworthisverymuchattached

to the nature and that nature is an important part of

his life. When the poet’s mind is unrestrained by

thedisturbingelementsoftherealworld,herevives

the pleasant and soothing memory of the daffodils

which becomes a source of joy and inspiration for

him, and he feels his heart filled with pleasure and

dancing with the daffodils. So, the nature helps him

cope with the solitude in his life.

(i) The opening lines of the poem describe the

actions of a free bird. It takes a jump and hovers

itself over the wind and travels along with the

current, relishing in the sea of orange sunlight and

proclaiming its freedom. Here, the ‘free bird’ refers

to the people who enjoy the right to take their

decision in life independently and enjoy the bliss of

freedom.

(ii) The poem highlights the plight of the caged bird

for whom freedom is a mere dream. He has lost

the hope of flying freely in the sky with his wings

wide open because his wings are clipped and feet

are tied. He is forced to live in a confined space

and peep between the bars to have a glimpse of the

outside world. He is deprived of the joy of freedom.

The only thing he can do is to open his mouth and

sing. Here, Maya Angelou shares her frustration of

being restricted to enjoy the freedom which should

have been her right as a human being.

(iii) The phrase ‘grave of dreams’ means that the

caged bird who is a captive, knows that his desire

and dream to be free is futile. And so his dreams

culminate into nightmares. To sing, is the only

freedom available to the caged bird. Though his

heart is fearful and unmet, the bird continues to

sing of liberty, something he does not have. The

caged bird’s song is not of sadness but of inspiration

and hope.

(iv) The ‘free bird’ represents the white people and

the ‘caged bird’ represents the people of the black

community.

According to me, in today’s world, the people of

Afghanistan are the caged birds who are struggling

for their freedom against the Talibans.

(This is a sample response. Accept all relevant answer.)

(v) The poem ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’

reveals Maya Angelou’s feelings about her own

dreams. She has so many dreams that have died

becauseshewasnevergiventhefreedomtoachieve

all that her white counterparts were able to achieve.

Discrimination and racism made up her cage, and

although she sang, she felt her voice was not heard

in the wide world, but only by those nearest to her

cage.

The poem is a contrast between a ‘free bird’ and

a ‘caged bird’. The caged bird possesses its own

limitations. His wings are clipped and feet are tied.

He hardly even gets a chance to see the sky. He has

been placed in a cage that prevents it from flying.

Despite its fear, the cage bird continues to sing for

freedom. The bird opens his mouth to sing because

his desire for freedom and his desire to express

himself cannot be controlled. Whereas a free bird

thinks of another breeze so that he can enjoy the

“sighing trees” i.e., it is free from all worries and

sufferings.

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