Class 12 English (Elective) Chapter 1 – I Sell My Dreams Important Question Answers from Kaleidoscope Book Short Stories
Class 12 English (Elective) I Sell My Dreams Question Answers – Looking for questions and answers for CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Short Stories Chapter 1 – I Sell My Dreams? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 12 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the exam. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Chapter 1 – I Sell My Dreams now. The questions listed below are based on the latest CBSE exam pattern, wherein we have given NCERT solutions to the chapter’s extract-based questions, multiple choice questions and Extra Question Answers
Also, practising with different kinds of questions can help students learn new ways to solve problems that they may not have seen before. This can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better performance on exams.
- I Sell My Dreams NCERT Solutions
- I Sell My Dreams Grammar Exercise
- I Sell My Dreams Extra Question Answers
- I Sell My Dreams Multiple Choice Questions
- I Sell My Dreams Extract Based Questions
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I Sell My Dreams Textbook Questions (NCERT Solutions)
Stop and Think
1. How did the author recognise the lady who was extricated from the car encrusted in the wall of the Havana Riviera Hotel after the storm?
Ans. The author recognised Frieda through her ring as her real name wasn’t known to him when he saw it in the newspaper, but he was captivated by the snake ring and its emerald eyes. Unfortunately, the narrator was unable to discover which finger she wore it on. The author knew that she was an unforgettable woman whose true name he never learned, and who wore a similar ring on her right forefinger, which at that time was rare. He had first encountered the woman thirty-four years ago in Vienna, where she was eating sausage with boiled potatoes and drinking draft beer in a tavern popular among Latin American students.
2. Why did the author leave Vienna never to return?
Ans. Vienna remained an ancient imperial city, whose location between the two opposing worlds created by the Second World War had transformed it into a hub of black market activity and international spying.
The author spent over a month in Vienna, enduring the same financial hardships as his fellow students while he waited for money that never came. Frau Frieda’s unanticipated and generous visits to the tavern felt like celebrations amidst their struggling conditions. Frieda, too, played a role in the narrator’s leaving Vienna as she told him that she dreamed about him last night and that he needed to leave immediately and not return to Vienna for five years. Her certainty was so genuine that he took the last train to Rome that very night. Her words affected him from that moment forward, he viewed himself as a survivor of a disaster he had never gone through. He still has yet to go back to Vienna. However, when she said that he could now go back to Vienna if he wanted to, the author declined it, as he had witnessed the bad experience there during the war times.
3. How did Pablo Neruda know that somebody behind him was looking at him?
Ans. Pablo Neruda was a good observer with ‘child’s curiosity’ and Frieda’s personality, too, was magnetic. Neruda was talking about the culinary delicacies when he stopped his conversation while cutting the lobster’s antennae and told the narrator that someone behind him was looking at him.
4. How did Pablo Neruda counter Frau Frieda’s claims of clairvoyance?
Ans. Pablo Neruda and others were travelling by ship from Naples when the author asked her to join them for coffee at their table. The author prompted her to share her dreams to impress Pablo Neruda. Though Neruda showed little interest, as he had stated from the outset that he did not have faith in prophetic dreams. For him, only poetry possesses prophetic abilities.
Understanding the Text
1. Did the author believe in the prophetic ability of Frau Frieda?
Ans. No, the author doesn’t believe in the prophetic ability of Frau Frieda as he used to earlier. When she told him that she dreamed about him last night and that he needed to leave immediately and not return to Vienna for five years. Her certainty was so genuine that he took the last train to Rome that very night. He was affected by her words that from that moment forward, he viewed himself as a survivor of a disaster he had never gone through. He still has yet to go back to Vienna. However, he told her later that he had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving.
2. Why did he think that Frau Frieda’s dreams were a stratagem for surviving?
Ans. Frieda told the author that she had sold her properties in Austria and retired to Oporto, in Portugal, where she lived in a house that she described as a fake castle on a hill, from which one could see across the ocean to the Americas. Although she did not say so, her conversation made it clear that dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her ineffable patrons in Vienna. That did not surprise the author as he had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving. And he even told her so.
3. Why does the author compare Neruda to a Renaissance pope?
Ans. Though Neruda was the author’s friend, the author mocked his behaviour as indulgent and refined as a Renaissance pope. He always took the lead at mealtime, even when he didn’t want to. A bib around his neck that looked more suitable for a barbershop than a dining table. At Carvalheiras, he ate three whole lobsters, cutting them apart like a surgeon, while also watching everyone else’s food and trying a little bit from each dish. He also talked about other culinary treasures. His attitude was a sheer epitome of extravaganza as they explored second-hand bookstores together. Neruda bought an old, worn book with a damaged binding. He paid as much as he would earn in two months at the consulate in Rangoon. He moved through the crowd like a clumsy elephant, filled with a child’s wonder about everything around him. To him, the world felt like a giant toy, where life unfolds by itself.
Appreciation
1. The story hinges on a gold ring shaped like a serpent with emerald eyes. Comment on the responses that this image evokes in the reader.
Ans. The gold ring shaped like a serpent with emerald eyes evokes the image of the future teller in the mind of the readers. No one knew the woman’s name but everyone remembered her through her ring. It also shows that the author was somewhat right when he said that her image as a future teller was her strategy to make money.
2. The craft of a master storyteller lies in the ability to interweave imagination and reality. Do you think that this story illustrates this?
Ans. Marquez has used magical realism, a literary style combining realistic elements with magical ones that blur the line between reality and speculation. The underlying condition of Columbia in the Second World War and the post-World War has been emphasised throughout the story, even though the story revolves around Frieda, the woman who sells dreams. The author even blurs whether Frieda can really predict the future or not.
3. Bring out the contradiction in the last exchange between the author and the Portuguese ambassador
‘In concrete terms,’ I asked at last, ‘what did she do?’ ‘Nothing,’ he said, with a certain disenchantment. ‘She dreamed.’
Ans. The author knew that Frieda used to sell dreams, but still, he asked the Portuguese ambassador that question highlighting the contradiction not only in the ending but also in the author’s perception of her. He is still quizzical about her dreams.
4. Comment on the ironic element in the story.
Ans. Frieda is the ironic element in the story as everyone knows her but only through her ring, not by her real name. As a future teller, she couldn’t tell her death, though she predicted her own brother’s death. After the accident, everything was left distorted except the ring on her finger. Even in the end, the author asks the ambassador what the woman used to do, while knowing that she sells dreams.
I Sell my Dreams: Grammar Exercises
Language Work
A. Vocabulary
Look up the meanings of the following phrases under ‘dream’ and ‘sell’ in the dictionary.
| dream | sell |
| dream on | sell-by date |
| dream something away | selling-point |
| (not) dream of doing something | sell-out |
| dream something up | selling price |
| looks like a dream | seller’s market |
Ans. Dream
- Dream on: To fantasise about something improbable or unrealistic.
- Dream something away: to waste time by thinking about what may happen
- (not) Dream of doing something: Would not dare consider doing something.
- Dream something up: to invent something very unusual and usually silly.
- Look like a dream: to develop, or work very well
Sell
- sell-by date: a date marked on a perishable product indicating the recommended time by which it should be sold.
- Selling point: a feature of a product for sale that makes it attractive to customers.
- Sell-out: an event for which all tickets are sold.
- Selling price: the price at which a product or service is sold to a customer.
- Seller’s market: an economic situation in which goods are scarce and sellers can keep prices high.
B. Grammar: Emphasis
Read this sentence carefully.
One morning at nine o’clock, while we were having breakfast on the terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel under a bright sun, a huge wave picked up several cars that were driving down the avenue along the seawall or parked on the pavement, and embedded one of them in the side of the hotel.
The position of a word, phrase, or idea within a sentence usually indicates the emphasis it receives. Generally, the most emphatic place in the sentence is its end; the next most emphatic is its beginning; and the least emphatic is its middle.
In the sentence above the most important fact is that the huge wave embedded one of the cars in one side of the hotel.
The other details of time and place are given at the beginning. The general statement of the ‘huge wave picking up several cars’ precedes the particular car which is pertinent to the theme of the story.
Let us rewrite the sentence, beginning with ‘a huge wave’ and the first part following ‘hotel’, and notice the difference in the effect.
A huge wave picked up several cars that were driving down the avenue along the seawall or parked on the pavement, and embedded one of them in the side of the hotel, one morning at nine o’clock, while we were having breakfast on the terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel under a bright sun.
TASK
Study the following sentences and underline the part that receives emphasis.
- I never saw her again or even wondered about her until I heard about the snake ring on the woman who died in the Havana Riviera disaster.
- That did not surprise me, however, because I had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving.
- Although she did not say so, her conversation made it clear that dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her ineffable patrons in Vienna.
- Three tables away sat an intrepid woman in an old-fashioned felt hat and a purple scarf, eating without haste and staring at him.
- I stayed in Vienna for more than a month, sharing the straitened circumstances of the other students while I waited for money that never arrived.
Ans.
- I never saw her again or even wondered about her until I heard about the snake ring on the woman who died in the Havana Riviera disaster.
- That did not surprise me, however, because I had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving.
- Although she did not say so, her conversation made it clear that dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her ineffable patrons in Vienna.
- Three tables away sat an intrepid woman in an old-fashioned felt hat and a purple scarf, eating without haste and staring at him.
- I stayed in Vienna for more than a month, sharing the straitened circumstances of the other students while I waited for money that never arrived.
C. Pronunciation
The syllable is the basic unit of pronunciation. A word may have a single syllable, such as ‘will’, ‘pen’ etc. A word, sometimes, can have more than one syllable for instance ‘willing’ (willing). Each syllable contains a vowel sound, and usually one or more consonants.
You can show the division of a word into syllables like this.
| foolish | fool-ish(2) |
| agreement | a-gree-ment(3) |
| arithmetic | a-rith-me-tic(4) |
TASK
- Say your name aloud and decide how many syllables there are in it. Do the same with the names of your classmates.
- Pick out five words each for two-syllable, three-syllable, and four-syllable words from the lesson.
Ans.
| Words | Syllables |
| Deepali | Dee-pa-li |
| Abhinav | Ab-hi-nav |
| Aryan | Ar-y-an |
| Ruchika | Ru-chi-ka |
| Sahil | Sa-hil |
| Syllables | Words |
| Two syllable | Terrace (Ter-race)
Window (Win-dow) Hotel (Ho-tel) Seawall (Sea-wall) Hailstorm (hail-storm) |
| Three syllable | Dynamite (Dy-na-mite)
Embedded (Em-bed-ded) Explosion (Ex-plo-sion) Crucial (cru-ci-al) Shopkeeper (shop-kee-per) |
| Four syllable | Ambassador (Am-bas-sa-dor)
Volunteers (Vo-lun-te-ers) Information (In-for-ma-tion) Admiration (Ad-mi-ra-tion) Preparation (Pre-pa-ra-tion) |
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Chapter 1 – I Sell My Dreams Extra Question and Answers
Q1. What happened in the hotel when the narrator was having his breakfast on the terrace?
Ans. A huge wave hit several cars while the narrator was having his breakfast on the Hotel’s terrace. The cars were either driving along the avenue by the seawall or parked on the sidewalk. The wave crashed one of the cars into the side of the hotel, making a sound like an explosion. This caused panic throughout all twenty floors of the building and shattered the large entrance window. Many tourists in the lobby were thrown into the air along with the furniture, and some were injured by the falling glass.
Q2. How narrator describe the Frau Frieda?
Ans. The narrator described her as a magnificent soprano figure, the languid fox fur on her coat collar, and that Egyptian ring shaped like a serpent. She spoke basic Spanish with a metallic accent and never paused for breath, leading him to believe she was the only Austrian at the long wooden table. However, she was born in Colombia and moved to Austria as a child between the wars to pursue her studies in music and voice. She was around thirty and didn’t age gracefully, as she had never been beautiful and had started to show signs of ageing early. Yet, she was a delightful person and one of the most impressive individuals the narrator had ever met.
Q3. What are the themes in Marquez’s ‘I sell my Dreams’?
Ans. Marquez explores the theme of war, superstitions, dreams, and power in his story ‘I sell my Dreams’.
Q4. Why do you think the narrator was conflicted about Frieda?
Ans. The narrator didn’t believe in Frieda’s dreams as he even told her though he believed her before. In the ending, after Frieda’s death, he asks the Portuguese Ambassador what she did for a living, though he knows about her, emphasises the conflicted perspective towards Frieda.
Q5. Whom did Pablo Neruda dreamt about?
Ans. Pablo Neruda dreamed about Frau Frieda dreaming about him, and she even told the narrator about seeing the same dream, which left the narrator conflicted as both of them had prophetic dreams, though Neruda didn’t believe in it.
Class 12 I Sell My Dreams Multiple Choice Questions
Q1.Where was the narrator when the waves crashed the car into the hotel?
A. In another hotel
B. In his room
C. Terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel
D. In Austria
Ans. C. Terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel
Q2. What was he doing when the car crashed into the hotel?
A. He was having dinner
B. He wasn’t in the hotel
C. He was having his breakfast on the Hotel’s terrace
D. He was taking a bath in the hotel
Ans. C. He was having his breakfast on the Hotel’s terrace
Q3. Why did the car crash into the hotel?
A. Nobody knew what happened
B. The woman was rashly driving
C. The waves overturned the car and threw it to the hotel entrance window
D. The other car behind the woman’s car overturned it
Ans. C. The waves overturned the car and threw it to the hotel entrance window
Q4. What happened to the tourists in the lobby?
A. Only children were injured
B. Some were thrown into the air while others were injured.
C. No casualties
D. Nobody was in the lobby
Ans. B. Some were thrown into the air while others were injured.
Q5. For whom poetry is clairvoyant?
A. Portuguese Ambassador
B. Author
C. Pablo Neruda
D. Frau Frieda
Ans. C. Pablo Neruda
Q6. Who was Frieda?
A. Poetess
B. Author’s Enemy
C. Shopkeeper’s third child
D. Orphan
Ans. C. Shopkeeper’s third child
Q7. Who said the following lines, ‘Sometimes, with all my dreams, one slip in that has nothing to do with real life’?
A. Author
B. Portuguese Ambassador
C. Pablo Neruda
D. Frau Frieda
Ans. D. Frau Frieda
Q8. Who told Pablo Neruda about Borges?
A. Portuguese Ambassador
B. Pablo Neruda
C. Frau Frieda
D. Author
Ans. D. Author
Q9. Who was Frieda currently working with?
A. She was working for the Author
B. Portuguese ambassador and his spouse
C. In Vienna Household
D. Nowhere
Ans. B. Portuguese ambassador and his spouse
Q10. Who is Borges?
A. Shopkeeper
B. Future Teller
C. Argentinian poet
D. Painter
Ans. C. Argentinian poet
Q11. Who told the narrator to write a story about Frau Frieda?
A. Frau Frieda
B. Pablo Neruda
C. Author
D. Portuguese Ambassador
Ans. D. Portuguese Ambassador
Q12. How did Frieda’s brother die?
A. Frieda killed him
B. He drowned in the sea
C. He choked to death
D. The author murdered him
Ans. C. He choked to death
Q13. Who did Frau Frieda dreamed about in her family?
A. Her mother
B. Her brother
C. Author
D. Her father
Ans. B. Her brother
Q14. What does Frau Frieda do for a living?
A. Nothing
B. She sells rings
C. She sells dreams
D. She owns a castle
Ans. C. She sells dreams
Q15. Who doesn’t want to go back to Vienna?
A. Pablo Neruda
B. Portuguese Ambassador
C. Frau Frieda
D. Author
Ans. D. Author
Q16. Who was travelling with Neruda and his wife on the same ship from Naples?
A. Matilde
B. Frau Frieda
C. Portuguese Ambassador
D. Borges
Ans. B. Frau Frieda
Q17. What was the name of Pablo Neruda’s wife?
A. She has no name
B. Matilde
C. Frau Frieda
D. Portuguese Ambassador
Ans. B. Matilde
Q18. Who does the author compare to the Renaissance pope?
A. Author
B. Frau Frieda
C. Pablo Neruda
D. Portuguese Ambassador
Ans. C. Pablo Neruda
Q19. What was Pablo’s dream about?
A. He has become a famous poet
B. Frau Frieda is dreaming about him
C. He was dreaming about Borges
D. He dreamed about nothing
Ans. B. Frau Frieda is dreaming about him
Q20. Who was the fortune teller in the story ‘I Sell my Dreams’?
A. Frau Frieda
B. Author
C. Portuguese Ambassador
D. Pablo Neruda
Ans. A. Frau Frieda
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Chapter I Sell My Dreams Extract-Based Questions
Answer the following extract-based questions.
A. One morning at nine o’clock, while we were having breakfast on the terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel under a bright sun, a huge wave picked up several cars that were driving down the avenue along the seawall or parked on the pavement, and embedded one of them in the side of the hotel. It was like an explosion of dynamite that sowed panic on all twenty floors of the building and turned the great entrance window to dust. The many tourists in the lobby were thrown into the air along with the furniture, and some were cut by the hailstorm of glass. The wave must have been immense because it leapt over the wide two-way street between the seawall and the hotel and still had enough force to shatter the window.
1. Where was the narrator having his meal?
Ans. The narrator was having his breakfast on the terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel.
2. What happened while he was having his meal?
Ans. The wave crashed one of the cars that were driving down or parked along the seawall into the side of the hotel, making a sound like an explosion.
3. What happened to the tourists in the lobby?
Ans. Many tourists in the lobby were thrown into the air along with the furniture, and some were injured by the falling glass.
4. How can you tell the waves were ‘immense’?
Ans. The wave was massive as it jumped over the wide two-way street that separated the seawall from the hotel and still had enough force to break the window.
5. What happened to the hotel when the car crashed into it?
Ans. The wave crashed one of the cars into the side of the hotel like an explosion causing panic throughout all twenty floors of the building and shattering the large entrance window.
B. The cheerful Cuban volunteers, with the help of the fire department, picked up the debris in less than six hours, sealed off the gate to the sea, and installed another, and everything returned to normal. During the morning nobody worried about the car encrusted in the wall, for people assumed it was one of those that had been parked on the pavement. But when the crane lifted it out of its setting, the body of a woman was found secured behind the steering wheel by a seat belt. The blow had been so brutal that not a single one of her bones was left whole. Her face was destroyed, her boots had been ripped apart, and her clothes were in shreds. She wore a gold ring shaped like a serpent, with emerald eyes. The police established that she was the housekeeper for the new Portuguese ambassador and his wife. She had come to Havana with them two weeks before and had left that morning for the market, driving a new car. Her name meant nothing to me when I read it in the newspaper, but I was intrigued by the snake ring and its emerald eyes. I could not find out, however, on which finger she wore it.
1. Who cleaned up the debris after the incident of a car crashing into the hotel?
Ans. The Cuban volunteers and the fire department cleared the debris in less than six hours. They even sealed off the gate to the sea and put in a new one, so everything went back to normal.
2. Why was nobody worried about the car that had stuck in the wall?
Ans. Nobody was concerned about the car stuck in the wall because people thought it was just one of the cars parked on the pavement.
3. Who was in the car when the crane lifted it?
Ans. When the crane lifted the car, there was a woman behind the steering wheels whose face, boots, and clothes were distorted. The police identified her as the housekeeper for the new Portuguese ambassador and his wife. She had come to Havana with them two weeks before and had left that morning for the market, driving a new car.
4. What intrigued the narrator?
Ans. The narrator was intrigued by the snake ring and its emerald eyes. He knew he saw it somewhere.
5. Did the accident happen because of the woman?
Ans. The accident happened because of the strong waves that swept over the two-way street and thrashed the car into the hotel’s wall.
C. This was a crucial piece of information because I feared she was an unforgettable woman whose real name I never knew, and who wore a similar ring on her right forefinger which, in those days, was even more unusual than it is now. I had met her thirty-four years earlier in Vienna, eating sausage with boiled potatoes and drinking draft beer in a tavern frequented by Latin American students. I had come from Rome that morning, and I still remember my immediate response to her splendid soprano’s bosom, the languid foxtails on her coat collar, and that Egyptian ring in the shape of a serpent. She spoke elementary Spanish in a metallic accent without pausing for breath, and I thought she was the only Austrian at the long wooden table. But no, she had been born in Colombia and had come to Austria between the wars, when she was little more than a child, to study music and voice. She was about thirty and did not carry her years well, for she had never been pretty and had begun to age before her time. But she was a charming human being. And one of the most awe-inspiring.
1. What’s the crucial piece of information for the narrator?
Ans. The crucial piece of information was that the narrator thought she was an unforgettable woman whose true name he never learned, and who wore a similar ring on her right forefinger, which at that time was even rarer than it is today.
2. Describe the woman in the given context.
Ans. The woman had a magnificent soprano figure, the languid fox fur on her coat collar, and that Egyptian ring shaped like a serpent. She spoke basic Spanish with a metallic accent and never paused for breath, which made the narrator believe she was the only Austrian at the long wooden table. However, she was born in Colombia and moved to Austria as a child between the wars to pursue her studies in music and voice.
3. When and where did the narrator meet the woman before?
Ans. The narrator had met her thirty-four years ago in Vienna, where she was eating sausage with boiled potatoes and drinking draft beer in a tavern popular among Latin American students.
4. Where does the woman come from?
Ans. The woman had been born in Colombia and moved to Austria as a child between the wars to pursue her studies in music and voice.
5. What is the age of the woman in the given context?
Ans. The woman in the given context was around thirty and didn’t age gracefully, as she had never been beautiful and had started to show signs of ageing early.
D. She was travelling from Naples on the same ship as Neruda and his wife, but they had not seen each other on board. We invited her to have coffee at our table, and I encouraged her to talk about her dreams to astound the poet. He paid no attention, for from the very beginning he had announced that he did not believe in prophetic dreams.
‘Only poetry is clairvoyant,’ he said.
1. Who was travelling from Naples on the same ship as Neruda and his wife?
Ans. Fau Frieda was also travelling from Naples on the same ship as Neruda and his wife.
2. What did the author do after he saw Frieda?
Ans. After the author saw Frieda, he invited her to their table for coffee.
3. Why did the author invite Fau Frieda to their table?
Ans. The author asked her to join them for coffee at our table, and even prompted her to share her dreams to impress Pablo Neruda.
4. What can you make out about Neruda from the given context?
Ans. Neruda showed little interest, as he had stated from the outset that he did not have faith in prophetic dreams. For him, only poetry possesses prophetic abilities.
5. Was Neruda correct when he said, ‘Only poetry is clairvoyant’?
Ans. No, Neruda was wrong, when he said that poetry is only clairvoyant. His short-sighted opinion and single-mindedness are emphasised here.