Class 12 English (Elective) Chapter 3 – A Wedding in Brownsville Important Question Answers from Kaleidoscope Book Short Stories
Class 12 English (Elective) A Wedding in Brownsville Question Answers – Looking for questions and answers for CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Short Stories Chapter 3 – A Wedding in Brownsville? 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 3 – A Wedding in Brownsville 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.
- A Wedding in Brownsville NCERT Solutions
- A Wedding in Brownsville Grammar Exercise
- A Wedding in Brownsville Extra Question Answers
- A Wedding in Brownsville Multiple Choice Questions
- A Wedding in Brownsville Extract Based Questions
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A Wedding in Brownsville Textbook Questions (NCERT Solutions)
Stop and Think
1. Who were the Senciminers?
Ans. Jews who were natives of the town of Sencimin are called Senciminers. They were forced to leave when the city was occupied by Germans.
2. Why did Dr Margolin not particularly want his wife to accompany him to the wedding?
Ans. American Judiasm was a mess and the standards of Jews had fallen to such an extent that Solomon felt ashamed in front of his American wife Gretl whenever she accompanied him to a Jewish wedding or the Bar Mitzvah.
3. What is the Hippocratic oath?
Ans. The oath administered to doctors when they join the medical profession is called the hippocratic oath. According to it, physicians have to meet the ethical standards while interacting with their patients.
4. What topic does the merry banter at the wedding invariably lead to?
Ans. The merry banter between the Jews at the wedding gradually led to the discussion about those who had died in the war. The woman and Solomon started discussing about their family members, relatives and acquaintances who had died in the holocaust.
5. Who was the woman that Dr Margolin suddenly encountered at the wedding?
Ans. The woman was Raizel, the daughter of the watchmaker, Melekh. He had known her in Sencimin and had been in love with her. However, she married someone else and was shot dead by the Nazis.
6. What were the events that led to his confused state of mind?
Ans. Solomon saw Raizel whom he had known to be dead. Then he could not find his wallet. Also, the idea that the woman was perhaps Raizel’s daughter who was imitating her mother. These thoughts led to confusion.
Understanding the Text
1. What do you understand of Dr Margolin’s past? How does it affect his present life?
Ans. Dr Margolin’s past life, his childhood, had been spent in Sencimin. He was considered a prodigy. However, it was marred by the reign of Hitler. Margolin had lost his family to the Holocaust. Now he was a successful doctor settled in new York, with wealthy patients and an office at the West end Avenue. Still, he was sad within and had lost faith in humanity. He suffered from hypochondria and the fear of death haunted even his dreams.
2. What was Dr Margolin’s attitude towards his profession?
Ans. Margolin was a sincere doctor who lived up to the hippocratic oath. He was extremely honourable towards the patients and fulfilled their expectations.
3. What is Dr Margolin’s view of the kind of life the American Jewish community leads?
Ans. The American Jews and the Jewish Americans were a type of new race. At the weddings, Jewish laws and customs were completely distorted; men who had no regard for Jewishness wore skullcaps; and the reverend rabbis and cantors aped the Christian ministers. American Judaism was a mess.
4. What were the personality traits that endeared Dr Margolin to others in his community?
Ans. Dr Solomon was popular among those who were from Sencimin. He had been a genius child and was well-known for his capabilities and intelligence. He treated his people free of cost. His impressive attractive personality made the Senciminers spend time with him.
5. Why do you think Dr Margolin had the curious experience at the wedding hall?
Ans. On his way to the wedding, Margolin met with an accident and died. However, his astral body went to the wedding. There he had curious experiences of meeting the dead Senciminers, Raizel who had been shot dead long ago and being unable to find his wallet.
6. Was the encounter with Raizel an illusion or was the carousing at the wedding-hall illusory? Was Dr Margolin the victim of the accident and was his astral body hovering in the world of twilight?
Ans. The entire episode at the wedding was an illusion because Solomon had died in the accident. It was his astral body that was hovering in the world of twilight. The meeting with Raizel who had died long ago, the carousing at the wedding was all an illusion.
Appreciation
1. Surrealism was an artistic and literary movement in France between the two World Wars. Its basic idea is that the automatic, illogical and uncontrolled associations of the mind represent a higher reality than the world of practical life and ordinary literature. Do you think this story could be loosely classified as surrealistic? What elements in this story would support the idea?
Ans. The illusionary atmosphere created in the story through the encounters of Solomon after his death make it surrealistic. We get to know about the experiences of his astral body which hovers in the world of twilight. These experiences appear to be illogical because he meets the dead, is confused and is unable to find his belongings.
2. Comment on the technique used by the author to convey the gruesome realities of the war and its devastating effect on the psyche of human beings through an intense personal experience.
Ans. The author has employed banter between the wedding guests and Dr Margolin to express their anguish over the outcomes of the war. The long lost friends relive the horror of losing their families and their community to the gruesome holocaust.
A Wedding in Brownsville Grammar Exercises
Language Work
A. Grammar: Sentence Variety
A long series of sentences of similar structure and length would be monotonous. Sentences of varied length and pattern contribute to a lively style. Let us look at this paragraph
(1) Usually after breakfast on Sunday, he and his wife took a walk in Central Park, or, when the weather was mild, went to the Palisades. (2) But today Solomon Margolin lingered in bed. (3) During the years, he had stopped attending functions of the Senciminer Society; meanwhile the town of Sencimin had been destroyed. (4) His family there had been tortured, burned, gassed. (5) Many Senciminers had survived, and, later, come to America from the camps, but most of them were younger people whom he, Solomon, had not known in the old country. (6) Tonight everyone would be there; the Senciminers belonging to the bride’s family and the Tereshpolers belonging to the groom’s. (7) He knew how they would pester him, reproach him for growing aloof, drop hints that he was a snob. (8) They would address him familiarly, slap him on the back, drag him off to dance. (9) Well, even so, he had to go to Sylvia’s wedding. (10) He had already sent out the present.
The paragraph has ten sentences in all. The word-lengths of the sentences in the order in which they occur in the paragraph are: 25, 07, 20, 08, 29, 19, 19, 15,10, 07. We find the range to be between 7 and 29.
We find a similar variation in sentence patterns
Sentence (1) Compound sentence. Two independent clauses joined by the coordinating conjunction ‘or’
Sentence (2) Simple sentence
Sentence (3) Two simple sentences joined by a semi-colon. Conjunction: meanwhile
Sentence (4) Simple sentence
Sentence (5) Compound-Complex sentence consisting of two independent clauses joined by ‘and’; the third part has another independent clause joined with the second by ‘but’. It has a relative clause joined to it by the subordinator ‘whom’
Sentence (6) Simple sentence. A main clause followed by two non-finite clauses set in apposition to the main clause
Sentence (7) Complex sentence. One main clause and three parallel subordinate clauses, hinging on the subordinator ‘how’, ‘they’ and ‘would’ going with each clause and another subordinate clause depending on ‘drop hints’
Sentence (8) Parallel independent clauses following the same subject ‘They’. The auxiliary ‘would’ goes with each verb
Sentence (9) Simple sentence
Sentence (10) Simple sentence.
You will also notice the use of the past tense, past perfect for events and the future. The story is narrated in the past. The protagonist’s remote past are in the past perfect. The protagonist’s expectation of what would happen at the wedding is in the future.
Note that the variation of form emerges from the emphasis in meaning.
TASK
Examine the paragraph beginning ‘Some time later the taxi started moving again…’ for variety in sentence length and sentence structure.
Ans. (1) Some time later the taxi started moving again. (2) Solomon Margolin was now driving through streets he had never seen before. (3) It was New York, but it might just as well have been Chicago or Cleveland. (4) They passed through an industrial district with factory buildings, warehouses of coal, lumber, scrap iron. (5) Negroes, strangely black, stood about on the sidewalks, staring ahead, their great dark eyes full of gloomy hopelessness. (6) Occasionally the car would pass a tavern. (7) The people at the bar seemed to have something unearthly about them, as if they were being punished here for sins committed in another incarnation. (8) Just when Solomon Margolin was beginning to suspect that the driver, who had remained stubbornly silent the whole time, had gotten lost or else was deliberately taking him out of his way, the taxi entered a thickly populated neighbourhood. (9) They passed a synagogue, a funeral parlour, and there, ahead, was the wedding hall, all lit up, with its neon Jewish sign and Star of David. (10) Dr Margolin gave the driver a dollar tip and the man took it without uttering a word.
The paragraph has ten sentences in all. The word-lengths of the sentences in the order in which they occur in the paragraph are: 08, 12, 15, 15, 18, 07, 25, 39, 26, 17. We find the range to be between 7 and 39.
B. Pronunciation
In a word such as ‘afternoon’ the third syllable (noon) is the most prominent. This is called the primary stress
after’ noon
You will also notice that the first syllable is less prominent than the third syllable. This is called the secondary stress. In the dictionary, the primary stress and the secondary stress are indicated as
,after’ noon
The middle syllable is unstressed.
TASK
Say the following words with correct stress. These words carry stress-pattern similar to the example given above.
| understand | apprehend | rearrange |
| refugee | addressee |
Ans.
Under’ stand
,appre’ hend
,rea’ range
,refu’ gee
,addre’ see
Given below are some words chosen from the lesson. Mark the primary and secondary stresses for each word.
| invitation | responsible | seventeen |
| American | illustrious | ambulance |
| association | honourable | permanent |
| creator |
Ans.
invi’ tation
A’ merican
A, ssoci’ ation
Cre’ ator
Re’ sponsible
I’ llustrous
‘Honourable
,seven’ teen
‘ambulance
‘permanent
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Chapter 3 – A Wedding in Brownsville Extra Question and Answers
Answer the following questions
Q1. Why did Margolin move to New York?
Ans. Margolin hailed from Sencimin, a Jewish town in Poland. During the holocaust, most of them were eliminated and those who managed to flee took rescue in America. Thus, Margolin moved to New York.
Q2. What was Margolin’s profession? How did he perform it?
Ans. Margolin was a doctor. He was very sincere in the profession. He never violated the hippocratic oath and had a good reputation with his wealthy patients.
Q3. How did Margolin meet his wife Gretl?
Ans. Gretl had been a nurse at a hospital in Berlin where Margolin has been a member of the staff. They met there. Gretl was an American but after marrying Margolin, she adopted the Jewish traditions and ways of life.
Q4. Describe Margolin’s personality.
Ans. Dr Solomon Margolin was a child prodigy. During the holocaust, he lost his family members and fled to America. There he became a successful doctor but the scars of the massacre which had killed his entire family remained on his soul. He was unhappy from within.
In person he was tall and quite handsome, and he had always had a way with women. He still pursued them. He was particular about his looks.
He was a sincere doctor and took good care of his wealthy patients. He was also a popular member of the American Jewish community and held important positions in the various committees. Margolin provided free treatment to Rabbis, refugees and Jewish writers and at times even helped get a bed in the hospital.
Q5. Who was Raizel?
Ans. Raizel was a Jew from Sencimin, the daughter of Melekh. Margolin had been in love with her but it remained unfulfilled. Raizel had married someone else and later had been shot dead by the Nazis.
Class 12 A Wedding in Brownsville Multiple Choice Questions
Q1. Why was the wedding a burden for Dr Margolin?
A. the venue was far
B. it was on a Sunday
C. he disliked attending wedding parties
D. all of these
Ans. B. it was on a Sunday
Q2. ‘The Zionists had appointed him to a committee; he was a board member of a Jewish scholastic society; he had become co-editor of an academic Jewish quarterly.’ The quarterly was published every __ months.
A. 3
B. 2
C. 5
D. 6
Ans. A. 3
Q3. What fee did Margolin charge from rabbis?
A. $100
B. $50
C. nothing
D. $10
Ans. C. nothing
Q4. Whose wedding was it?
A. Raizel
B. Gretl
C. Abraham
D. Sylvia
Ans. D. Sylvia
Q5. What does ‘prerogative’ mean?
A. order or judgement
B. An exclusive right or priviledge
C. fashion sense
D. none of these
Ans. B. An exclusive right or priviledge
Q6. Whom did the Rabbis copy?
A. cantors
B. Christian ministers
C. both A and B
D. None of these
Ans. B. Christian ministers
Q7. How was Margolin’s family in Sencimin?
A. Happy and healthy
B. They had left Sencimin
C. tortured, burned, gassed
D. doing prosperous business
Ans. C. tortured, burned, gassed
Q8. The groom’s family belonged to the _______
A. Senciminers
B. Poles
C. Tereshpolers
D.none of these
Ans. C. Tereshpolers
Q9. Where did Gretl’s sister live?
A. Sencimin
B. Tereshpole
C. Hamburg
D. none of these
Ans. C. Hamburg
Q10. Where was Margolin’s office located?
A. East end avenue
B. West end Avenue
C. North end Avenue
D. South end Avenue
Ans. B. West end Avenue
Q11. What did Margolin’s father do?
A. He was an advocate
B. He was a rabbi
C. He was a teacher
D. He was a cantor
Ans. C. He was a teacher
Q12. What was Margolin considered in his childhood?
A. auspicious
B. inauspicious
C. genius
D. nerd
Ans. C. genius
Q13. Raizel was the daughter of ________
A. Melekh
B. Mekheles
C. Solomon
D. Hitler
Ans. A. Melekh
Q14. Choose the correct description of Margolin-
A. tall, slim, blond, blue-eyed
B. tall, slim, blond, green-eyed
C. tall, slim, blond, pink-eyed
D. tall, slim, blond, black-eyed
Ans. A. tall, slim, blond, blue-eyed
Q15. Which of the following images best shows a monocle?
Ans. B
Q16. Most of Margolin’s colleagues owned a __________
A. car
B. Cadillac
C. House
D. Contessa
Ans. B. Cadillac
Q17. Where was the wedding venue?
A. Brownsville
B. Sencimin
C. Tereshpole
D. Not mentioned
Ans. A. Brownsville
Q18. What does the phrase ‘worth a pinch of dust’ mean?
A. very precious
B. of no value
C. a hidden gem
D. none of these
Ans. B. of no value
Q19. After seeing the car accident, why did the scene outside the cab become strange for Margolin?
A. He had landed in an unknown place
B. He had died and his astral body was roaming around
C. He was dreaming
D. none of these
Ans. B. He had died and his astral body was roaming around
Q20. What is an ‘incarnation’?
A. A generation
B. A type of vehicle
C. A Lifetime
D. None of these
Ans. C. A Lifetime
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Chapter A Wedding in Brownsville Extract-Based Questions
A. The day had dawned, grey and dreary as dusk. Overnight, a heavy snow had fallen. Solomon Margolin had hoped to make up for the sleep he was going to lose, but unfortunately he had woken even earlier than usual. Finally he got up. He shaved himself meticulously at the bathroom mirror and also trimmed the grey hair at his temples. Today of all days he looked his age: there were bags under his eyes, and his face was lined. Exhaustion showed in his features. His nose appeared longer and sharper than usual; there were deep folds at the sides of his mouth. After breakfast he stretched out on the living-room sofa. From there he could see Gretl, who was standing in the kitchen, ironing—blonde, faded, middle-aged. She had on a skimpy petticoat, and her calves were as muscular as a dancer’s. Gretl had been a nurse in the Berlin hospital where he had been a member of the staff. Of her family, one brother, a Nazi, had died of typhus in a Russian prison camp. A second, who was a Communist, had been shot by the Nazis. Her aged father vegetated at the home of his other daughter in Hamburg, and Gretl sent him money regularly. She herself had become almost Jewish in New York. She had made friends with Jewish women, joined Hadassah, learned to cook Jewish dishes. Even her sigh was Jewish. And she lamented continually over the Nazi catastrophe. She had her plot waiting for her beside his in that part of the cemetery that the Senciminers had reserved for themselves.
1. Which city do the Solomons live in?
Ans. They live in New York.
2. How is Margolin related to Gretl?
Ans. They are husband and wife.
3. Find a synonym of ‘vegetated’ as used in the extract-
A. Grew
B. Sung
C. Rot
D. Idle
Ans. D. Idle
4. Describe Gretl.
Ans. Gretl had worked as a nurse at a hospital in Berlin. She is blonde, middle-aged and faded. She has strong calves like dancers have. She lost one brother to typhus in a Russian prison camp and the other, a Communist was shot by Nazis. Her father lived with her elder sister in hamburg and she regularly sent him money.
5. What weather is the story set in?
Ans. It is snowing so it is set in the winter season.
B. Dr Margolin admitted to himself that his wife was right. When would he get a chance to sleep? He had to be at the hospital early Monday morning. Moreover he was on a strict fat-free diet. A wedding like this one would be a feast of poisons. Everything about such celebrations irritated him now: the Anglicised Yiddish, the Yiddishised English, the ear-splitting music and unruly dances. Jewish laws and customs were completely distorted; men who had no regard for Jewishness wore skullcaps; and the reverend rabbis and cantors aped the Christian ministers. Whenever he took Gretl to a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, he was ashamed. Even she, born a Christian, could see that American Judaism was a mess. At least this time he would be spared the trouble of making apologies to her.
1. Gretl was right for what?
Ans. Gretl had refused to attend the wedding because it would get over at 3 in the morning and they would not get any time to sleep. Moreover, the greasy food served there was not preferred by her.
2. Find a synonym of ‘copied’ from the extract.
Ans. Aped
3. Why was Solomon ashamed everytime he took Gretl to a wedding?
Ans. He felt ashamed because American Judaism was a mess. The feasts were not less than poison. The rabbis and cantors aped Christian ministers. The music was ear-splitting and the dances were unruly.
4. What was Gretl’s religion?
Ans. She was a born Christian.
5. Why did Solomon apologize to Gretl in the past?
Ans. After attending a wedding or visiting the Bar Mitzvah, Solomon would feel ashamed of the degraded standards of the American Jews. This would make him apologize to Gretl.
C. Gretl came in from the kitchen. ‘What shirt are you going to put on?’ Solomon Margolin regarded her quietly. She had had her own share of troubles. She had suffered in silence for her two brothers, even for Hans, the Nazi. She had gone through a prolonged change of life. Now her face was flushed and covered with beads of sweat. He earned more than enough to pay for a maid, yet Gretl insisted on doing all the housework herself, even the laundry. It had become a mania with her. Every day she scoured the oven. She was forever polishing the windows of their apartment on the sixteenth floor and without using a safety belt. All the other housewives in the building ordered their groceries delivered, but Gretl lugged the heavy bags from the supermarket herself.
Now husband and wife sized each other up wryly, feeling the strangeness that comes of great familiarity. He was always amazed at how she had lost her looks. No one feature had altered, but something in her aspect had given way: her pride, her hopefulness, her curiosity.
He blurted out: ‘What shirt? It doesn’t matter. A white shirt.’
1. Find a synonym for ‘madness’.
Ans. Mania
2. What all chores did Gretl do?
Ans. She cleaned the windows of their 16th floor apartment, did the laundry and other houseworks and even went to buy the groceries.
3. Did Gretl take any help for lugging the heavy bags from the supermarket?
Ans. No, she lugged the heavy bags from the supermarket herself.
4. Why was Gretl’s face covered with beads of sweat?
Ans. She had been doing the household chores due to which there were beads of sweat on her face.
5. What does the manner of Solomon’s speech indicate about him?
Ans. It indicates that he was nervous or excited to have spoken abruptly without consideration.
D. Dr Margolin entered the outer lobby and immediately the comfortable intimacy of the Senciminers engulfed him. AII the faces he saw were familiar, though he didn’t recognise individuals. Leaving his hat and coat at the checkroom, he put on a skullcap and entered the hall. It was filled with people and music, with tables heaped with food, a bar stacked with bottles. The musicians were playing an Israeli march that was a hodge-podge of American jazz with Oriental flourishes. Men were dancing with men, women with women, men with women. He saw black skullcaps, white skullcaps, bare heads. Guests kept arriving, pushing their way through the crowd, some still in their hats and coats, munching hors d’oeuvres, drinking schnapps. The hall resounded with stamping, screaming, laughing, clapping. Flash bulbs went off blindingly as the photographers made their rounds. Seeming to come from nowhere, the bride appeared, briskly sweeping up her train, followed by a retinue of bridesmaids. Dr Margolin knew everybody, and yet knew nobody. People spoke to him, laughed, winked, and waved, and he answered each one with a smile, a nod, a bow. Gradually he threw off all his worries, all his depression. He became half-drunk on the amalgam of odours: flowers, sauerkraut, garlic, perfume, mustard, and that nameless odour that only Senciminers emit. ‘Hello, Doctor!’ ‘Hello Schloime-Dovid, you don’t recognise me, eh? Look, he forgot!’ There were the encounters, the regrets, the reminiscences of long ago. ‘But after all, weren’t we neighbours? You used to come to our house to borrow the Yiddish newspaper!’ Someone had already kissed him: a badly shaven snout, a mouth reeking of whiskey and rotten teeth. One woman was so convulsed with laughter that she lost an earring. Margolin tried to pick it up, but it had already been trampled underfoot. ‘You don’t recognise me, eh? Take a good look! It’s Zissel, the son of Chaye Beyle!’ ‘Why don’t you eat something?’ ‘Why don’t you have something to drink? Come over here. Take a glass. What do you want? Whiskey? Brandy? Cognac? Scotch? With soda? With Coca Cola? Take some, it’s good. Don’t let it stand. So long as you’re here, you might as well enjoy yourself.’ ‘My father? He was killed. They were all killed. I’m the only one left of the entire family.’ ‘Berish the son of Feivish? Starved to death in Russia—they sent him to Kazakhstan. His wife? In Israel. She married a Lithuanian.’ ‘Sorele? Shot. Together with her children.’ ‘Yentl? Here at the wedding. She was standing here just a moment ago. There she is, dancing with that tall fellow.’ ‘Abraham Zilberstein? They burned him in the synagogue with twenty others. A mound of charcoal was all that was left, coal and ash.’ ‘Yosele Budnik? He passed away years ago. You must mean Yekele Budnik. He has a delicatessen store right here in Brownsville—married a widow whose husband made a fortune in real estate.’
1. What is Margolin’s childhood name?
Ans. Schloime-Dovid
2. What is the group of Senciminers talking about?
Ans. They are talking about the dead people from Sencimin.
3. What followed the bride?
Ans. A group of bridesmaids followed the bride.
4. What does ‘reeking’ mean?
Ans. to emit a foul smell.
5. Identify the odours which formed the amalgam of odours.
Ans. There was the odour of flowers, sauerkraut, garlic, perfume, mustard, and that nameless odour that only Senciminers emit.