Class 11 English (Elective) Essay Chapter 6- The Story Important Question Answers from Woven Words Book
Class 11 English (Elective) The Story Important Question Answers – Looking for questions and answers for CBSE Class 11 English (Elective) Essay Chapter 6 – The Story Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 11 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the exam. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Essay Chapter 6 – The Story 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.
- The Story NCERT Solutions
- The Story Extract Based Questions
- The Story Multiple Choice Questions
- The Story Extra Question Answers
Related:
The Story Textbook Questions (NCERT Solutions)
Look for these expressions and guess their meaning from the context
atavistic
shock-heads
ingenious
Ans. atavistic- Something very ancient and inherited from distant ancestors. Forster uses it to describe the storytelling instinct as a basic, primal element in human nature.
shock-heads- Primitive people with thick, unkempt hair. It is used metaphorically for early humans around the campfire.
ingenious- Clever, original, and inventive. It describes Scheherazade’s storytelling abilities.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
1. What do you understand of the three voices in response to the question ‘What does a novel do’?
Ans. In response to the question, ‘What does a novel do?’, Forster introduces three types of voices:-
First voice: Casual and indifferent – the speaker is vague but acknowledges that a novel tells a story.
Second voice: Aggressive and opinionated – insists that a novel’s only purpose is storytelling and dismisses literary qualities.
Third voice (Forster himself): Regretful and introspective – agrees that storytelling is central, but wishes novels could be defined by deeper elements like melody or truth.
2. What would you say are ‘the finer growths’ that the story supports in a novel?
Ans. The ‘finer growths’ that the story supports in a novel refer to the more artistic elements of fiction like, character development, emotional depth, philosophical insight, moral questions, and aesthetic beauty. These are the elements that elevate a novel from being just a sequence of events to an extraordinary literary experience. While the story serves as the basic structure or “backbone,” it is these finer aspects that give a novel its richness, complexity, and value.
3. How does Forster trace the human interest in the story to primitive times?
Ans. Forster traces human interest in stories back to prehistoric times. He describes Neanderthal men sitting around a campfire, exhausted from hunting, listening to tales that kept them awake purely through suspense. This depiction shows that storytelling is an ancient and atavistic impulse, deeply rooted in human nature. The ability of a story to create suspense and curiosity was so vital that storytellers risked being killed if they bored their audience. By referencing Scheherazade, Forster humorously but effectively illustrates that the need to know ‘what happens next’ is a timeless and universal human craving.
4. Discuss the importance of time in the narration of a story.
Ans. Time is vital in the narration of a story because a story is, at its core, a sequence of events arranged chronologically. Forster states that the story is built on the structure of time, with events being uncovered one after another, dinner follows breakfast, Tuesday follows Monday, and so on. This time sequence, however basic, is what provides coherence to a narrative. Even though daily life also involves emotional values and intensity, which may not adhere to time, a novel cannot escape time within its structure. It must follow the timeline to remain intelligible and meaningful to the reader.
TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT
Discuss in pairs or in small groups
1. What does a novel do?
Ans. A novel tells a story, but its role is much more complex. A good novel does not merely entertain but it engages the reader’s mind and emotions, offering perspectives on life and human nature. Thus, while storytelling is the skeleton, the novel’s real strength lies in how the story is used to explore deeper themes.
2. ‘Our daily life reflects a double allegiance to ‘the life in time’ and ‘the life by values’.
Ans. Forster’s idea that our daily lives reflect a double allegiance, to both the life in time and the life by values, is a great observation. On the one hand, we live chronologically, meaning we measure life in terms of time, hours, days, years. But we also live emotionally and psychologically, where certain moments hold more meaning than others, regardless of their duration. For example, a five-minute conversation or a sudden loss can leave a lifelong impact, showing that values often surpass time.
3. The description of novels as organisms.
Ans. Forster’s comparison of novels to organisms is sharp. Like living beings, novels have various parts that serve different functions but are dependent on each other. The story acts as the backbone that holds everything together. Around it grow the ‘finer’ parts, character, setting, themes, style, all that make each novel unique and meaningful.
APPRECIATION
1. How does Forster use the analogy of Scheherazade to establish his point?
Ans. Forster uses the analogy of Scheherazade to highlight the nature of suspense in storytelling. Scheherazade told stories not just for entertainment but for survival. By leaving her tales unfinished each night, she kept the king curious and ensured her safety. This story exhibits the power of suspense, the need to know ‘what happens next’, as a central element of narrative. Even with all her literary gifts, it was her control over suspense that saved her life. Forster uses this example to underline how even the most celebrated novels must rely on this basic storytelling device.
2. Taking off from Forster’s references to Emily Bronte, Sterne and Proust, discuss the treatment of time in some of the novels you have read.
Ans. Forster explains that writers can play with time in creative ways. He gives the example of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, where the story is told through memories and not in order. In Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne goes off-topic so much that time seems to slow down or stop. And in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, past and present mix through the character’s memories. These writers show that while time is important in a story, it doesn’t always have to move in a straight line. Playing with time can make a novel deeper and more emotional.
LANGUAGE WORK _____________________________
1. ‘Qua story’: What does the word mean? Find other expressions using the word qua.
Ans. The word ‘qua’ comes from Latin and means “in the role of” or “as”. So when Forster says “qua story”, he means “just as a story”, or “only looking at it as a story”. For example, if someone says, “She is speaking qua teacher,” it means she is speaking in her role as a teacher, not as a friend or family member.
2. Study the Note to Aspects of the Novel given at the end. Discuss the features that mark the piece as a talk as distinguished from a critical essay.
Ans. The Note in the book Aspects of the Novel tells us that Forster is not giving a formal essay. Instead, he is giving a friendly lecture or talk. He uses a relaxed tone, includes jokes, speaks in the first person (using “I”), and even asks the reader questions. He also shares his personal thoughts and stories. All this makes it feel like he’s talking to us directly, which makes it easier to understand and more enjoyable to read.
3. Try rewriting the lecture as a formal essay and examine Forster’s statement: ‘…since the novel is itself often colloquial, it may possibly withhold some of its secrets from the graver and grander streams of criticism’.
Ans. If Forster had written this as a formal essay, he would have had to make it more serious and structured, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, and no jokes or personal comments. But Forster says that novels themselves often use simple, everyday language. Because of this, he chooses to write in a similar way, more like how people speak. He thinks that this casual, human way of writing matches the spirit of novels better than a stiff, academic style.
CBSE Class 11 English Essay Chapter 6 The Story Extract-Based Questions and Answers
A.
“Let us listen to three voices. If you ask one type of man, ‘What does a novel do?’ he will reply placidly, ‘Well— I don’t know—it seems a funny sort of question to ask—a novel’s a novel—well, I don’t know—I suppose it kind of tells a story, so to speak’. He is quite good tempered and vague, and probably driving a motor-bus at the same time and paying no more attention to literature than it merits. Another man, whom I visualise as on a golf-course, will be aggressive and brisk. He will reply, ‘What does a novel do? Why, tell a story of course and I’ve no use for it if it didn’t. I like a story. Very bad taste, on my part, no doubt, but I like a story. You can take your art, you can take your literature, you can take your music, but give me a good story. And I like a story to be a story, mind, and my wife’s the same.’ And a third man, he says in a sort of drooping regretful voice, ‘Yes—oh dear yes—the novel tells a story.’ I respect and admire the first speaker. I detest and fear the second. And the third is myself.”
1. What are the three different attitudes toward stories described by Forster?
Ans. The first man is vague and indifferent, the second is assertive and passionate about stories, and the third, Forster himself, is reluctant yet accepting of the story’s importance.
2. What tone does the first man use when speaking about novels?
Ans. The first man speaks placidly and vaguely, indicating a casual and disinterested tone.
3. Why does Forster say he fears and detests the second man?
Ans. Forster fears and detests the second man because of his aggressive and dismissive attitude towards other aspects of literature besides story.
4. How does Forster describe his own attitude towards storytelling in novels?
Ans.Forster describes his attitude as regretful; he acknowledges that story is important to novels but wishes it were not so.
5. What is the significance of these three voices in Forster’s argument?
Ans. The three voices depict the range of public opinions on storytelling and set up Forster’s internal conflict and view that, while story is essential, it is not the noblest aspect of a novel.
B.
“Scheherazade avoided her fate because she knew how to wield the weapon of suspense—the only literary tool that has any effect on tyrants and savages. Great novelist though she was—exquisite in her descriptions, tolerant in her judgements, ingenious in her incidents, advanced in her morality, vivid in her delineations of character, expert in her knowledge of three Oriental capitals—it was yet on none of these gifts that she relied when trying to save her life from her intolerable husband. They were but incidental. She only survived because she managed to keep the king wondering what would happen next. Each time she saw the sun rising she stopped in the middle of a sentence, and left him gaping. ‘At this moment Scheherazade saw the morning appearing and, discreet, was silent.’ This uninteresting little phrase is the backbone of the One Thousand and One Nights, the tape-worm by which they are tied together and by which the life of a most accomplished princess was preserved. ”
1. How did Scheherazade manage to avoid being killed by the king?
Ans. Scheherazade avoided being killed by telling the king stories and always stopping at the most exciting part to keep him curious.
2. What is meant by “the weapon of suspense” and how did Scheherazade use it?
Ans. The “weapon of suspense” means creating curiosity, and Scheherazade used it by ending her stories suddenly to make the king want to hear more.
3. Why weren’t Scheherazade’s other qualities the reason she survived?
Ans. Although she was very talented, it was her use of suspense that truly helped her stay alive.
4. What is the importance of the phrase ‘At this moment Scheherazade saw the morning appearing and, discreet, was silent’?
Ans. This phrase shows how she stopped her stories each morning to keep the king interested in hearing the next part.
5. Why does the writer call this phrase “the backbone” of The One Thousand and One Nights?
Ans. The writer calls it the backbone because it connects all the stories and explains how she stayed alive by keeping the king in suspense.
C.
“Daily life is also full of the time sense. We think one event occurs after or before another, the thought is often in our minds, and much of our talk and action proceeds from that assumption. Much of our talk and action, but not all; there seems something else in life besides time, something which may conveniently be called ‘value’, something which is measured not by minutes or hours, but by intensity, so that when we look at our past it does not stretch back evenly but piles up into a few pinnacles and when we look at the future it seems sometimes a wall, sometimes a cloud, sometimes a sun, but never a chronological chart. Neither memory nor anticipation is much interested in Father Time, and all dreamers, artists and lovers are partially delivered from his tyranny; he can kill them but he cannot secure their attention and, at the very moment of doom when the clock collected in the tower its strength and struck, they may be looking the other way. So daily life, whatever it may be really, is practically composed of two lives—the life in time and the life by values—and our conduct reveals a double allegiance. ‘I only saw her for five minutes, but it was worth it.’ ”
1. What does the writer mean by saying that daily life is full of the “time sense”?
Ans. The writer means that we usually think about when things happen, like before or after, in our daily lives.
2. What is meant by ‘value’ in contrast to time?
Ans. ‘Value’ means how deeply something affects us, not how long it takes.
3. How does the past appear when we look back at it?
Ans. The past seems like a few strong memories, not a smooth and even timeline.
4. How does the future appear to us?
Ans. The future feels like a mix of emotions, sometimes bright, dark, or unclear, not a fixed schedule.
5. What does the writer say about dreamers, artists, and lovers in relation to time?
Ans. He says they are not controlled by time because they focus more on feelings and moments than on the clock.
D.
“I am trying not to be philosophic about time for it is (experts assure us) a most dangerous hobby for an outsider, far more fatal than place; and quite eminent metaphysicians have been dethroned through referring to it improperly. I am only trying to explain that as I lecture now I hear the clock ticking, I retain or lose the time sense; whereas, in a novel, there is always a clock. The author may dislike the clock. Emily Bronte in Wuthering Heights tried to hide hers. Sterne, in Tristram Shandy, turned it upside down. Marcel Proust, still more ingenious, kept altering the hands so that his hero was at the same time entertaining a mistress to supper and playing ball with his nurse in the park. All these devices are legitimate but none of them contravene our thesis: the basis of a novel is a story and a story is a narrative of events in time sequence.”
1. Why does the writer avoid being philosophical about time?
Ans. The writer avoids it because time is a difficult and risky topic to discuss deeply without being misunderstood.
2. What is the difference between time in a lecture and time in a novel?
Ans. In a lecture, time moves steadily, but in a novel, the writer controls how time flows.
3. How did Emily Brontë try to deal with time in Wuthering Heights?
Ans. Emily Brontë tried to hide the sense of time to make the story feel more emotional and timeless.
4. What unusual thing did Sterne do with time in Tristram Shandy?
Ans. Sterne flipped the idea of time upside down, playing with the usual order of events.
5. What does the writer say about the base of every novel?
Ans. The writer says that every novel is based on a story, and a story is a series of events told in time order.
E.
“We are like Scheherazade’s husband in that we want to know what happens next. That is universal and that is why the backbone of a novel has to be a story. Some of us want to know nothing else—there is nothing in us but primeval curiosity and, consequently, our other literary judgements are ludicrous. And now the story can be defined. It is a narrative of events arranged in their time sequence—dinner coming after breakfast, Tuesday coming after Monday, decay after death, and so on. Qua story, it can only have one merit; that of making the audience want to know what happens next. And, conversely, it can have only one fault: that of making the audience not want to know what happens next. These are the only two criticisms that can be made on the story. It is the lowest and simplest of literary organisms. Yet it is the highest factor common to all the very complicated organisms known as novels.”
1. What does the writer mean when he says we are like Scheherazade’s husband?
Ans. The writer means that, like Scheherazade’s husband, we all naturally want to know what happens next in a story.
2. Why is the story considered the backbone of a novel?
Ans. The story is considered the backbone of a novel because it holds the events together and keeps readers interested.
3. How does the writer define a story?
Ans. The writer defines a story as a sequence of events arranged in time, such as one day following another.
4. What is the one merit a story can have?
Ans. The one merit a story can have is making the audience curious about what will happen next.
5. Why is a story called the lowest yet highest part of a novel?
Ans. A story is called the lowest because it is simple, but the highest because every novel depends on it.
Class 11 The Story Multiple-Choice Questions
1. What was Scheherazade’s main strategy to save her life?
(A) Using magic
(B) Telling funny stories
(C) Creating suspense
(D) Offering gifts
Ans. (C) Creating suspense
2. Which of these was NOT mentioned as one of Scheherazade’s gifts?
(A) Exquisite descriptions
(B) Advanced morality
(C) Supernatural powers
(D) Knowledge of three capitals
Ans. (C) Supernatural powers
3. Why did Scheherazade stop telling her story at sunrise?
(A) She was tired
(B) To keep the king curious
(C) She forgot the ending
(D) The king asked her to stop
Ans. (B) To keep the king curious
4. According to the text, what does daily life contain besides time?
(A) Money
(B) Values measured by intensity
(C) Numbers
(D) Plans for the future
Ans. (B) Values measured by intensity
5. How do dreamers and artists experience time differently?
(A) They ignore it completely
(B) They are free from the strict control of time
(C) They always follow schedules
(D) They count every minute carefully
Ans. (B) They are free from the strict control of time
6. In a novel, what is the basic structure that keeps the story together?
(A) Characters
(B) Settings
(C) A clock
(D) A story told in time order
Ans. (D) A story told in time order
7. What literary device did Emily Bronte try to hide in ‘Wuthering Heights’?
(A) Suspense
(B) The clock or time sense
(C) Dialogue
(D) Plot twists
Ans. (B) The clock or time sense
8. What does the writer say about the story’s merit?
(A) It should be confusing
(B) It must make the audience want to know what happens next
(C) It should have many characters
(D) It must have a moral lesson
Ans. (B) It must make the audience want to know what happens next
9. How is the story described in terms of its complexity?
(A) The simplest and lowest literary form
(B) The most complex part of a novel
(C) Unimportant in literature
(D) Difficult to understand
Ans. (A) The simplest and lowest literary form
10. Why can time be considered a dangerous subject for outsiders?
(A) Because it is boring
(B) Because experts have been criticized for wrong ideas about it
(C) Because no one understands it
(D) Because it changes every day
Ans. (B) Because experts have been criticized for wrong ideas about it
11. What does the phrase ‘the life in time and the life by values’ mean?
(A) Life is only about minutes and hours
(B) Life has two parts: one based on clock time and one based on personal meaning
(C) Life is easy to measure
(D) Life only happens in the past
Ans. (B) Life has two parts: one based on clock time and one based on personal meaning
12. What feeling does the phrase ‘I only saw her for five minutes, but it was worth it’ express?
(A) Regret
(B) Time is more important than feelings
(C) The value of moments depends on their intensity, not length
(D) Being late for an appointment
Ans. (C) The value of moments depends on their intensity, not length
13. What happens if a story fails to make the audience want to know what happens next?
(A) It becomes a great novel
(B) It has failed as a story
(C) It becomes a poem
(D) It wins awards
Ans. (B) It has failed as a story
14. How do Marcel Proust’s novels handle time?
(A) By keeping strict chronological order
(B) By mixing up the order of events
(C) By ignoring time completely
(D) By focusing only on the present
Ans. (B) By mixing up the order of events
15. Why is suspense called the ‘weapon’ Scheherazade uses?
(A) Because it controls the king’s attention and keeps her alive
(B) Because it scares the king
(C) Because it is a magical spell
(D) Because it makes the story funny
Ans. (A) Because it controls the king’s attention and keeps her alive
16. What role does ‘time’ play in a story?
(A) It shows the order of events
(B) It is not important
(C) It confuses the reader
(D) It is only used in poetry
Ans. (A) It shows the order of events
17. What does the writer mean by saying that memory and anticipation are ‘not interested in Father Time’?
(A) People don’t care about time
(B) Memory and anticipation focus on feelings, not exact times
(C) People forget about clocks
(D) Time does not exist
Ans. (B) Memory and anticipation focus on feelings, not exact times
18. Why might some readers focus only on the story in a novel?
(A) Because they love details
(B) Because their curiosity is strongest about what happens next
(C) Because they dislike characters
(D) Because they don’t like language
Ans. (B) Because their curiosity is strongest about what happens next
19. Which of the following is a fault in a story, according to the writer?
(A) Having too many characters
(B) Making the audience lose interest in what happens next
(C) Being too short
(D) Using difficult words
Ans. (B) Making the audience lose interest in what happens next
20. How did Sterne’s ‘Tristram Shandy’ treat time?
(A) It followed time carefully
(B) It turned the clock upside down, mixing up the order of events
(C) It did not mention time
(D) It was a poem about time
Ans. (B) It turned the clock upside down, mixing up the order of events
CBSE Class 11 English (Elective) Essay Chapter 6 The Story Extra Questions
1. Why did Scheherazade use suspense to save her life, and how was it important in the story?
Ans. Scheherazade used suspense as her main tool to survive because it kept the king curious and eager to hear what would happen next. Instead of relying on her many talents, such as her interesting descriptions or moral lessons, she stopped her stories at a cliffhanger every morning. This technique made the king want to postpone her execution to find out the story’s ending. Suspense was the key weapon against a tyrant like her husband, showing that in storytelling, making the audience wonder what happens next is crucial to keeping their attention.
2. How does the lesson explain the difference between life measured by time and life measured by values?
Ans. The lesson explains that daily life has two parts, one measured by clock time, like minutes and hours, and another that is measured by values, which depends on how meaningful moments feel. Sometimes, short moments can seem very important and memorable, while long stretches of time feel dull. Artists, lovers, and dreamers often focus on this second kind of time, where emotions and significance matter more than the actual passing of minutes. This shows that human experience is not only about chronological time but also about how we value and feel our experiences.
3. What role does time play in storytelling, according to the lesson?
Ans. Time is vital in storytelling because it helps arrange events in order. A story is made up of events that happen one after another, like breakfast before dinner or Monday before Tuesday. This sequence keeps the story clear and easy to follow. Even though some authors, like Emily Bronte and Marcel Proust, experiment with how time is presented, the basic idea remains, that a story is a narrative of events in time order. This time structure is what primarily helps readers understand and connect with the story, making it possible for the suspense and curiosity among the readers to build.
4. What does the lesson say about the importance of curiosity in a story?
Ans. Curiosity is described as the most basic and powerful reason why people read stories. Like Scheherazade’s husband, readers want to know what will happen next. This desire to find out what comes next is what makes a story successful. If a story fails to make the audience curious, it loses its main purpose and fails as a story. Despite being a simple element, curiosity drives all novels because it keeps readers engaged and turning pages. The writer emphasizes that this curiosity is universal and is the main factor that holds stories together.
5. How do authors like Sterne and Marcel Proust experiment with time in their novels?
Ans. Authors like Sterne and Marcel Proust play with the usual order of time in their novels to create interesting effects. Sterne’s Tristram Shandy turns the clock upside down by mixing up the sequence of events, while Proust changes the timing so his character can experience different events simultaneously, like having supper and playing in the park at the same time. These experiments show that while stories usually follow a timeline, authors can bend or break this rule to explore characters’ memories or emotions. However, even with these tricks, the story’s foundation and core remains a sequence of events in time.