The Coward’s Way

Question: 1 – Why did the doctor feel disturbed when he heard stories of courage and heroism?

Answer: The doctor believed that no person is fully courageous. Courage and cowardice are relative terms so the doctor felt disturbed.

Question: 2 – Why did the doctor describe Das’s face as ‘peculiar’?

Answer: The doctor described Das’s face as ‘peculiar’ because there were dark patches under his eyes. There were wrinkles of sufferings on his forehead.

Question: 3 – How did Mrs. Das die?

Answer: Mrs. Das died on account of an attack of plague.

Question: 4 – Why did Das come to the doctor?

Answer: Das was a coward. After the death of his wife, he lived with his son. He feared lest his son should inherit his cowardice. So he came to the doctor. He wanted to consult him about proper way to bring up the child.

Question: 5 – What according to the doctor, makes a child a coward?

Answer: According to the doctor following things make a child coward:

(i)            Undue love of the parents.

(ii)           Warning against dark in childhood.

(iii)          Warning against strangers as kidnappers.

(iv)         Warning against evil spirits.

Question: 6 – Why was the doctor not able to move?

Answer: The doctor was not able to move because he was petrified with fear. He was aware of the impending disaster.

Question: 7 – Describe Mr. Das’s first meeting with the doctor. What did he tell the doctor about his cowardly nature?

Answer: Mr. Das along with his four year old son came to the doctor. When the doctor noticed Das’s face, he found that is had a haunted expression. The doctor asked Mr. Das why he came to see him. Mr. Das told the doctor that he was a chronic coward.

Question: 8 – Das told the doctor that even as a child he was a coward. Give three examples to prove this statement.

Answer: Even as a child Das was a coward. Three examples to prove this statement are as follow:

(i)            Das was terrified of the dark. Thunder and lightening used to frighten him.

(ii)           Das was afraid of tame cats and dogs.

(iii)          He could never see other boys of his age fighting. He could never fight any of them himself.

Question: 9 – Das was only 30 years old. Why did he look wreck of sixty?

Answer: Das had suffered great shocks in life. His wife had died of plague. His son died in a car accident. All this made Das look a wreck of sixty.

Question: 10 – What did Das tell the doctor about his cowardly nature during his childhood?

Answer: Das told the doctor that he was afraid of thunder, lightning and a rough looking stranger. Even cats and dogs used to affect him in his childhood.

Question: 11 – Why did Das save the mother and her child? What happened to him?

Answer: Das rushed to the woman and pushed her with her child clung to her breast away from the line because his sense of guilt passed away.

Question: 12 – How did the doctor describe Das’s eyes?

Answer: The doctor described Das’s eyes as restless, ever shifting and changing as though expecting a horrible spectacle. His eyes resembled to those of a sheep about to be butchered.