VIDYASAGAR UNIVERSITY

Question Paper
B.A. Honours Examinations 2022
(Under CBCS Pattern)
Semester - VI
Subject : ENGLISH
Paper : C 13-T
Indian Classical Literature
Full Marks : 60
Time : 3 Hours
Candidates are required to give their answers in their own
words as far as practicable.
The figures in the margin indicate full marks.

1. Answer any three of the following questions : 10×3=30

(a) Discuss the treatment of Sringara Rasa (erotic emotion) in Kalidasa’s Abhijnana
Shakuntalam.

(b) Analyse the character of Shakuntala as represented in Abhijnana Shakuntalam.

(c) Comment on the moral dilemma in Vyasa’s The Mahabharata.

(d) Discuss the significance of Krishna’s role in ‘The Dicing’ episode of The
Mahabharata.

(e) Critically assess Sudraka’s Mrcchakatika as a ‘Prakarana’.

2. Answer any four of the following questions : 5×4=20

(a) Write a short note on the dramatic significance of the Curse and the Ring Episode
in Abhijnana Shakuntalam.

(b) Comment on the role of Madhavya in Abhijnana Shakuntalam.

(c) Why is the scene of ‘The Temptation of Karna’ an important event?

(d) What was the secret behind Shakuni’s dice?

(e) Give an example of Sudraka’s use of humour in Mrcchakatika.

(f) Briefly comment upon the subplot of hummour in Mrcchakatika.

3. Answer any five of the following questions : 2×5=10

(a) What is ‘benediction’?

(b) Why did Durvasa curse Shakuntala in Abhijnana Shakuntalam?

(c) What is Gandharva marriage?

(d) What did Kunti inform Karna about?

(e) Mention the two boons that Draupadi accepts from Dhritarashtra.

(f) What is the stake in the second round of dicing in The Mahabharata?

(g) Why did Vasantasena load the little clay cart with jewellery?

(h) Why was Charudatta prosecuted in Sudraka’s Mrcchakatika?

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 VIDYASAGAR UNIVERSITY
Question Paper
B.A. Honours Examinations 2022
(Under CBCS Pattern)
Semester - VI
Subject : ENGLISH
Paper : C 14-T
Indian Writing in English
Full Marks : 60
Time : 3 Hours
Candidates are required to give their answers in their own
words as far as practicable.
The figures in the margin indicate full marks.

1. Answer any three of the following questions : 10×3=30

(a) Commnent on the symbolic significance of the ‘harp’ in “The Harp of India”.

(b) Bring out the appropriateness of the title of Kamala Das’s “An Introduction”.

(c) Discuss R. K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends as a Bildungsroman.

(d) How does Mulk Raj Anand in “Two Lady Rams” portray the socio-economic impact
of the Indian caste system?

(e) Consider Tughlaq as a critique of contemporary politics.

2. Answer any four of the following questions : 5×4=20

(a) Examine the domestic life portrayed in R. K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends.
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(b) Comment on the last two lines of “Night of the Scorpion”.

(c) “I too call myself I”—Bring out the significance of the quoted line.

(d) Comment on the theme of illusion in Salman Rushdie’s “The Free Radio”.

(e) Briefly illustrate any two symbols in Karnad’s Tughlaq.

(f) Briefly discuss any two elements of the ‘Company Natak’ in Tughlaq?

3. Answer any five of the following questions : 2×5=10

(a) State the reasons behind hartal and strike in R. K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends.

(b) What does the Cane symbolize in R. K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends?

(c) Cite with references from the text two poetic devices used in “The Harp of India”.

(d) How and why did the speaking subject in “An Introduction” ignore her
“womanliness”?

(e) Why did the scorpion in Ezekiel’s “Night of the Scorpion” risk the rain again?

(f) Who are the two Lady Rams? Why are they so called?

(g) What is ‘nasbandi’?

(h) Why did Tughlaq change his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad?

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 VIDYASAGAR UNIVERSITY
Question Paper
B.A. Honours Examinations 2022
(Under CBCS Pattern)
Semester - VI
Subject : ENGLISH
Paper : DSE 3-T
Full Marks : 60
Time : 3 Hours
Candidates are required to give their answers in their own
words as far as practicable.
The figures in the margin indicate full marks.

Science Fiction and Detective Literature

(a) Consider The Woman in White as a ‘sensation’ novel.

(b) Write a note on the portrayal of the patriarchal manipulation of lunacy in the
narrative style of The Woman in White.

(c) How does Wilkie Collins use premonitions, coincidences and dreams to foreshadow
key events in The Woman in White? Elaborate in detail.

(d) Comment on the role of Watson as a narrator in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

(e) Write a note on the conflict between rationalism and superstition as represented
by Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
 ( 2 )

2. Answer any four of the following questions : 5×4=20

(a) How does Wilkie Collins explore the themes of respectability and social class in
The Woman in White?

(b) How do Laura and her female counterparts exhibit rebellion in Wilkie Collins’s novel
The Woman in White?

(c) Critically examine Walter’s first eerie encounter with Anne in The Woman in White.

(d) How does Holmes solve the mystery of The Hound of the Baskervilles?

(e) What does The Hound of the Baskervilles say about untrustworthy eyewitnesses?

(f) What is the significance of Dr. Mortimer’s walking stick in The Hound of the
Baskervilles?

3. Answer any five of the following questions : 2×5=10

(a) What is Walter Hartright’s profession in The Woman in White?

(b) How does Marian propose to try and find out more information about the mysterious
woman in white?

(c) Who is the woman in white? Why is she called so?

(d) Why is Pesca devoted to Walter Hartright in The Woman in White?

(e) What does Holmes ask Watson to examine at the beginning of The Hound of The
Baskervilles?

(f) How did Sir Charles die in the The Hound of the Baskervilles?

(g) Why does Sir Henry lose two boots in London in The Hound of the Baskervilles?

(h) What was the Baskerville curse and who took advantage of it?

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 ( 3 )

Or,

Paper - DSE 3-T

Literature and Cinema

(a) What are the significant features of the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet in Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet?

(b) Analyse the ending of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1968).

(c) Comment on the cinematic representation of communal tension in Earth.

(d) How is the syncretic culture of pre-Partition Punjab presented in either Pinjar or
Earth?

(e) What light does the sub-plot of the madwoman throw on the main narrative of
Pinjar?

2. Answer any four of the following questions : 5×4=20

(a) How is it significant that it is only Rashid and Hamida who are in sympathy with
the plight of the madwoman in Pinjar?

(b) Comment briefly on the parallel between Pooro/Hamida and Lajjo’s tattooing of
their names on their hands.

(c) Comment on the cinematic use of music in Pinjar.

(d) Comment on the significance of Lenny’s breaking crockery in the opening sequence
of Earth.

(e) How is the scene of the Ice-candy Man’s telephoning Allah revealing of the
relationship between various religious communities in Lahore at that moment in
history?

(f) Comment on the transformation that the Ice-candy Man undergoes in Earth.

3. Answer any five of the following questions : 2×5=10

(a) In Pinjar, what are the books Ram Chand intends to translate, and from which
languages into which?

(b) What is the reason why Rashid’s uncle insists on revenge, and what is the dilemma
Rashid finds himself in?
 ( 4 )

(c) What circumstances lead to Puro’s meeting Ram Chand in Rattoval after her nikah
with Rashid?

(d) In Earth, what does Lenny learn about the Parsees as her mother teaches her
ballroom dancing?

(e) What happens in Lahore when the first trains arrive there from what is going to be
Hindustan?

(f) What suggestion does Lenny’s mother have for Ayah for her safety as Partition
seems imminent?

(g) Who directed the 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet?

(h) Which company produced Romeo + Juliet and in which year?

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 VIDYASAGAR UNIVERSITY
Question Paper
B.A. Honours Examinations 2022
(Under CBCS Pattern)
Semester - VI
Subject : ENGLISH
Paper : DSE 4-T
Full Marks : 60
Time : 3 Hours
Candidates are required to give their answers in their own
words as far as practicable.
The figures in the margin indicate full marks.

Partition Literature
1. Answer any three of the following questions : 10×3=30

(a) How does Amitav Ghosh represent the concepts of ‘freedom’ and ‘identity’ in
The Shadow Lines?

(b) Comment on Dibyendu Palit’s reference to ‘House’ as a metaphor in “Alam’s Own

(c) Bring out the significance of the title of Manik Bandyopadhyay’s story “The Final
Solution”.

(d) Analyze “Toba Tek Singh” as an example of Partition Literature.

(e) Critically appreciate Jibanananda Das’s “I Shall Return to This Bengal”.

(a) Comment on the significance of maps in The Shadow Lines.

(b) Briefly analyse the role of Tha’mma in The Shadow Lines.

(c) Write a short note on the pervasive nostalgia in “Alam’s Own House”.

(d) Comment on the role of Pramatha in “The Final Solution”?

(e) How the outside world was presented as chaotic and insane in Toba Tek Singh/

(f) “To this sad green shore of Bengal, drenched by the Jalangi’s wave”—Explain.

3. Answer any five of the following questions : 2×5=10

(a) Where and how did the old Jethamoshai die in The Shadow Lines?

(b) Which historical event sparked off the 1964 riots in The Shadow Lines?

(c) What is the historical background of Dibyendu Palit’s narrative “Alam’s Own
House”?

(d) Where did Alam’s father move during the Partition?

(e) Who is the heroine of the story “The Final Solution”? How did she intend to make
both ends meet?

(f) Where was Bishan Singh admitted? Why did he refuse to go to India?

(g) Comment on the ending in Toba Tek Singh.

(h) Which form does the poet of “I Shall Return to This Bengal” want to take in his
future reincarnation in Bengal?

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 Or,
Paper - DSE 4-T
Travel Writing
1. Answer any three of the following questions : 10×3=30

(a) Write an essay on Iban Batuta’s representation of the court of Muhammad bin
Tughlaq.

(b) Critically analyze the narrative structrue of Twain’s The Innocent Abroad.

(c) Why does Khuswant Singh refer to Delhi as an ‘improbable’ city? Justify.

(d) How does Dalrymple negotiate with hegemonic structures through his book City
of Djinn?

(e) How has the leitmotif of journeying or ghumakkadi been used for cultural
understanding in From Volga to Ganga?

2. Answer any four of the following questions : 5×4=20

(a) How does Iban Batuta’s travelogue enrich our understanding of Delhi Sultanate?

(b) Analyze the attitude of Mark Twain towards Christianity as found in his book The
Innocent Abroad.

(c) Critically evaluate Dalrymple’s description of the Viceroy’s house/Rashtrapati Bhavan

(d) Point out the attitudes of the refugees to the city of Delhi as reflected in Khushwant
Singh’s authology.

(e) How does Rahul Sankrityayan portray slavery in From Volga to Ganga?

(f) Bring out the importance of the story of Nisha in From Volga to Ganga?

3. Answer any five of the following questions : 2×5=10

(a) How does Iban Batuta portray the practice of penal torture as he found in Tughlaq’s
court?

(b) How does Batuta describe the Iron Pillar at Mehrauli in his travelogue.

(c) What does the author say about the “staunch old castle” of the Moors in The
Innocent Abroad?
(d) “Sir, I am a helpless orphan in a foreign land.” Explain with reference to the
context.

(e) How does Vyasa describe the Indraprastha in Khuswant Singh’s City Improbable
: Writings on Delhi?

(f) How does Dalrymple depict the plight of the Anglo-Indians in City of Djinn?

(g) What, According to Rahul Sankrityayan, is “primitive communism”?

(h) Which Buddhist philosophers are mentioned in Sankrityayan’s From Volga to

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