Gujarat Board GSEB Class 10 English Textbook Solutions Footprints Without Feet Chapter 5 Footprints without Feet Textbook Exercise Important Questions and Answers, Notes Pdf.
Gujarat Board Textbook Solutions Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 5 Footprints without Feet
GSEB Class 10 English Footprints without Feet Text Book Questions and Answers
Read and Find Out (Textbook Page No. 26)
Question 1.
How did the invisible man first become visible?
Answer:
Griffin, the scientist, had carried out an experiment and become invisible. However, she happened to step in some mud and left footprints as he walked which were observed by two boys who followed them fascinated until the muddy impressions became fainter and fainter and finally disappeared altogether. Since it was mid-winter he slipped into a big London store for warmth.
There he fitted himself out with warm clothes. Soon, with shoes, an overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat, he became a fully dressed and visible person. He settled s down sleep on a pile of quilts and in this way was visible to the assistants at the store s the next morning.
Footprints Without Feet
Question 2.
Why was he wandering the streets?
Answer:
Griffin, the scientist, had carried out an l experiment to prove that the human body could become invisible. Finally, he swallowed certain rare drugs and his body became transparent. Brilliant scientist though he was, Griffin was rather a lawless person. His landlord disliked him and tried to eject him.
In revenge, Griffin set fire to the house. To get away without being seen he had removed his clothes. Thus it was that he became homeless and was wandering on the streets, without clothes, without money, and quite invisible.
Read and Find Out (Textbook Page No. 28)
Question 1.
Why does Mrs Hall find the scientist eccentric?
Answer:
The arrival of a stranger at an inn in winter was in itself a strange occurrence. Mrs Hall the landlord’s wife, made every effort to be friendly with the stranger but Griffin had no desire to talk and told her that his reason for coming to Iping was a desire for solitude. He did not wish to be disturbed in his work. Besides, an accident had affected his face. His desire for solitude, his uncommon appearance, strange habits and irritable temper all made Mrs Hall find the scientist eccentric.
Question 2.
What curious episode occurs in the study?
Answer:
Very early in the morning a clergyman and his wife were awakened by noises in the study. Creeping downstairs, they heard the chink of money being taken from the clergyman’s desk. Without making any noise and with a poker grasped firmly in his hand, the clergyman flung open the door and shouted ‘surrender’.
To their amazement, they realised that the room appeared to be empty. They looked under the desk, and behind the curtains, and even up the chimney but there wasn’t a sign of anybody. Yet the desk had been opened and the housekeeping money was missing. ‘The clergyman kept saying for the rest of the day that it was an “Extraordinary affair!”
Footprints Without Feet
Question 3.
What other extraordinary things happen at the inn?
Answer:
The other extraordinary thing that happened at the inn was when the landlord and his wife were up early and were surprised to see the scientist’s door wide open. Usually, it was shut and locked, and when they peeped round the door, they saw nobody, but, the bedclothes were cold, showing that the scientist must have been up for some time what was stranger was that the clothes and bandages that he always wore were lying about the room.
Suddenly Mrs. Hsdl heard a sniff close to her ear and a moment later the hat on the bedpost leapt up and dashed itself into her face. Then the bedroom chair came alive and springing into the air it charged straight at her, legs foremost. As she and her husband turned away in terror, the extraordinary chair pushed them both out of the room and then appeared to slam and lock the door after them.
Mrs Hall almost fell down the stairs in hysterics and was convinced that the room was haunted by spirits, and that the stranger had somehow caused these to enter into her furniture. When news of the burglary at the clergyman’s home became known, the strange scientist was strongly suspected of having had a hand in it. Suspicion grew even stronger when he suddenly produced some ready cash, though he had admitted not long before that he had no money.
When Mrs Hall questioned him about the mysterious happenings in the room the bandages, whiskers, spectacles, and even nose were thrown off and the horrified people in the bar found themselves staring at a headless man. Mr Jaffers, the constable, was quite surprised to find that he had to arrest a man without ahead.
There followed a remarkable scene as the policeman tried to get hold of a man who was becoming more and more invisible as he threw off one garment -after another. Some people tried to help him but found themselves hit by blows that seemed to come from nowhere. In the end, Jeffers was knocked unconscious as he made a last attempt to hold on to the unseen scientist.
Think about it
Question 1.
“Griffin was rather a lawless person,” comment
Answer:
Griffin was not bothered if he had harmed anybody in the fulfilment of what he wanted. He set his landlord’s house on fire because the landlord tried to make him leave. Then his robberies at shops and later in the village indicate that he was a lawless person. When he encountered the landlady of the inn, he threw a chair at her and her husband. Lawless persons like Griffin never think about the safety and well-being of others. They are only concerned about themselves
Question 2.
How would you assess Griffin as a scientist?
Answer:
Griffin was a brilliant scientist who carried out experiment after experiment to prove that the human body could become invisible. Finally, he swallowed certain rare drugs and his body became as transparent as a sheet of glass-though it also remained as solid as glass.
But he was not an honest person as he used his discovery of invisibility to attack and hurt people, steal money from shopkeepers and others like the clergy and make people furious and scared of him. At the store, he fed and clothed himself without regard to expenses. He was very revengeful and because His landlord disliked him and tried to eject him he set fire to the house.
Talk about it
Question 1.
Would you like to become invisible? What advantages and disadvantages do you foresee, if you did?
Answer:
It can be an exciting idea for most people. Like two facets of a coin, invisibility can have many advantages and disadvantages. For a child, invisibility may mean a licence for all kinds of pranks without getting caught. Like s a Hindi movie, ‘Mr India’, invisibility can help you beat all the villains black and blue and s get rid of them. Once you become invisible, nobody would notice you. Within no time, the s sadness of isolation will take over the excitement of being invisible. You will have no friends. You s will tend to behave like the eccentric scientist in this story.
Question 2.
Are there forces around us that are invisible, for example, magnetism? Are there aspects of matter that are ‘invisible’ or Hot visible to the naked eye? What would the world be like if you could see such forces S or such aspects of matter?’
Answer:
Magnetic forces and electrostatic forces S are examples of invisible forces. The atoms and molecules in a matter are so small that they are not visible to the naked eye. Similarly, heat energy is invisible. Similarly, sound is invisible to us. While the idea of seeing invisible things can be very exciting, their visibility would create too many problems. For example, if we are able to see all the sound around us, that would be too irritating for us.
Question 3.
What makes glass or water transparent (what is the scientific explanation for this)? Do you think it would be scientifically possible for a man to become invisible, or transparent? (Keep in mind that writers of science fiction have often turned out to be prophetic in their imagination)
Answer:
The fact that light can pass through glass or water makes them transparent. When light falls on an object, the reflected light from that object makes it visible to us. If some device can be made which can prevent reflection of light from the human body then the human body can be made invisible.
Footprints without Feet Summary in English
Footprints without Feet Summary:
Griffin, an eccentric scientist discovered a rare drug. This could make a human body invisible. He was not liked by his landlord. He decided to take revenge on him. One day he set his landlord’s house on fire. Then he drank his rare drug and put off his clothes.
Now, he could see everyone but none could see him. He was safe from being caught. But he was without clothes and it was very cold. He passed the night in a London store. He stole goods and money from the store. Then he went to a village called Iping. He stayed at an inn. He stole money from clergy man’s desk. A policeman named Jeffers was called. A strange fight took place. Griffin took off his bandages, his glasses and his hat. Now, he was a headless man. People were horrified. Griffin hit the policeman. He got free and ran away.