MRS PACKLETIDE’S TIGER
Question
and answers
1.
Why did Mrs. Packletide wish to kill a tiger?
Answer-The vehement desire of Mrs.
Packletide to kill a tiger is an embodiment of envy towards Looona Bimberton,
her friendly enemy. The stunning act of Loona Bimberton i.e. a flying in an
airplane for 11 miles with an Algerian aviator, caused Mrs. Packletide to be
restless and sleep deprived. She wanted to counter this by getting her pictures
published. She wanted to do something more exciting and adventurous than Loona.
So she decided to hunt a tiger by herself.
2. What made her decide to give a party in Loona Bimberton's
honour? What did she intend to give Loona on her birthday?
Answer- Loona Bimberton’s exposing
works of flying in the airplane forced Mrs. Packletide to answer accordingly.
To answer she planned to kill a tiger and make a great affair. Apart from
publishing those in newspapers she had also planned to organize a luncheon
party. With pretention she wanted to arrange the party in Loona Bimberton’s
honour. At the party she would display the tiger skin and talk about her
tiger-shooting experience to Loona. Her sole motto was to dip Loona Bimberton
in the ocean of envy and not love for her.
She was desirous to present
a tiger claw brooch on Loona Bimberton’s birthday.
3. In what way did the villagers help Mrs. Packletide shoot
the tiger?
Answer- The villagers, keen to
grasp the money, arranged the shooting of the tiger. They chose an adjacent
forest with an old and weak tiger living in it. They kept tiger alive with poor
quality of goats and a group of young boys guarding the forest. Goats were left in the forest in order to
satisfy the animal. Women took care not make noise while passing there lest the
tiger should be disturbed from its sleep. On the day of shoot they kept
tethered a goat and arranged a platform on the trees for a convincing shoot. They too stayed there in ambush to help the
hunting through the night.
4. Who was Miss Mebbin? Was she really devoted to Mrs. Packletide? How did
she behave during the tiger shooting?
Answer- Mrs. Mebbin was a
paid companion of mrs. Packletide, hired to assist in the tiger hunt. She was
not at all devoted to Mrs. Packletide. She was so professional and money minded
that she always had the fear of doing an atom more service than she had been
paid for. She was very possessive of money and always adopted an elder sisterly
attitude towards money irrespective of the denomination or nationality. Hence
we can say Miss Mebbin was a woman who had only a right match with money.
During the shooting of the tiger,
Miss Mebbin had been a good judge to accumulate the money paid in proportionate
to service accomplished. She had a super parsimonious attitude towards money
irrespective of tiger and villagers. Through the hunting she kept complaining
about the tiger chosen by the villager was old and ill and not worth the money
paid for. Her devotion to Mrs. Packletide was fake and pretentious as she later
tries to encash the situation by blackmailing about the story of the hunt.
5 Mrs. Packletide was a good shot. Discuss
Answer-Mrs Packletide was an
amateur. The tiger hunt organized by
mrs. Packletide involved a lot of assistance, support and paraphernalia. Even
on the day of the hunt she waited with Mebin on a platform raised for her by
the villagers. Later when the tiger approached the goat, though she shoots but
in the close examination everyone realized it was the goat that was shot. Hence
it is not justified to say that Mrs. Packletide was good shot. Even with much
ado she was not successful.
6 What comment did Miss Mebbin make after Mrs Packletide had
fired the shot?
Why did Miss Mebbin make this comment? How did Mrs Packletide react to this comment?
Why did Miss Mebbin make this comment? How did Mrs Packletide react to this comment?
Answer- Miss Mebbin commented that
the bullet had killed the goat instead of the tiger. The tiger had succumbed to
heart failure at the report of the riffle accelerated by the senile decay.
A paid woman Miss Mebbin didn’t
feel to support Mrs Packletide .Rather she contrived to utilize the chance
& co-incidence.
She was very much annoyed at the
discovery
7. How did the villagers react to the tiger's
death?
Answer- The villagers with the
sole target of acquiring money on the event of the tiger’s death was rejoicing in
chorus. They did not pay heed to Mebbin’s revelations. They readily believed
that Mrs. Packletide had killed the tiger. They announced the happy news to the
entire village by beating the tom-toms
8.
Do you think Mrs. Packletide was able to
achieve her heart's desire? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer-Mrs Packletide was
successful in creating a galore of jealousy in Loona Bimberton after having the
pictures in the newspaper and magazine. She also gifted the tiger claw brooch
to mrs. Loona Bimberton thereby haunting her with her success. She achieved her
hearts’ desire positively when she gained popularity by photographed and
causing jealousy in Loona.
9.
How did Miss Mebbin manage to get her
week-end cottage? Why did she plant so many tiger lilies in her garden?
Answer- Miss mebbin, perfect
example of selfishness and narrow-mindedness, made unfair advantages of chance
and coincidence appeared due to the failure of Mrs. Packletide in killing the tiger.
She blackmailed Mrs. Packletide of leaking out the sensational truth that she
had not killed the tiger but a goat. In this she became the owner of the
cottage.
Symbolic is the tiger lilies in
her garden referring to her unexpected ownership of the cottage due to the
killing of the tiger.
10. "The incidental expenses are so
heavy," she confides to inquiring friends. Who is the speaker? What is she
referring to here?
Answer-Mrs. Packletide is the
speaker of the above quoted lines. She is referring to the burdens of expenses
she had to endure owing to the blackmailing of Miss Mebbin. She was compelled
to cut loose a handsome amount of money to meet with the desires of Miss Mebbin
to by a weekend cottage.
11. Do you think the tiger shooting
organized by the villagers was a serious affair?
Give reasons for your answer.
Answer-Tiger shooting arranged by the villagers was a serious affair. The whole village got indulged in the process of making the shooting of the tiger a fruitful one. They guarded the forest to ascertain the presence of the tiger in the forest, provided food in the form of poor quality goats and took active part in group to see wild beast a lifeless one.
Give reasons for your answer.
Answer-Tiger shooting arranged by the villagers was a serious affair. The whole village got indulged in the process of making the shooting of the tiger a fruitful one. They guarded the forest to ascertain the presence of the tiger in the forest, provided food in the form of poor quality goats and took active part in group to see wild beast a lifeless one.
12. A person who is vain is full of
self importance and can only think of himself/herself and can go to great
lengths to prove his/her superiority. Do you think Mrs Packletide is vain? Give
reasons in support of your answer.
Answer- Aptly Mrs. Packletide was
lady of vain. She had decided to a big extent to fulfill her biased target. She
was totally taken up by the increasing jealousy against Loona Bimberton. She
had a sacrifice of a handsome amount of money of thousand rupees fanatically
only to create a little sense of enmity and jealousy in Loona Bimberton. She
makes sure that her photos appeared in the international newspapers and
weeklies. She was though partially successful; her superiority was totally
crushed and questioned by Miss Mebbin. Finally she buys a weekend cottage for Mebbin
to prevent her from telling anyone the truth about the hunt i.e it was the goat
and not the tiger was shot. All these prove that Mrs. Packletide was vain.
14. Sometimes writers highlight
certain negative aspects in society or human beings by making fun of it. This
is called satire. In your groups discuss whether you would classify this story
as a satire. Give reasons to support your answer
Answer- This story is an apt
example of satire. The narrator through the fun made in the story highlighted
the negativities of the society. People in the society mainly the rich are
controlled not by love and hunger but by money, status, and jealousy. The story
is to hint narrow minded and rich people and their habit paranoia.
The writer Saki has satirized the jealousy and vanity of the
fair sex. They want to show of themselves and think only of themselves. To
prove superiority they would go to any extend.The author not only makes fun of
the situation but also the characters. Mrs. Packletides’ actions were mainly directed
by her dislike for Loona Bimberton. The
motive behind the tiger hunt was to show off to her. In turn Loona did not even
look at the pictures of Packletide in the newspaper. She declined to attend the
party because she could not bear people praising Packletide , even the letter
of thanking that was sent to packletide for the brooch revealed the extend of
the repressed emotions.
The whole situation of Tiger hunt is laced with satire. A
tiger which had given up hunting was chosen for the hunt. The tiger dies of
heart failure not of gunshot. The villagers happily believed that Mrs.
Packletide had killed the tiger out of the fear of losing thousand rupees.
Luisa mebbin even blackmails Mrs. Packletide into buying a weekend cottage. The
author, thus, paints a society that is essentially guided by wealth and mutual
dislike for each other.
15. How
does the writer create humor in this story?
The
author makes fun of each character and situation. Mrs. Packletide, Loona
Bimberton,Loiusa Mebbin and villagers are ridiculed for their peculiar
character traits. The tiger hunt is mocked; an old, ailing tiger was chosen for
the ‘adventurous’ hunt of Mrs. Packletide. The power of money is so strong that
the villagers connived to believe that the tiger was shot not the goat. Louisa
mebbin agreed to keep the secret for additional money. Thus the author creates
humor in the story by highlighting the negative aspect of the society or human
being.
