Question and answers of Mrs. Packletide's Tiger

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? 

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.  

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.