“My Big Brother” by Munshi Premchand For ICSE students

“My Big Brother”

 by Munshi Premchand

Questions and answers

1. What edifice is mentioned in the first paragraph?

Ans. In the first paragraph the narrator’s brother compares education process with an ‘edifice’. ‘Edifice’ means a large or complex structure or organization. According to him, if the base of building is strong the building will stand firmly. Similarly we need to make the base of our education strong to achieve a proper education.

2. How did the big brother spend his day?

Ans. The big brother spent his all day by studying books. In one word he was a book-worm. Sometimes he rested his brain by drawing pictures of birds and cats in the margin of his notebook or writing names, word or a sentence repeatedly. He did not spend his time in playing.

3. In what ways was the narrator quite different from his elder brother?

Ans. The narrator was quite different from his elder brother in numerous ways. In literal way, the narrator was considered as intelligent rather he stands for success and on the other hand his elder brother was a book-worm and stands for failure. But actually the author wanted us to show the difference in other way i.e. the narrator’s innocence and the big brother’s experience. Though the narrator, who got success in exams, looked upon his education as less significant, he had less knowledge of life than his elder brother. 
In simple words, the big brother spent his days toiling over his books and sometimes doodling in the margin of his notebooks. The author wasn’t really very keen on studying. He preferred to play marbles, fly kites, or meet a friend. He would look for such opportunities to leave the hostel.

4. What comments did the big brother have to make on the following?

a) English and History

Ans.  The narrator’s brother speaks wise words to the narrator on various subjects. According to him, studying English is no child's play, one has to work very hard in order to learn the subject. To speak or write English properly, tremendous effort is required.

According to him English history is very confusing to memorize as it has numerous kings with same names and various events related to them. If one mismatches one of them he or she will get a zero. He has also shown an example of King Henry as there are eight Henrys in English history and we have to memorize all the events related to him or at his time. There are also other kings like James, Charles etc.

b) Algebra and Geometry

Ans. According to him algebra and geometry was also very confusing and hard to solve. If one writes abc instead of acb, his/her whole answer is wrong. To him there is no difference in it. In geometry, he couldn’t see the point of bringing the perpendicular to the base to prove that it was twice the base.

c) Pride

Ans. According to him, even great men live to regret pride.

d) the age difference the two of them

Ans. His brother said that he was five years older than the author and this difference could not be removed. This age difference gave his brother greater wisdom and moreover experience.

to be continued......