Part I
The narrator, one evening, accepted his friend’s proposal to go for a long bicycle ride on the following day. He got up early and started waiting for his friend. His friend came half an hour late. He examined the narrator’s bicycle. He shook the front wheel with force. He didn’t heed the narrator’s request not to hurt the machine.The friend declared that the front wheel was unsteady and it could prove dangerous. He asked for a hammer. He took the front wheel off the fork and held it between his legs. He found fault with the bearings. He set about repairing the machine. He unscrewed it, and the little iron balls rolled away. They collected some sixteen of them. The narrator put them for safety in his hat.
Part II
Next, the friend handled the chain. He took off the gear case. He claimed to know all about a bicycle. He removed the gear box but lost the screws.The narrator was too weak to check the friend from doing further mischief. The friend went ahead. He tightened the chain till it would not move. Then he made it very loose. He finally decided to fix the front wheel in place. The narrator then changed places with him, and put the wheel in tight position. He laughed and admitted that he was an ass. The reason was that they had forgotten to put the iron balls in place.The narrator looked for his hat in which he had put the balls safely. But the hat lay upturned and the balls were scattered. They could find only eleven. They fixed six on one side and five on the other, and half an hour later the wheel was put in its place again. But it wobbled even then. The narrator was impressed not so much by his friend’s skill at repairing the bicycle as by his confidence in himself and his hopeful attitude.
The friend got encouraged. He then set to refix the gear-box. He put the bicycle in different places and positions for the job. He lost his balance and hurt himself on the head. Then he lost his temper and tried to punish the bicycle. It was a sort of fight between man and machine. The tough bicycle showed spirit. It freed itself from his hold and hit him over the head with its handle.
At a quarter to one, the man thought that the work was done. He himself was dirty and bleeding. He cleaned himself and the narrator then sent him home. It was difficult to decide who had suffered more—the friend or the bicycle.
Answer the following questions.
Q.1.
Did the front wheel really wobble? What is your opinion? Give a reason for your answer.
Ans. No, I think the front wheel did not really wobble. We can say this because the author himself said that “It doesn’t if you don’t wobble it. It didn’t wobble, as a matter of fact nothing worth calling a wobble.”
Q.2.In what condition did the author find the bicycle when he returned from the tool shed?
Ans. When the author returned from the tool shed, he saw that the man was sitting on the ground with the front wheel of the bicycle between his legs. He was playing with it, turning it round between his fingers and the remaining parts were lying on the gravel path beside him.
Q.3. “Nothing is easier than taking off the gear-case.” Comment on or continue this sentence in the light of what actually happens.
Ans. The man says this to the author when the author tries to dissuade him from unscrewing his cycle any further. He tells him that one of his experienced friends told him once that “If anything goes wrong with your gear-case, sell the machine and buy a new one; it comes cheaper.” But the man contradicts him saying that, “People talk like that who understand nothing about machines. Nothing is easier than taking off a gear-case."
Q.4.What special treatment did the chain receive?
Ans. The lunatic tightened the chain to the extent that it did not move; next he loosened it so much that it was twice as loose as it was before.
Q.5.The friend has two qualities — he knows what he is doing and is absolutely sure it is good. Find the two phrases in the text which mean the same.
Ans. “Cheery confidence” and “inexplicable hopefulness” are the two phrases which show that the man knew what he was doing and was absolutely sure it was good.
Q.6.Describe ‘the fight’ between the man and the machine. Find the relevant sentences in the text and write them.
Ans. The author’s bicycle was in a fine condition but the man unnecessarily unscrewed all the parts of it in order to repair it. The following paragraph shows ‘the fight’ between the man and the machine:
“One moment the bicycle would be on the gravel path, and he on top of it; the next, the position would be reversed— he on the gravel path, the bicycle on him. Now he would be standing flushed with victory, the bicycle firmly fixed between his legs. But his triumph would be short-lived. By a sudden, quick movement it would free itself and, turning upon him, hit him sharply over the head with one of its handles.”
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