Important Questions for CBSE Class 11 English Woven Stories Chapter 3 - The Rocking-horse Winner

Very Short Answer Questions                                                                           1 Mark

1. Word – Meaning from the given chapter-

(i) Anguish

Ans: A severe mental or physical pain

(ii) Stoutly

Ans: With courage and determination

(iii) Frenzy

Ans: A state or period of uncontrolled excitement

(iv) Iridescent

Ans: Showing luminous colours that seem to change when seen from different angles

2. Fill in the blanks

(i) They lived in ____, they felt always _____ in the house.

Ans: Style, anxiety

(ii) The puppy was looking ______ for no reason but heard the ______.

Ans: Extraordinarily foolish, secret whisper.

3. True – False:

i. When her children were present, she always felt the centre of her heart.

Ans: True

ii. The mother had a small income but the father was rich.

Ans: False

iii. The expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery at Christmas.

Ans: True

iv. The whisper was nowhere and therefore no one spoke about it.

Ans: False

4. What troubled the woman?

Ans: She always felt the centre of her heart went hard when her children were present, which caused her trouble.

5. What was the birthday present of Paul to her mother?

Ans: The birthday present of Paul to her mother was thousand pounds for five successive years.

Short Answer Questions                                                                              2 Marks

1. How did the failure affect the woman?

Ans: The woman tried a variety of things but was unable to discover anything worthwhile. She racked her wits even more, and her failure left deep lines on her cheeks.

2. What was the haunted phrase and who heard it?

Ans: An unsaid word began to plague the house: “There must be more money!” I'm sure there's more money!” Nobody stated it out loud, but the kids could hear it all the time.

3. What did Paul do with the rocking horse?

Ans: Paul sat on his large rocking horse, became enraged, and careered the horse erratically. He climbed down and stood in front of his rocking-horse as he reached the conclusion of his short insane adventure.

4. Why did the uncle feel delighted?

Ans: The uncle felt delighted to find that his small nephew was posted with all the racing news and events that were happening and was also accustomed to the names and details of the horses.

5. What was Paul’s secret?

Ans: Paul’s secret of secrets was his unnamed wooden horse. He had his horse taken from his own bedroom and placed at the top of the house when he was freed from his duties as a nurse and nursery governess.

Short Answer Question                                                                               3 Marks

1. What were the gifts of Christmas?

Ans: On the occasion of Christmas, the house was full of expensive and splendid toys which filled the entire nursery. The gifts were a gleaming contemporary rocking horse, a smart dollhouse, a large pink doll who sat in her new pram, and an exceptionally stupid dog who replaced a teddy bear.

2. How did uncle manage five thousand pounds without letting Paul’s mother know about it?

Ans: Uncle promised Paul that he would handle it without his mother's knowledge, and he did it without difficulty. Uncle deposited the five thousand pounds with the family lawyer, who was then to notify Paul's mother that a relative had placed five thousand pounds in his hands.

3. What made Paul frightened terribly?

Ans: The house was already haunted by the phrases that were heard by all the children. The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening. The voices in the house were behind the spray of mimosa and almond blossoms, and from under the piles of iridescent cushions, trilled and screamed in sort of ecstasy. This frightened Paul terribly.

4. What happened two nights before the Derby?

Ans: Paul's mother went to a huge party in town two nights before the Derby. One of her panic attacks was concerning her son, her firstborn, which grabbed her heart and made her unable to speak. She battled the sensation since she was a firm believer in logic. But that was too much for her, so she left the dance and walked downstairs to contact her son on the phone.

5. Why was Paul tense and what made his mother tense more?

Ans: The Derby was approaching, and the boy was becoming increasingly apprehensive. He didn't hear a word that was spoken to him. He looked thin, and his eyes had an eerie quality to them. His mother was also experiencing weird discomfort about him. She would feel a certain anxiety about him that was almost anguish and wanted to rush to him at once to know about his safety.  

Long Answer Questions                                                                                      5 Marks

1. Give the details of the woman and her family.

Ans: The woman was lovely, but she lacked fortune in her life. She married for love, but the love lasted just a few months. She had three lovely children, two girls and a boy, but she felt forced to have them and couldn't love them. She knew there was a hard tiny spot in the centre of her heart that couldn't feel love for anyone. They lived in a nice house with a garden and quiet maids, and they thought they were better than everyone. Both the father and the mother had a meagre salary. The father was attractive and moved into town to work at some office, but his plans never materialised. Despite the fact that the style was maintained at all times, there was always a nagging feeling of financial scarcity.

2. What did Paul’s mother do for income?

Ans: Paul's mother travelled into town on a daily basis. She'd discovered a strange talent for drawing furs and clothing fabrics. She also worked in secret at a friend's studio who was the head artist for the big drapers. For the newspaper advertising, she created representations of ladies in furs and ladies in silk and sequins. Paul's mother barely made a few hundred dollars a week and was unsatisfied despite working numerous jobs at once. She always wanted to be first in things, even when it came to producing designs for curtain commercials.

3. What was her reaction after reading the letter?

Ans: She received the letter while eating breakfast on her birthday morning. Her face stiffened and became more expressionless as she read the letter. Her face took on a hard, determined expression afterwards. She hid the letter under the piles of some other letters and did not say a word about it. She did not disclose the letter nor said anything related to it to anybody, and she went to the town without saying more to her son.

4. What did Paul’s mother observe in her house after her return from the party?

Ans: Paul's mother was in town for a huge celebration. She returned to her room and removed her white fur coat. She walked upstairs to her son's room since she was experiencing odd anxiousness. She waited outside his door, muscles tense, listening to weird, weighty, but not loud sounds. For a little moment, her heart remained still. It was a silent sound, yet it was rushing and strong. She felt as though she recognised the cacophony, which seemed to be going insane. The room was dark when she turned the door handle, but she heard and saw something move to and fro in the space near the window. She stared, terrified and astonished.

5. What happened to Paul and how did he die?

Ans: Paul was in his green pyjamas, madly surging on the rocking horse. The blaze of the light suddenly lit him up as he urged the wooden horse. His eyes blazed at her mother for one strange and senseless second, as he ceased urging his wooden horse. He fell off with a crash to the ground and became unconscious. He remained unconscious with some brain-fever as well. He was very critical on the third day of the illness and everyone was waiting for a change. He neither slept nor regained consciousness and his eyes were like blue stones. He died the same night after being conscious for some time while talking to his mother.