Flamingo The Rattrap - Test Papers

CBSE TEST PAPER-01
Class 12 English Core (The Rattrap)


General Instructions:-

  • All questions are compulsory.
  • Question No.1 to 6 carries 3 marks each.
  • Question No.7 and 8 carries 6 marks each.
  1. Why did the peddler think that the world was a rattrap?
  2. Why did the peddler derive pleasure from his idea of the world as a rattrap?
  3. Why did the peddler knock on the cottage by the roadside? How was he treated by the Owner Of the cottage?
  4. Why did Edla plead with her father not to send the vagabond away?
  5. What conclusion did the ironmaster reach when he heard that the crofter had been robbed by the peddler?
  6. What was the content of the letter written by the peddler to Edla?
  7. How did the peddler feel after robbing the crofter? What course did he adopt and how did he react to the new situation? What does his reaction reveal?
  8. The story, 'The Rattrap’ is both entertaining and philosophical. Do you agree with this statement? Why/Why not?

CBSE TEST PAPER-01
Class 12 English Core (The Rattrap)
Answers


  1. The peddler was a very poor man who earned his living by selling rattraps he made himself from the materials he got by begging. His mind, thus, was always preoccupied with rattraps. One day, he suddenly thought of the whole world was a big rattrap. He felt that the shelter, food, clothes, riches and joys that the world provided were all baits set to entrap man just as a rattrap offered cheese or meat to entrap rats. As soon as one was trapped, everything came to an end.
  2. The world had never been kind to the poor peddler. Wherever he went, he was greeted with sour faces and was turned or chased away. Therefore, he derived pleasure from thinking ill of the world in this way. Moreover, he perhaps envied those whose lot was better than his, and was rather amused to think that some day they too would be tempted by the bait and be caught in the Rattrap.
  3. The peddler knocked on the cottage by the roadside to seek shelter for the night. The owner of the cottage was a crofter who lived there alone. He regarded the peddler as welcome company and treated him quite hospitably. He not only put him up for the night, but also offered him food and played cards with him.
  4. Edla had always thought the peddler to be a poor, homeless tramp. Therefore, she didn’t feel cheated when his true identity was revealed. Instead, she felt very bad for him and his miserable condition, and pleaded on his behalf. She and her father had promised him Christmas cheer, and she felt that it would be wrong to send him away.
  5. It was at the church that the ironmaster and his daughter heard that the crofter had been robbed by a peddler, who, no doubt, was the one they had sheltered at the manor house. The ironmaster at once concluded that the peddler would probably have stolen all his silverware in their absence, and might have ran away.
  6. The peddler had written that since Edla had treated him like a captain, he wanted to be nice to her in return. He did not want her to be embarrassed at Christmas by a thief. He had requested that the crofter’s money that he had stolen be returned. He further wrote that the rattrap was a Christmas present from a rat that would have been caught in the world’s rattrap, if he had not been raised to the status of captain, which motivated him to reform himself.
  7. The crofter had treated the peddler with hospitality, and had even reposed his trust in the poor vagabond. Still the peddler robbed him and was quite pleased with his smartness. However, the fear of getting caught haunted him. So, he avoided the public highway and turned into the woods. It was a big and confusing forest, and due to the approaching darkness, the peddler lost his way. He got exhausted moving around the same place, and was filled with despair. He began to feel that the forest was like a big rattrap and the thirty kronor he had stolen were like a bait set to tempt him.
    His reaction reveals that he was feeling guilty for having stolen the crofter’s money. His heart was filled with remorse and self-loathing for his act of weakness. However, his thoughts can also be called to be a way of justifying his crime.
  8. The story, ‘The Rattrap’ is indeed, both entertaining and philosophical. The fast-paced narrative in the third person, generous use of dialogue by the author and different characters belonging to different mindsets and locales make the story interesting and entertaining. Besides, the author has managed to keep up the suspense till the end.
    The incidents in the forge, with the ironmaster coming at midnight, hold our attention. The peddler’s incessant refusals to the ironmaster to accompany him, but his accepting Edla’s invitation in one go, the ironmaster’s realization of his mistake, and Edla’s sympathy and generosity, all make the story quite gripping. While all the above events make the story interesting, there is also an element of philosophy in the story.
    Somewhere, the peddler’s theory of the world being a rattrap is true. One feels caught up like a rat in the entrapping of the world. Some people fall into this trap never to come out of it again. The story teaches us that, as human beings, we are not above temptations.