CBSE Class 12 English HOTs The Interview Set 02

Question. What are some of the positive views on interviews? 
Answer: Interview is a genre that has become a common place of journalism within a span of about 130 years. It is an art that brings out truth and gives us vivid impressions of the interviewees. It is an excellent medium of communication.

Question. Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?
Answer: Most of the celebrities do not like giving interviews because they believe that interviews diminish them. Writers such as V.S. Naipaul feel wounded by interviews and that people lose a part of themselves in the process of an interview. Some others such as Rudyard Kipling condemn interviews as immoral, an offence, a crime and something vile and cowardly. Saul Bellow feels suffocated during interviews.

Question. What is the belief in some primitive cultures about being photographed?
Answer: Some primitive cultures believe that if they are photographed, some part of their soul is robbed. Hence, they condemn photography and view it with suspicion.

Question. What do you understand by the expression ‘thumbprints on his windpipe’?
Answer: Saul Bellow compares interviews to ‘thumbprints on the windpipe’. This refers to the fact that interviewers make the interviewees feel suffocated and uneasy during the course of an interview. Bellow feels that interviewers are strangulators while interviewees are their victims.

Question. Who, in today’s world, is our chief source of information about personalities?
Answer: Ever since interviews were invented over 130 years ago, this excellent medium of communication has become our chief source of information. As compared to the other sources of information (biographies, autobiographies and movies) interviews convey information in a fast, simple and effective way.

Understanding the Text 

Question. Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.
Answer: Umberto Eco, the interviewee does not seem to dislike being interviewed. He gives long and elaborate answers to the questions posed by Mukund Padmanabhan. He answers all the questions in a straightforward, truthful and sincere way sharing his experiences with the world at large. Nowhere, does he try to evade a question. He also smiles and shrugs during the interview which shows his interest. At no point during the interview do we feel that he is in a hurry to wind up the interview. Thus, he seems to like being interviewed.

Question. How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Answer: Umberto Eco finds time to write so much in the small gaps between two tasks. He names these empty gaps as interstices which he utilises to do something productive.

Question. What was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Answer: Umberto Eco’s style was distinctive because it is written in a narrative style in contrast to a regular academic style which is invariably depersonalised, dry and boring. Even his scholarly works have a certain playful and personal quality about them.

Question. Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic scholar? Or Did Umberto Eco like to be identified as a novelist? Give reasons in support of your answer.
Answer: Umberto Eco’s primary work was in the academic field itself and he wrote novels occasionally, on Sundays only. He also mentioned that he participated in academic conferences over meetings of Pen Clubs and writers. He confirmed that he identified himself with the academic community. Thus, he considered himself an academic scholar first and then a novelist.

Question. What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, ‘The Name of the Rose’?
Answer: The reason for the huge success of the novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ is probably that it was a different kind of novel as it had a highly personalised narrative written in an unconventional style. It was a serious detective story which probed into metaphysics, theology and medieval history. All these topics interested readers. The author himself was mystified by its success and says that probably the novel was written at the right time; it may not have been such a success if it had come earlier or later.

Extract Based Questions

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Question. Others, usually celebrities who see themselves as its victims, might despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives or feel that it somehow diminishes them, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul. V.S. Naipaul ‘feels that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves,’ Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in Wonderland, was said to have had ‘a just horror of the interviewer’ and he never consented to be interviewed. 

Question. Choose the most appropriate option with reference to the given extract. Most of the celebrities dislike being interviewed because ............
(a) it is sheer nonsense
(b) nobody reveals his/her inner-self
(c) it is sheer waste of time
(d) it is an unwanted intrusion in their lives
Answer: (d) it is an unwanted intrusion in their lives

Question. Complete the analogy with the word from the extract. Light : Darkness :: ............ : Refused
Answer: Consented

Question. In primitive cultures being photographed implied ............
(a) announcing victory
(b) soul has been stolen
(c) saving a memory for posterity
(d) becoming popular
Answer: (b) soul has been stolen

Question. From the given extract, we know that ............ never agreed to be interviewed.
(a) Lewis Carroll
(b) V.S. Naipaul
(c) T.S. Eliot
(d) Charlie Sheen
Answer: (a) Lewis Carroll

Question. In the given extract, the word ‘diminish’ most nearly means ............
(a) deepens
(b) disappoints
(c) lessens
(d) languishes
Answer: (c) lessens

Question. In the given extract, the writer indicates that most people ............ interviews.
(a) celebrated
(b) read
(c) gave
(d) despised
Answer: (d) despised

Question. “Why do I refuse to be interviewed? Because it is immoral! It is a crime, just as much of a crime as an offence against my person, as an assault, and just as much merits punishment. It is cowardly and vile. No respectable man would ask it, much less give it.”

Question. From the kind of response towards interviews, do you think that the speaker had a bad experience with the interviewers?
Answer: Yes, I think that the speaker had a bad experience with the interviewers as his wife mentions in her diary that on 14th October, 1892 their day was ‘wrecked by two reporters from Boston’.

Question. Select the correct option from those given in bracket to fill in the blank. The attitude of the speaker of these lines towards an interview was ............ (applauding/depreciative).
Answer: depreciative

Question. Complete the statement with an appropriate explanation. The speaker’s statement about the interview is ironical because ............
Answer: although he states that he does not find interviews to be respectable he himself took an interview later on.

Question. What does the expression ‘merits punishment’ mean here?
Answer: The given sentence indicates that the interviewers should be condemned and punished.

Question. What drawbacks of the ‘interview’ did his wife point out?
(a) It was an assault on the individual
(b) It was a crime
(c) It was an immoral act
(d) All of the options
Answer: (d) All of the options

Question. The general experience of the authors regarding interviews is that of ............
(a) amusement
(b) harassment
(c) satisfaction
(d) anger
Answer: (b) harassment

Question. Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. Yet despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely serviceable medium of communication. “These days, more than at any other time, our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews,” Denis Brian has written. “Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another. Because of this, the interviewer holds a position of unprecedented power and influence. 

Question. How would you describe Denis Brian’s opinion on interviews?
Answer: Denis Brian’s opinion on interviews can be described as of approval. He finds interviews to be a useful medium through which we get to know more about people.

Question. Select the correct option from those given in brackets to fill in the blanks. Dennis Brian’s view on interview is in ............ with that of V.S. Naipaul. (contrast/complementary)
Answer: contrast

Question. Complete the sentence suitably. The use of the word ‘serviceable’ implies that interviews are ............
Answer: useful

Question. ‘Interviews had been called as thumbprints on windpipe’. Explain.
Answer: Saul Bellow calls interviews to be thumbprints on windpipe because interviews suffocate an interviewee.

Question. According to Saul Bellow, interviews are like thumbprints on his windpipe. What emotion might best describe such an image?
(a) Sadness
(b) Frustration
(c) Pain
(d) Fear
Answer: (c) Pain

Question. Denis Brian states that the interviewer occupies a position of power and influence as
(a) everything reaches us through one man asking questions of another.
(b) the interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication.
(c) our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews.
(d) interviews are like thumbprints on the interviewee’s windpipe.
Answer: (a) everything reaches us through one man asking questions of another.

Question. Umberto Eco: Aah, now that is more difficult to explain. I have some philosophical interests and I pursue them through my academic work and my novels. Even my books for children are about non-violence and peace...you see, the same bunch of ethical, philosophical interests. And then I have a secret. Did you know what will happen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the universe, eliminate the empty spaces in all the atoms? The universe will become as big as my fist. 

Question. Complete the following suitably. Eco suggests that his books for children also share his ethical interest because they are about ............ (violence/peace).
Answer: peace

Question. Complete the following suitably. Umberto Eco’s philosophical interests are ............ in his academic work and novels, making them interconnected.
Answer: present

Question. Select the textual option that is closest to indicating how his philosophical interests are represented.
(a) Aah, now that is more difficult to explain.
(b) I have a secret.
(c) I pursue them through my academic work and my novels.
(d) The universe will become as big as my fist.
Answer: (c) I pursue them through my academic work and my novels.

Question. What does the following line from the extract showcase? “The same bunch of ethical, philosophical interests”.
(a) Separation
(b) Interconnectedness
(c) Isolation
(d) Division
Answer: (b) Interconnectedness

Question. “I work in empty spaces.” Choose the option that most accurately captures Eco’s idea of empty spaces.
(a) Management of time
(b) Integration of work
(c) Management of space
(d) Tasks of a writer
Answer: (a) Management of time

Question. What according to Umberto Eco will happen if all the empty spaces are eliminated from the universe?
Answer: According to Umberto Eco, if all the empty spaces are eliminated from the universe, the universe will shrink to the size of his fist.