The Shoemaker
The story “The Shoemaker” by Charles Dickens discusses a dedicated cobbler who finds joy in his work while caring for his daughter amidst challenging circumstances. Answer the following MCQs and question answers based on this story to revise the chapter.
Multiple Choice Questions
Why is the protagonist imprisoned for 18 years?
How does the shoemaker look after the release from the prison?
What defect does he have due to being so many years in prison?
How does he learn the process of shoemaking?
What emotion does the shoemaker express while working?
Where did Mr Jarvis Lorry work?
What was the profession of the shoemaker at the beginning?
What is the central theme of the story 'The Shoemaker'?
Reference to Context Questions
His yellow rags of shirt lay open at the throat, and showed his body to be withered and worn. He was so weak and frail that when he put up a hand between his eyes and the light, even the bones of his hand seemed transparent.
Question: How does the author describe the character in the above passage?
Answer: The author describes the shoemaker's appearance to make readers understand that he was not in the best of health. His hollow and thin face displays his hardships. Through the opening of his pale yellow shirt, it is understood that he has a withered and worn-out body. Every bone in his body is visible to the viewer. This is the result of his life spent in the Bastille prison for a crime that he never committed.
Question: What theme and emotional response does the description of the above character evoke in the minds of the readers?
Answer: The description of the shoemaker evokes a feeling of sympathy and concern for the character highlighting his suffering and fragility. His worn-out body also reflects the theme of poverty, hardships, and struggles faced by individuals in difficult circumstances. It also reveals how a doctor's life that flourished once could change his fate to become a shoemaker in a single incident.
Her golden hair, which she wore in long curls, had been hurriedly pushed aside,and fell down over her neck. Advancing his hand little by little, he took it up and looked at it.
Question: How is the little girl's hair described in the above passage? What does it infer?
Answer: The little girl Lucie, daughter of Dr. Manette's, hair is described as golden and worn in long curls that had been hurriedly pushed aside and fell over her neck. The golden hair could symbolize beauty, youth, or innocence reflecting the character's charm or the significance of that moment.
Question: What emotion does the author evoke in the reader?
Answer: The author creates a sense of intimacy between the father Dr. Manette and daughter Lucie through the careful and gentle action of her father taking up the hair and looking at her with admiration, suggesting a personal connection or affection between them. It evokes feelings of warmth, tenderness, or nostalgia as it captures a delicate moment between the father and daughter.