Notes of Television
Extract
1
1. What is the most
important thing that poet has learned as far as childeren are concerned?
A.
The most important thing that the poet has learned as far as children are
concerned is that they should never be allowed to watch television as it fills
their minds with junk. The better solution to this problem would be not to
intall the television set in thier homes at all.
2. What is reffered to
as idiotic thing in the above extact? Why do you think the poet advises not to
intall it?
A. Television is
referred as idiotic thing by the poet. The poet advices not to intall it
because it hypnotises and produces dulness in the minds of those who watch it.
3. Describe what poet
sees at every house with television. Why is he upset with what he has seen? In
almost every house with television,
children are staring at the television
screen without doing any productive work.It upsets him because he
cosiders television as a monster that kills children’s imgination.
4. Explain the figure of speech used in the
lines:
Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.
The figure of speech
used here is Hyperbole, which uses exaggeration
for emphasis or effect. To put
emphasis on the hypnotic effect of television, the poet says that previous week
at someone’s palce he had seen half a dozen eyeballs rolling about on the
floor.
5. What purpose do the repetitions serve in the extract?
Repetitions are are
used to emphasise that children should never be allowed to watch television as
they just sit and stare at it without doing anything productive.
a). Give two types of repetition:
· Is neverNEVER NEVER, Let
Them near your television set-
They sit
and stare and stare and sit
b) What type of rhyme
scheme is followed in the extract?
The rhyme scheme followed throughout the poem is aa bb cc dd
Extract 2
1. The poet says “ it keeps them still” what keeps the
children still? How?
A. The television set keeps the children hypnotised as they
watch all the junk that it telecasts.
2. How does the
television proves to be useful and convenient for the parents?
A. Television proves to be useful for the parents because it
keeps their children still and occupied.The children then do not indulge in any
kind of fights. It allows the parents to do their house hold chores peacefully.
3. According to the poet, what ill effects does Television
have on children?
A. It produces dullness in their mind.
It kills their imagination and thinking ability.
It hypnotises them and fills them with junk.
4. How does the television kill the imgination of children?
Name and explain the figure of speech used.
A. The ability to think of new ideas dimnishes when child
passively engages in watching television.Watching too much television destroys
children’s abilty to understand the world of fantacy.Their thinking power rusts
and freezes.
Personification is the figure of speech used here.It is used
to express a thing or idea as a person.
Dahl uses personifiaction in the line:
It kills their imagination dead!
He givies television the ability to kill and gives
imagination ability to die at its hand.
5. Do you think Dahl
is critical of television? Give reasons for your answer.
Yes, Dahl seems to be critical of television because he seems
to highlight only the negative effects of television on children,such as : It
rots their senses, kills teir imagination, clogs their mind, makes them dull,
and incapable of understanding the world of fantasy. It feezes thier thinking
power.
Extract 3
1. Whose and what question is the poet answering in the above
extract?What does he say in his answer?
The poet here answers the parents’ query that if they take
the television set away, what type of entertainment they would give to make
their children occupied.
The poet replies by
asking parents to recall how the
children kept themselves entertained by reading books before television was
invented.
2. What monster is the poet referring to in the above
extract?
The poet refers to the television as a monster that kills
children’s imagination. Before television was invented,children would actively
engage themselves only in reading. Books could be found everywhere – on the
nursery shelves,on nursery floor,in the bedroom or by the children’s bed.
3.THEY ....USED ...TO... READ!
......................
One half of their lives was reading books!
The following lines
use repetition to create a smooth flow and to put emphasis on th fact that
children used to read only books before monstrous television was invented.Moreover,
the emphasis on the word READ implying importance of reading books.
4. This is done to
catch the readers attention and emphasise that instead of watching television
,children should engage themselves in reading as they used to do before television
was invented.The use of captail letters is equivalent to shouting.
5.Once childen start
reading, they get so involved in reading that there would be books everywhere.
The last four lines describe such a secnario.The nursery shelves would be
filled with books.Books would be scattered on the floor and by the children’s
bed.
Extract IV
1.
Synecdoche.
It is a figure of speech in which a part is put for the whole or the whole for
a part. In the poem, the expample is: The younger ones had Beatrix Potter.
Here
the name of the author Beatrix Potter is used to represent the whole
gamut of her works such as ‘The tale of Squirrel Nutkin’, ‘The Tale of Mr Tod’,
and ‘The Tale of Piling Bland.’
Example
of rhyming scheme is: Potter, Rotter
2. The poet remembers
the time when the children used to only read books. They used to read books
filled with tales of treasure islands, voyages, smugglers, pirates, ships,
elephants and cannibals. It was a time when young children travelled to an all
new adventurous world of animals with Mr Tod, Squirrel Nutkin, and Piglin
Bland.
3.The refernece is
important because it transports the readers to a time before the television was
invented when children used to read.
4.The poet suggests
that TV sets should be thrown out and should be replaced with bookshelves.
His suggestion does
not seem to be practical as television is also a medium of education. Children
can be guided to watch educational programmes and newscasts.
5. TV sets should not
be thrown out of the houses. Dahl mentions only the negative aspects of
television. Television has educational
benefits as it is an audio-visual medium and can help children learn by
watching. However, there is a need to maitain a balance between watching
television and other activities.
Extract V
1. He gave this advice in continuation of his
suggestion of throwing TV sets away. According to the poet replacing TV sets
with bookshelves would be best as far as children are concerned.
2. Children will give dirty looks to their parents when their TV sets would be replaced
with bookshelves filled with books. Children would then scream and yell and
fight with their parents.
3. The parents are advised to ‘fear not’ because
their children’s tantrums would be temporary; what would be permanent is their
love for books which would soon follow.
4. Yes. Watching television for hours, makes the
children dull and passive. It kills their imagination; on the other hand,
reading books will help them to travel
to new and exciting worlds of ‘dragons,
gypsies, queens and whales.” Dahl remembers his days, when television was not
invented and children would spend their time reading; a time when nursery floor
and the side of their beds were filled only with books; a time when young children travelled to an
all adventrous world of animals with
Tod, Squirrel Nutkin and Pigling Bland.
5. To develop a habit of reading books is an
important advice that the poet gives. Reading transfers one to a beautiful
world of imagination and fantasy. Reading fills
one’s heart with true joy and happiness.
Extract VI
1.
It refers
to children’s act of starting to read books once television is uninstalled from
their houses. The poet feels very excited about it as he employs an easy,
delightful and cheering tone while talking about books. His excitement is
reflected through: “Oh boy, Oh boy!”
2.
Yes.
Watching television for hours, makes the children dull and passive. It kills
their imagination; on the other hand, reading books will help them to travel to new and exciting worlds of ‘dragon, gypsies, queens and
whales.”
3.
He has a
strong dislike for television and he describes it as nauseating, foul, unclean,
monstrous and idiotic. However, he firmly believes that reading is a powerful
tool for learning and considers books as lovely, wondrous, fine, fantastic
4.
Yes.
Watching television for hours, makes the children dull and passive. It kills
their imagination; on the other hand, reading books will help them to travel to new and exciting worlds of ‘dragons, gypsies, queens and
whales.” Dahl remembers his days, when television was not invented and children
would spend their time reading; a time when nursery floor and the side of their
beds were filled only with books; a time
when young children travelled to an all adventrous world of animals with Tod, Squirrel Nutkin
and Pigling Bland.
5.
The
television is a silly invention of modern science that does not have any
positive effect. It is ‘nauseating’ and disgusting to watch. It is ‘foul’,
morally bad and offensive. It telecasts only ‘junk’. The television screen thus
is repulsive.