SUMMER OF THE BEAUTIFUL WHITE HORSE - BLOG 2

              Summer of the Beautiful White Horse

Yesterday we have completed reading of the chapter; the adventure of the two boys on a beautiful white horse. Today we are going to learn short answer questions. Before that let us look at the learning objectives;

The students will be able to

• identify the reasons why Aram couldn’t believe his brother had stolen the horse

• describe the character of Aram, Mourad and Uncle Khasrove

• justify the reason why the boys returned the horse to John Byro

• relate the plight and experience of Aram’s tribe to the Armenian genocide.

Now we can attempt short answer questions

Guidelines for attempting Short Answer questions –

·         2 marks (1 for Content, 1- expression and grammatical accuracy)

·         Word Limit: 30-40 words

·         Students must supply 2-3 content points

To get started, here is a part by part summary of the story and questions based on them.

Please refer to the NCERT textbook to get as many exact details as possible to write your answers.

This is a very useful habit and will greatly reward you in the Board exam.

 All the short answer questions and answers must be written in your English note book

                                             Summary

·         The incident that revolves around two cousins -Aram who is nine years old and Mourad who is thirteen.

·         The story opens with Mourad coming to Aram’s house at four in the morning.

·         He tapped on the window to Aram’s room.

·         When Aram looked out of the window, he was startled to see Mourad riding a beautiful white horse.

·         All this was too difficult to believe because Aram knew that they were too poor to be able to afford to buy a horse.

·         Mourad knew how crazy Aram was about horse so he came to take Aram for a ride.

·         The only way Mourad could possess it could be by stealing.

·         They were too honest to lie and yet too crazy to ride a horse.

Short answer questions

1. What brought Mourad to Aram’s house early in the morning?

Mourad was Aram’s cousin brother, knew that he too was as crazy as him about horses, his earliest memories had been memoriesof horses and his first longings had been longings to ride.

Mourad was riding a beautiful white horse, came to ask his brother if he too wanted to ride the horse.

2. Describe the sight that Aram saw and his reaction to it.

Aram saw his cousin Mourad sitting ona beautiful white horse.

The sight was too good to be true because he had always dreamed of horses and longed to ride one; so this moment was like a dream come true. On the other hand, their tribe was extremely poor and could never afford to buy a horse. It meant that Mourad had probably stolen the horse and that thought terrified him.

 

                                                      SUMMARY

·         The two boys belonged to the Garoghlanian tribe which was originally from Armenia.

·         They were known for their honesty for eleven centuries even when they were among the wealthiest families

·         Now, they were poverty-stricken and had no money at all.

·         Nobody knew how they managed to survive.

·         Despite being utterly poor, they were proud, honest and believed in right and wrong.

·         None of them would take advantage of anybody in the world, let alone steal.

·         At the same time, Aram and his brother were crazy about horses

·         He justified them keeping the horse by telling himself that they had just borrowed it and did not wish to sell it for money.

3. Which tribe did Aram belong to? What was the unique trait of their tribe?

The two boys belonged to the Garoghlanian tribe which was originally from Armenia.

They were known for their honesty for eleven centuries even when they were among the wealthiest families. Now, they were poverty-stricken and had no money at all.

Nobody knew how they managed to survive. Despite being utterly poor, they were proud, honest and believed in right and wrong. None of them would take advantage of anybody in the world, let alone steal.

 

4. How did Aram justify them keeping the horse?

It seemed to him that stealing a horse for a ride was not the

same thing as stealing something else, such as money. He and his brother were crazy about

horses then keeping the horse wasn’t stealing. It wouldn’t become stealing until they offered to sell the horse, which they knew, they would never do.

                                                  SUMMARY

Both the boys went for a ride. Aram was thrilled with the experience.

Mourad started singling loudly out of excitement.

Mourad was considered to be crazy by his family like his Uncle Khosrove.

It was believed that both of them had inherited the crazy streak in the family

Uncle Khosrove was an enormous man, known for his long moustache and short-temper

No matter how big or small the problem was, Uncle Khosrove silenced all by roaring “It is no harm; pay no attention to it.”

5. Describe Uncle Khosrove. 

Uncle Khosrove is described as an enormous man with a powerful head of black hair and the

largest moustache in the San Joaquin Valley. He was short-tempered, irritable and so impatient that he stopped anyone from talking by roaring, It is no harm; pay no attention to it. He said the same words even when his son ran to tell him that their house was on fire.

 

6. Why did the narrator say that the ‘spirit’ of his tribe was ‘capricious’ and ‘vagrant’?

The narrator’s tribe believed that the personality of people was decided by the spirits. These spirits were known to be unpredictable and wandering. Thus, a man could be the father of his son’s flesh, but that did not mean that he was also the father of his spirit. So, was understood that Mourad had inherited his crazy streak from Uncle Khosrove though his own father was a very practical man.

The remaining part of the story will be discussed in the next class.  

 

                                     HAPPY LEARNING

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