General Details: The author begins with insects like bees, wasps and mosquitoes and analyse their behavior Insects are part of our lives and that doesnt mean that we like to have them with us. While a bee or wasp is gentle, we do not like their company in our bed rooms though we like them in a garden. The mosquito is an unscrupulous enemy that attacks without waiting to be attacked. It stings anyone, whether he is the gentlest or the most dangerous man in the world. Because a mosquito is a beast of prey and is out for food, we wave it away even in a garden. Bees and wasps are comparatively gentler than the unscrupulous mosquito yet they exhibit a wild passion for revenge. If they are attacked by

someone, even a mad dog in the countryside, they take revenge by attacking someone else, anyone whose sight their eyes catch first. It is therefore that innocent people are sometimes attacked by wasps and bees. A bee is gentle. It doesnt attack unless it is attacked. A mosquito, on the very other hand, stings anyone for blood. Besides, a bee, the producer of honey, doesnt cause malaria as the mosquito does. Apart from helping the strawberries and mulberry to multiply, bees prefer a very calm, inoffensive life. If a bee or wasp, though gentle in character, enter our bedroom at two in the morning and buzzed behind our pillow, is a tedious company. Though we can avoid getting stung by not moving, lying motionlessly till the inoffensive bee or wasp had flown away, it is not

desirable to try this preventive when sleep is dearest and time is passing by. Bees and wasps do not attack us without being attacked. If a wasp or bee alights on our face and wake us dearly early in the morning, one can remain motionless and see the insect fly away after a quiet, harmless stay on our face. Then the author tries to connect our childhood with the sounds of the insects In spite of the fact that the hum insects often irritate us, they are on the other hand, delightful because they become part of some universal music, they also take us back to our childhood Hum of insects can delight us owing to the surroundings they are heard and with the past events associated to the sounds. Besides, when we hear these sounds, something in our blood and

breath responds to the rhythm of these sounds. As the hum of insects and noises of birds are associated with nature and seasons, so are they connected to our life, right from our childhood. When we grow up, these sounds occasionally pull us back to our childhood. In a way, our happiness, other than that achieved from people, has its origin in the nature, in spring and summer, in the hum and noises of insects and birds. In childhood, children experience the world around them as kind with them. Generally children are not treated harshly so they believe that the world, with the hum of insects and farms and gardens, is kind. Here they believe that grandpas are always gentle and believe their aunts who lie to the hungry children

that the biscuits that they have brought are for the dogs. Our childhood is full of fairy tales and the world around us is more like a dream than reality. There was a time when we believed in heaven and hell and punishment. We were told stories about that hell where people with only such teeth that have skins of certain color can escape the fire of the hell. The author, looking at the natural beauty and the toys that we love in the childhood, concludes that we seldom remember our toys and the joy they gave us and establishes that we can never so much forget our gardens, their flowers with fragrance and the farm. Noahs Ark is the perfect place to compare childhood with for so many reasons. First, it Noahs Ark was a place of happiness and peace. Noah was

asked by Yahweh to gather one pair of all the living beings animals including Noahs family, reptiles, birds, insects, etc. All of them were the best that existed on the earth. They were safe in the ark and happy that they escaped the deluge. Similarly, for children the world is devoid of bad people and bad animals. The child doesnt sense the cruelty of the animals and adults until they grew up. For children the world is safe and full of good people, pretty animals, amazing snakes and pleasant rivers. After having discussed the manifold aspects of the heavenly sounds of insects, the author concludes in a negative note because he sees the reality that in the modern world people have got no time to enjoy the natures sounds. Our life is restricted from all

directions like a heavy weight stopping the movement of a top. For modern men, the world is a problem to solve so there is no place for the hum of insects. In such a surrounding, the hum of insects sounds like a run-down machine that needs oiling and the insects that create that sound appear like stabbing creatures that make irritating noises.

ANALYSIS:

1. Bring out instances of contrasting reactions that we have for insects. 2marks Insects are part of our lives and that doesnt mean that we like to have them with us. While a bee or wasp is gentle, we do not like their company in our bed rooms though we like them in a garden.

2. Why a mosquito is always waved away, even in a garden? (2marks) The mosquito is an unscrupulous enemy that attacks without waiting to be attacked. It stings anyone, whether he is the gentlest or the most dangerous man in the world. Because a mosquito is a beast of prey and is out for food, we wave it away even in a garden.

3. What is a mosquitos approach to Tom Pinch? Tom Pinch is a prototype of peace who goes loved by all but a mosquito, whether it knows Tom Pinch or otherwise, attacks him without any reason and abandons him only when it is waved away or killed by the most lovable Tom Pinch himself.

4. What do you know about the blind passion that insects such as bees

and wasps have for reprisal/revenge? OR Why are innocent people attacked by insects? (2) Bees and wasps are comparatively gentler than the unscrupulous mosquito yet they exhibit a wild passion for revenge. If they are attacked by someone, even a mad dog in the country side, they take revenge by attacking someone else, anyone whose sight their eyes catch first. It is therefore that innocent people are sometimes attacked by wasps and bees.

5. Why doesnt the author justify the bees stinging a human being for stealing its honey? The author doesnt justify the bees act of attacking the human being for

stealing its honey because man is the master of this partially civilized world.

6. How is the bee morally higher in the scale than the mosquito? (2) A bee is gentle. It doesnt attack unless it is attacked. A mosquito, on the very other hand, stings anyone for blood. Besides, a bee, the producer of honey, doesnt cause malaria as the mosquito does. Apart from helping the strawberries and mulberry to multiply, bees prefer a very calm, inoffensive life.

7. When do both, the bee and the wasp, become tedious company? (2) If a bee or wasp, though gentle in character, enter our bedroom at two in the morning and buzzed behind our pillow, is a tedious company. Though we can avoid getting stung by not

moving, lying motionlessly till the inoffensive bee or wasp had flown away, it is not desirable to try this preventive when sleep is dearest and time is passing by.

8. What is, in the authors opinion, the infallible preventive against a wasps stinging while one is roused from sleep by its crawling over the face? (2) Bees and wasps do not attack us without being attacked. If a wasp or bee alights on our face and wake us dearly early in the morning, one can remain motionless and see the insect fly away after a quiet, harmless stay on our face.

9. Which are the three possible reasons under which the hum of insects delights us? In spite of the fact that the hum insects

often irritate us, they are on the other hand, delightful because they become part of some universal music, they also take us back to our childhood

10. How can the hum of insects delight us? Hum of insects can delight us owing to the surroundings they are heard and with the past events associated to the sounds. Besides, when we hear these sounds, something in our blood and breath responds to the rhythm of these sounds.

11. What are the three sounds that Lynd refer to as the three noises that appear to have an infinite capacity for giving us pleasure? Noises of insects, the noises of birds and the sound of the sea possess infinite capacity for giving us pleasure.

12. Why are grownups not able to hear the hum of insects? What do they hear instead? (2)

13. How is the hum of insects that one hears at a late stage of his life associated with ones childhood? (2) OR, How is the hum of insects is a pleasure of reminiscence? As the hum of insects and noises of birds are associated with nature and seasons, so are they connected to our life, right from our childhood. When we grow up, these sounds occasionally pull us back to our childhood. In a way, our happiness, other than that achieved from people, has its origin in the nature, in spring and summer, in the hum and noises of insects and birds.

14. It was a present that overflowed with kindness, though everybody else

except the ox and the ass believed that it was only by the skin of our teeth that any of us would escape being burnt alive for eternity. How does this statement explain childhoods serenity and innocence? (2) Serenity In childhood, children experience the world around them as kind with them. Generally children are not treated harshly so they believe that the world, with the hum of insects and farms and gardens, is kind. Here they believe that grandpas are always gentle and believe their aunts who lie to the hungry children that the biscuits that they have brought are for the dogs. Innocence Our childhood is full of fairy tales and the world around us is more like a dream than reality. There was a time

when we believed in heaven and hell and punishment. We were told stories about that hell where people with only such teeth that have skins of certain color can escape the fire of the hell.

15. Why does the author believe that only nature has lasting impressions in our mind? The author, looking at the natural beauty and the toys that we love in the childhood, concludes that we seldom remember our toys and the joy they gave us and establishes that we can never so much forget our gardens, their flowers with fragrance and the farm.

16. What are the illusions that we have in the childhood? During childhood, we have the illusion that the Springs will never cease and that the happiness will never be over.

17. Why are we still able to appreciate the hum of insects even at a very later stage of our life? Hum of insects is connected to our childhood memories and to our senses connected to autumns and springs in the past. Even when we hear the hum of insects at a very later age, we are able to return to our childhood.

18. Why does the author compare childrens world to Noahs Ark? Noahs Ark is the perfect place to compare childhood with for so many reasons. First, it Noahs Ark was a place of happiness and peace. Noah was asked by Yahweh to gather one pair of all the living beings animals including Noahs family, reptiles, birds, insects, etc. All of them were the best that existed on the earth. They were safe in the ark and happy that they

escaped the deluge. Similarly, for children the world is devoid of bad people and bad animals. The child doesnt sense the cruelty of the animals and adults until they grew up. For children the world is safe and full of good people, pretty animals, amazing snakes and pleasant rivers.

19. Why does the author end in a negative note? After having discussed the manifold aspects of the heavenly sounds of insects, the author concludes in a negative note because he sees the reality that in the modern world people have got no time to enjoy the natures sounds. Our life is restricted from all directions like a heavy weight stopping the movement of a top. For modern men, the world is a problem to solve so there is no place for the hum of

insects. In such a surrounding, the hum of insects sounds like a run-down machine that needs oiling and the insects that create that sound appear like stabbing creatures that make irritating noises.

More Questions 1. What to does the author refer natural

melodies? How are they natural melodies? (5)

2. How can one establish peace with the insects and live an undisturbed life in the lap of the nature? (10)

3. Why are grownups not able to hear the hum of insects? What do they hear instead? (2)

4. How does the hum of insects stir our reminiscence?

5. How are the sounds of the insects associated with our childhood?