Q. “He’s gone at last! Really, I was all in a tremble for fear”. (2015)
i) Who says these words? (1mark)
-> Mrs. Bouncer says these words.
ii) Why is the speaker afraid? (2marks)
-> The speaker is afraid because the box will arrive at any moment. She does not want to see both box and cox at the same moment. Because neither of them knew that they live in the same room.
iii) Are the speaker’s fears groundless or justified? Give a reasoned answer. (4marks)
-> The person’s fears are not groundless though not fully justified. Because if they met she would fall in an awkward position. But she should not have done such a thing only for the sake of earning a little more money.
Q. “Ah, then you mean to say, that this gentleman’s smoke, instead of emulating the example of all other sorts of smoke, and going up the chimney, thinks proper to affect a singularity …..” (2016)
a) Who is the “you” referred to in the above quoted lines? (1mark)
-> In the above quote lines Mrs. Bouncer is referred to as “You”
Or
Who is ‘this gentleman”? (1mark)
-> Mr. Box is referred to as “the gentleman”.
b) What is the “singularity” being referred to? (1mark)
-> Here “Singularity” refers to Mr. Cox who is living alone in the room as he was a bachelor.
c) What incident causes the speaker to make this comment? (3marks)
-> The speaker made this comment because his rented room was continually full of tobacco smoke. When he asked his landlady, she gave him many excuses, she said that Mr. Box who occupied that attic was a persistent smoker and that his smoke had come down from the chimney. In this connection Cox commented that the smoke would have gone up the chimney but it was ridiculous that the smoke changed its normal course of flowing and entered his room.
Or
What does “emulating the example of all other sorts of smoke” mean? (3marks)
-> Cox uses this statement for Mr. Box. Cox says in front of Mrs. Bouncer when she said that the man in the attic has the habit of smoking and that the man’s smoke entered Cox’s room. In this connection Cox is of the view that the smoke should have gone up the chimney but it was ridiculous that the smoke changed its normal course of flowing and entered his room.
Q. Attempt a brief character sketch of Mr. Cox. (3marks) (2016/2019)
-> In the short story “Box and “Cox” Mr. Cox was a hat maker who went out in the morning and returned home at night to sleep. He shared his room unknowingly with Mr. Cox who rented the room to the both under different pretenses. He used all sorts of hats like white, black, broad brimmed, narrow brimmed hats etc. he was suspicious of Mr. Bouncer that she had been using his flat during the day as things were disappearing from the room. He abstained smoking, so he did not like the smell of tobacco in his room. He was not also quarrelsome but opposed unjust things done by Mrs. Bouncer.
Q. How does Mrs. Bouncer explain the smoke in the room? (2marks) (2017)
-> Mrs. Bouncer gives various excuses. He says that Mr. Box occupies the attic, is a persistent smoker and that his smoke must come down the chimney.
Q. How does Cox explain the word grumble to Mrs. Bouncer? What are some of the things he grumbles about? (3marks) (2017/2019)
-> According to Mr. Cox, if we turn to the letter G we will find Grumble verb neuter to complain without a cause. He was grumbling about the steady evaporation of his candles, wood, sugar and matches from his room.
Q. List some of the complaints that Cox makes to Mrs. Bouncer at the beginning of the play. (2marks) (2019/2019)
-> At the beginning of the play, Cox complains to Mrs. Bouncer that his coal keeps disappearing and there is a “steady increase of evaporation” among his candles, wood, sugar and Lucifer matches. He also complains that his room is continually full of tobacco smoke.
Q. Narrate the series of incidents which led Box and Cox to discover that they were living in the same room. (3marks) (2019)
-> Mrs. Bouncer, a London lodging-house keeper, letting an apartment to a double tenement- to Box, printer on a daily newspaper, and to Cox, a journey man hatter, the former occupying the room during the day, the latter during the night. They invariably meet on the stairs of the lodging- house when one comes in from work as the other is going out, but neither has any idea that Mrs. Bouncer is letting his room to the other. Cox, suspicious that Mrs. Bouncer has been using his flat during the day, complains to her that his coal keeps disappearing and there is ‘a steady increase of evaporation among my candles, wood, sugar and Lucifer matches.’ He also complains that his room is continually full of tobacco smoke. Mrs. Bouncer gives various excuses- among others, that Box, who she says, occupies that attic, is a persistent smoker, and that his smoke must come down the chimney. Cox departs for his work at the hat shop, and on the stairs passes Box who is returning from the night shift at the newspaper. Box has brought home with him a rasher of bacon, which he at once prepares to cook. He lights the fire, is indigent that his matches have been used and his candles burnt low; for, being at home only during the day, he suspects Mrs. Bouncer of these depredations. That day Box and Cox meet, each imaging the other to be an intruder, each pulling from his pocket the last week’s receipt for rent, and each clamoring loudly for redress from the landlady. Mrs. Bouncer is forced to explain the mystery, and she throws herself on the kindness of Box and Cox by promising either of them a handsome second floor back room, which she hurries off to prepare. Then Box and Cox both agree that they have no quarrel with each other and that the whole mess is Mrs. Bouncer’s fault.
Q. Attempt a character sketch of any one of the following in about 80 words: (5marks) (2017)
a) Mrs. Bouncer
-> Mrs. Bouncer is a greedy and opportunist lady who wished to make more money by giving two people in the same room as their working hours were totally different from each other. She lent Mr. Box a printer and Mr. Cox a hatter the same room. One worked at night and the other during the day. But slowly the changes in the room, the shifting of the furniture or the things in the kitchen and other such things finally disclosed the fact that they were living in the same room by paying two rents. Mrs. Bouncer thought the capital idea could not last for long and she was caught by the two tenants.
b) Mr. Cox
-> In the short story “Box and “Cox” Mr. Cox was a hat maker who went out in the morning and returned home at night to sleep. He shared his room unknowingly with Mr. Cox who rented the room to the both under different pretenses. He used all sorts of hats like white, black, broad brimmed, narrow brimmed hats etc. he was suspicious of Mr. Bouncer that she had been using his flat during the day as things were disappearing from the room. He abstained smoking, so he did not like the smell of tobacco in his room. He was not also quarrelsome but opposed unjust things done by Mrs. Bouncer.
