Forgetting: Questions and Answers

1. Based on your understanding of the essay, answer the following questions in one or two sentences each.

a.        What does Lynd actually wonder at?

Lynd actually wonders at the great efficiency of human memory.

b.   Name a few things that a person remembers easily.

The telephone numbers, addresses of friends, dates of vintages, appointments for lunch and dinner, the names of actors and actresses, cricketers, footballers, murderers, the climatic condition and the name of the provincial hotel in which he or she had a vile meal during the summer are the things that a person remembers easily.

c.         How do psychologists interpret forgetfulness?

Human beings forget things because they wish to forget them. In this way, psychologists interpret forgetfulness.

d.   What is the commonest type of forgetfulness, according to Lynd?

According to Lynd forgetting to post the letter is the most common type of forgetfulness.

e.         What does the author mean when he says the letter in his pocket leads an unadventurous life?

If the author forgot to post the letter in his pocket, he would have to answer the number of questions being asked. And also he was compelled to produce the evidence of his guilt from his pocket. Thus the letter in his pocket leads an unadventurous life.

f.          What are the articles the writer forgets most often?

The writer forgets books, umbrellas and walking sticks most often.

g.        Who are the citizens of ‘dreamland’? Why?

Sportspersons are the citizens of ‘dreamland’. It is because they have their imaginations filled with a vision of the playing field. They are abstracted from the world outside them.

h.        What is common about the ‘angler’ and the ‘poet’?

Both angler and poet are imaginative people. Their minds are filled with more glorious matters. Absent-mindedness is common among the angler and the poet.

2. Based on your reading, answer the following questions in two to four sentences each.

a.        What made people wonder about the absentmindedness of their fellow-beings?

A list of articles lost by railway travellers and the sale of the articles at a Great London station has been published. This made people wonder at the absentmindedness of their fellow-beings.

b.   What are our memories filled with?

Our memories are mostly filled with the telephone numbers and addresses of our friends and the names of actors, actresses, cricket players, footballers and even murderers.

c.         When does human memory work with less than its usual capacity?

Human memory works with less than its usual capacity when a very methodical man always remembers to take the prescribed pills on time.

d.   Why, according to Lynd, should taking medicines be one of the easiest actions to remember?

Medicines have to be taken before, during or after meals as a rule should be a reminder. Hence taking medicines should be one of the easiest actions to remember.

e.         How do the chemists make fortunes out of the medicines people forget to take?

Generally human beings hate medicines and forget to take. Their sickness is not cured. Hence the people pay more money to buy more medicines. Thus the chemists make fortunes out of the medicines people forget to take.

f.          The list of articles lost in trains suggest that sportsmen have worse memories than their ordinary serious-minded fellows. Why does Lynd say this?

Sportsmen forget to take their footballs and cricket bats, when they leave the train. It is because they have their imaginations filled with a vision of the playing fields. But the ordinary man arrives at his destination with all his luggage safe. So Lynd rationalizes their acts.

g.        What kind of absent-mindedness is regarded as a virtue by Lynd?

The angler may forget to take his fishing rod due to over pleasure of getting fish. A poet may forget to post the letter since his mind is filled with more glorious matter. Such a kind of absentmindedness is regarded as a virtue by Lynd.

h.   Narrate the plight of the baby on its day out.

Once a man took his baby in a pram for outing. On his way, he slipped into a pub for a glass of beer leaving the baby outside, and he left the pub without taking the child. By chance his wife happened to be there on her way to the market. She was horrified to find her sleeping baby in the pram. She wheeled away the pram and expected that her husband would come in panic. But he came and asked her about his lunch cheerfully. He had completely forgotten the child.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:

i.           Describe the story of the father, the baby and the perambulator in brief.

Once a man took his baby in a pram for outing. On his way, he slipped into a pub for a glass of beer, leaving the baby outside. By chance his wife happened to be there on her way to the market. She was horrified to find her sleeping baby in the pram. She wheeled away the pram and expected that her husband would come in panic. But he came and asked his lunch cheerfully. He had completely forgotten about the child.

j.           Where did the father go leaving the baby in the perambulator?

The father went into the public-house for a glass of beer, leaving the baby alone in the perambulator.

k.         When did the wife see her baby?

The wife saw her baby when she passed the public-house on her way to the market.

l.           Why was the wife full of horror?

The wife was full of horror as the baby was left alone outside the public-house in a perambulator.

3. Answer the following in a paragraph of about 100—150 words each.

a.   You have borrowed a branded cricket bat from your reluctant friend for an outstation match. After returning home you realize you have absent-mindedly left it in the hotel room. Write a letter of apology and regret to your friend.

Trichy 6, 5^th. July 2018.

My dear Vinoth,

Well and wish to hear the same from you. I am glad to share our team’s victory in the match held at Pune. I regret that you are unable to participate in the match on account of your sprain in the leg. But mere thanking words are not enough for you for lending me your branded cricket bat. Anyway I express my sincere gratitude here to you. I scored a century with the help of your bat. I am sorry to tell you that I have absent-mindedly left your bat in the hotel room. I really regret the loss of your precious bat. Anyway I will replace your bat with a new branded one.

Convey my regards to your parents.

Your lovable friend, Kevin.

b.        Kahlil Gibran states ‘Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.’ Write an article for your school magazine, linking your ideas logically and giving appropriate examples.

‘FORGETFULNESS IS A FORM OF FREEDOM’

Forgetfulness is a bliss. If we remember all the things in our life, they will be a heavy burden and they will give more stress to us. Everybody is punished during their school days for forgetting to bring the book, or for not doing the homework, or for being mischievous in the class. If a person remembers all these things, life will be miserable. While learning to swim or cycle, we hurt ourselves now and then. It is better to forget those incidents. Quarrels with parents or with brothers and sisters and friends are unpleasant things in course of time we forget them.

Therefore forgetfulness is a form of freedom from unhappiness. It is better to forget unhappy things of our past.

c.         Will you sympathise or ridicule someone who is intensely forgetful? Write an essay justifying your point of view.

Yes, I sympathise with the one who is intensely forgetful. Generally most people sympathise with those who are forgetful. Intensive forgetfulness is caused by many factors. One among them is dementia. Forgetfulness can trigger a range of emotions in people who lives with dementia and their career. It is really very deplorable when a child or an old man or woman forgets to turn off a water tap after use by repeated warnings. In the case of a child, the child’s mind is actually so engrossed in a game or mental mugging up of his lessons that he or she to turn off the water tap. In the case of an elderly person, however, we can say that the nerves of the aged person have gone weak and cannot retain any idea or advice. The old, senile person may be mentally infirm or may even be suffering from some disease like Alzhmeir’s disease. I sympathize with such people and I try to help them remembering do things.

ADDITIONAL PARAGRAPHS:

d.         “It is the efficiency rathef* than the inefficiency of human memory that compels my wonder”— What instances of an efficient human memory are given by Lynd in Forgetting? Name a few of the ‘matters’ regarding w hich memory works inefficiently.

In his essay on ‘Forgetting’ Robert Lynd gives a number of examples of efficient human memory. A modem man keeps many things in his memory; names of actors, actresses, sports persons, addresses of friends, appointments for lunch and dinner and telephone numbers. In his everyday living, he does everything he has to do. He switches off the light before going to bed.

But despite such efficient memory, man forgets to take medicines regularly, post letters in time and keep umbrellas, walking sticks and books in mind.

e.          What, after the writer of Forgetting is the commonest form of forgetfulness? Show how this form of forgetfulness affects all including the writer.

In his essay ‘Forgetting’ Lynd says that the commonest form of forgetfulness occurs in the matter of posting letters. It is so common that Lynd cannot trust his departing guest to post his letter. Even if he does, he puts his guest under oath to post his letter. He humorously says about himself: “any one who asks me to post a letter is a poor judge of character”. He carries the letter in his hand. But he forgets to post it. Weary of holding it, Lynd puts the letter in his pocket. Soon he forgets all about it. The unposted letter leads an unadventurous life in his pocket. At home he faces embarrassing questions. And the symbol of guilt is brought out of his pocket.