Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers
Television Summary by Roald Dahl
Television Summary About the Poet
Born in Wales, to Norwegian immigrant parents, Roald Dahl (13 September, 1916 – 23 Nov., 1990) was a novelist, short story writer, poet and screen writer. He also served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, as a fighter pilot. His works for both, children and adults, rose to prominence and became popular as one of the greatest story tellers. His first children’s book, ‘The Gremlins’, was published in 1943. The other famous stories being, ‘Charlie & the Chocolate Factory’, ‘Matilda’, ‘The Witches’ etc.
Television Summary
Television is one of the best known poems of Roald Dahl. It highlights the adverse effects of television on the children’s mind, and instead inspires them to develop passion for reading. In a very humorous manner, the poet brings to light the vitality of books and makes an appeal to the parents to replace the idiot box with good books to enhance the growth of their children’s brain, so that they can come up with creative and imaginative skills.
Television Explanation of the Poem
“The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, Never, Never let
Them near your television set-
Or better still, just don’t install The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in women one’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.).”
Explanation: The poet begins the poem by requesting the parents to keep their children away from the monster called ‘Television’, and he also suggests that it will be far better an option to be completely away from this idiotic thing in the first place.
Sharing his personal experience, the poet says that, almost every house that he has visited, he has found children sitting hypnotized in front of the television sets. They incessantly stare at it and lie lazily without indulging into any productive task. He adds a funny exaggeration saying that, sometimes they stare so hard that their eyeballs pop out of their eyes, and once he saw a dozen eyeballs rolling on the floor in a house he visited.
Word Meanings :
1. Gaping – (Here) watching with wide open eyes
2. Loll – To lie or sit in a relaxed or lazy manner
3. Slop – To eat or drink greedily or noisily
4. Lounge – To spend time resting or relaxing
“They sit and stare and stare and side
Until they’re hypnotized by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window still,
They never figh tor kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink.”
Explanation: The poet further says that, it is observed that the children get deeply enthralled by the horrible and senseless programmes that are displayed on the television. They seem to forget about everything in the world. They forget to play or have fun. This hampers their physical ability and growth.
For the parents it may be a bliss, as the television keeps the naughty children im. They neither climb the windows nor fight with each other. The mother too can cook or wash peaceh ilv Television can be the most convenient way of keeping the children occupied.
Word Meanings :
1. Hypnotized — Enthralled, bedazzled
2. Ghastly — Very shocking or horrible
3. Junk — Trash
“But did you ever stop to think,
‘ To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
It rots the sense in the head!
It kills imagination dead!
It clogs and clutters up the mind!
It makes a child so dull and blind
He can no longer understand
A fantasy, A fairyland!
His Brain becomes as soft as cheese!
His powers of thinking rust and freeze!
He cannot think-he only sees!.”
Explanation: But then the poet raises an important question for the parents, whether they have ever tried to consider what effect is this idiot box is casting on the soft minds of their beloved ones. Then he moves on to answer it in a clear cut manner, which he writes in capital letters, so as to lay stress on it. The poet says that watching too much television destroys the senses of the children. They are not able to imagine or visualize things because their minds get choked with unnecessary facts. They lose their power of judgement and imagination. They stop thinking innovatively. They only depend on the television for learning things. ‘ The childhood fantasies and fairyland stories lose their beauty. The thought process seems to get jammed or rusted.
Word Meanings :
1. Clogs – Block, hinder .
2. Clutters – To fill or cover with many things
“All right!” you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain?
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘ ‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?”
Explanation: Now the poet discusses the dilemma the parents would face. They will question the kind of substitute of entertainment they should provide to their dear children if they take the TV sets away from them. The poet answers the parents with a reverse question, about what they used to do before the invention of the television, and how did they keep themselves occupied and entertained.
Word Meaning :
1. Contended – Satisfied, occupied
“We’ll say it very loud and slow:
They… USED… TO… READ! They’d READ and READ.
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Cadzooks!
One half their lives were reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More boos were waiting to be read!”
Explanation: Very calmly the poet recommends the parents to install a lovely bookshelf in place of the modem monster i.e., the television, ignoring all objections. He recollects the times when the children were fond of reading. They indulged in incessant reading. Their life was surrounded with books. The nursery shelves and floors were full of books scattered here and there. There were books waiting to be read in the bedroom. The children too, took keen interest in reading them.
Word Meaning :
1. Galore – In large numbers or amounts
“Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasures isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(it smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How the Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost his Rump,
And Mr. Toad and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!”
Explanation: Here, the poet talks about the popular adventurous books and their interesting characters that the children admired in those days. They enjoyed the story of dragons, gypsies, queens, whales, treasure islands, smugglers, elephants, cannibals etc. The poet gets nostalgic speaking about the fantasy characters like, Beatrix Potter, Mr. Tod, Squirrel Nutkin, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle, Mr. Camel, Mr. Rat, etc.
Word Meanings:
1. Tales – Stories
2. Gypsies – Wanderers
3. Isles – Islands
4. Muffled – Quietened sound
5. Crouchin – Bending or bowing with servility
“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear hot, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.”
Explanation: The poet ardently pleads to the parents to discard their television sets; replacing them with book shelves. Initially, the children will protest. They will frown, shout and kick in frustration – but the parents need to be patient and soon they will observe that, when the children will have nothing else to busy themselves with they will gradually get closer to books.
Word Meaning :
1. Yells – Screams
“And once they start-oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
” Will love you more for what you did. ”
Explanation: The poet gets fills with ecstasy to think about the result. He says that once the children begin to read, they will get so accustomed to the habit that they will take pleasure in reading. They would feel aroused when they will realise that there was nothing fun coming out of the filthy and disgusting television. And when they will grow up, they will appreciate and will be grateful for saving them from the clutches of the idiotic box and introducing them to the world of books. They will discover the real joy of reading books.
Word Meaning :
1. Ridiculous – Absurd
Television Summary Questions and Answers
Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say
‘But if we take the set away
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
(Television, Roald Dahl)
(i) What important lesson does the poet say he has learnt at the start of the poem ?
(ii) Describe some of the scenes that the poet says he has seen in houses which have televisions.
(iii) List the ways in which television viewing affects the mind of a ‘beloved tot’.
(iv) What other activity does the poet recommend to entertain? Mention two ways in which this activity would benefit them.
(v) What does the poet advise readers to do at the end of the poem? What does he assure them will happen if they followed his suggestion? What would you say is the central idea in this poem ?
Answer:
(i) The most important lesson the poet says he has learnt is that, while raising children, we should strictly keep ‘ them away from television sets, or better still, the idiotic thing; i.e. the television should not be installed in the house at all.
(ii) The poet, Roald Dahl, seems to have undertaken a long research on the bad effects of television by visiting a large number of households. He says that in most of the houses that he visited, he found the children lazying about all day and staring at the television screen without doing any productive work. He exaggerates amusingly when he says that he has seen the children stare so hard that their eyeballs fall off and a dozen such eyeballs seem to be rolling about on the floor in one house that he visited recently.
(iii) The poet conveys strongly the ill-effects of watching television on the minds of our beloved tots. He says that watching too much television fills up the mind of the children with useless facts, while at the same time, destroying their ability to create or understand the world of fantasy and imagination. It takes away their ability to think. Their brain becomes as soft as cheese. Television logs and clutters up the organised thought process of a growing child. Gradually their thinking and analyzing power freezes and gets rusty.
(iv) The poet recommends ‘Reading as the other activity to entertain children.
Firstly, reading will keep the children busy and they will also stop watching ‘the idiotic box’ and the junk it offers.
Secondly, reading would open a world of knowledge and fantasies for the children which would provide them ultimate joy and entertainment.
(v) The poet advises the readers to remove their television set and replace it with a book shelf and fill it with lots of books. The poet, Roald Dahl, now assures the readers that once the children will start reading books, they will grow so keen for reading that they will discover the real joy, and will wonder what they had found in that silly machine. They will love and thank their parents for ushering them into the wonderful world of books.
The central idea conveyed by the poet is his concern over how excessive watching of television can harm the children, their thinking power, their imaginative faculty and their realization of real joy. They get deprived of outdoor sports and also of reading.
He suggests replacing television with books which would initially arise hostility in children for this act.
Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, Never, Never let
Them near your television set-
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in women one’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and side
Until they’re hypnotized by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window still,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink-
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
(i) What is the most important things that the poet has learnt? What is the common view in almost every household?
(ii) What amusing exaggeration does the poet make here?
(iii) The poet has used two words to indicate the children’s addiction to T.V. What are they? What is referred to as ‘ghastly junk’?
(iv) How does television keep the children calm?
(v) How do the parents benefit when the children are occupied with the television set? What important question does the poet pose for the parents?
Answer:
(i) The most important thing that the poet has learnt in that the children should be kept away from the television set or not to install the television set at all. The poet says that in most houses he has visited, he has found the children lazing about all day starting at the television with undisturbed concentration.
(ii) The poet humorously remarks that sometimes the children store at the television so hard that their eyeballs fall off and he saw at someone’s place, dozen such eyeballs lying on the floor.
(iii) The two words the poet has used to indicate their addiction to the TV are ‘hypnotized’ and ‘drunk’. The “ghastly junk’ refers to the irrelevant stuff that the children watch, which are mostly unreal and inappropriate for their age.
(iv) The poet understands that the television keeps the naughty children calm. They do not do nasty things like climbing a window or jumping over it, which could accidentally hurt them. Television diverts them from getting into a fight and thus, hitting or kicking each other.
(v) Children’s occupancy with the television set allows the parents to do household chores like, cooking and washing dishes without any disturbance. The poet now questions the parents whether they ever realise exactly what harm this idiotic box does to their dear child.
Q. 3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
“IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THING- HE ONLY SEES!
All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do ?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten ? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow :
They… USED… TO… READ! They’d READ and READ.
AND READ and READ, and then proceed To READ some more. Great Scott! Cadzooks!
One half their lives were reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More boos were waiting to be read!’
(i) What effect does the television cast on a child’s innocent mind?
(ii) Explain the line- HE CANNOT THINK – HE ONLY SEES!”
(iii) As per the poet’s anticipation, what could be the parents response if they are threatened against the dangers of television?
(iv) What question does the poet raise to the parents?
(v) Does he provide any solution to the problem? If yes, what is it? Which all places were filled with bool ?
Answer:
(i) According to the poet, watching television all the time is harmful in numerous ways. It rots the senses of the child and kills his imaginative power. It causes a confusion in his mind. He becomes dull and inactive. He no longer understands a fairy tale or able to think innovatively. It also effects his eyesight and numbs the brain.
(ii) Excessive watching of television makes the child’s brain as soft as cheese. He believes blind-v whatever he watches or hears in it. He does not use his own logic to analyse and interpret things. Television destroys a child’s ability to think, he keeps staring at the television screen.
(iii) The poet, Roald Dahl, expects that the parents might agree to take away the television from their children but will surely ask, how are they supposed to keep their children occupied and entertained in the absence of television.
(iv) In response to the parent’s question as to how they should entertain their dear children if remove the T.V. sets, the poet raises a counter question asking them what they used to do to keep themselves entertained when television sets was not invented.
(v) Yes, the poet himself provides the answer. He reminds us that children, in earlier times, used to ‘Read’ a lot of books. Amazingly, the people then spent half of their lives in reading books.
The books then filled the Nursery shelves. They were scattered on the Nursery floor. In the bedroom too, the books waited bedside, to be read.
Question 4.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasures isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(it smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and –
Just How the Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost his Rump,
And Mr. Toad and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
(i) What books did the children read in earlier times?
(ii) Who were cannibals? What were they seen doing?
(iii) Who was the famous author of children’s books? Who were the well known characters and the animals?
(iv) What was the content of the stories of the camel and the monkey ?
(v) What earnest appeal does the poet make and to whom? What should they do instead?
Answer:
(i) In earlier times, the children read wonderful stories of dragons, gypsies, queens, whales, smugglers, etc. They also reaid about treasure islands and far off lands where the sea-pirates hid their loot/treasure and themselves.
(ii) Cannibals were man-eating humans. They danced around a pot stirring and cooking their prey.
(iii) Roald Dahl, here, makes a reference to another author of children’s books- Beatrix Potter. Her books are famous for featuring animals and colourful illustrations. Mr. Tod— the rotter, Nutkin, the squirrel Bland the piglet, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle, the monkey, the camel, Mr. Toad, Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole, decorated the stories of Beatrix.
(iv) The stories tell about how the camel got his hump and how the monkey lost his lump.
(v) The poet begs and prays to the parents to remove their television sets and replace them with a nice bookshelf on the wall.
Question 5.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
And once they start-oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
(i) What according to the poet, will be the reaction of the children?
(ii) How does the poet suggest the parents to face the repulsive behaviour of their children? What promise does he make?
(iii) What thought makes the poet excited? Name the poet
(iv) How will the thoughts of the children change about the television?
(v) What reward will the parents get finally?
Answer:
(i) When the parents will remove their dear television sets, the children will get repulsive, they will object giving harsh looks to their parents, and will shout and scream, bite and kick and hit with sticks.
(ii) The poet tells the parents to be patient and not to fear. He assures them that within a week or two when the children will not find anything else to do, they will finally turn to the books for reading.
(iii) The poet is elated to imagine the pleasure the children will find once they begin reading books. The poet is Roald Dahl.
(iv) Once the children start seeking joy in the books, they will reach a stage when they will wonder what they had found in that silly machine called television. It will seem to them disgusting, dirty and irritating.
(v) Finally, when the children will discover the real joy of reading books, they will love and respect their parents for providing them an opportunity to discover the world of wonderful books and saving them from the hypnotism of the ridiculous television. They will realize that books give them knowledge, wisdom, imagination and more pleasure rather than what television could offer.