Play No 3 - The Oyster and the Pearl- Questions Answer Part I Book III (Masood Sadiq)

 

The Oyster and the Pearl

by William Saroyan

1. Where does the play take place?

Ans. The play takes place in the shop of Harry Van Dusen, who is the only barber of the town, “Ok-By-the-Sea” in California.

2. Why is Harry sitting in the barber’s chair in the beginning?

Ans. Harry is sitting in the barber’s chair because he is having a haircut from his apprentice (                   ), Clay Larrabee.

3. According to Harry, how does one bring merriment to the tired old human heart?

Ans. According to him, one can bring merriment to the tired old human heart by composing a symphony ( music   ), painting a picture, writing a book and inventing a philosophy.

4. What is Harry’s philosophy?

Ans. Harry’s philosophy is to lead a life in a “take it the easy way”. He always works for the good of his fellow beings.

5. How much did Harry pay for his barbershop? How long has he been in the town “Ok-By-the-Sea”?

Ans. Harry paid 75 dollars for the barber’s shop and he has been living in the town, “Ok-By-the-Sea” for twenty years.

6. How many barbers are there in “Ok-By-the-Sea”?

Ans. There is no barber in “Ok-By-the-Sea” except Harry van Dusen.

7. How much does Harry charge for hair-cut?

Ans. Harry charges only one dollar or half or a quarter for a single haircut.

8. Where is Clay going?

Ans. Clay is going down to the beach to look for new stuff, things lying on the beach, for him to sell it and get money.

9. Why does Clay need money?

Ans. Clay needs money to buy a present for his mother. He also wants to publish an ad in the newspaper to bring back his father home. His father has left home because of family quarrels.

10. What has happened to Clay’s father?

Ans. Clay’s father has four children and he could not provide them a good house, good clothes and others things because of his poverty. At last he could not bear the situation and has left the house.

11. What does Clay want to put in local newspaper?

Ans. Clay wants to put in the local newspaper an ad requesting his father to forget the past and come back home. It is good fishing season. Moreover all the children miss him much.

12. Who is Miss McCutcheon? How does she feel about her job?

Ans. She is a new teacher in the school. She is dissatisfied with her job. The children are unruly, and are not interested in learning. She wants to quit and go back to San Francisco to her house.

13. What is Miss McCutcheon looking for? How does she feel about the children of the town?

Ans. She is looking for an opportunity to teach. She feels that the children of the town are very careless about their studies and almost all the things. They are interested only in games.

14. What does Harry advise her to do?

Ans. Harry advises her to teach English, singing, dancing and cooking to the children of the town.

15. What kind of hair-cut does she want?

Ans. Miss McCutcheon wants poodle hair-cut. She thinks that she does not fit in the scenery around in Ok-by-the-sea.

16. Can Harry give a poodle hair-cut?

Ans. Harry cannot give a poodle hair-cut to Miss McCutcheon. There are two reasons: he does not know how to give a poodle hair-cut; he has never given a hair-cut to a woman.

17. What does Miss McCutcheon think that a poodle hair-cut will do for her appearance?

Ans. She thinks that a poodle hair-cut will change her appearance as she does not fit into the surroundings of the town.

18. Where has Clark Larrabee been? How did he get to the town “Ok-By-the-Sea”?

Ans. Clark Larrabee has been working in Salinas. He reaches there in “Ok-By-the-Sea” by a truck.

19. What does Clark give Harry? For what purpose?

Ans. Clark gives Harry thirty dollars. He requests him to hand them to Clay, so that he may give them to his mother.

20. How far is it to Hollywood from “Ok-By-the-Sea”?

Ans. Hollywood is two hundred miles away from “Ok-By-the-Sea”.

21. What wok does the man do?

Ans. The man is a writer and writes a little bit of everything.

22. What does Clay find near Black Rock?

Ans. Clay finds an oyster near Black Rock. People go around there when the tide is low.

23. What does Clay believe is there in the Oyster? How much is it worth?

Ans. Clay believes that there is a pearl in the oyster. The pearl inside the oyster is at least worth of three hundred dollars.

24. Does Miss McCutcheon believe that there is a pearl in the oyster?

Ans. Miss McCutcheon does not believe that there is a pearl in the oyster. She thinks only one oyster in a million has a pearl in it.

25. Why does Miss McCutcheon have a chair with three legs?

Ans. She has a chair with three legs because she has found it on the beach in that condition. She says that she has collected old things from the sea like other people of the town.

26. What kind of judge is Judge Applegarth?

Ans. Judge Applegarth is not a real judge of the Court of Law. He is a person who judged animals, especially dogs, only once at a country fair. Since then people started called him Judge.

27. What year is it?

Ans. It is 1953 in which Harry is living.

28. What do Greeley and Roxanna have?

Ans. Greeley has sea-water in the bottle and Roxanna has an assortment of shells.

29. Who suggests that they open the oyster?

Ans. She suggests that they should open the oyster so that Clay can see clearly for himself that there is no pearl in it.

30. Why do they want to Wozzeck to come?

Ans. Wozzeck is the only watches & radios repairer in the town. So they want him to come to Harry’s shop to open the oyster.

31.How does Harry describe the inhabitants of “Ok-By-the-Sea”?

Ans. Harry says that the inhabitants of the town are all poor. There is not a single rich man. People even don’t have money to pay for hair-cut. Most of them earn their livelihood by selling chickens, eggs, vegetables and other stuff.

32. How does Miss McCutcheon view Harry’s thinking about the pearl in the oyster?

Ans. Harry says that sometimes people should believe in things like that to keep life going on. Miss McCutcheon thinks that Harry is telling a lie and playing a trick on children.

33. Why does the Judge think that Miss McCutcheon will not last a month as a teacher? What kind of teacher does he think is needed?

Ans. Judge thinks that Miss McCutcheon will not last long as a school teacher because she is very beautiful, young girl. He thinks that their school needs an old & strict teacher, an experienced teacher like the teachers of their age.

34. What is Applegarth’s complaint about the sea?

Ans. He complains that the quality of stuff is not the same as it used to be. Moreover children leave nothing on the beach for the old.

35. What kind of gadget does the writer describe?

Ans. The writer says that a gadget is used in New York. It is like a safety razor. People can give a hair-cut to each other. It is of two-ninety five dollars. ($295)

36. Who buys the oyster? How much does the man pay?

Ans. The writer buys the oyster and he pays three hundred dollars for it.

37. Does the writer open the oyster? Why not?

Ans. The writer does not open the oyster. He says that he wants the whole thing. He does not want the pearl to stop growing in it.

38. Why does Clark Larrabee return?

Ans. He returns home because he has read the advertisement in the newspaper. He thinks that his children love him and need him.

39. What does the writer do with the oyster?

Ans. He holds the oyster in front of him as if it were an egg and looks at it carefully, turning it in his fingers. He puts the oyster in the pocket of his coat. He pays $300 to Clay for this oyster.

40. Who is Fenton Lockhart?

Ans. Fenton Lockhart is also a writer. He publishes a weekly paper, “The Ok-by–the Sea-Gull” in the town

Click here for the notes of

Play No. 1 (Heat Lightning)

Play No 2 (Visit to a Small Planet)