A Visit to a Small Planet by Gore Vidal
Q.1 How does Kreton prove his extra-ordinary powers?
Ans. Kreton comes from some far-off planet in
another solar system. He has extraordinary powers. He has full knowledge about
the Earth. He can read the minds of the people. While sitting in the room, he
can create a shield around his spaceship. He can make the people motionless
just by looking at them. He claims he can rule the whole earth.
Q.2 What is the purpose of Kreton’s visit?
Ans. Kreton’s visit to the Earth was merely based on the study. The study of the development and civilization of the people on earth was
his hobby. When he reaches the Earth, he decides to take charge of the whole
Earth.
Q.3 How much advanced is the civilization of
Kreton?
Ans. The civilization of that planet is 2000 years
more advanced than the civilization of the Earth. The people of Earth cannot
compete with it at all.
Q.4 Can the
people of the earth compete with the people of Kreton’s?
Ans. By reading
about the views and powers of Mr. Kreton, the people of the Earth cannot
compete with the people of Kreton. They are weak and backward. They cannot even
touch Kreton’s advanced people. They are inferior to Kreton’s advanced people.
They are inferior to Kreton’s both in science and civilization.
Q.5 How much damaging is violence in life, write
five sentences?
Ans. Violence
damages everything in life as it creates a sense of retaliation in human
beings. It creates hostility among the people. It makes them cruel and brutal.
It promotes hate in society, which leads to destruction, and bloodshed in a
society.
Q.7 How much
impressive were the morals of Kreton?
Ans. Kreton’s
morals were really impressive and praise-worthy. He avoided violence. He was
decent and well mannered. He was polite, loving and tolerant.
Q.8 What is the role of General Powers in the
play?
Ans. The role of
General Powers looks very strange because he has been portrayed as proud and
over-confident. He wants to protect his country. He also shows the weakness of
human beings. He is also a screen to Kreton’s character in the play
Q.9
What is the theme of Kreton’s study?
Ans.
The theme of Kreton’s studies is the earth and its inhabitants. It is his
hobby. He loves human beings and has the
ability to hear the human mind. He loves to gad about. He visits
the earth as a tourist.
Q.10 How
does Kreton impress General Powers?
Ans. Kreton can hear General Powers’s thoughts. He builds an invisible wall around his ship. His ship is without any instruments. General Powers is unable to touch him. These things of Kreton impress General Powers.
Q.11 What
was the view of Mr. Spelding about the flying object?
Ans. Mr.
Spelding was of the view that the flying object is a misconception. It was only
a meteor and nothing else. It may be a weather balloon.
Q.12 What
did Mr. Spelding say in his concluding remarks of the broadcast?
Ans.
Mr. Spelding said that they would be the first to travel into space if there
was any travelling possible. He calls them lunatics who call it a spaceship.
Q.13 Compare
and Contrast the people of the two Planets.
Ans. Apparently,
Kreton’s people are more advanced than the Earth people in the fields of science and
technology. They can hear the human mind. They are immortal. They travel in a spaceship that operates without any instrument. While on the other hand, the
Earth people are full of raw emotions. They trade on a social level. Some are
still proud. The Earth people are well behind in science and technology as
compared with Kreton’s.
Click to mark bubbles worksheets of the Play No 2
Write
a Note on
a) Write a
note on the Character of Mr. Roger Spelding.
Ans. He is a T.V
broadcaster. He is middle-aged, unctuous and resonant. He broadcasts his
programme from the living room of his house. He uses incorrect quotations and
expressions. He has a great love for his homeland, America. He wants her daughter
Ellen to marry someone ambitious and hardworking. He wants to be the first
journalist to interview Kreton with good manners.
b) Write a note on the Character of Mrs.
Spelding.
Ans. She is bored
and vague. She sits and knits quite passively. She likes John. According to
her, John works very hard and he is a good match for her daughter. She is very
much worried about her rose garden where Kreton has landed her spaceship. She
consoles her husband that she likes his broadcast. She also likes Kreton. She
likes his dress, manners and side-whiskers.
c) Write a
note on the Character of Ellen.
Ans. Ellen is the
lively daughter of twenty of Roger Spelding. She is well mannered and proves
her point of view with a solid argument. She loves John and wants to marry him. She
does not want to marry a wealthy man. She defends John whenever her father
speaks against him. She wants to stay with him on his farm after the marriage.
She is adventurous by nature and wants to take a ride in the spaceship.
d) Write a
note on the Character of John Randolph.
Ans. John is a young
man. He is a minor character as his role is very limited. He is a curious,
adventurous, daring and boy. It is he who sees the landing of a spaceship in the
rose garden. He runs towards it without any hesitation. He also informs
Spelding’s family about the spaceship landing in the rose garden. He is a
passionate love of Ellen and wants to marry her. He does farming and grows
English walnuts on his farm.
e) Write a
note on the Character of General Powers.
Ans. General Powers is
an Army General and the in charge of the security of his homeland, America. As
he is a general, he loves to exercise his authority. He thinks Kreton to be
either a lunatic or a spy from another world. When he is informed about the
landing of a spaceship, he immediately comes there along with his AIDE. He meets Kreton and enquires
about his identity. He does not believe what Kreton tells him at the end of the
play, he remains humiliated.
f) Write a
note on the Character of Kreton.
Ans. Kreton is an alien who has come from some unknown planet. He is in his forties, dressed in the fashion of 1860 and travels in a spaceship without instruments. First, he comes to our planet as a tourist but later on, he decides to take the charge of the Earth. He loves human beings. He has the ability to hear the human mind. Nobody can touch him. He raises an invisible wall around his spaceship to protect it. He is immortal. His civilization is much more advanced than that of humans. He is a wonderful imaginary character.
For notes:
Play No 3 "The Oyster and the Pearl"
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