The Lost Child (Mulk Raj Anand)
About the author:
Mulk Raj Anand was
one of the first Indian English writers. He is regarded as one of the founding figures
of Indian English literature. He is popular not only at national level but also
at international level. He formed a significant works that contains several
short stories, novels and essays. He is
prominent for his stories associated to the customary society and the deprived
class. He was born in Peshawar British India on
12 December 1905 and died
28 September 2004 at Pune, Maharashtra, India at the
age of 98. He completed his graduation in honors from
Punjab University and then went to University College, London. While studying
in England, he worked at a restaurant to finance his education because he was
poor as his father was a coppersmith. He went on to earn a PhD from Cambridge
University. This was also the time when he became involved in India’s struggle
for independence.
Summary of the story: The story starts in the early
morning of spring in a village. The village people dressed in new colored
clothes and start out to visit the temple fair. A couple takes their child with
them on the fair. The child with his parents was eager and gay. As a child the boy is fascinated towards the
toy shops. As a child he wants to buy the toys but his father gets annoyed when
he demands to buy them. His mother however is in a pleasing temper and tries to
divert his attention by showing him other natural things such as: field, files,
trees and sun etc. The boy is delighted with the dragon flies, butterflies and
the lone black bee in the mustard fields. He also becomes absorbed with the
insects and worms on the road. His
parents call him, and then lift him, up before going on towards the fair. When
they reached in the fair the child like and wants different things such as:
sweets ( gulab jamun, rasgulla, burfi, and jalebies), balloons, and garland of gulmohur etc. He did not
express his wish to his parents because he knows that they will not give him
these things. When the boy reaches the near swirling he wants to have a trip on
it, and turns around courageously to get consent from his parents for a travel
on this. But when he looks there unfortunately he recognizes that he had lost
his parents. He starts crying and tears start continuing from his eyes. Being
terrified he pleads for help but did not know what to do and how to search
parents. His turban becomes free and his clothes become dirty due to mud. He
seeks his parents all over the place but is not capable to find them. He goes
near the temple in the crowd where he is picked by a kind man. The man tries to calm him and offers him all
the things he had wanted one after the other; but the child is terribly upset
and wants nothing but his parents.
Glossary/ Meaning of Difficult
Words
Emerged: Come out
Gaily :
brightly
brimming over:
be full of a strong emotion
lagged :
moved slowly
lined :
set up
receding :
moving back gradually
lingering :last
for a long time
farther:
distant
suppress:
put to an end
tyrant :
a cruel and oppressive ruler
melted:
become tender
gaudy :
extravagantly bright and showy
abreast:
side by side
teaming out:
empty
intercepting:
obstructing; coming between
cautionary:
warning
grove:
a small wood
caper :
dance or skip in a lively way
throngs: crowds
heeded:
paid attention to
converging :
gathering together in one place
overwhelming:
a very strong emotion
forbidde:
not allowed
whirlpool :
a quickly rotating mass of water in a river or sea
coarse :
vulgar and unsophisticated
hither and thither:
here and there
intently:
carefully
congested:
full of
hefty:
large and heavy
thrust:
push
knocked:
hit
brutal :
harsh
trampled:
crushed
shrill :
high:pitched and piercing
surging:
powerful
soothe:
relax
pleaded:
requested
double:
pitched strain
bore:
carried
reiterated:
repeated
disconsolate:
unhappy
lanes:
narrow roads
gaily:
gay
clad:
dressed
humanity:
human race
murmured:
low sound
flapping:
to swing
tender:
having tender heart
bustling:
moving here and there
Important Additional
Questions
Q1. Describe the “Day
of the Fair” or beginning of the story in your own words?
Ans.: The story “The Lost Child” written Mulk Raj
Anand starts in the early morning of spring in a village. The chief attraction in the beginning is the
village fair. A huge crowd has gathered to participate in the festivities.
There are people from different walks of life. They have colorful and different
looks, as some are gaily dressed while some are normally dressed. The crowd is
thronging out of the town and moving toward the village fair. The hero of the
story who is a young boy is also there with by his parents. He wanders and is
mostly interested in the toys sitting wonderfully in the fair stalls and shops.
He wants to play with them but his wish is rejected by his father. His mother
offers a warm and tender reply and asks him to look at the attractive natural
beauty than to the artificial things.
Q2. How the hero of
the child in the story reacts with the Yellow Fields?
Ans.: In the story the boy being dejected with
unfulfilled desires, his mother asks him to look at the attractive natural
beauty than to the artificial things. He
looks at the massive expanse of mustard fields in front of him. He is happy with
delight and joy after taking such a beautiful sight. The fields
are decorated with yellow flowers that are dotting the landscape with perfect
natural beauty. His innocence as a child is reflected by the fact that on
watching such beauty he forgets the pain of his dashed hopes of a toy. He finds
enjoyment and mingles with the nature.
Calm by the remains of his desires, he is absorbed with innocent
misbehavior. He enters the fields and fumbles with the flowers. He finds
intention and satisfaction in pursuing his new recreation in the lap of natural
objects such as: butterflies and dragonflies. To him, they represent a better
catch than any toy at the fair. The mother is conscious of his love with the
butterflies and asks him to not ramble off away from them. The boy returns to his parents and
accompanies them on the path. However, his attention again flirts with new
hunts, little worms, and insects. He moves backward and forward and hunts after
them. The family i.e. parents and their son sit under a humongous banyan tree.
The child being innocent doesn’t know the location of his parents loses his way
this time and reached the fair instead. He is unaware to the fact that his
parents had decided to stop and to take rest.
Q3. Write the scene of the
story in which the child is lost?
Ans.: This short story, “The
Lost Child” deals with the incidents of a child who goes to a fair with his
parents. He is happy and excited and wants the sweets, toys and flowers,
etc displayed there. He asks for toys, sweets, flowers etc. form
his parents but they don’t by them for him.
When the child gets lost later, he refuses to accept the things he asked
for earlier and persists on getting back to his father and mother. In the middle of the fair, his
concentration is fixed on the sweetmeat seller who is urging customers to enjoy
the sweet delight of his sweetmeats.
Then, he sees a flower seller
and a balloon seller. He shows a great understanding of his condition and does
not stay behind too long at any of his desired allurements. Now, he meets a
snake charmer. He is apprehended with a wish to look for the adventure of
a man controlling the risky reptile but he remembers his fateful control. He did not express his wish to his parents because he knows
that they will not give him these things. When the boy reaches the near
swirling he wants to have a trip on it, and turns around courageously to get
consent from his parents for a travel on this. But when he looks there
unfortunately he recognizes that he had lost his parents. He starts crying and
tears start continuing from his eyes. Being terrified he pleads for help but
did not know what to do and how to search parents. His turban becomes free and
his clothes become dirty due to mud. He seeks his parents all over the place
but is not capable to find them.
Q4. Who helps the boy in the
story?
Ans.: The boy who is the
hero in the story is lost and wants to find them. He goes near the temple in
the crowd,
but the enormous crowd at the door knocks him off of his feet. Lying on the
ground he is about crushed over by the crowd when sympatric man helps him to
his feet. The man tries to calm him and offers
him all the things he had wanted one after the other; but the child is terribly
upset and wants nothing but his parents.
The man is kind to the boy’s
plight and enquires about his condition and family. The child is triumph over
with angst and sentiments and cannot stop crying. The only words he can mumble
are that explicate his desire for his parents. The compassionate man consoles the child and tries to calm him.
He suggests him a travel on the about, to divert him as well. However, the
child is heartbroken and not capable to manage his tears and agonizing cries. The man tries to divert him again by taking him to the
snake:charmer. The child declines this present as well. The man offers to buy
him balloons but to no advantage. At last, he offers him some sweetmeats. But
even this splendid effort is futile to pacify the upset of the lost child. The
child didn’t stop weeping writhing in distress and screaming for a sight and
meeting with his parents.
Q5. What is the Theme of the play?
Ans.:The theme of the story is the association of true love between parents and a child. Another theme is that no material possession
can repay for the loss of close ones. This short story, “The Lost Child”
deals with the incidents of a child who goes to a fair with his parents. He is
happy and excited and wants the sweets, toys and flowers, etc displayed there. He asks for toys, sweets, flowers etc. form
his parents but they don’t by them for him.
When the child gets lost later, he refuses to accept the things he asked
for earlier and persists on getting back to his father and mother. The story has
also selfish theme as it tells us about the wishes of a child to have all he
sets his eye upon in this material world. The lost child symbolizes entire
mankind in pursuit of material things.
One did not know the value of vital things like his parents when they
are in front of one but one knows value of valuable things when they are lost.
Q6. What is the
Title of the play?
The title of ‘The Lost Child’ is suitable and appt. In this story the title reflects the story as
the whole story as revolves around the child who is lost in the fair. In the story, the storyteller merges
the factual and the intangible, the particular and the general, the individual
and the collective to create the proper atmosphere for the development of the
theme. The author uses a number of illustrations, acoustic and olfactory images
to make the scene and situation come alive.
Q7.Why does the child
lag behind from his parents?
Ans. The child
lags behind his parents as he is fascinated by the toys in the toyshop and by
the dragonflies, butterflies in the mustard field.
Q8. Why does the
child move on without waiting for an answer from his parents?
Ans. Although the boy wants all these things, he moves ahead
without waiting for an answer as he knows that his parents would not admit no
matter how much he pleaded.
Q9. When does the
child realise that he has lost his way?
Ans. When the child receives no reply to his request for a
ride on the roundabout, he turns about and realizes that he is lost in the
fair.
Q10. What do you
think happens in the end? Does the child find his parents?
Ans. The author
did not mention any thing about the unification of child and his parents. He
has left the story open ended, leaving it to the reader to decide what happens
to the child. In our opinion the child would be united with his parents. The
man who rescued the child from the crowd was sympatric and he must have helped him
find his parents at the end.
