CHICKEN SOUP WITH BARLEY | Summary | Word Meanings | Question Answers | Class 11

"Chicken Soup With Barley" is written by a famous British dramatist Arnold Wesker (1932-2016). He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive journalism, poetry and other assorted writings. His plays have been translated into up to 20 different languages and performed worldwide. Arnold Wesker tells much about his early life in his play "Chicken Soup With Barley". This short extract actually deals with theme of family relation in which the wife dominates her husband and children. It is not that the family relation is bad but the problem with the family is that it tends disintegration due to the inefficiency of proper handling.
Summary Of "Chicken Soup With Barley"

Sarah, Harry's wife has a dominating character. She shows superiority in family and sometimes quarrels and row arise there. They have a son, Ronnie who washes up pots in kitchen and a daughter, Ada who is married to Dave. Ada wants to go to her husband's house where as Sarah wants her stay there. Sarah blames her husband for not being responsible to the family members. She scolds and humiliates him. He is a strong smoker and makes room dirty. He was very careless and still is the same.

Word-meanings in Nepali of "Chicken Soup With Barley"

"Chicken Soup With Barley" Nepali Word Meanings

Nepali Meanings "Chicken Soup With Barley"
English and Nepali Word Meanings Of "Chicken Soup With Barley"

Word	Meanings
disgust	strong dislike (तीव्र घृणा)
mocking	making fun of something by copying it (केही चिजको नक्कल गरेर गिज्याउनु)
escape	run away (भाग्नु)
bring up	rear (हुर्काउनु)
leave off	to stop (रोक्नु)
caressingly	with a loving touch (मायाले सुम्सुम्याउँदै)
apologetically	showing that one is sorry (क्षमायाचना गर्दै)
miserable	unhappy (दु:खी)
wearily	tiringly (थाकेर)
bitterly	cruelly (निर्दयतापूर्वक)
hunch up	stoop or bent the top part of body (कुप्रनु)
choke	have trouble in breathing (सास फेर्न अफ्ठेरो हुनु)
solo	a card game (तासको एक प्रकारको खेल)

Question and Answers Of 'Chicken Soup With Barley'

Question No. 1: (a) How old do you think Ada and Ronnie are? ( एडा र रोनी कति-कति वर्षका होलान्?)

Answer: The age of Ada and Ronnie is not mentioned in the text, however, we can guess their age. Since, Ada is a married woman, she must be above twenty two and her brother Ronnie should be about 18 years old.

(b) Where do Ada and Ronnie live? ( एडा र रोनी कहाँ बस्छन्?)

Answer: Ada has married Dave and she lives with him separately in a two roomed flat whereas Ronnie lives with his parents.

(c) How does Ada leave? (एडा कसरी हिँड्छे?)

Answer: Ada leaves her parent's house saying that she has to write to her husband and has the dishes and pots to wash up. She does not like to be involved in the quarrel of her parents.

(d) Who do you think Dave might be? (डेभ को होला जस्तो लाग्छ?)

Answer: Dave must be Ada's husband. Since she says that she has to write to Dave, we came to know that Dave is not at home. Perhaps he is a job holder man and lives away from home.

(e) What difference in behaviour do you notice between Ada and Ronnie? Why do they react differently? (एडा र रोनीको के फरक व्यवहार देख्नुभयो? किन तिनीहरु फरक-फरक प्रतिक्रिया व्यक्त गर्छन्?)

Answer: Ada wants to get rid of the parent's behaviour. She does not like to be involved in the argument of her parents. Ronnie is a practical man and wants to solve the problems by himself. They react differently because Ada is a married woman and she has got her own flat but Ronnie acts peacefully because he has nowhere to go like his sister Ada.

(f) Why does Sarah use the third person so much (Him; 'my fine man' etc.?) (साराले किन तृतीय पुरुषको प्रयोग गरेकी होली?) 

Answer: Sarah uses third person to torment her husband. She dominates the whole family and becomes superior. She dramatises the situation so that her husband will be humiliated. 

(g) How would you describe the relationship between Harry and Sarah? Who seems the stronger? (तपाई ह्यारी र साराको सम्बन्धलाई कसरी वर्णन गर्नुहुन्छ? को बलियो जस्तो देखिन्छ?) 

Answer: The relationship between Harry and Sarah is not sound. Harry is dominated by her wife Sarah. She always blames him of being lazy and of always going to pictures. She has to rear up all the children by herself. She accuses him of being very inconsiderate towards the children. Naturally the mother (Sarah) is stronger because she dominates the whole family. She has got power in the family and is capable of running it without any problem. 

(h) Do you think Harry was 'the good, considerate father'? (ह्यारी एउटा असल र विचारवान बाबु हो जस्तो लाग्छ?) 

Answer: Harry was not a good and considerate father because he does not care about his own children. He is very indifferent towards his daughter when she leaves home. Instead of taking care of the children, he goes to west to see the pictures and goes to his mother's place and friend's house. He never helped his fammily member and did not show any affection to his daughter Ada and son Ronnie. Therefore he is an inconsiderate father.

3.2 Discuss the following points in class.

(a) Do you agree with Ronnie that 'you can solve things by talking about them?' Or do you prefer Harry's reaction, leave me alone'? In what ways is your opinion influenced by your own experience of family relationships? (समस्याहरुलाई छलफल गरेर समाधान गर्नु पर्छ भन्ने विचारको रोनी सँग तपाई सहमत हुनुहुन्छ? अथवा ह्यारीको एक्लै बस्ने प्रतिक्रिया मान्नुहुन्छ? अथवा ह्यारीको एक्लै बस्ने प्रतिक्रिया मान्नुहुन्छ? पारिवारिक सम्बन्धको अनुभवमा तपाई के ठान्नु हुन्छ?)
 

Answer: Yes, I agree with Ronnie's opinion that the problems can be solved to some extent by talking about them. The suppressed ideas should be exposed clearly before the family members. We can come to the point by discussing the problems from different angles. If everyone in family wants to live alone like Harry than the family will be disintegrated. There will be communication gap between the family members and the problem will be increased instead of being solved. So, to avoid any misunderstanding or problem in family, the only way is to discuss among the family members. 

(b) "What's a mother for?" asks Sarah. How has she interpreted her role, and why? What do you think a mother's for? (आमा के का लागि? सारा सोध्छे? उसले आफ्नो भूमिकालाई कसरी व्यक्त गर्छे र किन? तिम्रो विचार के छ?) 

Answer: Sarah has interpreted her role for taking care of her children. A mother has a great responsibility in family. She has to wash the dishes, cook food and feed them. In my opinion the mother is to run the family wheel smoothly without any accident. Mother has very great responsibility in the overall development of the children as well as other family members.

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