History

Novels, Society and History

Question:

What was the importance of novels ?
Or
In what ways was the novel in colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists ?  [CBSE 2009 (O), Sept. 2010, 2011, 2012]
Or
"Novels were useful for both the colonial administrators and Indians in colonial India."Support the statement with example. [CBSE 2010 (O)]
Or
What Were the various uses of novels from the Indian point of view ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]

Answer:

(i) Source of Information : Colonial administrators found the ‘vernacular' novels a valuable source of information on native life and customs. Such information was useful for them in governing Indian society, with its large and a variety of communities and castes.
As outsiders, the British knew little about life inside Indian households. The novels in Indian languages often had descriptions of domestic life.
(ii) Novels and colonialism : The novel originated in Europe at a time when it was colonizing the rest of the world. The early novel contributed to colonialism by marking the readers feel they were part of a superior community of fellow colonialists.
(iii) The novel and nation making : The history written by colonial historians tended to depict Indians as weak, divided, and dependent on the British. These histories could not satisfy the tastes of the new Indian administrators and intellectuals. Nor did the traditional Puranic stories of the past- peopled by gods and demons, filled with the fantastic and the supernatural- seem convincing to those educated and working under the English system. Such minds wanted a new view of the past that would show that Indians could be independent minded and had been so in history. The novel provided a solution. In it, the nation could be imagined in a past that also featured historical characters, places, events and dates.
(iv) Novels and struggle for freedom : The imagined nation of the novel was so powerful that it could inspire actual political movements. Banking's Anandamath (1882) is-a novel about a secret Hindu militia that fights Muslims to establish a Hindu Kingdom. It was a novel that inspired many kinds of freedom fighters.
(v) Novels and common sharing novelists included : Various classes in the novel in such a way that they could be seen to belong to a shared world. Premchand's novels, for instance, are filled with all kinds of powerful characters drawn from all levels of society. In his novels you meet aristocrats and landlords, middle level peasants and landless labourers, middle class professionals and people from the margins of society. The women characters are strong individuals, especially those who come from the lower classes and are not modernised.

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Novels, Society and History

Q 1.

Write a note on:
a) The Oriya novel
b) Jane Austen's portrayal of women
c) The picture of the new middle class which the novel Pariksha-Guru portrays.

Q 2.

How did the vernacular novels help Britishers to expand their rule in India ?

Q 3.

Write a short note on novels for the young.

Q 4.

Write about the early Bengali novels.

Q 5.

Explain the history of growth of novels in India. [CBSE 2014]
Or
Explain briefly the history of Hindi novel from starting to excellence. [CBSE 2011 ]

Q 6.

Who is the writer of the novel Germinal ? What was the theme of the novel ?

Q 7.

Mention some important characteristics of novels which increased their popularity among the readers.

Q 8.

What was impact of serialisation of a novel ?

Q 9.

Who was the English author who showed the darker side of colonialism in his novels ? [CBSE. Sept.2011]

Q 10.

Who is the author of the novel ‘Robinson Crusoe' ? [CBSE. Sept.2011, 12]

Q 11.

What is Epistolary?

Q 12.

How did the early novels contribute to colonialism ?
Or
With the help of an example show how the early novels in Europe contributed to colonialism? [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]

Q 13.

Trace the history of novels of South India.

Q 14.

Who was the author of Pickwick Papers which was serialised in 1836 ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 15.

Name the novelist who showed the darker ‘ side of colonial occupation.

Q 16.

In many novels written during the colonial period, the ideal person successfully deals with one of the central dilemmas faced by colonial subject'. What was the dilemma ?

Q 17.

Which was the first historical novel written in Bengal ?

Q 18.

Outline the changes in technology and society which led to an increase in the readers of the novel in the eighteenth century Europe. [CBSE Sept. 2013]

Q 19.

Discuss some of the social changes in nineteenth-century Britain which Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens wrote about.

Q 20.

Write about Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Caster Bridge.

Q 21.

Differentiate between the novels written by Charlotte Bronte and the novels written by Jane Austen ? [CBSE 2013]

Q 22.

How did novels promote colonialism ? Explain with an example of a novel. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Or
What kind of novels were written for young boys in the 19th century ? Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Or
How did novels make themselves relevant to young boys ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Or
Explain any five features of novels written for the young in the last stage of 19 th century. [CBSE 2012]

Q 23.

Discuss how the issue of caste was included in the novels in India. [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Or
Describe, the theme of the novel . Saraswativijayam' written by Potheri Kunjambu.
Or
Who is the author of novel "Saraswati vijayam"? Describe the theme of it.
Or
How does Saraswativijayam' lay stress upon the importance of education for the upliftment of the lower castes ?  [CBSE 2012]
Or
How did authors from so called low castes gain recognition in the world of literature? Explain with examples of any two such authors. [CBSE 2012]

Q 24.

Explain the themes and issues of the novels of Thomas Hardy. [CBSE 2011]

Q 25.

What were the issues raised by the novel Indulekha written in Malayalam ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Or
What led Chandu Menon to write Indulekha ? [CBSE Sept. 2011,2014]

Q 26.

Name a novelist who wrote about traditional rural communities of England that were vanishing.

Q 27.

Which novel supplied the adventurous text for the young English population ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 28.

Who is the author of the novel "Robinson Crusoe ?

Q 29.

How was the sources of entertainment of the old merchant elite of Calcutta different from the new bhadralok ?

Q 30.

Why the novel Pariksha Guru could not win many readers ?

Q 31.

Who wrote Saraswativijayam ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 32.

In what ways was the novel In colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists?

Q 33.

Describe how the issue of caste was included in novels in India. By referring to any two novels, discuss the ways in which  they tried to make readers think about the existing social issues.

Q 34.

Summarise the concern in both nineteenth-century Europe and India about women reading novels. What does this suggest about how women were viewed?

Q 35.

Describe the ways in which the novel in India attempted to create a sense of pan-Indian belonging

Q 36.

Write about Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Caster Bridge.

Q 37.

Explain the meaning of Jatra', Kabirlarai and Bhadralok. [CBSE 2013]

Q 38.

"Novels were useful to different sectors of the society."Support your answer with suitable examples.
Or
Highlight any three contributions of novel to modern society. [CBSE 2014]

Q 39.

Describe the earliest novels written in Bengali and Marathi. [CBSE 2013]

Q 40.

Name the first novel written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Describe his contribution to the Bengali novel.  [CBSE 2010]

Q 41.

What was the importance of novels ?
Or
In what ways was the novel in colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists ?  [CBSE 2009 (O), Sept. 2010, 2011, 2012]
Or
"Novels were useful for both the colonial administrators and Indians in colonial India."Support the statement with example. [CBSE 2010 (O)]
Or
What Were the various uses of novels from the Indian point of view ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]

Q 42.

Mention any three features of Pickwick Papers.

Q 43.

How most of the novels of the 19th century represented the true picture of the community and the society ?

Q 44.

Explain the role of novelists in the field of social reforms in India with the help of any three examples. [CBSE Sept. 2010]

Q 45.

Who is the writer of the Novel Germinal ? What was the theme of the novel ?

Q 46.

How most of the novels of the 19th century represented the true picture of the community and the society ?

Q 47.

"It is a truth universally accepted acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". Name the novel and the author.

Q 48.

Which was the first modern novel in Nalayalam ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 49.

Who is known as the pioneer of modem Hindi literature ?

Q 50.

Who was the author of Pariksha Guru ?