In what ways was the novel In colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists?
(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.
Who was Charlotte Bronte ? How has she presented the picture of a woman in her novels ?
Or
Describe the depiction of women in the novels of Charlotte Bronte. [CBSE 2013]
Or
In which way was women depicted in Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre'? [CBSE 2011]
Name a novel which is about a secret Hindu militia that fights Muslims to establish a Hindu Kingdom. It was a novel that inspired many kinds of freedom fighters. ‘
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 existing social issues.
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.
Explain the following :
(a) Social changes in Britain which led to an increase in women readers.
(b) What actions of Robinson Crusoe make us see him as a typical coloniser ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Or
"Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe made the readers feel that they were part of a superior community". Support the statement. [CBSE 2013]
Or
What actions of Robinson Crusoe made him as a typical coloniser ? Explain. [CBSE 2013]
(c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people.
(d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause.
Or
How does the novel Pariksha Guru reflect the inner and outer world of the newly emerging middle classes ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Describe the ways in which the novels in India attempted to create a sense of pan- Indian belonging.
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 ?
The novel is an epic of the Indian peasantry and tells the moving story of Hori and his wife, Dhania. Identify the novel. [CBSE. Sept. 2011]
Mention some important characteristics of novels which increased their popularity among the readers.
Name a novelist who wrote about traditional rural communities of England that were vanishing.
The Novel is about an epic about the Mallas, a community of fisherfolk who live off fishing in the river Titash. Identify the novel and the author.
The novel revolves around Surdas who is visually impaired and belongs to an untouchable caste. Identify the novel.
Which social issues were included in the novels in India? Explain by giving examples. [CBSE 2014]
Or
Novels helped in creating a sense of social awareness in India.' Explain. [CBSE 2012]
How was the involvement of women, the most important event of the novel in the 18th century ? [CBSE Comp. (O) 2008]
Or
How did novels explore and depict the world of women ? Explain it by giving examples. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Or
How was the New Women' portrayed in the novels of the 18th century? Explain [CBSE 2013]
What do you mean by epistolary novel ? Give One example.
Or
State the meaning of epistolary novel. Give one example for this type of novel. [CBSE 2013]
How most of the novels of the 19th century represented the true picture of the community and the society ?
Which of the following novel was written by Potheri Kunjambu and deals with the caste oppression ? [CBSE. Sept. 2011,12]
Summarise the concern in both nineteenth- century Europe and India about women reading novels. What does this suggest about how women were viewed ?
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.
Outline the changes in technology and society which led to an increase in readers of the novel in eighteenth-century Europe.
Discuss some of the social changes in nineteenth-century Britain which Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens wrote about.
In what ways was the novel in colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists?
Describe the ways in which the novel in India attempted to create a sense of pan-Indian belonging
How were the stories and prose not new to India ? Give three examples. [CBSE Comp. (O) 2008]
How did novel become a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class in India? Explain. [CBSE 2012]
Mention some important reasons for the popularity of the novels. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Or
Explain, how did novels become a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class during the late nineteenth century in India. [CBSE 2010 (D), Sept. 2013]
Or
Why were the novels widely read and become popular very quickly ? [CBSE Sept. 2011, 2012]
Or
How did novels become popular among masses ? (CBSE 2013)
Or
Assess the reasons for the popularity of the novel in Europe ? [CBSE 2012]
How did Charles Dickens focus on the life of the industrial workers and the terrible conditions of urban life in his novels ? Explain with examples. [CBSE 2008 (O)]
Or
Explain the themes and issues of the . novels of Charles Dickens with examples. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Elaborate upon the contribution of Charles Dickens in the field of novel writing. [CBSE-2012]
Or
Novels of Charles Dickens deal with which changes of the 19th century Britain ? Mention any three such changes. [CBSE-2013]
Or
Which type of problems were highlighted by the novelist, Charles Dickens through his novel? Explain from any of his two novels. [CBSE-2013]
Or
Explain any three aspects highlighted by Charles Dickens in his novel "Hard Times". [CBSE-2012]