History

Novels, Society and History

Question:

How were the modem Indian novels useful for the Indians in day to day life. [CBSE 2013]
Or
"Indian novelists used the novel as a powerful medium to criticize the defects of the society."Justify the statement with the suitable examples. [CBSE 2013]
Or
Explain any three reasons for making the novel popular in India. [CBSE 2014]

Answer:

(i) Indians used the novel as a powerful medium to criticise what they considered defects in their society and to suggest remedies. Writers like Viresalingam used the novel mainly to propagate their ideas about society among a wider readership.
(ii) Novels also helped in establishing a relationship with the past. Many of them told thrilling stories of adventures and intrigues set in the past. Through glorified accounts of the past, these novels helped in creating a sense of national pride among their readers. At the same time, people from all walks of life could read novels so long as they shared a common language. This helped in creating a sense of collective belonging on the basis of one's language.
(iii) Novels made their readers familiar with the ways in which people in other parts of their land spoke their language.
(iv) As elsewhere in the world, in India too, the novel became a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class. The circulation of printed books allowed people to amuse themselves in new ways.
(v) A reason for the popularity of novels among women was that it allowed for a new conception of womanhood. Stories of love
which was a staple theme of many novels showed women who could choose or . refuse their partners and relationships.
(vi) From the 1920s, in Bengal too a new kind of novel emerged that depicted the lives of peasants and ‘low' castes. Advaita Malla
Burman's (1914-51) Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1956) is an epic about the Mallas, a community of fisherfolk who live off fishing in the river Titash.
(vii) Basheer's short novels and stories were written in the ordinary language of conversation. With wonderful humour, Basheer's novels spoke about details from the everyday life of Muslim households.
(viii) 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, middlelevel peasants and landless labourers, middle-class professionals and people from the margins of society.

previuos
next

Novels, Society and History

Q 1.

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]

Q 2.

What was impact of serialisation of a novel ?

Q 3.

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. ‘

Q 4.

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.

Q 5.

Write a short note on novels for the young.

Q 6.

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 7.

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

Q 8.

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]

Q 9.

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

Q 10.

Describe the reasons of the popularity of novels among the women. [CBSE 2013, 2014]

Q 11.

Who is known as the pioneer of modem Hindi literature ?

Q 12.

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 13.

What was the theme of Saraswativijayam ?

Q 14.

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]

Q 15.

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

Q 16.

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

Q 17.

What was the theme of the novel Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte?

Q 18.

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

Q 19.

What is a satire?

Q 20.

Write about the early Bengali novels.

Q 21.

What is a novel ?

Q 22.

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.

Q 23.

Why the novel Pariksha Guru could not win many readers ?

Q 24.

Which was the first proper modem novel in Hindi ? What was its theme ?

Q 25.

Who was the Hindi novelist whose writing took the Hindi novels to excellence ?

Q 26.

The novel revolves around Surdas who is visually impaired and belongs to an untouchable caste. Identify the novel.

Q 27.

Which social values Charles Dickens novel Hard Times' highlighted ? Mention any three.

Q 28.

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]

Q 29.

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 30.

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

Q 31.

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

Q 32.

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

Q 33.

What was the reason for the popularity of the novel?

Q 34.

What is meant by vernacular as a language?

Q 35.

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]

Q 36.

How were the stories and prose not new to India ? Give three examples. [CBSE Comp. (O) 2008]

Q 37.

How did serialisation of novels increase the popularity of novels and magazines ? [CBSE 2012]

Q 38.

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

Q 39.

How did novel become a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class in India? Explain. [CBSE 2012]

Q 40.

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]

Q 41.

Who was Jane Austen ? How do her novels give us a glimpse of the world of women in the general rural society in the early 19th century Britain ?
Or
How did Jane Austen portray the women of 19th century in her novel ? [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2012]

Q 42.

Why were children prevented from reading novels ? Explain. (CBSE-2012)

Q 43.

What are the main features of novel Sewasadan' written by Munshi Premchand? Mention any three. [CBSE 2012]

Q 44.

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]

Q 45.

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 46.

"Social changes in Britain led to an increase in women readers". Explain.
Or
Explain the factors that led to women writing novels in Europe. [CBSE 2012]

Q 47.

Who formed the readership for the novels ?

Q 48.

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

Q 49.

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

Q 50.

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