The Rattrap Important Question Answers Class 12 English Chapter 4

The Rattrap Important Question Answers – Here are the important questions for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo Book Chapter 4 The Rattrap. The important questions we have compiled will help the students to brush up on their knowledge about the subject. Students can practice Class 12 English important questions to understand the subject better and improve their performance in the board exam. The solutions provided here will also give students an idea about how to write the answers. Take Free Online MCQs Test for Class 12

The Rattrap Important Question Answers Class 12 English Chapter 4

The Rattrap 2 Marks Important Questions – 30 to 40 words

Q 1. How was the peddler received in the cottage?
or
How did the crofter entertain the peddler?

The crofter was kind to the peddler. He offered him shelter in his cottage, gave him porridge for supper. Then he cut a big slice from the tobacco roll which was sufficient for both of them and offered it to him. He also confided in the peddler and shared his secrets.

Q 2. Why was the crofter so talkative and friendly with the peddler?

The crofter lived all alone and wanted someone to talk to. When he saw the peddler, he was happy to get company. He was a generous host and served the peddler porridge, tobacco and also played a card game with him. He even shared his secrets with the peddler.

Q 3. In what sense was the world a big rattrap according to the peddler?
Or
Explain the metaphor of the rattrap in context of the story by Selma Lagerlof.

The rattrap seller believes that the worldly pleasures are like a bait in the rattrap. They attract us. The one who gets attracted towards the bait, gets trapped. He has to commit all types of misdeeds in order to achieve worldly pleasures. This marks the end for him.

Q 4. Why did Edla still entertain the peddler even after she knew the truth about him?
Or
Why did Edla plead with her father not to send the Vagabond away?

Edla was a trusting and compassionate person. She wanted the peddler to enjoy himself and remain at peace. As it was Christmas Eve, she did not want to turn away the guest. She reasoned that they had insisted upon the man to visit their home for Christmas Eve. It was her kind gesture that reformed the peddler.

Q 5. Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and invite him home?
Or
Why was the ironmaster kind to the peddler? Where did he invite him to and why?

The ironmaster mistook the peddler for an old comrade. He was happy that he had found his comrade with whom he could spend Christmas eve. He was lonely and so he was desperate to invite the man home. Despite opposition from the peddler, the ironmaster and his daughter convinced him to spend Christmas eve with them. He was eager to take the man home because of the miserable condition which he had found him in.

Q 6. Why was the peddler amused at the idea of the world being a rattrap?

The peddler was amused when he saw other people getting trapped In the metaphorical rattrap. The thought of other people being trapped, because of the temptations amused him. He was happy because he remained free from the rattrap. He felt joyous to think ill of the world in this way.

Q 7.What was the content of the letter written by the peddler to Edla?

The peddler wrote that since she had treated him like a captain, he wanted to be nice to her in return. He did not want to embarrass her with the thought that she had invited a thief over for Christmas. He returned the thirty kroners of the crofter and requested her to return the stolen money. The letter read that the rattrap was a Christmas present from a rat who would have been caught in the world’s rattrap if he had not been raised to the status of a captain which motivated him to reform himself.

The Rattrap 5 Marks Important Questions – 120 to 150 words

Q 1. Why did the crofter repose confidence in the peddler?
How did the peddler feel after betraying the crofter?

The crofter had been hospitable towards the peddler. Despite this the peddler was ungrateful and betrayed him. The crofter welcomed him in his house when he asked for shelter. He took good care of him, served him supper, shared his tobacco, and played a card game ‘mjolis’ with him until bedtime.

He was also generous with his confidence and told the peddler that he had been a crofter at the Ramjso ironworks and now he had earned 30 kroners by selling the milk of his cow. The crofter did all this because he had been lonely and became happy when he got a company of the peddler. However, the peddler stole the 30 kroners from the crofter’s house. Soon thereafter he felt guilty of cheating the nice man. He felt that the money was bait that had lured him into committing theft.

Q 2. How does the story ‘The Rattrap’ highlight the importance of community over isolation? support your rationale with textual evidence.
Or
The Rattrap focuses on human loneliness and the need to bond with others. Comment.

Man is a social animal and he cannot live in isolation. In every field of life we interact with humans. In case a person does not socialize and shirks the company of friends, he becomes a recluse. The story ‘The Rattrap’ highlights this fact.

Initially we come to know that the rattrap seller was a lonely man who used to make rattraps and was left to his own meditations. One day when he knocks on a cottage, he meets a crofter who welcomes him and entertains him. The crofter is also a lonely man and is glad to get the company of the peddler.

Then we also find that the ironmaster and his daughter are lonely. They live in a big house but have nobody else for company, so, they insist that the peddler should spend Christmas eve with them.

Q 3. What made the peddler finally change his ways?
Or
What miracle did Edla perform in the peddler’s life?
Or
How did Edla bring about a change in the peddler?

Edla believed that the peddler was her father’s comrade from the Army. She treated him like a gentleman. She gave him a lot of respect and spoke with kindness. She wanted the peddler to stay with them for Christmas and share the Christmas cheer.

Even when they came to know that the peddler was not the person that Edla’s father had mistaken him to be, Edla’s behaviour towards him remained unchanged. All this moved the peddler. He became a true gentleman and gave up the wrong ways of life. He was thankful to Edla for being so good to him and for transforming him into a true gentleman.

Q 4. The peddler believed that the whole world is a rattrap. How did he himself get caught in the same?

The peddler gets tempted and trapped when he gets easy access to the crofter’s money. He realizes that he is caught in the trap when he loses his way in the forest, with the few kroners in his pocket. He gets caught in the trap another time when Edla assures him Christmas cheer.

He knows also that the ironmaster is mistaking him for someone else but does not clarify this because he is lured by the attraction of the Christmas cheer. He repeatedly surrenders to the worldly temptations and realizes that the world is a rattrap and the riches, joys, and shelters are worldly temptations.

Q 5. How did the seller of rattrap realize that he himself was caught up in a rat trap after he left the crofter’s cottage?

The rattrap seller was a habitual thief. Despite the kindness of the crofter, the peddler betrayed him. He stole the money from his house. In order to prevent being caught, he avoided the highway and went into the woods. He got confused and lost his way.
He seemed to move in a circle as the paths seemed to twist backM and forth. When he was trapped in the woods he realized that the 30 kroners were bait. He felt that the forest was closing upon him like a prison and he had been trapped.

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