Lesson Pappachi's Moth CBSE/(JKBOSE) Class 10 NCERT Full Explanation, Summary in English and Hindi, Difficult Words
By MEENA CHOUDHARY
Class 10 English Chapter 6 - Pappachi's Moth
By Arundhati Roy
Class 10 Pappachi's Moth Freedom Chapter Introduction/Summary
The lesson Pappachi’s Moth is an extract from Arundhati Roy’s first novel “The God Of Small Things” which won the Bookers Prize in 1997. Pappachi (grandfather) is an imperial entomologist prior to his retirement. His name is Shri Benaan John Ipe. His wife Shoshamma Ipe is referred to as Mammachi (grandmother). Amma and Chacko are their children. Pappachi has been bitter since his discovery of new moth species dismissed and subsequently credited to someone else. That incident is strongly held responsible for his black mood and irritable temper. His guise of being a perfect husband and father hides his abusive tendencies towards his family, especially Mammachi. One night while Pappachi is beating his wife, Chacko, a Rhodes scholar from Oxford University stops him and warns him never to repeat such mean things again. From then on, till his death, Pappachi never his nor speaks to Mammachi again This lesson subtly raises important issues that plague our milieu.
Class 10 Pappachi's Moth Freedom Chapter Explanation
Mammachi had started making pickles commercially soon after Pappachi retired from government service in Delhi and came to live in Ayemenem. The Kottayam Bible Society was having a fair and asked Mammachi to make some of her famous banana jam and tender mango pickle. It sold quickly, and Mammachi found that she had more orders than she could cope with. Thrilled (an emotion or sensation) with her success, she decided to persist (continue in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition) with the pickles and jam, and soon found herself busy all year round. Pappachi, for his part, was having trouble coping with the ignominy (public shame or disgrace) of retirement. He was seventeen years older than Mammachi and realised with a shock that he was an old man when his wife was still in her prime (of first importance; main).
Though Mammachi had conical corneas and was already practically blind, Pappachi would not help her with the pickle-making, because he did not consider pickle making a suitable job for a high-ranking ex-government official. He had always been a jealous man so he greatly resented the attention his wife was suddenly getting. He slouched (stand, move, or sit in a lazy, drooping way) around the compound in his immaculately (in a perfectly clean, neat, or tidy manner) tailored suits, weaving sullen (bad-tempered and sulky) circles around mounds of red chilies and freshly powdered yellow turmeric, watching Mammachi supervise (observe and direct the execution of a task or activity) the buying, the weighing, the salting and drying, of limes and tender mangoes. Every night he beat her with a brass flower vase (a decorative container without handles, typically made of glass or china and used as an ornament or for displaying cut flowers). The beatings weren’t new. What was new was only the frequency with which they took place. One-night Pappachi broke the bow of Mammachi’s violin and threw it in the river.
Then Chacko came home for summer vacation from Oxford. He had grown to be a big man and was, in those days, strong from rowing for Balliol. A week after he arrived, he found Pappachi beating Mammachi in the study. Chacko strode (walk with long, decisive steps in a specified direction) into the room, caught Pappachi’s vase-hand and twisted it around his back.
‘I never want this to happen again,’ he told his father, ‘Ever.’
For the rest of that day Pappachi sat in the verandah (A veranda or verandah is a porch or long, open room with a roof over it) and stared-stonily (motionless or rigid) out at the ornamental garden, ignoring the plates of food that Kochu Maria brought him. Late at night he went into his study and brought out his favorite mahogany rocking chair. He put it down in the middle of the driveway and smashed (violently or badly broken) it into little bits with a plumber’s monkey wrench (a sudden violent twist or pull). He left it there in the moonlight, a heap of varnished (disguise or gloss over) wicker (made of very thin pieces of wood twisted together) and splintered wood. He never touched Mammachi again. But he never spoke to her either as long as he lived. When he needed anything, he used Kochu Maria or Baby Kochamma as intermediaries.
In the evenings, when he knew visitors were expected, he would sit on the verandah and sew (join, fasten, or repair) buttons that weren’t missing onto his shirts, to create the impression that Mammachi neglected him. To some small degree he did succeed in further corroding Ayemenem’s view of working wives.
He bought the sky-blue Plymouth from an old Englishman in Munnar. He became a familiar sight in Ayemenem, coasting importantly down the narrow road in his wide car, looking outwardly elegant but sweating freely inside his woolen suits. He wouldn’t allow Mammachi or anyone else in the family to use it, or even to sit in it. The Plymouth was Pappachi’s revenge (the action of hurting or harming someone).
Pappachi had been an Imperial Entomologist at the Pusa Institute. After Independence, when the British left, his designation (the action of choosing someone to hold an office or post) was changed from Imperial Entomologist to Joint Director, Entomology. The year he retired; he had risen to a rank equivalent to Director. His life’s greatest setback was not having had the moth that he had discovered named after him.
It fell into his drink one evening while he was sitting in the verandah of a rest house after a long day in the field. As he picked it out, he noticed its unusually dense dorsal tufts. He took a closer look. With growing excitement, he mounted it, measured it and the next morning placed it in the sun for a few hours for the alcohol to evaporate. Then he caught the first train back to Delhi. To taxonomic attention and, he hoped, fame. After six unbearable months of anxiety (a feeling of worry, nervousness), to Pappachi’s intense (of extreme force, degree, or strength) disappointment, he was told that his moth had finally been identified as a slightly unusual race of a well-known species that belonged to the tropical family, Lymantriidae.
The real blow came twelve years later, when, as a consequence (a result or effect, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant) of a radical taxonomic reshuffle, lepidopterists decided that Pappachi’s moth was, in fact, a separate species and genus hitherto unknown to science. By then, of course, Pappachi had retired and moved to Ayemenem. It was too late for him to assert his claim to the discovery. His moth was named after the Acting Director of the Department of Entomology, a junior officer whom Pappachi had always disliked.
In the years to come, even though he had been ill-humored (bad-tempered; irritable) long before he discovered the moth, Pappachi’s Moth was held responsible for his black moods and sudden bouts of temper. It's pernicious (having a harmful effect) ghost—grey, furry (covered with fur) and with unusually dense dorsal tufts—haunted every house that he ever lived in. It tormented (cause to experience severe mental or physical suffering) him and his children and his children’s children. Until the day he died, even in the stifling (of heat, air, or a room very hot and causing difficulties in breathing) Ayemenem heat, every single day, Pappachi wore a well-pressed three-piece suit and his gold pocket watch. On his dressing table, next to his cologne and silver hairbrush, he kept a picture of himself as a young man, with his hair slicked down, taken in a photographer’s studio in Vienna where he had done the six-month diploma course that had qualified him to apply for the post of Imperial Entomologist. It was during those few months they spent in Vienna that Mammachi took her first lessons on the violin. The lessons were abruptly (suddenly and unexpectedly) discontinued when Mammachi’s teacher, Launsky- Tieffenthal, made the mistake of telling Pappachi that his wife was exceptionally talented and, in his opinion, potentially concert class.
Mammachi pasted, in the family photograph album, the clipping from the Indian Express that reported Pappachi’s death. It said:
Noted entomologist, Shri Benaan John Ipe, son of late Rev.E. John Ipe of Ayemenem (popularly known as Punnyan Kunju), suffered a massive heart attack and passed away at the Kottayam General Hospital last night. He developed chest pains around 1.05 a.m. and was rushed to the hospital. The end came at 2.45 a.m. Shri Ipe had been keeping indifferent health since last six months. He is survived by his wife Soshamma and two children.
At Pappachi’s funeral, Mammachi cried and her contact lenses slid around in her eyes. Ammu told the twins that Mammachi was crying more because she was used to him than because she loved him. She was used to having him slouching around the pickle factory, and was used to being beaten from time to time. Ammu said that human beings were creatures of habit, and it was amazing the kind of
things they could get used to. You only had to look around you, Ammu said, to see that beatings with brass vases were the least of them.
Textbook Question of Pappachi’s Moth
1. Write the character Sketches of Pappachi and Mammachi.
I. Character Sketch of Pappachi
Pappachi is Mammachi’s husband and the father of Ammu and Chacko. He has served in the Department of Entomology as an Imperial Entomologist. His biggest triumph in life becomes his biggest failure when he discovers a rare breed of moth, but he does not get credit or even naming rights for his discovery. Later, when he comes to know that his discovery has been recognized but named after the acting director of the department he is shocked. This event is held responsible for his black mood and temper.
Pappachi is a harsh, jealous man who beats Mammachi regularly. He does not like Mammachi’s work of making pickles. He thinks that this menial job to be done by his wife is against the dignity of a high ranking ex-government official.
Pappachi is a rude and snobbish person. He wears beautiful dresses in order to hide his age and infirmity. He buys a car and does not allow anybody to sit inside it. He pretends to be a royal person. He dies before the action of the novel really kicks off, so he’s referred mostly as a memory.
II. Character Sketch of Mammachi
Mammachi is the wife of the renowned Entomologist, Shri Benaan lpe. She is an elderly lady but seventeen years younger than her husband, Pappachi. She is naturally inculcated with many talents. She is very good at making pickles and jams, which sell very quickly at a particular fair. She gets more orders and thus becomes employed particularly after her husband’s retirement. She is very good at playing the violin and takes some lessons of playing it during her stay in Vienna. She is a hard-working lady and full of patience. She tolerates the beatings of her husband without a wink of a complaint. These beatings are only stopped when her son, Chacko comes back from Oxford and stops his father from beating Mammachi. She is suffering from conical corneas and wears contact lenses to visualize things. She does not get the support of her husband throughout her life but still, she keeps on supervising and managing everything alone and does not feel or let anyone else feel bad about her husband and never lets him down.
2.” I never want this to happen again,” he told his father, ‘Ever’. Who says it and why?
Answer. Pappachi’s son Chacko says these words to him. He comes to home for summer vacation from Oxford and finds his father beating the mother in a room. He catches his hand, twists it around his back and warns him never to do it again.
3. ‘Amma told the twins that Mammachi was crying more because to him than because she loved him’.In the light of the statement of Mammachi’s daughter, comment on the relationship between Mammachi and Pappachi.
Answer: Mammachi and Pappachi do not have good relationship particularly after Pappachi retires. Pappachi burns on his wife’s work of making pickles in spite of the fact that her business flourishes. He strangely thinks that it is against the dignity of a high-ranking ex-government official. Above all, he brutally beats her every night with a flower vase. But Mammachi becomes used to his beatings. She never complains about his ill-treatment with her. She remains a loyal and loving wife. That is why she cries on her husband’s funeral forgets all that he has done with her.
4. How does Mammachi stand out as an independent resilient woman in the text?
Ans: Mammachi proves to be a praiseworthy character of the story. She prepares delicious pickles and jams and becomes successful in this work. Soon, she receives more orders and thus becomes employed and independent. She is also a resilient lady because she adapts herself to the irritating and jealous nature of her husband. She tolerates the tyranny of her husband like a silent tolerant and never complains
5. Pick out the elements of irony in the lesson.
Answer: Irony means the strange and amusing aspect of a situation that is opposite or very different from what you expect. The main elements of irony in the lesson are as follows:
1. Pappachi discovers a rare breed of moth, but he does not get credit or even naming rights for his discovery. He has not hoped that his discovery will be ignored. So this is irony.
2. When Mammachi starts pickle making. Her business flourishes tremendously. She gets busy all around the year but her husband unexpectedly dislikes her job.
3. Pappachi beats her wife every night but she never complains or discloses it to anyone. Isn’t it ironic!!
4. At Pappachi’s funeral, Mammachi cries hard in spite that her husband used to beat her when he was alive.
6. Identify instances of humor in the story.
Answer: Humour is that figure of speech that amuses us and makes us laugh. Some of the humorous elements we find in the story are given as under:
1. Pappachi keeps a photograph of his youth on the table to remember the days when he was young. This is really amusing.
2. Pappas’s daily moving around the compound watching the mounds of red chilies, freshly powdered turmeric and Mammachi’s doing her work makes us laugh badly.
3. Pappachi never allows Mammachi and anyone in the family to use his car or even to sit inside it.
4. Pappachi always likes to create the impression that Mammachi neglects him. He sits on the verandah and sews buttons to show the people that he is ignored.
Q7. Write a short paragraph to show that the lesson Is a reflection of male chauvinism
Ans: Gender discrimination is a major social evil in our society. Man has always been dominant over woman from ages. He has never treated woman equal to his status. She has always been a mere slave to him. She is for him the ‘other sex’. He abuses her in every respect. She is exploited by a man physically, sexually, morally, economically and also politically. She has never been given equal rights. Even her fundamental rights have been snatched from her. She is used by man as a plaything to satisfy his lust. She is treated as the weaker sex.
The lesson is a perfect example of male chauvinism. Gender discrimination is the main theme of the lesson. Mammachi is an oppressed woman who is daily beaten by her husband. She is fed up with the regular beating of her cruel husband. Pappachi gives no respect to her. He never speaks a single word of love to her.
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