2 Marks Questions
Question 1 : What had happened when the narrator offered to do the packing?
Answer : The narrator offered to do the packing with the intention that he would supervise the job and the two friends got it the wrong way and stretched themselves on the sofa and table.
Question 2 : What was Jerome’s intention behind his offer of packing? How was Jerome caught into his own words in ‘Packing’?
Answer : Jerome offered to do the packing because he wanted to supervise his friends while they packed, but they didn’t realise his intention. On the other hand, they sat while Jerome did the packing. This way Jerome was caught into his own words in ‘Packing’/
Question 3 : What did Jerome do to find his toothbrush?
Answer : During the packing, Jerome couldn’t find his toothbrush and he wanted to make sure that he had packed it. Jerome opened the bag to find his toothbrush and took everything out but could not find it. Then, he put everything inside one by one by shaking them and found it inside a boot.
Question 4 : What did George and Harris undertake to do the rest of the packing?
Answer : Jerome did most part of the packing while the two friends were stretched out. But, still the hamper was not packed. George and Harris undertook to do the rest of the packing because Jerome got irritated as he had to re-open the bag so many times and none of them helped him.
Question 5 : What happened when George and Harris started packing and how did it become ‘exciting’?
Answer : George and Harris were not good at packing so they messed up everything. They broke up cups, squashed tomatoes and stepped on things. The packing became ‘exciting’ as they didn’t have any idea of how to pack things.
Question 6 : Describe the incident related to the butter in the story.
Answer : The butter caused great confusion while packing because George walked over it and after putting it off the slipper, they tried to put it in the kettle.
George put it on the chair and Harris sat on it due to which it stuck on his back. They looked for it all over the room.
Question 7 : How did Montmorency, the dog, add to the excitement and confusion in packing?
Answer : Montmorency, the dog of Jerome, created a great confusion in packing as he sat on the things that were to be packed. He put his leg into the jam, scattered the teaspoons and squashed the lemons assuming them to be rats.
Question 8 : When did the three friends complete the packing and what did they do after it?
Answer : The three friends completed the packing at 12.50 AM. After they got extremely tired and decided to sleep. Before sleeping they had an argument regarding when to wake up in the morning. Finally, they were agreed to a time but one of the friends fell asleep before it did happen.
8 Marks Questions
Question 1 : What did Jerome intend to do while offering his help to do packing? Do you think that he showed-off while offering his help? What would you have done if you were Jerome?
Answer : The three friends were going on a trip and they intended to do the packing in advance. The narrator himself, offered to pack with the intention that he would supervise the proceedings. Jerome felt pride on his skill of packing and thought that he knew about packing more than any other person. But, they misunderstood him and made him to do the entire packing. It is clear that Jerome showed-off his skill when he offered his help to them. He wanted to act like a boss before his friends but they were smarter enough. They sat while Jerome packed and this irritated him. Finally, the two friends agreed to put their contribution but they were not very good at packing. In fact, they didn’t show-off their packing skills. They did it like a novice (inexpert) and created chaos during packing.
If I were Jerome, I would not have accepted the work just to show-off my skill or to instruct my friends. I would have accepted the work to help them without thinking of any reward or words of praise.
Question 2 : How did George and Harris create confusion in packing things? What was Jerome’s reaction? What will you do if you have friends like them who make a situation worse?
Answer : Basically there were two phases of packing in the story. One was done by the author himself and the other was completed by two of his friends. The first phase was exciting but the second phase was even more exciting with George and Harris doing the act together. Both of them did it in a way that was quite arousing. George and Harris were extremely lazy and not good at packing. When they undertook to do the rest of the packing, they created a chaos. They broke cups, squashed tomatoes and walked on things.
They put things behind them and couldn’t find them when they were needed, Jerome sat and watched them excitedly while they packed. There is an old wise saying ‘A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.” Such friends made the situation worse than before. Though Jerome did a few mistakes but he was not a bad packer. George and Harris were childish in their packing attempts. They incurred more losses than anything worth appreciable. If I have friends like them, I will not leave them alone to do the task, but help them till it gets completed.
Question 3 : Montmorency shares a special friendship with the author. He adds confusion and chaos to the atmosphere. It shows the company one keeps. What values do we learn from good friendship?
Answer : Montmorency was the pet dog of Jerome and shared a special friendship with the author. Definitely, he adds to confusion and chaos. As a pet , it was very usual to be at all the places where its master went. As Jerome was packing the stuffs, the pet was roaming around and finding nothing to do, it went all over causing endless troubles to the ones doing the task of packing. He was a troublesome doing the task of packing. He was a troublesome dog but loves the author very much. He wanted to be a perfect nuisance and make people mad.
When he saw George and Harris packing, he joined them and added a great confusion and chaos to the atmosphere. He put his leg into the ham, squashed lemons and sat on things. It is natural for a god to create such problems, but Jerome shared a healthy friendship with him. A good friendship teaches us to support each other in every situation rather than being angry. All of us have some weaknesses but friendship does not get affected by them.
Friendship is a commonality where the drawbacks and vices get compromised and corrected. It doesn’t matter whether the friend is a dog or a human being. A good friendship must always be inspiring and entertaining.