CBSE Class 12 English Vistas Exercise Solutions

How to Use This Page

1. Read each Vistas chapter carefully — these are shorter texts but rich in theme and technique. 2. Attempt NCERT textbook exercises and back-of-chapter questions on your own first. 3. Compare your answers with the solutions here, focusing on analysis and key terms, not copying. 4. For long answers, practise the introduction-body-conclusion format within 120-150 words. 5. Revise difficult questions after 3-4 days to check retention.

Key Concepts (Quick Recap)

• The Third Level (Jack Finney) — Reality vs fantasy; escapism; Charley's discovery of a mysterious third level at Grand Central Station that leads to 1894; desire for a simpler past.
• The Tiger King (Kasturirangan Jalandhar) — Satire on power and privilege; the Maharaja's obsession with killing 100 tigers to defy a prophecy; hubris and its consequences; environmental destruction.
• The Enemy (Pearl S. Buck) — Duty vs humanity; Dr Sadao's moral dilemma in harbouring an enemy American soldier; conflict between patriotism and the medical oath.
• On the Face of It (Susan Hill) — Appearance vs reality; physical disability and emotional scars; Derry's burnt face and Mr Lamb's tin leg; acceptance and hope.
• Memories of Childhood — Two autobiographical extracts: Zitkala-Sa's "The Cutting of My Long Hair" (cultural oppression of Native Americans) and Bama's "We Too Are Human Beings" (caste discrimination in India).

I. Choose the Best Answer (MCQs)

1. In "The Third Level," what year does Charley find himself transported to when he reaches the third level?

• (a) 1890
• (b) 1894
• (c) 1900
• (d) 1884

2. The Tiger King's name was:

• (a) Maharaja Hari Singh
• (b) The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram — Jilani Jung Bahadur
• (c) Maharaja Ranjit Singh
• (d) Maharaja Vikram Singh

3. In "The Enemy," Dr Sadao and Hana decide to help the wounded American soldier because:

• (a) They wanted to betray Japan
• (b) They were doctors bound by medical ethics, and the man was bleeding to death
• (c) The soldier threatened them
• (d) They wanted ransom money

4. In "On the Face of It," Mr Lamb's attitude towards his disability is best described as:

• (a) Bitter and resentful
• (b) Indifferent and aloof
• (c) Accepting and positive
• (d) In denial

5. In Zitkala-Sa's "The Cutting of My Long Hair," the act of cutting her hair symbolises:

• (a) A fashion change
• (b) Cultural erasure and forced assimilation
• (c) Personal choice
• (d) A religious ritual

6. In Bama's "We Too Are Human Beings," the elder brother tells Bama that the way to overcome caste discrimination is through:

• (a) Protest and rebellion
• (b) Education and hard work
• (c) Moving to another village
• (d) Ignoring it completely

7. The "third level" at Grand Central Station is:

• (a) A real, commonly known floor
• (b) A figment of Charley's imagination, possibly representing his desire for escape
• (c) A secret government facility
• (d) A railway museum

8. The Tiger King ultimately died from:

• (a) A tiger attack
• (b) A hunting accident
• (c) Infection from a splinter from a wooden toy tiger
• (d) Old age

9. In "The Enemy," the General promises to send assassins to kill the American soldier but:

• (a) Sends them the next day and the soldier is killed
• (b) Forgets due to his own illness and never sends them
• (c) Sends them but they refuse to go
• (d) The soldier escapes before they arrive

10. Derry in "On the Face of It" is afraid that people will:

• (a) Laugh at his clothes
• (b) Be disgusted by his burnt face and fear him
• (c) Ask him to leave the garden
• (d) Steal his money

II. Fill in the Blanks

1. Charley's psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner explained the third level as a wish-fulfilment or waking dream.

2. The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram killed 99 tigers during his hunting career.

3. The American soldier in "The Enemy" was named Tom, and he was a prisoner of war who had escaped from a nearby camp.

4. Dr Sadao's servants refused to help with the white man and eventually left his household in protest.

5. Mr Lamb's garden in "On the Face of It" had a gate that was always open — symbolising his welcoming, inclusive attitude.

6. In Zitkala-Sa's narrative, the palace of ice was how she described the school building — cold, rigid, and alien.

7. Bama's narrative describes an elder carrying food for the landlord by its string without touching it — a practice rooted in untouchability.

8. The Maharaja married a girl from a state with a large tiger population so he could continue hunting tigers.

9. Charley bought old-style currency from a coin dealer to stock up for his next visit to the third level.

10. In "The Enemy," Dr Sadao ultimately helped the American soldier escape by boat to a nearby island where a Korean fishing boat could pick him up.

III. True or False

1. The third level of Grand Central Station was a well-known public area that anyone could access.

False. The third level is not publicly accessible — it appears to be a figment of Charley's imagination or a supernatural portal. Charley's psychiatrist friend and others do not believe it exists, and when Charley tries to find it again, he cannot.

2. The Tiger King's astrologer predicted that the king would be killed by a real tiger.

True. The royal astrologer predicted that the Maharaja would be killed by a tiger. However, the hundredth tiger that actually caused his death was a wooden toy, not a real one — a dramatic irony.

3. In "The Enemy," Hana was completely supportive and comfortable with treating the American soldier from the beginning.

False. Hana struggled significantly — she had to wash the soldier herself when the servants refused, she was nauseated by the blood, and she felt conflicted between her duty as a host and her loyalty to Japan. Her support was born of moral courage, not ease.

4. Mr Lamb in "On the Face of It" died at the end of the play.

True. Mr Lamb falls from the ladder while picking apples, and the play ends with the sound of his fall, implying his death. Derry arrives to find him gone, realising the cost of his delay.

5. Zitkala-Sa willingly went to the school described in "The Cutting of My Long Hair."

False. Zitkala-Sa was taken to the school against her will. She describes being separated from her mother, enduring the unfamiliar and hostile environment, and resisting the cutting of her hair with all her strength.

6. In Bama's story, the landlord's elder carried the food packet by its string as a mark of respect.

False. The elder carried the food by its string — without touching the packet itself — because of caste-based untouchability. The upper-caste landlord would not accept food that had been touched by a Dalit person. This humiliating practice is what Bama observed and her brother explained.

7. Dr Sadao in "The Enemy" was trained in America.

True. Sadao had studied surgery and medicine in America, where he met Hana. They fell in love there but married only after returning to Japan, as they did not want to marry a foreigner.

8. Charley's wife Louisa believed in the existence of the third level.

False. Louisa was sceptical. She agreed with the psychiatrist that the third level was Charley's escapist fantasy. Even when Charley showed her the old-style currency, she remained unconvinced.

IV. Match the Following

V. Answer Briefly

Q1. What does the third level in Jack Finney's story represent? Why does Charley want to go there?

The third level represents an escapist fantasy — a psychological refuge from the anxiety, insecurity, and stress of the modern world (the 1950s, with its fear of war). Charley longs for the simpler, more peaceful life of 1894 — a time without world wars, nuclear threats, or the hectic pace of modern living. The third level is his subconscious desire to escape to a world of "summer evenings" and leisurely train rides, where life was less complicated.

Q2. What is the irony in the death of the Tiger King?

The Tiger King spent his entire life killing tigers to defy the astrologer's prophecy that he would be killed by a tiger. He killed 99 real tigers and thought the hundredth — a wooden toy — was also dead (it was only stunned). Yet the hundredth tiger fulfilled the prophecy: a splinter from the wooden toy tiger caused the fatal infection that killed him. The irony is that the very prophecy he tried to escape was fulfilled, not by a fearsome beast, but by a harmless toy.

Q3. Why did Dr Sadao and Hana not hand over the American soldier to the police immediately?

They could not hand over a wounded, bleeding man to the police because doing so would mean abandoning a dying person — something Sadao's medical ethics forbade. Sadao says, "If the man were whole I could turn him over to the police... But he is bleeding to death." Their conscience as doctors and human beings overrode their duty as Japanese citizens, at least temporarily.

Q4. How does Mr Lamb challenge Derry's negative self-image in "On the Face of It"?

Mr Lamb refuses to treat Derry as a victim or an object of pity. He tells Derry that "it's not what you look like, it's what you are inside" that matters, and that everyone has imperfections. He shares his own experience with his tin leg, explaining that he has learned to accept it. He encourages Derry to focus on what he can do rather than what he cannot, and to stop hiding from the world. Mr Lamb's open garden and open heart demonstrate that life can be rich despite disability.

Q5. What was the significance of long hair in Zitkala-Sa's culture?

In Zitkala-Sa's Native American (Dakota Sioux) culture, long hair was a mark of dignity, honour, and cultural identity. Only cowards, unskilled warriors, or those in mourning had their hair shingled (cut short). The forced cutting of her hair at the missionary school was therefore not just a haircut — it was a violent stripping of her identity, an act of cultural domination, and a source of deep shame and anguish.

Q6. How did Bama's elder brother (Annan) change her understanding of the incident she witnessed?

When Bama saw the elder carrying food by its string, she initially found it funny. But Annan explained that the elder was not merely being respectful — he was forced to carry the food that way because the upper-caste landlord would not accept food touched by a Dalit. He told Bama that the only way to escape such humiliation was through education and hard work: "Study and make progress, and then they will respect you." This transformed Bama's understanding from amusement to anger and determination.

VI. Answer in Detail

Q1. "The Third Level" deals with the theme of escapism. How does Charley's discovery of the third level reflect his inner conflicts?

Charley is a typical modern man — stressed, anxious, and longing for a simpler time. The story opens with his clear admission that "modern life is full of insecurity, fear, worry, and war." His discovery of the third level at Grand Central Station, which transports him to the year 1894, is a manifestation of his subconscious desire to escape these pressures. The details of the third level are telling: brass spittoons, old-style locomotives, gaslights, people in 1890s clothing, and a newspaper dated 1894. These represent a world that Charley perceives as slower, safer, and more human. His desire to buy tickets to Galesburg, Illinois — a town where, he imagines, "people aren't in such a rush" — reveals his yearning for tranquillity. Significantly, Charley is not the only one who might have accessed the third level. He finds a first-day cover letter from his psychiatrist friend Sam, who appears to have escaped to 1894 before him. This ambiguity — is the third level real or imagined? — is central to the story's power. Whether it is a genuine portal or a psychological escape mechanism, it reflects a universal human desire to retreat from present anxieties to an idealised past. Finney suggests that the modern world, with its wars and pressures, can drive people to seek refuge in fantasy, and that such escapism, while comforting, may also be a sign of our inability to confront and change our present reality.

Q2. Discuss "The Tiger King" as a satire on the arrogance and folly of those in power.

"The Tiger King" is a sharp satire on the megalomania, arrogance, and destructiveness of absolute rulers. The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram is portrayed as a man whose obsession with defying a prophecy leads him to commit acts of extraordinary arrogance and environmental destruction. When the astrologer predicts that the king will be killed by a tiger, the Maharaja's response is not caution but hubris — he declares he will kill all tigers. His obsession becomes a mania: he kills 99 tigers, bans others from hunting them, threatens a high-ranking officer for refusing to donate tigers, and even marries a princess from a state with a large tiger population solely to continue his hunt. He neglects his kingdom, spends extravagantly on tiger hunts, and treats tigers (and people) as mere instruments of his will. The satire operates on multiple levels. The Maharaja's titles — "Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur" — are mock-heroic. The astrologer's dramatic predictions and the king's absurd reactions highlight the superstition and vanity of rulers. The killing of 99 tigers is environmental devastation driven by personal ego. And the ultimate irony — being killed by a splinter from a wooden toy tiger — shows that no amount of power can escape fate. The story also critiques the sycophancy that surrounds power. The courtiers, the dewan, and others all enable the king's madness out of fear and self-interest. The dewan even brings an old tiger from the Madras zoo to be "killed" to appease the king. Through this, Kasturirangan exposes the corrupt ecosystem that sustains tyranny — the ruler is foolish, but those who enable him are equally culpable.

Q3. How does Pearl S. Buck explore the conflict between duty to the nation and duty to humanity in "The Enemy"?

"The Enemy" presents a profound moral dilemma: Dr Sadao, a loyal Japanese citizen and surgeon, must choose between his duty to his nation (turning in an enemy soldier) and his duty as a doctor and a human being (saving a dying man). The conflict is not abstract — it is personal, urgent, and life-threatening. Sadao's medical ethics are clear: a doctor cannot let a patient die, regardless of nationality. When he finds the wounded American, Tom, bleeding on the beach, his first instinct is surgical — he assesses the wound, determines the man will die without intervention, and operates. His wife Hana, despite her revulsion and fear, assists him. This is the duty to humanity: the recognition that a wounded, dying man deserves medical care, even if he is the enemy. But Sadao's national duty pulls him the other way. Japan is at war with America. Harbouring an enemy soldier is treason. Sadao knows he should inform the authorities, and he does report the soldier to the General. Yet the General, absorbed in his own illness, forgets to send assassins. This forces Sadao to confront his conscience directly — without external resolution, he must decide the American's fate himself. Ultimately, Sadao chooses to help the soldier escape. He gives Tom a boat, food, and a flashlight, and instructs him to row to a nearby island where a Korean fishing boat can rescue him. This decision is not easy — Sadao is conflicted until the end. He wonders why he could not kill the American, and the answer lies in his identity as a doctor: his training and oath transcend national boundaries. Buck thus argues that fundamental human compassion and professional ethics can, and should, override political allegiance when a life is at stake.

Q4. Compare the experiences of oppression in Zitkala-Sa's "The Cutting of My Long Hair" and Bama's "We Too Are Human Beings."

Both narratives describe oppression rooted in the dominant group's dehumanisation of a marginalised community, but the forms and contexts differ significantly. Zitkala-Sa, a Native American (Dakota Sioux) girl, experiences cultural annihilation at a missionary school. The cutting of her long hair is a deeply symbolic act — in her culture, only cowards or mourners have their hair shingled. The forced haircut is not mere discipline; it is a systematic erasure of her cultural identity, an attempt to "civilise" her by destroying who she is. She resists physically — she hides, kicks, and cries — but is overpowered. The school environment itself is alien: rigid schedules, unfamiliar food, cold discipline, and the constant pressure to abandon her language and customs. Her oppression is existential — it targets her very identity. Bama, a Dalit girl in Tamil Nadu, experiences caste-based oppression. She witnesses an elder from her community carrying food for the upper-caste landlord by its string, without touching the packet — a humiliating practice born of untouchability. When her brother Annan explains the reason, Bama's initial amusement turns to anger and shame. Her oppression is social and economic — Dalits are considered "inferior" and are denied dignity, equal treatment, and opportunity. Both authors respond with resistance, but differently. Zitkala-Sa resists through defiance — she fights against the haircut and later becomes an activist for Native American rights. Bama's resistance is catalysed by her brother's advice: education and achievement are the weapons. Both stories are autobiographical, and both women grew up to become writers and activists who used their voices to fight systemic oppression. The common thread is that oppression dehumanises, but awareness and resistance can restore dignity.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Confusing characters across stories — Dr Sadao is Japanese, not American. Derry is the boy with the burnt face, not Mr Lamb. Get character names and identities right.

2. Writing plot summaries instead of analysis — Board questions ask for interpretation, not narration. "Discuss the theme of escapism in 'The Third Level'" requires analysis of the theme, not a retelling of the plot.

3. Missing the irony in "The Tiger King" — The story is built on dramatic irony. The Maharaja kills 99 tigers but dies from a wooden toy tiger. The prophecy is fulfilled despite his efforts. Always mention this irony in your answers.

4. Overgeneralising about "The Enemy" — Do not say Sadao "loved" the American or was a "traitor." He was conflicted — loyal to Japan but bound by medical ethics. Acknowledge the complexity of his moral position.

5. Treating "On the Face of It" as only about physical disability — The play addresses both physical disability (Derry's face, Mr Lamb's leg) and emotional/psychological scars. Mr Lamb's optimism counters Derry's despair, showing that inner strength matters more than appearance.

6. Neglecting the authors' purposes — Zitkala-Sa wrote to expose cultural genocide; Bama wrote to expose caste oppression. Knowing the author's intent enriches your answer and shows deeper understanding.

Exam Checklist

• [ ] I can identify each Vistas chapter's author and summarise its central theme in one sentence
• [ ] I can explain the significance of each chapter's title
• [ ] I know key quotes and can integrate them naturally into my answers
• [ ] I can identify and explain literary devices: irony, satire, symbolism, metaphor, foreshadowing, and contrast
• [ ] I can write short answers (40-60 words) and long answers (120-150 words) within word limits
• [ ] I understand the cultural and historical context of each chapter (e.g., WWII for "The Enemy," colonial India for "The Tiger King")
• [ ] I can compare themes across chapters (e.g., oppression in Zitkala-Sa and Bama; moral dilemmas in "The Enemy" and "On the Face of It")
• [ ] I have practised extract-based questions for each chapter