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NCERT · Class 12 · English

Chapter 2: The Mark on the Wall

Practice each question, then open the answer or worked solution.

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Appreciation

2 questions
Q1Written answer

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of narration: one, where the reader would remain aware of some outside voice telling him/her what’s going on; two, a narration that seeks to reproduce, without the narrator’s intervention, the full spectrum and continuous flow of a character’s mental process. Which of these is exemplified in this essay? Illustrate.

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Worked solution

Answer. Virginia Woolf’s ‘The Mark on the Wall’ is a perfect example of a Stream of Knowledge. The story’s narrator seeks to represent the full spectrum of a character’s mental process and constant flow without the narrator’s intervention. Although the narrator tries to focus on the ideas to solve the mystery behind the mark on the wall, the author uses various unconnected ideas and opinions throughout the entire story. These perceptions influence the reader to imagine and stimulate their mental process. But unfortunately, the abundance of thoughts that the mark on the wall bothers the narrator’s mind is unrealistic because the real reason behind it is the snail’s mark. Thus, the author’s different opinions of several myriad ideas set the narrative technique of the essay.

Q2Written answer

This essay frequently uses the non-periodic or loose sentence structure: the component members are continuous but so loosely joined that the sentence could have easily been broken without damage to or break in thought. Locate a few such sentences and discuss how they contribute to the relaxed and conversational effect of the narration.

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Worked solution

Answer. The following set of sentences from the text is an excellent example of the continuous structure of loosely coupled sentences. This narrative structure gives the narrative a relaxed tone – the image of the narrator sitting in a chair and smoking a cigarette, trying to solve the problem. The secret behind the mark on the wall was that he hesitated to get up and reveal the mystery in less than a minute, creating an inert atmosphere in the scene. So the reader is fully involved and knows that the narrator is talking to them. In addition, if the reader knows the mysterious mark on the wall, this kind of shadow will bring a specific exotic flavour to the reader.

Here are a few sentences from the text:

“I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts. To steady myself, let me catch hold of the first idea that passes… Shakespeare… Well, he will do as well as another. A man who sat solidly in an armchair, and looked into the fire, so— A shower of ideas fell perpetually from some very high Heaven down through his mind. He leaned his forehead on his hand, and people, looking in through the open door, —for this scene is supposed to take place on a summer’s evening—But how dull this is, this historical fiction! It doesn’t interest me at all.”