Overcoat (HSSC-1) - Lesson No. 14

OVERCOAT

Q 1. How did the young man look physically?

Ans. The young man was well groomed having sleek and shinning hair and wore side burns. He had thin
mustache as if drawn with a pencil. He was wearing brown overcoat according to fashion of that day, a green
flat hat and white silk scarf knotted at his neck. The coat was well cut and its material was good. The lapels of
the coat were stiff and the sleeves were well creased. Indeed he was very happy in that dress.

Q2. Why did the people come out on the Mall?

Ans. The people were enjoying themselves and had fun in a variety of hotels, restaurants, cafes and snack bars according to their means.

Q3. Why did a tongawala and a taxi drive approach the young man?

Ans. They mistook him as a rich man and thought he might be needed a vehicle to move through the bazaar. However, both were turned away in a peculiar style especially the taxi driver with “No thank you”.

Q4. Why did not the young man buy the carpet?

Ans. `The young man could not buy the carpet because he was not well off. He praised the carpet as being fine but a little bit costly. He further said to him that he would come again after some days. He said so to conceal his poverty.

Q5. Why did the driver of the truck speed away the accident?

Ans. The truck driver sped away after the young man ran over by his truck because he imagined that the young man would have been critically injured. He thought that if he stopped there, he would definitely be arrested for this mishap.

Q6. Narrate the scene of removing the overcoat from the body of the young man?

Ans. After being taken to the hospital, the overcoat was removed from the body of the young man, it was found that under the coat he was wearing only a tattered sweater. Under the sweater, he was wearing a dirty vest which was reflecting that he has not taken bath for many days.

Q7. Give the list of the articles, which were found from the coat of the young man?

Ans. The articles recovered from various pockets of the young man were a small black comb, a handkerchief, six annas, a few pies, a half smoked cigarette, a little diary and a few handbills, which the shopkeepers had thrust upon him on that night.

Q8. What is the central idea of the story “Overcoat”?

Ans. The basic theme or central idea of this story is that most of the people pretend to be rich and tries to hide their poverty and miseries because they are looked down upon by the elite class, who has merely made the physical appearance to be final yardstick of measuring character and status in the society. But we should judge people around us morally not materially as Our true beauty is defined by our soul; our appearance is just a camouflage we use to hide our true beauty, our true identity.