Facing Death | Class 12 English Summary and Notes

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. Where does the play take place?

Ans. The play takes play in the dining room.

b.Why do the grocery, the baker and the butcher send their bills to the Durand household?

Ans. The grocery, the baker and the butcher send thin bills to the Durand household because they were having pending bills.

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c. Why does Monsieur Duran spend money on candles when he doesn't have money to buy even bread?

Ans. Monsieur Duran spend money on candles when he does not have money to buy even bread for the death anniversary of little Rene.

d. Why did Monsieur Duran sell his life insurance?

Ans. Monsieur Durand sold his life insurance because he thought he noticed that someone become irritable when it was due.

e. Why has Monsieur Duran paid fire insurance?

Ans. Monsieur Durand has paid fire insurance because his house is burnt out.

f. How did Monsieur Duran and Mrs. Duran run out of their inheritances from both the sides?

Ans. Monsieur Durand and his wife ran out of their in heritance because of Mrs. Durand Careless and foolish speculations.

g. Why does Monsieur Duran tell a lie about his birthplace?

Ans. Monsieur Durand tells lie about his birthplace to his daughters because their mother had lied them and the doesn't want to disquiet into their young lives which would result in them doubling their mother's goodness.

h. What business is Monsieur Duran running to make a living?

Ans. Monsieur Durand is letting his home for lodgers to make a living.

i. What plan does Monsieur Duran have to help his daughters with money?

Ans. Monsieur Durand has a plan to ensure his financial future, even if it means he must face his own death.

j. How does Monsieur Duran die?

Ans. Drinking a poisonous drink, monsieur Durand dies.

Reference to the context

a. Sketch the character of Monsieur Duran.

Ans. In the play "Facing Death" monsieur Duran is a main character who sacrifices his life for the shake of his daughters. According to him he has lived with the hate of own's wife and the daughters hoping and believing that, that evil but seek spirit would die with the death of wife, but grows instead. He has helped his family until death and after death too. The family has reached a dead end. So, he killed himself for the shake of daughter, knowing that the money received from the insurance will help them to pay bills and other loans. So, he is featured with heroic character.

b. How do we know that the Duran family has reached a dead end?

Ans. The Durand family had no bread for their living. They had pending bills. Durand was suppressed by loans. When the main actor; Durand thinks to kill himself for the insurance to pay the loan, we know that the Durand family has reached a dead end. According to play; Durand's 2wife is responsible for their situation. The family ran out of their inheritance due to her carelessness and foolish speculations which ruined parental inheritance so completely. So Durand had to give up his business and start that pension. At the end of the play, Durand died drinking a poisonous drink. The house burns out completely. That was the Durand plan to secure daughters life financially. Which all suggest for the dead-end of family.

c. The mother, though already dead, seems to have had a great influence on the daughters, especially Theresa.' Do you agree?

Ans. The mother, though already dead, seems to have had a great influence on the daughter. Daughters are not ready to listen anything bad about her. They had a impression that their mother never lied. They are on the side of the mother in each case. I think a great influence is on the Adele; elder daughter rather than Theresa. Because Adele has argued with her father in support of her mother. In the play, Theresa has no argued with the father for the mother. So, I support the statement about the influence of mother on daughter but not in Theresa especially.

d. Discuss the relationship between Monsieur Duran and his wife.

Ans. Although, Mr. and Mrs. Durand have done love marriage and settled in foreign land. The relationship between them was not dramatizes good. According to Durand, she has ruined the parental inheritance through carelessness and foolish speculations. He was the bearer of her cross thought their married life and carried all her faults on his back, also he took all the consequences of her mistakes on himself. But the daughter are not ready to hear anything about their mother. They have a great impression of her mother. So, in this play, Monsieur Durand and his wife had no lovable and wonderful relation. Mother seems to have influenced their children and became against to the father and starts hating him which create a great discussion at the last of the play too.

e. 'Money determines the relationship between characters in this play.' Elaborate this statement with examples from the play.

Ans. The play "Facing Death" is the story of Monsieur Durand who is financially ruined. He has three daughters but no one coves him. He is heated by his own wife and my daughters too. They become aggressive towards him, thinking that he throw away money and compelled them to starve. But when daughters knows about insurance, they start loving him. Here, the relation is just alive due to the money with him. Either they could kill him. In the play, the main discussion is due to lack of money for livelihood. The nature of care and love for their father before and after is different. So, we can say money determines the relationship between characters in the play.

f. Monsieur Duran kills himself so that his daughters would get 5000 francs as the compensation from the insurance company. What does his plan tell us about him?

Ans. "Facing Death" is the story of Monsieur Durand, a former railroad worker and widower of financial rein. He has three daughters and no prospects for their futures. Even though he has tied to provide for his children, even letting out his house to lodgers, every attempt he has made was met with scorn and decision. But Monsieur Durand has a plan to ensure his financial future even if it means he must face his own death. Monsieur Durand kills himself so that his daughters would get 500 francs as the companion from the insurance company. That money will help his daughter for the basic life, marriage and for other economic activities like loan settlement.

g. Discuss Facing Death as a modern tragedy.

Ans. Modern tragedy is also as like as in the play. "Facing Death" written by August Strindberg. In the play, the care and love given by the daughters to the father is fully different comparing the beginning to the end. They (daughters) hates his father because they have no money for bread too. The same thing happens in the modern society. Specially where the people belongs to poor family. They also pretend to love their parents for their property only. Some of them who have got the property already left their parents in the old care homes. Parents who have not enough property are being behind very badly. But the parents with enough property are cared well; at least for their property. So, this type of problem was in the past, which was shown in the play as well as in this time too which is the most serious problem in the society.

Reference beyond the text

a. Write a few paragraphs describing the role of the father in the family.

Ans. "My dad my hero" claims every child's respect and love to his/her father. Father, like mother, are pillars in the development of the child's emotional well-being. Children look to their father to lay down the rules and enforce them. Children want to make their father proud, and an involvement of father in father promotes inner growth and strength.

Traditionally, the father being the head of the family, has to work and provide for all the needs of the family. It is also his duty to administrate the necessary disciplinary action when needed. Father are significant figure in our lives. Father ensure that their children have a good and secure life. he provide physical and emotional comfort in tough times and help build self-esteem. Fathers, like mothers, are important to their child well-being. Father act strict and disciplined to teach children how to live in the real world. parents today are breaking stereotypes that only men can pursue their careers; fathers today help around the house while mothers work. Father provide a sense of security and safety toward their daughter. Father always influence the kind of friendship and relationship that we form. He is responsible for providing financial support to family. He is also responsible for providing food and shelter to his family.

b. In his famous essay "The Experimental Novel," Emile Zola says:

This is what constitutes the experimental novel: to possess a knowledge of the mechanism of the phenomena inherent in man, to show the machinery of his intellectual and sensory manifestations, under the influences of heredity and environment, such as physiology shall give them to us, and then finally to exhibit man living in social conditions produced by himself, which he modifies daily, and in the heart of which he himself experiences a continual transformation.

Facing Death | Class 12 English Summary and Notes