Exercises of Unit-16, Fantasy The Romance of a Busy Broker O' Henry (1862-1910) Compulsory English Grade 12

 

 Exercises of Unit-16, Fantasy  The Romance of a Busy Broker  O' Henry (1862-1910) Compulsory English Grade 12

Unit-16, Fantasy

The Romance of a Busy Broker

O' Henry (1862-1910)

 

Before You Read

a. How busy is life in your city or village?

Ans: - Most of people are a little busy in our village. They live their life normally doing household works and farming. Few people are busy from the early morning to evening. Specially people from lower economic status are busy to earn bread and butter for their family. People do several jobs for maintaining livelihood not for earning lots of money. They are living a happy life managing spare time for celebrating festival and leisure activities

 

b. "Busy life is better than an idle life." Do you agree or not?

Ans: - I do agree with the statement "Busy life is better than an idle life." If we live doing nothing, we feel bore and become victim of depression. If we don't work, we can't earn money and life without money is difficult. Our work is our identity and people respect those who is hardworking and laborious. But we must not keep ourselves so much busy that we don't have time for family happiness. Living under work load without refreshment is not good for our brain and body.

 

Author: O' Henry (William Henry Porter), a famous American short story writer, his short stories portray fine emotional transformations in ordinary people, his is a master of surprise endings,

Theme: Busy work schedule makes a man absent minded

Setting: New York, Morning, at the end of winter

 

Characters:

1. Harvey Maxwell, a busy, machine like, New York broker, absent minded or forgetful person, he a very workaholic

2. Pitcher - a confidential clerk in the office of Harvey Maxwell.

3. Miss Leslie- a kind, loyal, beautiful stenographer of Harvey Maxwell, a perfect secretary

 

Summary:

Mr. Maxwell Harvey is a busy New York broker in the stock market. Mr. Pitcher is a confidential clerk in Harvey's broker office. The day after Mr. Maxwell married to his young lady Stenographer, he arrives in the office hurriedly at half past nine with Miss Leslie. Thought Pitcher doesn't show any expression in his office, he gets surprised to see Mr. Henry in the office. Peters is not expecting Mr. Harvey and Mrs. Leslie to come to the office that day. Miss Leslie has been working as a stenographer to Mr. Harvey Maxwell for a year. She is very beautiful and she is very different from most other secretaries of Harvey. Miss Leslie is a simple and plain type of girl who never wears chains or jewels.  She always wears plain gray clothe which perfectly fits her body. She also wears a small black hat with the gold-green wind of macaw. The day after her wedding, Miss Leslie's expression is full of happiness. Her eyes are dreamy and bright and her face is warmly colored. Pitcher also notices a strange behavior of Miss Leslie in the morning. Instead of going direct into her desk where she works, she lingers in the adjoining room. It looks as if she doesn't know what to do next. Miss Leslie goes close to Harvey's desk to make him aware of her presence. She realizes that the man sitting at the desk is no longer a man, but a machine- a busy New York broker. His desk is crowded with lots of documents. His grey eyes look at Miss Leslie as if she another machine.

 

She goes towards his desk with a little smile. Then she asks Mr. Pitcher if Mr. Maxwell said anything to him about hiring a new stenographer. Mr. Pitcher replies that Maxwell had asked him to get another secretary and he had already notified an agency a day before. He says that a girl will come for an interview any time but no one has come yet.  People come into Maxwell's office to speak to hm about the business. People who are making profit seem happy, some are angry for losing money. Some are in a hurry. Boys run in and out with news to read to him. Maxwell is very busy. He jumps from ticker machine to table and to the door and back again. The business grows wilder and faster Maxwell works like strong machine. He doesn't stop even to think. He is always careful and correct. He doesn't hesitate to take decisions and action on them. Without wasting a single second, he works a lot continuously like a clock when the rush and pace of business grow faster and fiercer. Maxwell is in the world of finance conscious about bonds, loans, mortgage, margins and securities.  It doesn't seem to be the world of the human or nature.

 

Near the dinner time, when the work load decreases, Maxwell stands by his desk with hands full of telegrams and memoranda with a fountain pen over his right ear. His window is open and though the window a wandering, sweet soft smell of lilac comes to him. The sense of smell makes him realize that the world of business grows smaller. The realizes that the smell of flowers belongs to Miss Leslie. Miss Leslie is twenty steps aways from Mr. Harvey. He dashes into the inner office with the haste and stands beside the desk of Miss Leslie. Miss Leslie smiles. Maxwell leans one elbow on her desk and proposes her for marriage. Miss Leslie gets surprised. She rises to her feet, gazes upon him round eyed. Maxwell repeats that he wants to marry her. Miss Leslie acts strangely. The tears flow from her wondering eyes, then she smiles and puts one of her arms softly around Maxwell's neck. She realizes that Mr. Harvey has become absent-minded because of his work load. Then she reminds Mr. Harvey that they got married the previous evening at 8 p.m. in the Little Church around the Corner.

 

Working with words

A. Match the following words with their definitions.

a. Snappy                 - iii) irritable and inclined to speak sharply

b. discretion           - vi) the ability to behave without causing embarrassment or attracting to much attention

c. radiant                 - vii) showing great happiness, love or health

d. irresolute            - viii) not able to decide what to do

e. brusque               - x) using very few words and sounding rude

f. fitful                        - ii) happening only for short periods

g. harlequin            - ix) a humorous character in some traditional plays

h. lull                          - v) a quiet period between times of activity

i. janitress                - i) a lady whose job is to take care of a building such as a school or a block of flats

j. speck                     - iv ) a very small spot

 

B. Consult a dictionary or search over the internet and write definitions of the following terminologies used in the stock market.

a. Liquidity           :  a high volume of activity in a market, the availability of liquid assets to a market or company

b. IPO                   :  Initial Public Offering

c. NEPSE               : Nepal Stock Exchange 

d. Index                : a statistical measure which shows changes taking place in the stock market

e. Portfolio           : a collection of financial investments like stocks, bonds, commodities, cash, and cash equivalents, including closed-end funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs)

f. dividend            : the distribution of some of a company's earnings to a class of its shareholders, as determined by the company's board of directors

g. turn over          : a measure of stock liquidity, calculated by dividing the total number of shares traded during some period by the average number of shares outstanding for the same period

h. margin             :  the money borrowed from a broker to purchase an investment and is the difference between the total value of an investment and the loan amount

 

 

C. Based on the pronunciation; find the odd word from the following groups.

a.	sell /sɛl/, cell /sɛl/, see /siː/ set /sɛt/	b.	stopped /stOpt/, laughed /lɑːft/ saved /seɪvd/ booked   /bʊkt/
c.	hare /hɛɚ/ mere /mɪə/ beer /bɪə/, here /hɪə/	d.	so, /səʊ/, sew /səʊ/, sow /səʊ/ saw /sɔː/
e.	book /bʊk/, food /fuːd/, pool /puːl/, tool /tuːl/	f.	fan/fan/, jam /dʒam/ past /pɑːst/ van  /van/
g.	sell /sɛl/, cell /sɛl/, sale /seɪl/ said /sɛd/	h.	howl  /haʊl/ bowl  /bəʊl/ fowl /faʊl/, growl /ɡraʊl/
i.	learn /ləːn/, verb /vəːb/, turn /təːn/, torn /tɔːn/	j.	poor /pɔː,pʊə/, sure /ʃɔː,ʃʊə/, door /dɔː/, dog /dɒɡ/

 

Comprehension

A. Write 'T' for true statements, 'F' for false ones or 'NG' if the information is not given in the text.

a. Harvey Maxwell was a stock broker. 'T'

b. He was not happy with his clerk, Pitcher. 'NG'

c. Miss Leslie had been married to Maxwell for a year. 'F'

d. Maxwell had hired a machine to work in his office. 'F'

e. He had instructed Pitcher to get a new stenographer. 'T'

f. Miss Leslie was amazed by Maxwell's proposal. 'T'

g. She thought that he had probably gone mad. 'F'

h. She realized that he had been absent-minded due to his business. 'T'

 

B. Answer the following questions.

a. How did Maxwell enter his office?

Ans:-  Maxwell entered his office hurriedly and rushed to his table as if he were going to jump over it.

 

b. Describe the physical appearance of the young lady.

Ans:- The young lady is very beautiful and very different from most other secretaries. She does not wear chains, bracelets or lockets. Her plain and gray dress perfectly fits her. She wears a neat black turban with the gold-green wing of a macaw on her head.

 

c. What changes did Pitcher notice in the young lady?

Ans:- The young lady looks happy with her bright eyes. Instead of going straight into the adjoining rooms where her she works, she waits for a while and moves over by Maxwell's desk near enough for his to be aware of her presence.

 

d. What was Pitcher's reply to the young lady concerning a new stenographer?

Ans:- Pitcher replied to the young lady concerning a new stenographer that he had already notified the agency to send a new stenographer the day before afternoon, but the agency had not sent any one yet.  

 

e. What proposal did Maxwell make with Miss Leslie?

Ans:- Maxwell made a proposal of marriage with Miss Leslie.

 

f. How did she react to his proposal?

Ans:- Miss Leslie reacted very strangely when she heard Maxwell proposing to her to marry him.  She was surprised and tears gushed from her wandering eyes, then she smiled through her tears and she put one of her arms softly around Maxwell's neck and spoke to him.

 

Critical Thinking

a. What message does the writer want to give by presenting Maxwell as an extremely absent-minded person?

Ans:- Written by a famous American writer O' Henry, "The Romance of a Busy Broker" shows how a busy work schedule makes a man forgetful.  Too much workload blurs our mind and we start forgetting minor things in our daily life. Maxwell Harvey, the major character of the story "The Romance of a Busy Broker" is presented as such a type of character who even forgets his own marriage. He works like a machine and loses his senses sometimes. He comes to his office hurriedly and directly jumps towards his desk which is full of business documents. He loses his temper and gets angry most of the time. He becomes angry with his staff and forgets what he has said previously. He orders his confidential clerk Pitcher to find out a new stenographer but the next day he forgets that. The most striking thing about him is that he proposed to marry Miss Leslie whom he married the previous day. The busy schedule, work load and his inclination towards his office, make him forgetful. He doesn't have time to rest and get satisfaction from his life because of his busy schedule. He doesn't give time for his household affairs. Romance and private chat with the spouse are the keys to happiness but this happiness is lost when we keep ourselves busy all the time. Though it is not good to live an idle life, too much business is also harmful for our life. It affects our brain and our brain stops working normally if we keep ourselves under too much workload.

 

 

b. Imagine you are Miss Leslie. Write how you were troubled emotionally when your own husband came to you and made a marriage proposal?

Ans: - My name is Leslie and I have been working for Harvey Maxwell for a year in his broker's office in New York. I work for him as a stenographer. He is always busy in the office and wants everybody who works in his office work like him. He has become forgetful these days because of his busy schedule. Today at half past nine, I arrived at the office with Mr. Harvey. Yesterday evening at 8 p.m. Harvey and I got married in the Little Church around the Corner. As soon as Harvey arrived at the office, he leapt to his table and I also went to my desk reminding him my presence. Mr. Harvey was busy in his work, and with Pitcher I was taking about a new stenographer. The busy schedule passed on and during the lunch hour, when the work load decreased Harvey approached towards me. I was twenty steps away from him. He hurriedly dashed into the inner office. I looked at him smiling. He leaned one elbow on my desk clutching papers with both hands. Hurriedly he said to me, "Miss Leslie, I have but a moment to spare. I want to say something in that moment. Will you be my wife? When I heard his proposal, I got surprised. I rose to my feet and gazed upon him. He repeated, "Don't you understand? I want you to marry me. I love you, Miss Leslie." I was amazed. Tears gushed from my wondering eyes. I became too emotional when Maxwell proposed me to marry him. Then I smiled and putting one of my arms tenderly around him I remined him that we were already married together the previous evening at 8 o' clock in the Little Church around the Corner.