Model K.C.S.E QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS FROM A Silent Song and Other Stories

A Silent Song and Other Stories is a collection of short stories from
different authors across the globe. As the name suggests, the short story
is a form of literary fiction presented as a brief prose tale. The story revolves around a few characters in a single incident in a short time span
with a more unified impact than a novel. The length of a short story can
be compared to that of watching a single episode or a movie; hence the
reading experience can be achieved in one continuous reading culminating in an instant emotional effect.
When we compare the kind of action in a sprint and that of a marathon,
that is, a short race versus a long race, we can figure out the idea of the
short story. While it takes longer to get to the climax in a marathon, it
is much quicker in a short story. In a short story, every word counts as
the writer employs an economy of words and digs deep to develop a
character in a few words and actions. Therefore, it is imperative upon
the reader, student or critic of literature to read with a more thoughtful and keener ‘third eye’ to extract the character traits and unravel the
subject matter. The student should be able to point out what else is not
told by the writer.
The short story, like other genres, deliberately mirrors the experiences,
situations and events of our day-to-day life. Life is full of theatre, and
there is plenty of drama in everyday life. The authors tell a lot in a single
tale and show a lot in one scene. Thus, the plot’s brevity and adept form
echo the experiences of authentic human existence. For instance, in real-life situations, envy, failure, civil strife, atrocities, sorrow, poverty, unemployment, crime, deceit, prejudice, ignorance, superstition, religion,
urbanisation, industrialisation, technology, and perpetual innovation
are part of reality.
The episodic approach simplifies the analysis by dividing the story into
smaller chunks (sub-episodes) to underscore scenic order events. A synopsis
for each story in this Study Guide will help simplify the scenes arranged in
a thread of causation, turns and twists and emotional effect. Essentially, the
student should try to understand the character and the thematic concerns
built around each character at each sub-episode in the story