The Cold Within ICSE English Literature

The Cold Within: Question and Answers:-

1. Where were the six humans? Why were they there?

 Ans. The six humans were trapped together by sheer chance. It was extremely cold and so to warm themselves, they were sitting around a fire. Due to the cold outside and the lack of logs of wood to burn, the fire was beginning to die. Each of them possessed a stick of wood that could help the fire keep burning and provide them with heat. If the fire had to die down, the cold was biting enough to kill them.

2. What did each of the humans possess? State its significance.

 Ans. Each of the humans possessed a stick of wood that could keep the fire from getting extinguished. The night was cold and bitter and therefore the sticks of woods carried by each person held a lot of significance. The symbolic meaning of these sticks of wood represents the grudges and prejudices that each one carried within himself. The stick here was the chance that the six humans had at letting the fire burn and keep one another alive through their personal sacrifices.

3. What is the plot of the story in the poem 'The Cold Within'? Who is narrating it?

 Ans. The poem 'The Cold Within' is a parable, that is, a story with a moral. It is a didactic poem. There are six humans sitting around a dying fire, each carrying a stick of wood. The weather outside is extremely cold and harsh due to which the fire is dying out. The narrator is assumed to be the poet who narrates the incident.

4. State the humans give away their sticks? Why?

 Ans. No, the humans did not give away there sticks to help keep the fire burning in order to keep themselves warm. Each of them had ill feelings towards the other. Each of them was filled with prejudice, jealousy, racial discrimination and in humanity towards the other. They did not want to save the other person from dying and therefore selfishly did not give up on their sticks. As a result of their selfishness of holding on to their logs of wood, they all died due to the biting unbearable cold.

5. Explain the line "Six humans trapped by happenstance".

 Ans. Happenstance, in general, refers to a chance or a coincidence. There are six people sitting around a fire each of them carrying a stick of wood. The poet here uses the word 'human' and not 'people' so that the readers could understand that they were all human beings at the start of the incidence.

6. What does the term "dying fire" mean? How many men does the poet refer to?

 Ans. The term dying fire refers to the fire that is on the verge of getting extinguished. The weather outside is extremely cold and harsh and because of that and the lack of logs of wood, the fire is dying out. The poet in this context refers to six men who happened to be sitting around this dying fire.

7. What did the first man notice?

 Ans. Among the six men sitting around the fire, the first man noticed a black (non white) person sitting across. During those days, racial discrimination was at its peak (discrimination on the basis of colour and race) between the white and the non white people. As a result of the inherent racial prejudice against the black man, the white man refrained from throwing in his log of wood into the burning fire.

8.  Why did the first man hold back his stick?

 Ans. The White man on seeing a black person sitting across him got a feeling full of hatred towards him. His heart was full of racial prejudice. Thus on, seeing the black sitting across him he did not put his stick in the fire since he thought that his stick would help a black person survive too, which the white man did not want.

9. What kind of prejudice did the first man have in his mind?

 Ans. During those times, racial discrimination was at its peak. The white people would ill treat the black person, and in turn the blacks would hates whites. This discrimination was purely based on colour. Due to this discrimination, the white man sitting around the fire did not save the black man, and thereby refrained from throwing his stick into the fire.

10. Explain the phrase "held his back".

 Ans. This line refers to the stick of wood that the first man selfishly and greedily held back. The White man had racial prejudice against the black. On seeing a black man sitting across him, he decided not to save the black man and therefore did not let go of his stick of wood, in order to keep the fire burning.

11. Describe the environment in which the six humans were trapped.

 Ans. The six humans happened to be sitting with a stick of wood each, trapped around the fire. The weather was very cold and bitter. The cold was harsh and made everyone shiver. The fire too was burning out and was dying due to the bitter cold and want of fire wood. Thus six men were trapped in a very uncomfortable and a hostile environment.

12. How could the six humans survive?

 Ans. Since the weather was very harsh and cold, it made it difficult for the fire to keep burning. The fire which was providing them with heat was dying out. The only way through which the six men could survive was if the fire could be kept burning with the help of the logs the six people had with them. If everyone willingly and selflessly gave their sticks of wood, the sticks would continue to burn and all six of them would be able to survive.

13. What did the second man notice? What was his reaction?

 Ans. The second man looked across to see a man who did not belong to his own religion. He suffered from intolerance and could not accept another person's religion, beliefs and ideals. On seeing this man with a different religion the second man held his stick of wood back and did not throw it in fire to help keep the fire burning.

14. Do you feel the second man suffered from "cold within"? Explain.

Ans. Yes, the man suffered from the cold within. He could not accept anyone else's religion, thoughts and beliefs if it differed from his. He was against the religion of others.He did not want to save the man belonging to another religion and therefore refrained from giving away his stick of wood. The discrimination against the religion and intolerance towards other people represented the cold within the man.

15. What happened to the second man towards the end?

 Ans. The man, due to his intolerance, held his stick back. He did not help keep the fire which was necessary for their survival. Since everyone had malice, greed and lacked humanity for the other person the fire got extinguished. This lead to the death of all the six humans, not because of the outside cold but due to the cold they had within their hearts. Their hearts were not filled with the warmth of love for the other person.

16. Explain : "he gave his coat a hitch"?

 Ans. This refers to the poor man in tattered and worn out clothes who tightened his coat. The symbolic meaning is that it is a sign of meanness that is shown by the poor man when he decides not to save the rich man that he sees sitting across. In state of jealousy, and having an attitude of envy towards the rich, he decided to hold his stick back and not save the rich man.

17. Why does the third man hold his stick back?

 Ans. The third man is a poor man wearing tattered clothes. He sees a rich man sitting among the group of six people. Being filled with envy and jealousy, he decides to let the rich man die out of cold. He thinks that the rich just survive on the poor man's labour and therefore has a feeling of hatred towards the rich. Having this feeling of jealousy and spite, he holds his stick back and makes the rich experiences severe cold.

18. Explain "To warm the idle rich".

 Ans. The poor man sitting in old rags sees a rich man sitting across. Idle rich means the riches which the rich thrive on given to them by the labour of the poor people. The poor get expolited by the rich, and in turn develop a feeling of jealousy towards them. The poor man in this feeling of jealousy wants the rich man to suffer and does not throw his stick into the fire.

19.  Were the six humans aware of the consequences they were getting into?

 Ans. There are six humans sitting around a dying fire, each carrying a stick of wood. The weather outside is extremely cold and harsh due to which the fire is dying out. In such circumstances, it is natural for any human being to have the rationale and the sensibility that they need to keep themselves warm, otherwise they would fall prey to the biting cold outside. The six people who sat around the fire also knew the consequences of their actions, but due to jealousy, spite, anger, a feeling of envy, racial prejudice, hatred inhumanity and selfishness did not throw in their respective pieces of wood, thereby letting the fire extinguished. They show us by their actions that the cold within is much more fatal than the biting cold outside.

20. What was the rich man thinking all the while?

 Ans. The rich man was lost in his own thoughts. While the fire was burning out, all that the rich man could think about was his wealth that he had earned throughout his life. He was a proud and greedy man, who even in an uncomfortable situation was thinking about his wealth. He had no intention of helping the poor man, by putting in his wood because he had a prejudiced mind against poor people, who he thought were lazy and ambitionless in life.

21. What does the rich man think of the poor?

 Ans. The rich man thinks the poor to be lazy and having no ambition in life. He does not appreciate the life they lead since he thinks there is no worth in it. Since he has such ill feelings towards them he does not care for their sufferings and so, deprives the poor man the warmth of the fire.

22. Is the rich man justified according to you?

 Ans. No, the rich man is not at all justified. He has no justified reason to hate the poor. His thoughts on the poor are mean and arrogant. He is a very proud wealthy man having no sympathy for the poor. The main reason as to why he hates the poor is because he has a prejudice against them, and because he's too self centred with his own money to look beyond himself and help the poor.

23. How did the black man think he would take his revenge?

 Ans. Among the six people sitting, one of them was a white sitting around the dying fire. The black man felt really insulted and all his feelings of hatred and revenge came to his mind. He decided not to throw his stick into the fire and to let the fire die out. He did not want the white woman to get the heat, and in that would avenge the wrong the whites had been doing to the black people.Thus, the black man could take his revenge.

24. Explain: 'The black man's face bespoke revenge'. How did he take revenge?

Ans. The black man hated the white since the whites would ill treat the black people. As soon as the black man saw the white man sitting across him, a feeling of revenge and vengeance came to his mind. All he could think about was how to take revenge and avenge all the atrocities committed by the whites. His facial expressions mirrored his deepest hatred and revenge he wanted to take against the white people.

25. Describe the nature of the last man in the group?

 Ans. The sixth man in the group had a very selfish nature. He could only see his own profit in every little things he would do. The only reason that stopped him from giving away his wood was because he did not see any of the other people giving their wood. He feels that if the others had done so, he too would have put in his log of wood. Since the others did not contribute in keeping the fire burning, the sixth man also did not throw in his log of wood to keep the fire burning. This shows a very selfish, immature attitude of stashing things for his own self.

26. What kind of vices have we seen till now?

 Ans. We see the vice of hatred shown by the whites towards the black. The second man suffers from intolerance towards a person who does not belong to his religion. The third man shows a feeling of jealousy and envy towards the rich. The fourth one, being a rich and arrogant man shows the vice of greed, and refusal to help the poor man. The fifth man is a black man (non-white) shows the vice of revengue towards the white. The sixth man shows the vice of greed, selfishness and an attitude of stashing things for himself rather than helping others, as he couldn't see any profit to be earned out of it.

27. What happens towards the end?

Ans. Towards the end, we see that all the six humans dying due to cold. None of the men are willing to save the fire from extinguishing by sacrificing their logs of wood. Their ill feelings and vices of greed, selfishness, revengeful attitude and spite make them hold back their logs. Due to their cold feelings within, the fire got extinguished and they all died because of the harsh bitter cold.

28. Why were the logs of wood important?

 Ans. The logs of wood were very important for the survival of the six humans. The six men were trapped in an exterme cold weather and happened to sit around a dying fire. The cold was very harsh and was phasing the fire out. It was only the stick of woods that could save the fire from dying. The logs of wood symbolically indicate the sins men carry with them through their lives, and have one chance at redemption and freeing themselves out of the sins by sacrificing something they have. The sins of the six men had outdone their good deeds, and hence they were rendered dead.

29. What do you mean by the cold within? How is it responsible for deaths?

 Ans. The cold within means the lack of warmth within that is caused due to selfishness, arrogance and greed. The vices of hatred, revenge, spite, racial prejudices did not make them give up their sticks. Since they did not part with the sticks that was necessary for their survival, the fire died out. As they did not have anything to protect them from the cold, they died out of the bitter cold outside. Although the cold outside got the better of the six people and killed them, it was the feeling of hatred, anger, jealousy, revenge, spite, arrogance and selfishness within that actually killed the six humans. In fact, sadly, none of them had any love or compassion for other persons in their group.