Chapter 9 - The Bond of Love
Writer of the Story - Kenneth Anderson
Question and Answers
Question 1: “I got him for her by accident.”
i) Who says this?
ii) Who do ‘him’ and ‘her’ refer to?
iii) What is the incident referred to here?
Answer:
i) The narrator says this.
ii) ‘Him’ refers to the baby sloth bear and ‘her’ refers to narrator’s wife.
iii) People were killing the wild pigs from the field by shooting them. A black sloth bear came out of the field and was killed by one of the narrator’s companion.
Question 2: “He stood on his head in delight.”
i) Who does ‘he’ refer to?
ii) Why was he delighted?
Answer:
i) ‘He’ refers to Baba or Bruno.
ii) Bruno was delighted to see narrator’s wife after many days. Bruno missed narrator’s wife and she too missed Bruno.
Question 3: “We all missed him greatly, but in a sense we were relieved.”
i) Who does ‘we all’ stand for?
ii) Who did they miss?
iii) Why did they nevertheless feel relieved?
Answer:
i) ‘We all’ stands for narrator and his family.
ii) Narrator’s family, especially, narrator’s wife missed Bruno, the pet sloth bear.
iii) They nevertheless felt relieved as they thought he would be in better place.
Question 4: On two occasions Bruno ate/drank something that should not be eaten/drunk. What happened to him on these occasions?
Answer: Bruno, the sloth bear took to eating and drinking anything and everything that he was offered/found at home. On one occasion, Bruno ate Barium carbonate that author/narrator had kept in the library to ward off rodents. As a result, Bruno was paralysed waist down and had to be rushed to the vet. He was administered the antidote and after a long time came back to normalcy.
On yet another occasion, Bruno/Baba drank one gallon of old engine oil which the narrator had drained from the sump of the Studebaker to be used as a weapon against rodents and termites. This time it had no ill-effects whatsoever on Bruno. He seemed absolutely fit as a fiddle.
Question 5: Was Bruno a loving and playful pet? Why, then, did he have to be sent away?
Answer: Yes, Bruno was a loving pet. Initially, all the kids in the narrator’s neighbourhood loved Bruno and spent long hours playing with him. As time flew by, Bruno grew up along with the kids, but in unmatched proportion. This led to the parent’s concern regarding the safety of their children while Bruno was around. Moreover, there were untold shortcomings with regards to Baba’s maintenance. These factors led to Bruno being sent away to zoo, where he, was thought, would be closed to a natural habitat.
Question 6: How was the problem of what to do with Bruno finally solved?
Answer: After the incident where Bruno and the narrator’s wife fretted for each other during their being apart, it was decided that Bruno should stay with them. In this regards, the arrangement for a moat around a private island for Bruno’s stay was chalked out. He was provided with his gun (bamboo) and baby (stump of wood) were also placed on the island so that Bruno could feel normal again. A rope was tied to a branch, using which the narrator’s wife got to and away from whenever required.
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