Short Stories: The Half Closed Eyes of The Buddha and The Slowly Sinking Sun by Shankar Lamichhane
Question Answers/Exam Oriented Short Answers: 2*5=10
a) How does the tourist describe his initial impression of the Kathmandu valley?
Ans: The tourist describes the natural phenomenon of the valley. He describes green valley, geometric fields and earthen buildings.
b) According to the tourist, why is the West indebted to the East?
Ans: The West is indebted to the East for historical, environmental, religious, cultural and geographical reasons. East has pleasant environment. It has religious and cultural sculptures and many more.
c) How does the tourist interpret the gaze of the monks and nuns?
Ans: The tourist interpret the gaze of the monks and nuns as ‘the samyak gaze’.
d) Why do the tourists think Nepali people are wonderful and exceptional?
Ans: The tourists think Nepali people are wonderful and exceptional because of culture, hospitality, religion, music and history.
e) What are the different kinds of communities in the Kathmandu valley and how do they co-exist with each other?
Ans: Aryans, non-Aryans, Hindus and Buddhists are the different kinds of communities in the Kathmandu valley who coexist in harmony.
f) What does the tourist feel about the temple of Adinath?
Ans: It is a live example of Nepalese societies tolerance and coexistence.
g) Why does the guide take the tourist to the remote village?
Ans: The guide wants to show the real picture of Nepalese society hidden in the remote village. He wants to show the difficult life style of laborious Nepali.
h) What does the innocent village couple think of the doctor?
Ans: The doctor represents the rays of hope for the innocent village couple.
i) What are the differences between the paralyzed child and his sister?
Ans: The paralyzed child can not speak, move and crawl. He can only see. His sister can move, speak and crawl. She is in normal condition.
j) Why does the guide show the instances of poverty to the tourist?
Ans: The guide wants to show the lifestyle of poor people. They are suffering from social and economic crisis.
Long Question Answers: 5*2=10
a) Which narrative technique is used by the author to tell the story? How is this story different from other stories you have read?
Ans: The author has used the stream of consciousness technique to narrate the story. It is different from other stories because it gives more priority to the character’s thoughts and perceptions. We do not find chronological story like in other stories.
b) How is the author able to integrate two fragments of the narration into a unified whole?
Ans: The author has used both the stream of consciousness technique as well as the narrator’s eyes to integrate two fragments of the narration into a unified whole.
c) The author brings some historical and legendary references in the story. Collect these references and show their significance in the story.
Ans: The author brings some historical and legendary references like Princess Bhrikuti, Manjushree, Gautam Buddha and King Amshuverma, etc to show the historical, cultural and religious importance of Nepal in the story.
