Hi Everyone!! This article will share A Plastic Paradise Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by Dr Sam Illingworth. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of When the Water Spoke, A New World Order and Don’t Quit so, you can check these posts as well.
A Plastic Paradise Questions & Answers
Word Galaxy
- Atolls – islands in the form of rings
- Coves – small areas of sea partly surrounded by land
- Detritus – waste
- Pristine – very clean
- Emerald – a bright green stone
- Hues – colours
- Diffracting – changing the course of light waves
- Callously – without feeling any emotion
- Coalesce – come together and form a unit
- Contorting – twisting or bending to change its natural shape
- Fabricated – here, manufactured
- Canary – a small yellow bird
- Asphyxiation – the state of being deprived of oxygen
Question 1: Which line in the poem tells us that the Cocos (Keeling) Islands hardly have human habitation?
Answer: “Untouched by human hands”. This line in the poem tells us that the Cocos (Keeling) Islands hardly have human habitation.
Question 2: What has spoilt the ‘pristine’ beauty of the islands?
Answer: Coffee lids and toothbrushes have spoilt the ‘pristine’ beauty of the islands.
Question 3: What was the colour of the sands earlier?
Answer: Earlier the colour of the sands was white.
Question 4: What do the carrier bags do?
Answer: The carrier bags begin to coalesce, contorting to create impossible structures.
Question 5: How have the pristine shores been ‘maimed’?
Answer: The pristine shores are ‘maimed’ by the wastes of coffee lids and toothbrushes that bathe shamelessly in the ocean waters. Ancient bottles of lilt, filthy plastic wastes, shampoo bottles and silicon chips fill the sands.
Question 6: Why isn’t the speaker hopeful about the sands ever regaining their original colour?
Answer: The speaker isn’t hopeful about the sands ever regaining their original colouras it is filled with wastes that wash ashore along with the ocean waves.
Question 7: Why do you think the islands lie ‘silent’ now?
Answer: The islands lie ‘silent’ now as probably the birds and animals inhabiting the island have had to leave due to the immense amount of waste accumulated there.
Question 8: What does the speaker wish to convey through the only repeated line in the poem?
Answer: Through the only repeated line in the poem, the speaker wishes to convey that despite minimum human habitation, wastes generated by humans have touched this island and led to its ruin.
Question 9: Describe the scene at the beaches of the Cocos (Keeling) islands.
Answer: The beaches of the Cocos (Keeling) islands are hardly inhabited by human beings and yet, they have been ruined by the plastic wastes that humans generated. Coffee lids, toothbrushes, ancient bottles of lilt, filthy plastic wastes, shampoo bottles and silicon chips are washed onto the shores by the ocean and accumulate on the beaches. The sand on the beaches is no longer white.
Question 10: The poet conveys a powerful message through this poem. What is it?
Answer: Through this poem, the poet tells us that our actions are not just confined to our immediate surroundings. The plastic waste that we throw into the oceans travel far and wide and effect even remote islands, such as Cocos, which may not have human beings but are prey to our careless actions. Therefore, we should stop dumping wastes into the oceans and take steps to reduce pollution. Oceans should be kept clean to maintain the ecosystem.
Question 11: Discuss the appropriateness of the title of the poem.
Answer: The title of the poem is appropriate as it tells us that how natural paradise has now become a plastic paradise because of the careless actions of the humans. Cocos islands being remote and hardly inhabited by human beings, had previously been pristine and naturally beautiful. Now, they have turned into dumping grounds of plastic waste. Plastics are non-biodegradable and effect marine life. The poet mocks the ability of human beings whose actions have ruined even the remotest places.
So, these were A Plastic Paradise Questions & Answers.