Hi Everyone!! This article will share Confessions of a Humorist Questions & Answers.
The story is written by O.Henry and tells us how he became a professional humorist and how he quit his job. In one of my previous posts, I have shared the questions & answers of The Last Leaf which is written by O.Henry only so, make sure to check that post as well.
Confessions of a Humorist Questions & Answers
Question 1: Read the extract and answer the following questions:
“We agreed that I must resign my place at the store and devote myself to humour.”
(a) What led the author to resign from his job at the store?
Answer: The author was getting famous as a humorist. He sent some of his jokes to certain periodicals and they were instantly accepted. One day, he received a letter from the editor of a famous weekly publication suggesting him to join as a regular columnist. The money he was offered was considerably higher than the amount paid to him by the hardware firm. That is why the author decided to resign from his job at the store.
(b) Who does ‘we’ refer to?
Answer: We referred to the author and his wife Louisa.
(c) How did he devote himself to humour?
Answer: The author’s wife led him to a little room off the kitchen where there was lying his table, chair, writing pad, ink and pipe tray. He used to spend hours in the room writing articles.
Question 2: What was the occasion on which the author gained a reputation as a humourist? How did it happen?
Answer: The employees in the store where the author used to work bought a silver inkstand for the senior partner on his fiftieth birthday. They all along with the author crowded into his private office to present it. The author was selected for spokesman and he made a little speech which was full of puns and funny twists that brought down the house. This was the occasion on which the author gained a reputation as a humourist and his reputation dated from half-past nine o’clock on that morning.
Question 3: What was the ‘gift’ that he cultivated? What was the nature of this ‘gift’?
Answer: The author possessed considerable wit. This was the gift that he cultivated and improved by practice. The nature of this gift was kindly and genial, not running to sarcasm or offending others.
Confessions of a Humorist Questions & Answers
Question 4: Read the line given below and answer the following questions:
“I was not the same man.”
(a) What had happened to the author?
Answer: The author was not the same man because as a humourist, he used to furnish people with entertainment. People used to smile when they saw him coming and after him, the smile used to broaden into a laugh. However, after five or six months, the spontaneity seemed to depart from the author’s humour and he became a vampire to his acquaintances.
(b) What were the reactions of the following people to this change?
i. his friends ii. his children
Answer: When the author changed, everyone began to avoid him. His friends regarded him in sorrow and wonder. Earlier he had furnished them entertainment but now, he preyed upon them. His children began to shun him as a pest. On seeing their father, they would gather their toys and scurry away to some safer hiding place.
Question 5: What according to the author, was the cost of becoming a humorist?
Answer: After becoming a humorist, the author was doing well financially. He had saved a thousand dollars before the first year had passed and lived in comfort. However, he got all this at a cost! He had to sacrifice his friends, amusements, enjoyment of life and happiness of his family.
Question 6: Describe in your own words how the author became a ‘vampire’ to his acquaintances.
Answer: The author became a ‘vampire’ to his acquaintances. Anxious, haggard and greedy, he stood among them like a veritable killjoy. The moment a bright saying fall from their lips, the author was after it like a hound springing upon a bone. He dared not trust his memory, but turning aside guiltily and meanly, he would make a note of it in his ever-present memorandum book for his future use.
Confessions of a Humorist Questions & Answers
Question 7: ‘And yet I was doing well financially’. Why does the author use the word ‘yet’?
Answer: The author became a humourist but he had to pay a huge cost for it. Though he saved a thousand dollars before the first year had passed, lived in comfort and was doing well financially but he had to sacrifice his friends, amusements, enjoyment of life and happiness of his family.
Question 8: What made the author opt for a partnership in the undertaking business?
Answer: The author sacrificed his friends, amusements, enjoyment of life and happiness of his family for becoming a humorist. Under the influence of Peter Heffelbower, he began to improve in spirits but his work began to suffer. He got various rejections from the editors. So, when Peter offered him a partnership in his profitable business, he readily accepted it.
Question 9: “I handed this letter to my wife.” What did the letter contain? What was its effect on his wife?
Answer: The letter was from the editor of the weekly with which the author had a regular contract and the cheques for that weekly article were still their main dependence. The letter stated that the author’s articles now lacked the natural flow of fun and wit and they were labored and unconvincing. So, the journal had decided not to renew the contract for the same.
The author handed over this letter to his wife and after reading it, her face grew extremely long and there were tears in her eyes.
So, these were Confessions of a Humorist Questions & Answers.