Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Luncheon Questions & Answers.
The story ‘The Luncheon’ is written by William Somerset Maugham in which a woman who is an admirer of the stories of the narrator writes to him expressing her desire to meet him. She wanted to meet him at a high-end restaurant in Paris where the narrator lives. Despite the restaurant beyond narrator’s means, he agrees to meet her there for luncheon and what follows is a humorous series of events. Below are mentioned the questions and answers of The Luncheon. I have also shared the Questions & Answers Of The Emergence Of Zoo, The Lady With Lamp and The Heaven Lake so, you can check that post as well.
The Luncheon Questions & Answers
Question 1: Where did the narrator live twenty years ago? How was his financial condition like?
Answer: Twenty years ago, the narrator was living in Paris. He had a small apartment in the Latin quarters overlooking a cemetery. His financial condition was not very good. He was earning barely enough money to keep body and soul together.
Question 2: Why did the narrator agree to treat the woman at a restaurant that was beyond his means? State two reasons.
Answer: The narrator agreed to treat the woman at a restaurant that was beyond his means because he was flattered and was too young to have learned to say no to a woman.
Question 3: On seeing the menu, why the narrator got startled? How did the woman put his worried thoughts to rest?
Answer: On seeing the menu, the narrator was startled as the prices were a great deal higher than he had anticipated. The woman put his worried thoughts to rest by saying that she never ate anything for luncheon.
Question 4: What was the narrator’s plan if the bill turned out to be more than the amount he was carrying?
Answer: The narrator planned that he would put his hand in his pocket and with a dramatic cry start-up and say it had got picked. In case the woman too had not enough money to pay the bill then, he would leave his watch and say that he would come back and pay later.
The Luncheon Questions & Answers
Question 5: What did the narrator order for himself? Why did he choose that dish?
Answer: The narrator ordered a mutton chop for himself. He chose that dish because it was the cheapest dish on the menu.
Question 6: What was the reaction of the woman to the narrator’s choice of food?
Answer: The woman reacted to the narrator’s choice of food by saying that it was unwise to eat meat for lunch. She wondered how the narrator could expect to work after eating heavy things like chops as she didn’t believe in overloading her stomach.
Question 7: What was woman’s excuse for ordering champagne?
Answer: Her excuse for ordering champagne was that her doctor wouldn’t have let her drink anything but champagne.
Question 8: How much money the narrator was left with, as he walked out of the restaurant?
Answer: The narrator was not having a single penny in his pocket when he walked out of the restaurant.
Question 9: Why was the narrator panic-stricken while they both were waiting for the asparagus to be cooked?
Answer: The narrator was panic-stricken while they were waiting for the asparagus to be cooked because the asparagus was very expensive and now, it was not a question how much money he would have leftover for the rest of the month, but whether he had enough money to pay the bill. It would be humiliating for the narrator to find himself short of money and borrowing it from the guest.
The Luncheon Questions & Answers
Question 10: How did the author describe the lady he was having luncheon with?
Answer: According to the author, the lady he was having luncheon with was not as young as he had expected. She was imposing in her appearance rather than attractive. She was a woman of forty and gave him the impression of having more teeth, white and large and even than were necessary for any practical purpose. She was talkative and seemed inclined to talk to the author.
Question 11: What makes the narrator’s lady friend remark —-’you are quite a humorist’?
Answer: The story narrates how the narrator’s lady friend tactfully managed to have lunch from him in a highly expensive restaurant Foyot. With all his monetary constraints, the narrator decided to visit the restaurant where senators usually go, only to come across some embarrassing situations. He carefully made a plan to order for some items in the highly expensive restaurant which would not affect his monthly budget. However, when he found his lady friend placing the order one after another without bothering about the budget of the narrator, the irony unfolded. At the end, when the narrator’s lady friend recommended him to follow her path to have the so-called little luncheon, he humorously replied that he would do better than that by not taking dinner that night. In this context, the lady friend made the quoted remark.
Question 12: In your opinion, was the woman considerate or self-centred?
Answer: From the story, it can be concluded that the lady was self-centred. This is because before starting with the luncheon, she said that she never eat anything for luncheon. However, later, she ordered the most expensive items on the menu – all the while saying that she never eat more than one thing for lunch. Moreover, she didn’t even offer those dishes which she ordered for herself to the narrator which shows that she was selfish. Moreover, the way she spoke in a rude manner about the narrator’s choice to eat mutton chop proved that she was self-centred.
Question 13: How did the narrator have his revenge at last?
Answer: The narrator had his revenge at last when he came to know that she now weighs twenty one stones which means she had grown very fat.
So, these were the Questions & Answers Of The Luncheon.