The Stalled Ox Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Stalled Ox Questions & Answers.

In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of On A Night Of Snow, The Unexpected and Jamaican Fragment so, you can check these posts as well.

The Stalled Ox Questions & Answers

Word Galaxy

  • Conceived – visualized
  • Branding iron – a tool used for branding
  • Reposeful – restful
  • Reproach – criticism
  • Assailed – attacked
  • Fatuously – in a silly manner
  • Tempestuous intrusion – violent interruption
  • Mottled – here, spotted
  • Demeanour – the way someone behaves
  • Imperative – important
  • Lasso – rope
  • Counselled – recommend
  • Conspicuous – easily noticeable
  • Lumbered – walked heavily and slowly
  • Byre – cowshed

Question 1: Why is Theophil Eshley called a cattle painter by force of environment?

Answer: The circumstances that forced Eshley to start painting cattle were not his genuine love for cattle but a force of the environment in which he lived. His home was in a park-like, villa-dotted semi suburban district. On one side of his house was a picturesque meadow, in which an enterprising neighbour pastured some small picturesque cows of the Channel Island kind. All Eshley saw was cows, gardens, flowers, grass and walnut trees and his imagination could not work without cows and other cattle hence his paintings had the domination of cattle.

Question 2: What did Adela expect Eshley to do? Why? Was it fair of her to expect so? Give reasons.

Answer: One day, an ox had strayed into Adela’s garden. Remembering that Eshley was a cattle painter, she had come to him for help. Moreover, she was all alone as her maid was having her afternoon out and the cook was lying down with an attack of neuralgia. So, she expected him to remove the ox from her garden. No, it was not fair of her to expect so because Eshley told her that he painted dairy cows but had no experience with stray oxen. Still Adela impatiently led him to her garden.

Question 3: Why was Adela disappointed at having sought help from Eshley?

Answer: Adela had never known Eshley anything more than a painter. All that her instinct urged her was to go get help from her neighbor, a man, known for his paintings of cattle. She was of the opinion that Eshley could be good at chasing an ox out of her garden. With Eshley asking the panic-stricken lady ‘what kind of an ox was in her garden,’ ‘from where it came into the garden’ and his foolish inquiry ‘if the ox would not go out itself,’ Adela knew that the man was going to be useless for the task at hand.

Question 4: What efforts did Eshley make to drive the ox away? What was the reaction of the ox?

Answer: When the necessity for doing something for Adela was becoming imperative, Eshley took a step or two in the direction of the animal, clapped his hands, and made noises of the “Hish” and “Shoo” variety. The ox gave no outward indication of the fact that Eshley was asking it to leave the place. When this failed, Eshley picked up a pea-stick and flung it with some determination against the animal’s mottled flanks. Finally, the ox seemed to realise that it was to go. It gave a hurried final pluck at the bed where the chrysanthemums had been, and strode swiftly up the garden. Eshley ran to head it towards the gate, but only succeeded in quickening its movement. The ox, thinking Eshley meant to lead it to the lady’s morning room, crossed the tiny strip of turf and pushed its way through the open French window into Adela’s morning- room.

The Stalled Ox Questions & Answers

Question 5: The episode was the turning point in Eshley’s artistic career. Which episode is being talked about here? How was it a turning point?

Answer: Eshley’s remarkable picture, “Ox in a morning-room, late autumn,” was one of the sensations and successes of the next Paris Art Exhibition, and when it was subsequently exhibited at Munich it was bought by the Bavarian Government, in the teeth of the spirited bidding of three meat-extract firms. From that moment, his success was continuous and assured, and the Royal Academy was thankful, two years later, to give a conspicuous position on its walls to his large canvas “Barbary Apes Wrecking a Boudoir.”

Question 6: Adel Pingsford is a self-centred person who is not really concerned about others. Do you agree? Give two instances from the story.

Answer: Yes, Adel Pingsford comes across a self-centred person who is not really concerned about others. Although she asks Eshley for help to drive the ox out of her garden, she is always rude and sarcastic to him. Even when Eshley insists that he has no experience in dealing with oxen, she demands that he should chase away the ox. All she is concerned about is her beautiful garden which the ox is running. When the ox enters Adela’s morning room, instead of going out, she blames Eshley.

Question 7: When Adela suggested to Eshley that he could paint the ox having lunch in the morning room, did she really want him to do that? If not, why did she make the suggestion? How did Eshley respond to what she said?

Answer: No, Adela did not really want Eshley to paint the ox having lunch in the morning room. She made the suggestion in a sarcastic manner to taunt Eshley on his futile attempts of chasing the ox away. Eshley took Adela’s suggestion in the literal sense. He fetched his painting things and sat down to paint the ox.

Question 8: The word ‘stalled’ means to stop suddenly. Use this meaning to explain the title of the story. Do you think this is an apt title?

Answer: Yes, it is an apt title. The ox enters Adela Pingsford’s garden and stops there, refusing to leave. All efforts to chase it away prove futile when it enters the house instead of going out and again stays there long enough for Eshley to paint his masterpiece.

So, these were The Stalled Ox Questions & Answers.

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