Work Book
Pg 116 (1)
i. i. Nicola warns Louka about being defiant and
disrespectful in her attitude to the family who employs her, especially to
Catherine, as she is the mistress of the house and thus responsible for the
servants in the home.
ii. ii Louka is defiant. George Bernard Shaw has noted
in his introduction to Louka that she “is so defiant that her servility to
Raina is almost insolent” and that even though she is afraid of Catherine “even
with her goes as far as she dares”.
iii. iii The mistress whom Louka is talking about in the
extract is Catherine Petkoff. Catherine is the mistress of the Petkoff home.
Nicola says that Catherine is “so grand” – meaning very large hearted or
positively inclined to persons. However, he notes that Catherine is also a very
decisive person who will not tolerate disrespect and will be decisive in her
actions.
iv. iv According to Nicola, if the mistress would come
to know that Louka is defying her she would be immediately dismissed from
service and that no one would ever believe her after she was dismissed or give
her a job.
v. v Louka says that she will continue to defy her
mistress because she has a strong sense of self-pride. Louka feels that being a
subdued servant diminishes her self worth.
It tells us that she has an
assertive character. However, it also tells her that she is rash and
experienced and realize how such behavior will work to her disadvantage.
vi. vi Nicola is an experienced and practical person.
Being middle-aged he has reasonable but not idealistic expectations for himself
and his future. Louka on the other hand is “young” and idealistic and is
ambitious for her future. She seems like someone who will aggressively follow
her dreams for her self-actualisation.
Pg 118 (2)
i. i Nicola is talking about the Petkoff family –
Catherine, Paul and Raina in particular and maybe even Sergius, since it is
expected that he will soon be married to Louka. He would also mean anyone who
is acquainted with the family.
Louka is dependent on the
goodwill of the family as he does not plan to remain in service with the family
for long. He hopes, in the future, to set up a shop in Sofia. He hopes that
‘the family’ would look favourably on his venture and that they would be
important customers and that they would also recommend his shop to their
acquaintances.
ii. ii Nicola hopes to get the money for starting his
shop from , I presume, his savings from having worked with the Petkoff’s for
the last ten years. When he says “their custom will be half my capital”, I
think he means that their coming to his shop and buying goods would make up
have his business earnings.
He intends to work
conscientiously for the time in the Petkoff service – this would help him get
the money he needs for the shop and be an investment for a future successful
business.
iii. iii Louka tells Nicola that he does not have
‘spirit’ because she does not hear in his words or see in his behaviour any
ambition to be on par with the highest in society. She sees in Nicola someone
who will always consider the Petkoffs and people of that stratum in society
always superior to himself. He does not seem to realize that he is equal to any
and every person.
Later, Louka tells Nicola that
he would “never put the soul of a servant” into her.
iv. iv When Louka tells Nicola that she’s “young”, he
emphasizes that she is inexperienced and idealistic and not aware of how to
achieve her objectives in the real world.
v. v The extract tells us that Nicola has a “clear
and keen intelligence” and that he is “an accurate calculator who has no
illusions”. Nicola also does not want to remain a servant all his life, but he
is realistic and experienced enough to know that he has to work to move up in
society. He also has shrewd commercial sense, knowing how important it is to cultivate
and build up a clientele.
Louka shows herself to be bold and
aggressive. She shows a fighting spirit of one who will not allow others to
dominate her or foil her attempts to claim her rightful place in society.
Pg 119 (3)
i. i Louka believes that Nicola likes her and would
like to be married to her because she is young. However, later on the play we
learn that Nicola had brought Louka to the Petkoff home and secured a job for
her. He had probably felt that Louka coming from a similar background that he had,
she would be a suitable match for him and had tried to help her and her family
as best he could.
ii. ii One of the family secrets that Louka knows is
that Raina and Catherine had not handed over an enemy soldier to the Bulgarian
soldiers and their Russian officers but had disguised the man in Paul Petkoff’s
coat and sent him away. In that way Raina and Catherine had not been patriotic
and would probably suffer the wrath of Paul Petkoff and Sergius who had fought
in the Bulgarian army against the Serbs.
iii. iii Louka thinks that the family will not dare to
offend her because she knows the secret that Catherine and Raina had not handed
over a runaway Serb soldier to the Bulgarian army but had set him free in a
disguise – public knowledge of the incident, she believes would surely disgrace
the family. She feels that the family would not dare face the disgrace and
would therefore not to want to offend Louka.
iv. iv According to Louka, the Petkoff family,
realizing that they were one of the most prominent families in the country and
enjoying the respect of the people of Bulgaria, would realize that none would
believe a servant who would be expelled from their service against their word.
Thus Nicola tells Louka that they would immediately dismiss Louka from their
service for dishonesty.
v. v Nicola warns Louka that if she behaved
inappropriately she would be dismissed from service in the Petkoff family. She
would not be able to get another position like it and her father who was a poor
farmer would not be able to meet his expenses on his farm and would lose his
means of livelihood.
vi. vi This extract underlines the fact that the
different strata of society are really closely knit groups. It tells us that in
each stratum the members are more supportive of their own and suspicious of
those below their strata trying to weaken on enter into their strata. It also
reveals how challenging it is for those from the lower starts of society to
rise above their levels.
Pg.121 (4)
i. i The secret that Nicola is talking about is that
Raina had hid a fugitive Serb soldier in her room and not reveleaded his
presence to the Bulgarian soldiers and Russian officer who had come to follow a
lead that a Serb soldier was seen climbing into the house. The Serb soldier had
been disguised in the coat of the master of the house – Paul Petkoff – and had
been allowed to escape.
ii. ii Nicola advises Nicola to be respectful to
Catherine and Raina even though she may not agree with their action. He advises
Louka to behave in such a manner that Catherine will be sure that louka will
never disclose any of the happenings of the house to others and not even to
Paul Petkoff and possibly Sergius Saranoff, who being part of the family may
still be offended on hearing of such an action by the ladies of the house.
Louka does not listen to Nicola
and reveals the ‘secret’ to Sergius.
iii. iii Louka tells Nicola that he has the “soul of a
servant” because Nicola will forever be subservient to the Petkoffs and those
of their social strata even when he is not in their service (when he has set up
his own shop in Sofia) as he would still be currying their favour in order to
secure their custom and those of their associates.
Louka is only partially right in
her assessment of Nicola. She is right in the sense that Nicola is willing to
be deferent to Petkoff’s and others in their strata of society always. However,
Nicola does not want to be a servant all his life and has reasonable ambition
which will make him financially independent and not of the servant class any
more. He merely puts on a subservient attitude in order to further his own
ends.
iv. iv According to Nicola the “secret of success in
service” doing what it takes to ensure that your employers have complete faith
and trust in you and thus to be guaranteed job security and favour. Thus he
will be a totally faithful servant who will be trusted to keep family matters
to himself and to preserve the reputation of the family he serves. He will also
be suitably subservient and respectful in behavior.
v. v Ultimately it is Louka who makes the “most out
of them in the play”. It is Louka who reveals to Sergius who Bluntschli is.
Louka is defiant to Raina and does it what it takes to win the hand of the man
she loves – Sergius. Finally Raina does marry Sergius and not Nicola.Luka uses
the family to rise in station in society. Nicola remains a servant in the
house.
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