Class XI AATM WKBK pgs 48 - 49

The Reference to Context questions are a compulsory part of the ISC Literature paper. You will need to answer 2 reference to context questions out of 3 in Question 1 of the Literature paper.

How do you proceed to answer a Reference to context question ?

1. read the quotation carefully and in your mind lace the quotation in its context in the text. Ask yourself where it is located in the play; what goes before and after; why is the quotation of significance in the play.
2. Read all the questions given before beginning to answer - your answers should place the whole quotation in its proper context in a very comprehensive manner.
3. Begin answering the questions - trying to give a full answer , while at the same time, answering to the point and being as brief as possible (without compromising on the quality of the answer).

1 (i) : A "reverie" is a daydream. Raina had been outside on the balcony admiring the "romantic beauty" of the night - "wonderfully white and beautiful in the starlit snow". The dramatist has also told us besides being "intensively conscious of the romantic beauty of the night", as has been described, Raina is also "intensively conscious ... of the fact that her own youth and beauty are part of it". Thus, Raina is dreaming as much of the "snowy Balkans" as of her own youth and beauty which seem to match the beauty she sees.

(ii) : Catherine Petkoff is Raina Petkoff's mother. Catherine is the wife of major Paul Petkoff is out fighting the Serbs. In this extract that we are told that Catherine is middle aged ("over forty"); she is "imperiously energetic" - overbearingly pushy; she has wonderful black hair and eyes. The dramatist gives her a back-handed compliment by saying that she could pass very well as the "wife of a mountain farmer", however, we are also told that Catherine is ambitious and wants to move up in the world and thus aspires to be very cultured and sophisticated "Viennese lady" and thus dresses appropriately (in a "fashionable tea gown") even when at home.

(iii): It is said that Catherine "might be a splendid specimen of the wife of a mountain farmer" as the dramatist wishes to show that though Catherine's background has been very rural and unsophisticated, she belongs to the upwardly mobile class and has aspirations to be seen to be more cultured and sophisticated.

(iv) : Catherine wears "a fashionable tea gown" on all occasions because she is very consciously making an effort to be taken for a cultured and sophisticated Viennese lady and thus does not wish her guard to drop at any moment and for others to see her for who she truly is.
          This suggests that Catherine is am ambitious lady with aspirations to enter in social circles which are higher than she probably presently enjoys. To that end we may also say that she is prejudiced against the lower classes in society or people from more simple backgrounds. She also may consider outward appearances to be more significant that who one truly is.

(v) : The battle at Slivnitza was fought between the Bulgarians and their allies, the Russians against the Serbians and their allies - the Austrians. Fighting in the war were also mercenaries from other countries like Switzerland.
        The Bulgarians and their allies won the battle at Slivnitza.
        Sergius took the leading role in the battle. He led the Bulgarians to victory and he led the attach which bought the Bulgarians to victory. In so leading the attack against the enemy, Sergius had taken matters into his own hands - had "acted without orders" and in so doing "defied" the Russian officers who led the Bulgarian army.