1 (a) (i) :
Raina exclaimed “ugh” because ‘The Man’ had just given Raina a description of
how cowardly the more experienced soldiers were when engaging in a cavalry
charge. He had mentioned that the wounds these soldiers received were not the
wounds of engagement with the enemy but because their knees were banging
together in their effort to get into the centre of the group so that they would
be protected. Raina is disgusted to hear this account of unheroic soldiers.
(ii) : The “first man” whom Raina and ‘The
Man’ are referring to is the leader of Bulgarian cavalry regiment which had
attacked the Serb artillery regiment at the battle at Slivnitza. Raina knows
that man to be Sergius Saranoff, her fiancé.
(iii) : Raina does not call the first
man a coward. Neither does ‘The Man’ in his account call the first man a
coward. The first Man had narrated how like Don Quixote that man led his
regiment into the attack of the artillery regiment. However, the man’s horse
was attempting to run away. Raina wishes to note that “the first man” was not
like the cowardly experienced soldiers whose cowardly behavior ‘The Man’ had
just described.
(iv) : Raina has been convinced after
she had been told the account of the battle of Slivnitza by her mother that “the
first man” – Sergius, her fiancé was a “hero”. She has heard how Sergius showed
great daring in personally leading his regiment in the attack. She also knows
that it was because of his daring action that his country gained victory in the
battle and in the war.
(v) : ‘The Man’ had informed Raina that
“the first man” had shown himself to be the maddest of all men in leading his
cavalry regiment on the suicidal mission against the Serbian artillery regiment.
For that action ‘The Man’ had said that “the first man” should be court
martialled. He compared the first man to Don Quixote attacking the windmills.
(vi) : ‘The Man’ compares “the first
man” to an operatic tenor, as like a solo singer in an opera, “the first man” led
the charge of his regiment from the front, while the rest lagged behind. “the
first man” seemed filled with confidence (which ‘The Man’ felt was misplaced)
like an operatic tenor singing his piece in an opera.
1 (b) (i) :
Nicola likes Louka better because she is “young”. Nicola had just remarked that
Louka was Young meaning that she was inexperienced. Luka immediately reminds
him of how her youthfulness attracts him.
(ii) : The “they” Raina refers to are
the members of the Petkoff family. She refers to Catherine, Raina and Paul
Petkoff in whose home she is a maid.
(iii) : The family secret we learn
later that Raina is referring to is the secret that Raina had hid a Serbian
fugitive in her room; not revealed his presence to the Bulgarian forces who had
come to the house following a lead that there had been a fugitive who had been
seen climbing into the house and that Raina and Catherine and allowed the
fugitive to escape from the house.
(iv) : Nicola tells Louka that he knows
some very significant family secrets – he knows secrets of Catherine which she would be willing to pay him a considerable
sum of money to keep them secret from her husband; he knows secrets of Paul
Petkoff which if his wife were told of them he would not be left in peace and
that he knew secrets about Raina that would break off her engagement with
Sergius.
(v) : Nicola would like Louka to be a
totally trusted servant of the family who could be counted upon never to let
out the family secrets. This tells us that he is a faithful person who is willing
to focus on his job and not use the weaknesses of others to his advantage.
However, to Raina this shows he has no spirit and that he has the soul of a
servant.
(vi) : Louka would like to assert
herself – in her words, she would like to “defy” the members of the family. It
tells us that she is a bold person. It also tells us that she is a modern woman
who does not believe that because she does a work of service in this home, she
is less equal to the members of the family. However, Nicola thinks that she is
foolish and inexperienced to behave in this manner.
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