Class 9 English Chapter 2 The Pot Maker Extra Questions
Question: Why did Arenla want Sentila to learn weaving instead of pot making?
Answer: Arenla believed pot making was a tiring, messy, and poorly paid job, whereas weaving could be done indoors in all seasons and offered handsome financial returns.
Question: Why did the village council summon Sentila’s father, Mesoba?
Answer: The council questioned Mesoba because villagers were worried that Arenla was refusing to teach her daughter the traditional skill, fearing no expert would replace her.
Question: What was the elders’ view on traditional skills like pot making?
Answer: The elders believed such skills did not belong to any individual; they represented tradition and history, and experts were obliged to pass them on to others.
Question: How did the expert potters initially react to Sentila’s interest?
Answer: They were amused by her insistence, thinking she would soon outgrow her childish passion for the craft, as they considered it quite a tedious task.
Question: Why was pounding the clay considered a difficult task?
Answer: Pounding the stubborn clay inside bamboo cylinders was very tiring. It often caused exhaustion, leading workers to drop the mould and restart the entire process.
Question: What role did Onula play in Sentila’s life?
Answer: Onula, a kind supervisor at the dormitory, resolved to help Sentila. She taught her how to fashion a perfect pot, boosting the girl’s confidence significantly.
Question: How did Sentila feel when she finally succeeded in making pots?
Answer: Sentila felt like a sprinter who had suddenly found momentum. She made pot after pot with speed and dexterity, finally reaching her mother’s tally.
Question: What did Onula discover in the work shed after Arenla’s death?
Answer: Onula found two neat, newly-made rows of pots. She could not distinguish one batch from the other, realizing both were made with equal skill.
Question: What does the phrase “A new pot maker was born” signify?
Answer: It signifies that Sentila had finally mastered the craft, successfully overcoming her initial failures and continuing the family’s traditional legacy of pottery.
Question: Why did the clay seem unable to yield the right shape initially?
Answer: The clay could not yield the right shape because Sentila was too tense and clumsy in her efforts while trying to learn the skill.
Question: What specific detail did Sentila observe her mother doing while shaping the pot?
Answer: Sentila observed how her mother held the left hand and spatula, and how she slackened her rhythm to fashion the mouth of the pot.
Question: What is a ‘kiln’ in the context of this story?
Answer: A kiln is a structure where pots are loaded in a uniform pattern on hay and bamboo, then fired carefully to harden them.
Question: How did Mesoba explain Arenla’s reluctance to the village council?
Answer: He humbly explained that they were not refusing to teach her, but only wanted Sentila to grow stronger after her recent illness.
Question: What does ‘pittance’ mean as used by Arenla?
Answer: It refers to a very small or insignificant amount of money, which is all she earned after months of hard labor in making pots.
Question: Why did Sentila have to return home quickly from her visits to the potters?
Answer: She had to return before her mother arrived from the fields so that her mother would remain ignorant of her secret visits.