Neighbours Summary
In the story, the newly married young man and woman have moved to a suburb which was full of European migrants. The young couples were uncomfortable with their neighbours and find the neighbours disgusting during their earlier days. But later, they came to know that their neighbours were not bad at all, rather they were helpful and co-operative. The neighbours advised the young couples about spacing, hilling and mulching while planting the vegetables in the kitchen garden and one of the neighbours even provided them with the garlic cloves to plant. Similarly, the old Polish widower came there uninvited and rebuilt the henhouse which the couple had made and had fallen down.
The young couple later got used to and habituated with the neighbourhood. The young man worked steadily at his thesis on the development of the twentieth-century novel and he cooked dinners for his wife. His wife was the breadwinner of the family. This surprised their neighbours. The young couples too raised the fowls and the Macedonian family showed them how to slaughter and butcher the fowls as well as pluck and dress.
The young couples were stunned when they came to know about the unplanned pregnancy. The neighbours welcomed the pregnancy. They provided the young couples with different gifts, such as chocolates for the young woman, cigarettes for the young man and even waved the clothes for the baby. Earlier, the young couples got irritated with the noise from the cutting of the wood by the old Polish widower, but later the Polish widower brought them the wood for making the fire required after the birth of the baby.
The young woman suffered from the labour all of sudden and a midwife from the neighbourhood helped her deliver the baby. All the neighbours had prayed for the young couples during the delivery and they rejoiced and cheered as in their own languages and ways as soon as the baby was born. And, when the young man saw his newly-born baby crying for the first time and his neighbours cheering, he too began weeping with the tears of ecstatic joy and happiness.
Neighbours Exercises Solution
Understanding the Text
Answer the following questions.
a.Describe how the young couple’s house looked like.
Ans.: The young couple’s house was small. However, the house had high ceilings and paned windows, which gave it the feel of an elegant cottage. From the study window, the young man could see out over the rooftops and used car yards the Moreton Bay figs (a type of fruit- bearing plant) in the park where they walked their dog.
b.How did the young couple identify their neighbours in the beginning of their arrival?
Ans.: The young man and woman were uncomfortable with their neighbours for many months They were irritated by the sounds of spitting and washing and daybreak watering in their neighbourhood. Likewise, their neighbouring Macedonian family shouted, ranted, and screamed and always talked in a loud voice. In addition to this, they too were irritated with an old Polish widower, who spent most of his day hammering nails into wood only to pull them out again. The old Polish man spent most of his day hammering nails into wood only the beginning of their arrival. to pull them out again. Hence, the young couple identified their neighbours as disgusting in the beginning of their arrival.
C.How did the neighbours help the young couple in the kitchen garden?
Ans.: Though at first, the young couple found themselves with their neighbours uncomfortable, later they find their neighbours helpful. When the young couple prepared the kitchen garden for planting different vegetables, the neighbours came to the fence and offered advice about spacing, hilling and mulching. One of her neighbours even gave them a bagful of garlic cloves to plant. In addition to this, the young couple built a henhouse and it fell down and help the young couple in the kitchen garden. the old Polish widower came there uninvited and rebuilt it for them. Thus, the neighbours help the young couple in the kitchen garden.
d.Why were the people in the neighbourhood surprised at the role of the young man and his wife in their family?
Ans.: In the story, the neighbourhood where the young man and his wife lived seemed to be traditional, stereotypical and male-dominated. In contrast to this, the young man worked steadily at his thesis on the development of the twentieth-century novel and he cooked dinners for his wife. His wife was the breadwinner of the family. Not only this, the young man too listened to the stories of his wife related to eccentric patients and hospital incompetence. Because of this reason, the people in the neighbourhood were surprised at the role of the young man and his wife in their family.
e.How did the neighbours respond to the woman’s pregnancy?
Ans.: When the neighbours came to know the woman’s pregnancy, they smiled tirelessly at the couple. The man in the deli gave the young woman small presents of chocolates and the young man the packets of cigarettes. The Italian women began to offer names. Greek woman stopped the young woman in the street, pulled her skirt up and felt her belly, telling her it was bound to be a baby boy. One of the women next doors had knitted the baby a suit, complete with booties and beanie. Thus, the neighbours responded positively and helpfully to the woman’s pregnancy.
f.Why did the young man begin to weep at the end of the story ?
Ans.: The young man has encountered the pain and labour of his wife and the wife had recently given birth to a baby boy. After the birth, when the baby cried for the first time, the whole neighbourhood cheered with happiness. This made the young man emotional and as a result, he wept at the end of the story and weeping actually was full of tears of happiness.
g.Why do you think the author did not characterize the persons in the story with proper names?
Ans.: The story ‘Neighbors’ by Tim Winton puts light on the importance of the neighbours’ in an individual’s life. However, the author did not characterize the persons in the story with proper names. In my opinion, the author has done so because the author in the story wants to give us a lesson that the character a person carries is greater than the name he/she carries. Likewise, the writer too, believes that there can be much more equal contribution to society by common folks, not only by the elite and renowned people with their widespread names. In addition to this, this is the writing skill of the author that he has been successfully able to depict the importance of a neighbourhood to a person without providing any proper names to the characters in the story.
Reference to the context
a.The story shows that linguistic and cultural barriers do not create any obstacle in human relationships. Cite some examples from the story where the neighbours have transcended such barriers.
Ans.: In the story ‘Neighbors’, Tim Winton excellently displays that linguistic and cultural barriers do not create any obstacle in human relationships. In the story, the neighbours of the young man and woman have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The neighbours have their origin from different countries such as Macedonia, Poland, Italy and Greece. These neighbours speak different languages and have different cultures. On many occasions, they do not understand the languages and culture of each other. However, they all understand the value of human relationships.
In the story, the author gives various instances where the neighbours have transcended such barriers. For instance, the neighbours advised the young couples about spacing, hilling and mulching while planting the vegetables in the kitchen garden and one of the neighbours even provided with the garlic cloves to plant. Similarly, the old Polish widower came there uninvited and rebuilt the henhouse which the couple had made and had fallen down. Likewise, the neighbours were happy with the pregnancy and expressed their happiness by smiling and supporting the young couples with different gifts, such as chocolates for the young woman, cigarettes for the young man and even waved the clothes for the baby. The neighbours too helped the young woman during her labour pain and they all rejoiced the birth of the baby in their own languages and ways. Even if the young man could not understand the language of his neighbours, what he understood was that their neighbours were very happy with the birth of the baby. Hence, the story successfully portrays that human relationship is always greater than the linguistic and cultural barriers in society.
b.The last sentence of the story reads “The twentieth-century novel had not prepared him for this.” In your view, what differences did the young man find between twentieth-century novels and human relations?
Ans.: At the end of the story, the author puts a powerful sentence, “The twentieth-century novel had not prepared him for this.” In fact, the sentence has a great hidden meaning. The author, from this statement, tries to provide the message that human relations, in reality, are much greater and warmer than the relations depicted in the novels. Often, the novels of the twentieth century, on which the writer was working, highlighted the society which is fragmented, full of paradox, unreliable characters and often with unrealistic and impossible plots. In contrary to this, the author finds his neighbours warm, helpful, cooperative and full of humanity, just opposite to the characters of the twentieth-century novels. In addition to this, the author in his thesis of twentieth-century novels can make changes as he desires and can go working with the thesis as he desires and plans but this doesn’t happen in real life. Hence, the young man might have found differences between twentieth-century novels and human relations.
c. A Nepali proverb says ‘Neighbours are companions for wedding procession as well as for funeral procession.” Does this proverb apply in the story? Justify.
Ans.: The Nepali proverb, “Neighbours are companions for wedding procession as well as for funeral procession” applies in the story to the full extent. In the story, though the young couple found themselves with their neighbours uncomfortable at the earlier stage, later they found their neighbours were helpful and cooperative. The neighbours of the young couple helped them in each and every stage of their life. The neighbours helped them during kitchen gardening as well as in building henhouse. They too helped them regarding how to slaughter the animals, how to pluck and dress even if they didn’t understand their language. In addition to this, the neighbours were happy with the pregnancy and expressed their happiness by smiling and supporting the young couples with different gifts, such as chocolates for the young woman, cigarettes for the young man and even waved the clothes for the baby. The neighbours too helped the young woman during her labour pain and they all rejoiced the birth of the baby in their own languages and ways. In this way, we can prove that the story excellently endorses the Nepali proverb, “Neighbours are companions for wedding procession as well as for funeral procession”
d.The author has dealt with an issue of multiculturalism in the story. Why do you think multiculturalism has become a major issue in the present world?
Ans.: Multiculturalism is the co-existence of people with diverse cultures owing to their different races, religions or ethnic groups reflected in their behaviours, customs, values, beliefs attitudes and way of thinking. The author, Tim Winton in his story ‘Neighbours’ excellently Australian society. depicts the issue of multiculturalism, particularly the multiculturalism that has existed in
In fact, Australian society is a melting pot where people from all parts of the world are living there. In fact, only 2.8% of people of Australia identify themselves with indigenous Australians and the rest of the population (97.2%) have their ancestry belonging to different countries across the world. Today, people living in Australia identify their ancestry to different countries as England, Ireland, Scotland, China, Italy, Germany, India, Greece, Philippines, Vietnam, South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United States and so on. These people have their own cultures, languages, beliefs and way of living. In the story too, the characters have their ancestry to Macedonia, Poland, Greece and Italy. Though they had their own origin, language and culture and they merely understand one another’s culture and language, they possess a good sense of human relationship with one another in their neighbourhood.
Due to globalization and migration at the present time, the coexistence of people of different backgrounds, races, cultures and religions in the same neighbourhood has been possible and it is steadily increasing. Now, the world has been a global village and people can travel, migrate and live in any parts of the world they like. Hence, the need of multiculturalism has increased steadily. However, some people in some societies often regard their own origin, race culture, and religion as superior and of others inferior. This self-centred can divide the society and promote hatred, violence and distrust among the people, which at the present. day have been seen in different countries and parts of the world. But, this belief of superior- self is very harmful to society, hence, we need to eradicate this view and treat all the race, ethnicities, religions and cultures equally and respectfully as we do to ours. Only then, multiculturalism can flourish the better relations among the people in the society we live in.
Reference beyond the text
a.Write an essay on The Celebration of Childbirth in my Community.
Ans.:
The Celebration of Childbirth in My Community
Birth refers to the process of producing a new baby by human beings as well as other animals. In fact, birth is a natural phenomenon that has kept the continuation of human civilization in the world alive. Every human being, family and community celebrate the birth of a child and the celebration to a great degree is different from person to person, family to family and community to community.
In my community, childbirth is regarded as the blessing endowed by God to the people. The babies are considered as a gift from God. When the male child gets born in our community, people feel extremely glad that their ancestry or lineage gets continuation, as my community is a traditional community and is changing gradually.
Not only this, the birth of a female child too is celebrated equally in my community. When the female child gets born in my community, people regard the female child as the incarnation of Laxmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and fortune. After the birth of the child takes place in my community, the people of my community put abir or tika on the forehead of the new parents and congratulate them. The couples and Family even organize a feast and celebration programme when a child is born in my community.
The sixth day of childbirth in my community is termed as ‘Chhaiti’. On the day of Chhaiti, the fupu (baby’s dad’s sister) brings some gifts for the baby and also applies the gajaal (a black powder) to the child. She also brings a notebook/copy and a pen. in my community, there is a belief that on the day of Chhaiti, Vidhaata (Goddess of Destiny) quietly visits the house during the night and writes the destiny of the newborn child. As a result, a traditional lamp is lit and a pen and the notebook brought by the fupu is placed near the baby during that night.
The eleventh day of childbirth is celebrated as ‘Nwaran’. The Nwaran is the day of the naming ceremony. During this day, a Brahmin, the Hindu priest visits the home of the child and performs various rituals accordingly. Brahmin, considering the astrological positions and circumstances on the time of the birth of the child, determines the name of the child. Thus, Nwaran too is celebrated. In addition to Chhaiti and Nwaran, Paashni – the ceremony of rice or food feeding is organized generally when the child is six months old. From this day, the child is fed the food in our community. And as the child grows up, other rituals too are organized, such as – Bratabandha, Vivaha (marriage) and so on. Thus, the birth of the child in my community is considered as a process of continuation of human civilization and is celebrated with great joy and happiness.
b.Do the people in your community respond with similar reactions upon the pregnancy and childbirth as depicted in the story? Give a couple of examples.
Ans.: In my community too, when a woman is pregnant, she is offered good food and sweets and chocolates by the husband, family members and neighbours too (as it is done by the neighbours in the story). Not only the couple and family members, but all the people in my community too are greatly concerned and aware about pregnant mothers. They congratulate the couples and time and often ask about the health of the mother and baby. When the members of my community cook some delicious food, they allocate and bring some of the food to the pregnant woman too.
I have found many incidents in which the community members help in taking the pregnant woman to the hospital during the delivery period (although the immediate and sudden delivery restricted the young woman to be taken into a hospital in the story). During the labour pain and the birth of the child too, all the people of my community pray to Gods and Goddesses for the well-being of both mother and the child as different characters do in this story too. And as soon as the community people find the safe and fruitful delivery, they all rejoice and cherish the birth of a newly-born baby. Hence, people in my community too, respond with more or less similar reactions upon the pregnancy and childbirth as depicted in the story.