CH 4 : "End of Term" : Book 2

CH # 4             End of Term

Word	Meaning	Synonyms
Strenuous	requiring or using great effort or exertion.	arduous, difficult, hard,
Mythical	Fictitious, folktales	Imaginary, legendary, fantasy
Outskirts	The out parts of a town or city	Suburbs, fringes, edges
Miraculously	In a remarkable and extremely lucky manner	Magnificently, stunningly, marvelously
Grind	Hard dull work	Chore, slog, travail
Abundant	In large quantity	Plentiful, copious, bumper
Dismal	Depress mood	Grim, gloomy, dim
Grim	Very serious or gloomy	Aloof, stern
Ominous	threateningly inauspicious.	sinister, doomy, inauspicious, unpropitious,
Herald	An official	Messenger, courier
Summon	Order (someone)  to be present	Send for, call for, ask for
Damnation	Eternal punishment	Perdition ,eternal punishment,
Anticipation	Expectation about something	Expectation, prediction , forecast
Oppressive	Inflicting harsh and authoritarian treatment	Harsh, repressive, tyrannical, dictatorial
Flavor	A distinctive taste of something	Taste, savor, tang, relish
Respites	postpone	Breather, break, postpone
Felicity	Intense happiness	Bliss, euphoria, mirth
Relish	Great enjoyment	Zest, enjoyment, enthusiasm

 

About the author:

David Daiches is a modern 20^th-century British essayist and critic. He writes in a realistic manner on social events and human experiences. In the present essay, he expresses his views on short and long school holidays that are close to our thinking.

The title of the Essay:

“End of term” means the end of a certain period of studies in school or college. The writer describes his joy and feeling on getting and during the end-of-term holidays and other holidays of different kinds. He also describes his experiences of childhood, boyhood, and youth as a student.

 

Answer the Questions:

What was the Daiches’ attitude towards the weekend as a schoolboy? Why did he long for it?

At school, David Daiches liked to have a holiday to enjoy. He got tired of the “daily grind of school” after which he desired change and rest. After five days of hard work, on Friday, being the last day of the week, he naturally desired rest during the weekend (the weekly holiday of Saturday and Sunday).

Q2. What was his general view of school life?

According to David Daiches, through his own example, he tells how routine of school life is very hard and boring for young children. The daily grind of school, abundant homework, fierce competition and the sense of never being able to relax pressed the writer heavily during the school days. He always longs for relaxation and feels very happy on arrival of holidays

Q3. He liked the holiday for their freedom- freedom from what?

David Daiches, as a student, always long for relaxation and feel very happy on arrival of holidays. Daiches studied several subjects hard for five days. After this, he desired to have the weekly holiday. After months of work at school, he desired freedom in the summer vacation. This freedom was for a change from work to enjoyment and rest.

Q4.  How did he spend his summer holidays?

According to David Daiches, the summer holidays were a period of permanent relaxation, enjoyment, and merry-making. The two-month vacation starting in July gave him the greatest joy. On getting it, he walked home across a grassy field in his cricket shirt and sports clothes very happily. He desired to play games and enjoy his time fully during the long summer vacation.

Q5. Wishes don’t come true in this life, writes Daiches. What are the things he longed for but could not have?

According to David Daiches, he longed desperately to have a tricycle but his parents couldn’t afford. He wanted an ice-cream when he stood outside the sweet shop, but he did not have the money to buy it. Thus, he longed for several things that he could not get them but got them afterward. Wishes do not come true in a certain period of our life.

Q6. What did he do with his pocket money?

According to David Daiches, he got a few pence weekly as his pocket money. He put this pocket money in a money box and, thus, saved it. He did not have to spend it in his early childhood. But the feeling of having the money with him kept him satisfied. The savings were a support to him. He could buy some choicest toys or games with them.

Q7. Why did the title of the book “Friday thank God” make David Daiches happy? What hopes did it give him?

The title “Friday thank God” meant to David Daiches that Saturday and Sunday are next to Friday. Friday I like a door to enter the area of these two holidays, called the weekend. SO the title “Friday Thank God’ means Thank God Friday has come, the last working day of the week. This title reminded him of his school time.

Q8. What was the writer’s feeling of getting the long summer holiday or the two months’ vacation?

This was the period of supreme, superb and super joy, to the writer, David Daiches. To him the whole year moved towards it. He hoped for a permanent holiday time of happiness. He walked on grassland from school after getting the vacation like happy clouds drifting across the sky. He dreamed of magical joys in the vacation time which in reality did not come to him.