Hum of insects Question Answers

1.

Bring out instances of contrasting reactions that we have for insects.

Insects are part of our lives and that doesnt mean that we like to have them with us.
While a bee or wasp is gentle, we do not like their company in our bed rooms though
we like them in a garden.

2.

Why is a mosquito always waved away, even in a garden?

The mosquito is an unscrupulous enemy that attacks without waiting to be attacked.
It stings anyone, whether he is the gentlest or the most dangerous man in the world.
Because a mosquito is a beast of prey and is out for food, we wave it away even in a
garden.

3.

What is a mosquitos approach to Tom Pinch?

Tom Pinch is a prototype of peace who goes loved by all but a mosquito, whether it
knows Tom Pinch or otherwise, attacks him without any reason and abandons him
only when it is waved away or killed by the most lovable Tom Pinch himself.

4.

What do you know about the blind passion that insects such as bees and
wasps have for reprisal/revenge? OR Why are innocent people attacked by
insects?
Bees and wasps are comparatively gentler than the unscrupulous mosquito yet they
exhibit a wild passion for revenge. If they are attacked by someone, even a mad dog
in the country side, they take revenge by attacking someone else, anyone whose
sight their eyes catch first. It is therefore that innocent people are sometimes
attacked by wasps and bees.

5.

Why doesnt the author justify the bees stinging a human being for
stealing its honey?
The author doesnt justify the bees act of attacking the human being for stealing its
honey because man is the master of this partially civilized world.

6.

How is the bee morally higher in the scale than the mosquito?
A bee is gentle. It doesnt attack unless it is attacked. A mosquito, on the very other
hand, stings anyone for blood. Besides, a bee, the producer of honey, doesnt cause
malaria as the mosquito does. Apart from helping the strawberries and mulberry to
multiply, bees prefer a very calm, inoffensive life.

7.

When do both, the bee and the wasp, become tedious company?
When a bee or wasp, though gentle in character, enters our bedroom at two in the
morning and buzzes behind our pillow, they become tedious company. Though we
can avoid getting stung by not moving, lying motionless till the inoffensive bee or
wasp had flown away, it is not desirable to try this preventive when sleep is dearest
and time is passing by.

8.

What is, in the authors opinion, the infallible preventive against a wasps
stinging while one is roused from sleep by its crawling over the face?
Bees and wasps do not attack us without being attacked. If a wasp or bee alights on
our face and wake us dearly early in the morning, one can remain motionless and
see the insect fly away after a quiet, harmless stay on our face.

9.

Which are the three possible reasons under which the hum of insects
delights us?
In spite of the fact that the hum insects often irritate us, they are on the other hand,
delightful because they become part of some universal music, they also take us
back to our childhood

10.

How can the hum of insects delight us?

Hum of insects can delight us owing to the surroundings they are heard and with the
past events associated to the sounds. Besides, when we hear these sounds,
something in our blood and breath responds to the rhythm of these sounds.

11.

What are the three sounds that Lynd refer to as the three noises that
appear to have an infinite capacity for giving us pleasure?
Noises of insects, the noises of birds and the sound of the sea possess infinite
capacity for giving us pleasure.

12.

Why are grownups not able to hear the hum of insects? What do they hear
instead?
The grown-ups are too busy with living their lives. Worries and anxiety keep them far
away from the nature so they fail to enjoy the free gifts of the nature. They miss the
hum of insects. They miss the fond memories of their childhood and they seldom
believe that they had a childhood.

13.

How is the hum of insects that one hears at a late stage of his life
associated with ones childhood? OR, How is the hum of insects is a pleasure
of reminiscence (memories)?
As the hum of insects and noises of birds are associated with nature and seasons,
so are they connected to our life, right from our childhood. When we grow up, these
sounds occasionally pull us back to our childhood. In a way, our happiness, other
than that achieved from people, has its origin in the nature, in spring and summer, in
the hum and noises of insects and birds.

14.

It was a present that overflowed with kindness, though everybody else

except the ox and the ass believed that it was only by the skin of our teeth that
any of us would escape being burnt alive for eternity. How does this
statement explain childhoods serenity and innocence?
Serenity
In childhood, children experience the world around them as kind with them.
Generally children are not treated harshly so they believe that the world, with
the hum of insects and farms and gardens, is kind. Here they believe that
grandpas are always gentle and believe their aunts who lie to the hungry
children that the biscuits that they have brought are for the dogs.
o
Innocence
Our childhood is full of fairy tales and the world around us is more like a dream
than reality. There was a time when we believed in heaven and hell and
punishment. We were told stories about that hell where people with only such
teeth that have skins of certain color can escape the fire of the hell.
o

15.

Why does the author believe that only nature has lasting impressions in
our mind?
The author, looking at the natural beauty and the toys that we love in childhood,
concludes that we seldom remember our toys and the joy they gave us and

establishes that we can never so much forget our gardens, their flowers with
fragrance and the farm.
16.

What are the illusions that we have in the childhood?

During childhood, we have the illusion that the Spring will never cease (end) and
that the happiness will never be over.

17.

Why are we still able to appreciate the hum of insects even at a very later
stage of our life?
Hum of insects is connected to our childhood memories and to our senses
connected to autumns and springs in the past. Even when we hear the hum of
insects at a very later age, we are able to return to our childhood.

18.

Why does the author compare childrens world to Noahs Ark?

Noahs Ark is the perfect place to compare childhood with for so many reasons.
First, it Noahs Ark was a place of happiness and peace. Noah was asked by
Yahweh to gather one pair of all the living beings animals including Noahs family,
reptiles, birds, insects, etc. All of them were the best that existed on the earth. They
were safe in the ark and happy that they escaped the deluge. Similarly, for children
the world is devoid of bad people and bad animals. The child doesnt sense the
cruelty of the animals and adults until they grew up. For children the world is safe
and full of good people, pretty animals, amazing snakes and pleasant rivers.

19.

Why does the author end in a negative note?

After having discussed the manifold aspects of the heavenly sounds of insects, the
author concludes in a negative note because he sees the reality that in the modern
world people have got no time to enjoy the natures sounds. Our life is restricted
from all directions like a heavy weight stopping the movement of a top. For modern
men, the world is a problem to solve so there is no place for the hum of insects. In
such a surrounding, the hum of insects sounds like a run-down machine that needs
oiling and the insects that create that sound appear like stabbing creatures that
make irritating noises.
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