Get NCERT Solutions for Chapter 7 of the English subject. Chapter 7 from the Vista textbook is based on the thought Should criminals in prison be given the opportunity of learning and education? The NCERT solutions of this chapter have been provided after a detailed analysis of the marking scheme of CBSE by the English subject expert. Class 12h students can study the answers provided here to score well in school as well as Class 12th board exams.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English - Vista Textbook- Chapter 7: Evans Tries an O-Level
Ques: What kind of a person was Evans?
Answer: Evans was a chronic kleptomaniac who had been jailed in Oxford Prison. He urged the prison authority to allow him to take an O-level examination in German, as this would help him to gain some educational qualifications. Although he was a pleasant person with no record of violence, he managed to escape from prison three times.
His intelligent, conspiring mind is the focus of the story. He managed to avoid all of them with his stupid plans. Even the governor could not help to appreciate his shrewd mind.
Ques: What were the precautions taken for the smooth conduct of the examination?
Answer: The governor was suspicious of Evans' true intentions to take the exams. Fearing his fourth escape, the examination was ordered to be conducted inside the prison cell, which had been fitted with a microphone, to keep a check on this intelligent prisoner. His cell had been properly checked by the prison staff, who had taken away anything that could pose a threat in the smooth conduct of the examination. On the day of the examination, the prison staff was alerted and special care was taken to immediately lock all doors and gates. Stephens was ordered to keep an eye on the examination proceedings. Even the invigilator, the parson, had been thoroughly frisked before the examination.
Ques: Should criminals in the prison be given the opportunity of learning and education?
Answer: The right to education should not be denied to anyone. If prison criminals are provided with education and work skills, their lives could turn to a better, crime-free future. Education will enable them to become better people. Therefore, attempts will be made to provide employment and education opportunities for even the prisoners in the jails.
Ques: Will the exam now go as scheduled?
Answer: Everything had been in order for the exam to begin on its scheduled time, but a last-minute plan change was ordered by the apprehensive Governor. He also ordered the invigilator to be frisked as another precautionary measure, before allowing him to do his assigned job. That wasted some time and the test started at 9:25 am, ten minutes later than planned.
Ques: Did the Governor and his staff finally heave a sigh of relief?
Answer: Evans was a clever man who gave the Governor and his staff only a momentary sigh of relief. The test was supposed to have ended peacefully, but he was shocked to see a profusely bleeding McLeery still in the cell when Stephens rechecked Evans' cell. He concluded that Evans was actually the man he had escorted up to the gate.
Measures had been taken to recapture Evans with the aid of the wounded McLeery, who was then sent off for treatment to a hospital. Shortly enough, it was revealed that this 'McLeery bleeding' was the real Evans. Finally, a further conspiracy unfolded when the governor traced Evans and ordered him to be taken back to the prison with a prison officer in the official van. Evans fled again, as his back-up strategy included the prison officer and the truck. His faultless plans left us perplexed and troubled.
Ques: Will the injured McLeery be able to help the prison officers track Evans?
Answer: Injured McLeery, displaying his knowledge of German, through the superimposed question paper exposes Evans' supposed scheme. He proposes to guide the officials to Evans's whereabouts. Yet this is later discovered to be part of Evans' attempt to escape to safety, as it was Evans himself who was posing as McLeery's wounded. It can be found, therefore, that the disguised McLeery's aid to the officials was fake as it was just a part of Evans' plan of escape.
Ques: Will the clues left behind on the question paper, put Evans back in prison again?
Answer: With the aid of a smart, unerring plan, Evans escaped from the jail. The shrewd thief, which according to the Governor was a "careless" act, left behind other clues. There was a question paper superimposed with directions to the supposed program. However, it soon became apparent that it was all fake and part of the plan to misguide the officials.
Yet the Governor recognised the little German and the 'correction error' has helped them track him down.
Ques: Where did Evans go?
Answer: Evans went to the hotel Golden Lion located in Chipping Norton after deceiving the police intelligently.
Ques: Reflecting on the story, what did you feel about Evans’ having the last laugh?
Answer: Evans formulated and executed his escape scheme smartly. He succeeded in fooling us until the tale was finished. He left fake clues to confuse the officers who were pursuing him. Just as the governor raised a sigh of relief after nabbing him at the hotel in Golden Lion, Evans secretly prepared and executed another escape route. It was forged the prison officer and the van that the governor used to transfer Evans back to the prison. The Governor was delighted that he was eventually able to track him down using his German intellect and expertise. Evans had expected a move forward though. Evans has certainly had a well deserved last laugh with his quick escape.
Ques: When Stephens comes back to the cell he jumps to a conclusion and the whole machinery blindly goes by his assumption without even checking the identity of the injured ‘McLeery’. Does this show how hasty conjectures can prevent one from seeing the obvious? How is the criminal able to predict such negligence?
Answer: Stephens found McLerry bleeding profusely inside the cell upon his return. He raised an alarm, claiming the man he had accompanied to the gate to be Evans and not McLeery. None of the official staff attempted to test whether this McLeery was the correct one. No one asked how he knew the plot, as the bleeding McLeery tried to help police track down Evans. Later, when Governor nabbed Evans and sent him off to jail with the corrections officers, he didn't realize that he didn't know this man. It was soon unearthed that Evan's own men were the officers who helped him escape again. And it's sure that the gullible officials in a jiffy made speculations that amounted to their incompetence.
On the opposite, a criminal plotter makes a foolproof scheme that takes care of the intricacies and does not make hasty assumptions. He 's got contingency plans set. Often, the mind of a criminal is observant enough for the officials to foresee any potential neglect. During his prison stay, Evans too would have noticed these easily, and prepared accordingly.
Ques: What could the Governor have done to securely bring back Evans to the prison when he caught him at the Golden Lion? Does that final act of foolishness really prove that “he was just another good-for-a-giggle, gullible governor, that was all”?
Answer: He would have been extra careful in sending him back to jail at the Golden Lion when the governor arrested Evans. If he knew Evan 's location, he should have brought more police officers along with him. Also, given that Evans had successfully fooled them earlier, he should not have taken chances by sending him into a van with just a few police officers whom he apparently did not know. As a result, Evans escaped again with ease. Ideally, the Governor himself should have accompanied Evans. But this final act of foolishness proved really that "he was just another good-for-a-giggle, gullible king, that was all."
Ques: While we condemn the crime, we are sympathetic to the criminal. Is this the reason why prison staff often develops a soft corner for those in custody?
Answer: 'Crime' and 'criminals' are usually considered interchangeable. But when we see criminal suffering or completing his sentence, our perspective shifts. That is what happens to staff in jail. They unconsciously grow a soft corner for him in their hearts, when they see a criminal struggling in the prison. They look at him as a human being and not simply as a suspect. We growing to consider and value their intellectual capacity, instead of just recalling their crime.
In the novel, after realizing he considered it his lucky charm, Jackson lets Evans keep his cap. Evans knew about Jackson's emotional side and therefore explicitly hit it through his talk about "lucky charm," and managed to fool the stern and realistic officer. Even when he caught him in the house, the governor could not help recognizing his intelligence. And, with Evans, he wasn't harsh or strict and, sadly, took him leniently.
Ques: Do you agree that between crime and punishment it is mainly a battle of wits?
Answer: The stronger side wins in any battle; and that power may be physical or mental. However, after reading the story we can infer that it's mostly a war of wits between crime and punishment. Wins are the hand that outsmarts the other. It's not just a suspect that gets disciplined. In the story given, although well trained, the clever Evans, who managed to escape right under their nose, easily fooled the police officials.
