The Miser-George Orwell [SUMMARY]

 

01.How does Roucolle become a victim of his own greed?

The story, ‘The Miser’ is selected from George Orwell’s autobiographical book ‘Down and out in Paris and London’. In the present story Orwell narrates the story of seventy-four years old miser, Roucolle. The moral of the story is man;s gullible nature and greed. Like many misers, Roucolle came to a bad end through putting his money into a wildcat scheme

One day, during his stay in Paris, George Orwell meets Charlie in his quarter. In this meeting Charlie tells another fascinating tale about the death of a popular miser Roucolle, who lived in the same quarter. According to him Roucolle was an interesting character with his queer qualities. He went to Les Halles market to pick up damaged vegetables and ate cat’s meat. Roucolle used to wear a newspaper and sack instead of clothes.

One day a young Jew, a smuggler, meets Roucolle in his quarter. He offers a chance to invest in a cocaine smuggling business. It was less difficult to smuggle cocaine into England. But Roucolle showed some interest but was unwilling to invest his money in the trade. Because of his miserliness it was very difficult for a young Jew and a young Pole, a student of Sorbonne University to convince him to invest the amount. Finally, after spending an inordinate amount of time he was convinced to spend 6,000 francs for the purchase of 10 pounds of cocaine. Pole also agreed to invest four thousand francs into the scheme.   Selling the cocaine in England would give Roucolle a big return on his investment.

Roucolle's procrastination (delaying) made the rumors of the drug deal to circulate throughout the neighborhood. The day after the cocaine was delivered, the police raided Roucolle's lodging-house. Roucolle and Pole were in agonies. The Pole threw the stuff out of the window. But Roucolle needed to hide the cocaine. In accordance with someone’s suggestion, he put the cocaine into emptied face powder tins. The police barged into Roucolle's room but didn't

find cocaine. Unfortunately, one police officer noticed the tins on the table and asked Roucolle. Out of fear, Roucolle made a loud groaning noise. As a result, the police arrested Roucolle and the Pole. Roucolle was beside himself at the police station. When the contents of the tins were analysed, they did in fact contain face powder, not cocaine. The Jew had double-crossed the two. The loss of his money broke Roucolle, and in a fortnight he was dead-of a broken heart.

02.Describe the story The Story –Teller? .

The story, ‘The Story- Teller’ written by Saki. Saki is the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, a witty and talented British writer best known for his short stories. The present story tells that not all stories end happily and the purpose of the stories is to entertain and educate.

The story opens in a railway carriage, also known as a train car. A woman is traveling with three small children: two girls and a boy. She is their aunt. The only other person in their car is an unrelated man, referred to as ''the bachelor.'' The children are very bored, and the aunt is trying unsuccessfully to keep them calm and quiet so that they do not bother the bachelor.

The children continually ask questions the aunt cannot answer to their satisfaction. One of the girls repeats the first line of a song (On the Road to Mandalay) over and over. The aunt can see that the bachelor is annoyed, and so

she tries to occupy the children by telling them a story. She tells them about a girl who is so good that everyone loves her, and they save her from a bull because she is so good and loved.

The aunt, however, is not a good storyteller, at least as far as the children are concerned. The bachelor agrees that her story was dumb, and she challenges him to tell a better one. The bachelor's story also stars a very good girl, but he describes her as ''horribly good,'' and the focus of his story is that being good gets the young girl killed.

The girl is so good that she is given three medals and allowed to walk in the prince's garden. In the garden there are many beautiful plants and animals, as well as dozens of pigs. There are, however, absolutely no sheep because of a prophecy that the prince might be killed by a sheep. A wolf enters the garden to try and catch a pig, but he sees the little girl first because her dress is so clean and white. She hides in myrtle bushes, but her medals clink together and give her away, and the wolf eats her.

The children on the train love this story, but the aunt is angry because she feels it sets a bad example. The bachelor gets off the train at Templecombe station He thinks that the children will assault (attack) their aunt in public with demands for an improper story.