Chapter – 5

Footprints without Feet

In this post, we have given the Important Questions of chapter 5 “Footprints without Feet”. It is the 5th chapter of the Class 10th English.

Board	CBSE Board, UP Board, JAC Board, HBSE Board, UBSE Board, PSEB Board, RBSE Board
Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class 10
Subject	English Footprints without Feet
Chapter no.	Chapter 5
Chapter Name	Footprints without Feet
Category	Class 10 English Important Questions
Medium	English

Chapter 5 Footprints Without Feet

Question 1. How did the invisible man first become visible?

Answer: The invisible man (Griffin) first became visible after he slipped into a big London store for keeping warm and overslept there while wearing some clothes taken from the store. The clothes made him visible to the shop assistants when the shop opened in the morning. To escape from them, he had to shed all his clothes to become invisible again.

Question 2. Why was he wandering the streets?

Answer: Though he was a brilliant scientist, he was a lawless person. His landlord disliked him and wanted to evict Griffin. In revenge, he set fire to the house. To escape, he removed his clothes, becoming invisible. Thus he became homeless and was wandering the streets of London.

Question 3. Why does Mrs Hall find the scientist eccentric?

Answer: Mrs Hall found the scientist eccentric

because of his strange appearance and also, when she tried to be friendly with him, he rebuffed her by saying that he hacLcome there for solitude and did not wish to be disturbed in his work.

Question 4. What curious episode occurs in the study?

Answer: Very early one morning, a clergyman and his wife were awakened by noises coming from their study. Then they heard the sound of coins being taken from the desk there. However, when they entered the study, they did not find anybody there, which was curious.

Question 5. What other extraordinary things happen at the inn?

Answer: At the inn, Mrs Hall and her husband went into the scientist’s room on finding its door open. However, he was not seen in the room, but Mrs Hall heard a sniff and the hat on the bedpost leapt up and dashed into her face. Then the bedroom chair sprang into the air and pushed them both out of the room. This made Mrs Hall think that her furniture was haunted.

Answer the following Questions

Question 1. Why did the landlord want to eject Griffin? Why did Griffin set the house on fire?

Answer. Though Griffin was a brilliant scientist, the landlord wanted to eject him from his house because of his whimsical activities. Griffin set the house on fire to take his revenge on the landlord.

Question 2. What did Griffin, the scientist, do to escape after setting the fire to the house of his landlord?

Answer. Griffin, the scientist removed his clothes, became invisible and got away without being seen. He became a homeless wanderer without clothes, without money and quite invisible.

Question 3. What did Griffin decide to try the second time? What did he hope to find?

Answer. Griffin decided to try the stock of theatrical company. He hoped to find clothes that would hide the empty space above his shoulders. He wore bandages round his forehead. He also wore dark glasses and a false nose.

Question 4. Give a character sketch of Griffin, the invisible scientist.

Answer. The invisible scientist was a brilliant scientist who misused his scientific discovery and became a lawless person. He started enjoying harming people. When his landlord tried to catch him, in revenge, Griffin set fire to the house.

Question 5. How do you assess Griffin as a scientist?

Answer. Griffin was a brilliant scientist. He invented some drugs and made himself as an invisible man. But he misused his scientific discovery and became a lawless person. Griffin was thus not a true scientist.

Question 6. How did Griffin enjoy himself inside a big London store?

Answer. Griffin slipped into a big London store to save himself from the unbearable cold. He drank and wore warm clothes. He found cold meat, coffee and sweets there. At last, he slept on a pile of quilts and enjoyed himself.

Question 7. What extraordinary things happened at the inn?

Answer. The landlord and his wife found the scientist’s door open. The scientist was missing. Suddenly, Mrs. Hall heard a sniff and saw the hat on the bedpost leapt up. The chair in the room started moving automatically. These things made people furious.

Question 8. Why did Mrs. Hall find the scientist eccentric?

Answer. Mrs. Hall found the scientist eccentric because he had arrived at the inn in winter, which was an unusual time for any visitor to arrive there. His appearance was that of a stranger. He did not like to speak to Mrs. Hall, rather he wanted to be left alone undisturbed.

Question 9. What did the Halls see in the scientist’s room?

Answer. On seeing the door of the scientist’s room open, the Halls went inside to investigate. They saw that the bed clothes were cold, his clothes and bandages were lying loose in the room. Suddenly, they heard a sniffing sound although they could no one in the room. The Halls got terrified and decided to leave the room.

Think About It

Question 1. “Griffin was rather a lawless person.” Comment.

Answer: Griffin was not bothered if he had harmed anybody in the fulfilment of what he wanted. He set his landlord’s house on fire because the landlord tried to make him leave. Then his robberies at shops and later in the village indicate that he was a lawless person. When he encountered the landlady of the inn, he threw a chair at her and her husband. Lawless persons like Griffin never think about the safety and well-being of others. They are only concerned about themselves.

Question 2. How would you assess Griffin as a scientist?

Answer: Griffin is a brilliant scientist, as he discovers how to make himself invisible. But he seems to enjoy the feeling of power which he gets out of his invisibility. The power to hurt anybody without getting noticed can give sadistic pleasure to some people. A true scientist should make discoveries for the larger benefit of society, not just for his own benefit.

Talk About It

Question 1. Would you like to become invisible? What advantages and disadvantages do you foresee, if you did?

Answer: It can be an exciting idea for most people. Like two facets of a coin, invisibility can have many advantages and disadvantages. For a child, invisibility may mean a licence for all kinds of pranks without getting caught. Like a Hindi movie, invisibility can help you beat all the villains black and blue and get rid of them. Once you become invisible, nobody would notice you. Within no time, the sadness of isolation will take over the excitement of being invisible. You will have no friend. You will tend to behave like the eccentric scientist in this story.

Question 2. Are there forces around us that are invisible, for example, magnetism? Are there aspects of matter that are ‘invisible1 or not visible to the naked eye? What would the world be like if you could see such forces or such aspects of matter?

Answer: Magnetic forces and electrostatic forces are examples of invisible forces. The atoms and molecules in a matter are so small that they are not visible to the naked eye. Similarly, heat energy is invisible. Similarly, sound is invisible to us. While the idea of seeing invisible things can be very exciting, their visibility would create too many problems. For example, if we are able to see all the sound around us, that would be too irritating for us.

Question 3. What makes glass or water transparent (what is the scientific explanation for this)? Do you think it would be scientifically possible for a man to become invisible, or transparent? (Keep in mind that writers of science fiction have often turned out to be prophetic in their imagination)

Answer: The fact that light can pass through glass or water makes them transparent. When light falls on an object, the reflected light from that object makes it visible to us. If some device can be made which can prevent reflection of light from the human body then the human body can be made invisible.

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