A young Turkish catastrophe 

GLOSSARY

 

. Fine Arts visual art like drawing, painting, dancing etc.

.Etiquette the rule of polite and correct behavior

. Discoursed talked

. Marathon Race a long distance running race

. Constitution a basic laws or rules of a country or organization

. Crescent half moon

. Persuade to make somebody believe something

. Opponent competitor who belongs to different party

. Triumphantly something done in victorious and proud manner

. Constituents voters

. Murmured to say something in a low voice

. Extempore spoken, done or written without any prior

. preparation or thought

. Verses writing in which words are arranged in a rhythmic

. pattern

. Orthodox closely following the old, traditional beliefs etc.

 

OBJECTIVE TYPE QUESTIONS

 

▪ What was the recent addition to the Department of the Minister for Fine Arts?

ANS- The sub-section of Electoral Engineering was the recent addition to the Department of the Minister of Fine Arts.

 

▪ What was the symbol of the Young Turkish Party?

ANS- Crescent was the symbol of the Young Turkish Party.

 

▪ To which party did the Turkish government belonged?

ANS- It belonged to the Young Turkish Party.

 

▪ Who seemed to be the winner at the initial stage of the poll?

ANS- The candidate of the Young Turkish Party.

▪ Who was the candidate of the Young Turkish’s rival?

ANS- Ali, the Blest was the rival.

 

▪ How many wives did the Young Turkish candidate have?

ANS- One wife.

 

▪ Who won the election?

ANS- Ali, the Blest won the election.

 

▪ What idea, according to the Minister, is seriously being considered in the West?

ANS- The idea whether women should have right to vote is being considered in the west.

 

▪ Can you guess what the New Turkish Constitution was modelled after?

ANS- It was modelled after the Western custom.

 

▪ Who was leading in the poll and by how much?

ANS- The candidate of the Young Turkish Party was leading in the poll by a majority of three or four hundred votes.

 

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

 

➢ Does the Grand Vizier seem to be enthusiastic about the New Constitution?

ANS- The Grand Vizier does not seem enthusiastic about the New Constitution. He is surprised at it and calls it ridiculous.

 

➢ Why does he think that women should not be allowed to vote?

ANS- He thinks that women have neither souls nor intelligence. So it would be stupid to allow them to vote.

 

➢ Who won the election? What was the secret of his success?

ANS- Ali, the Blest won the election. He arrived at the polling station with six hundred women folk who had voted for him. He walked home triumphantly with his voters. This was the secret of his success.

 

➢ Why did the Young Turkish candidate not follow Ali’s example?

ANS- He did not follow Ali’s example because he was leading his life on western values and following the western custom of one wife.

 

➢ Bring out the fun and humour in the story ‘A Young Catastrophe’.

ANS- The story contains conflicting ideas of eastern and western culture and values, ironical statements, short witty sayings and sudden turn of events. These elements make it full of fun and humour.

 

 

AUTHOR- H.H.MUNRO (SAKI)

 

❑ ‘Saki’ is the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro or H.H. Munro, a British writer known for his Short Stories.

 

❑ Born in Burma in 1870.

 

❑ He was a soldier and satirist.

 

❑ Frequent contributor to many Britain’s Newspapers and Magazines.

 

❑ In 1908, settled in London, writing Short Stories and Political Sketches.

 

❑ Served as a Foreign Correspondent in Russia, the Balkans and Paris.

 

❑ Joined the British Armed Forces as a regular trooper.

 

❑ Died in France during World War I in November 1916, by German sniper fire.

 

ABOUT THE TITLE

 

▪ The short story ‘A Young Turkish Catastrophe’ was originally published in 1910.

 

▪ Taken from Saki’s ‘Complete Short Stories’ collection.

 

▪Characterized by its epigrammatic brilliance and its ‘surprise ending’.

 

▪ In ‘A Young Turkish Catastrophe’ we have the theme of governance, inequality, power, self- importance and control.

 

▪ Vizier’s bias attitude against the idea of women having right to vote brings him to a catastrophe.

 

▪ This story is about an election contest and the unexpected defeat of the Young Turkish Party.

 

▪ It changes victory into defeat.

 

▪ The huge polling by veiled women– Ali’s supporters, cause a disaster.

 

SUMMARY

 

The Minister for Fine Arts paid a business visit to the Grand Vizier. According to Eastern etiquette, they discoursed for a while on indifferent subjects. The Minister made no reference to the Marathon Race, remembering that the Vizier had a Persian grandmother and might consider any allusion to Marathon as somewhat tactless. After a short time, he asked if women to have votes under the new constitution. The Vizier was astonished at it and said that women had neither soul nor intelligence. So it would be stupid to allow them to votes. The Minister said that they were seriously considering the idea in the west. The Vizier said that they must be more serious. He did not consider women to be the equal of men due to their inability to read or write. So they could not perform the operation of voting. The Minister said that they could be shown the names of the candidates and the place where to put a cross. Later he meant the crescent mark which the Young Turkish Party would like. However the Minister did manage to persuade the Vizier to allow women to vote. The poll was drawing to a close in the Lakoumistan division. The candidate of the Young Turkish Party was leading in the poll by the majority of three or four hundred votes. He appeared to be so confident that he would win the election that he was preparing his acceptance speech. His victory was almost certain because he had set in motion all the approved electioneering machinery of the west. He had employed motor-cars, the drivers of which had seriously hurt many of his opponents and disabled them to cast. But the things did not go as expected for the candidate from the Young Turkish Party. The rival candidate, Ali the Blest, arrived at the polling station with his wives and women-folk. The candidate for Young Turkish Party learnt very quickly that he had no chance of winning. Though Ali, the Blest had done nothing wrong but took advantage of the circumstances he found himself in. His victory was a surprise to the Young Turkey Party who had only one wife and lived his life based on western values. As Ali walked home triumphantly, with his constituents, he (the candidate) murmured the extempore verses of the orthodox poet of Persia, on the advantages of having many wives.