Summary of The Portrait of a Lady Class 11
Class 11 English has a chapter based on a true story written by Khushwant Singh. In the first chapter of the book, the author describes her grandmother and his relationship with her. He has beautifully penned down what she did all day when she was old. The description of her appearance in the prose piece is remarkable. It shows how niftily the author has drawn a character with his words.
To understand the chapter well enough, use The Portrait of a Lady Class 11 Summary prepared by the top experts of Vedantu. This chapter has beautiful explanations of many things you need to understand. The context of this prose piece should be properly analyzed so that you can answer the questions properly. The Portrait of a Lady Summary Class 11 has been formatted in a simple language enabling you to read it and get hold of what the author wants us to understand. This will help you score well in the exams.
Introduction
The summary of The Portrait of a Lady is based on the author's grandmother's true story. The author's name is Kushwant Singh. He informs us about his youth with his grandmother. The summary of this story tells you about the writer's relationship with his grandma. This synopsis includes all of the beautiful and poignant moments. It will inform you about the writer's beautiful relationship with his grandmother.
Summary: The Portrait of a Lady
The author begins the narrative with a well-embraced account of his grandma. He remembers his grandmother as a small and healthy woman with a slight hunch. Her silver hair was strewn across her aged face in a haphazard manner. She used to stroll around the entire house dressed in white. Her one hand was resting on her waist, while the other was telling the beads of her rosary.
The writer regards her as not very attractive but always gorgeous. He compares her serene expression to the winter scenery. During their extended stay in the hamlet, She used to rouse him from bed in the early morning, plaster his wooden slate, prepare his breakfast, and send him to school.
She used to feed the stale chapatis to the street dogs on their way back home. When they moved to the city, it marked a watershed moment to their lovely relationship. His grandma could no longer accompany him to school. Now, the writer started to ride a school bus to the city school and study courses like English, Physics, Mathematics, and many more that his grandma could not grasp.
She was dissatisfied with the municipal school's lack of instruction on God and the Bible. He was instead given music lessons but his grandmother said nothing.
When the writer went to university, he was given his room at his residence. This played the biggest role in severing the close bond between him and his grandmother. She no longer spoke to anyone in the home. She spent a lot of time sitting with her spinning wheel, praying to God. She fed the sparrows in the afternoon.
When the writer moved for higher studies to another country, his grandma was unconcerned. She saw him off at the airport. The writer was worried that seeing her at this age may be his last contact with her. But when he returned home after a 5-year absence, his grandma was there to greet him, and he witnessed her rejoice on his return.
She became unwell the next morning. Despite the doctor's assurance that it was only a little fever that would pass quickly, she could sense that her time to depart this world was approaching. She didn't want to waste her time conversing with anyone.
She went to her bed and prayed and spoke the beads till her lips stopped moving and the rosary slipped from her lifeless fingers. Thousands of sparrows swooped in and sat scattered about her corpse to mourn her passing. When the elderly lady's body was brought away for the final rites, all the sparrows fluttered away without making a sound.
Conclusion
To summarise The Portrait Of A Lady, the writer and his grandma had a wonderful relationship and adored each other. The story depicts how lovely a friendship may develop between a grandchild and his grandma. In this way, it perfectly expresses how strong familial bonds and bonds of love are, and how distance split them apart even while their hearts were connected. Probably this is why despite being so old, the grandmother was able to survive one more day with her grandson by her side before passing away.
FAQs on The Portrait of a Lady Summary: A Story by Khushwant Singh
Q1. How was the Relationship Between the Author and his Grandmother?
In Class 11 The Portrait of a Lady Summary, the poet was fond of her grandmother as he remembers how she took care of him.
Q2. How did the Author Describe his Grandmother?
The Summary of Chapter The Portrait of a Lady Class 11 suggests that the author described his grandmother as an old and weak woman with white hair and a wrinkled face.
Q3. What did the Author Miss About his Grandmother?
As per Class 11 English The Portrait of a Lady Summary, the author missed how she took care of him when he was a kid.
4. What are the main themes of the story?
The themes can be understood to be spread across different stages of the author’s life. During childhood, innocence, adoration, and love between the pair of grandmother and grandson form the main themes. However, during the author’s time in the city, the two were bound by themes of disconnect and unfamiliarity. Lastly, after his return from abroad, the main theme seems to be the sense of reunion and a bittersweet finality.
5. What was the main reason for the severing of the bond between the author and his grandmother?
The first instance was when they moved to the city, where their entire lives and their routine changed. Their topics of discussion and conversation were also reduced due to the change in subjects taught at his school. The second instance was when he went abroad for his studies, with his grandmother reluctantly but lovingly sending him off.
