NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Chapter 1 The Lament

Ans : The protagonist of the story, Iona Potapav is in deep grief, the reason being his son's unexpected demise. As a general human characteristic, he also wants to talk about the hardship that he is facing, what all he felt through the entire event, but he's unable to find someone to vent out. He wants to share the flood of emotions that he has been storing inside him. But the problem resides in the fact that the people that he's surrounded by, are either in a hurry being the passengers wanting to reach the destination or are simply not interested in giving an ear to him. So whenever Iona starts sharing about the death of his son, he's ignored by everyone. Finding no other resort, Iona shared everything to his horse. 

Ans : Iona, the protagonist of the story, is a cab driver. After the sudden death of his son, he is miserable and he wants to share his feelings but he's unable to find a person to vent out. He wants someone to hear about the loss that he has been suffering but it's observed that everyone is either busy or uninterested thus he becomes a miserable figure and in the end shares everything with his horse. In the starting of the story, it's explained that how unaware he has become of his surroundings that even the snow wasn't bothering him, all he was looking for was an individual to hear about everything that has been happening with him. He also states that death came to his son instead of him. So after the loss of his son, he has turned into a miserable man who finds earning a living difficult and is looking for support in every individual he comes across. 

Ans : Iona just wanted someone to hear about all the grief that he has been suffering from. He started talking to everyone that he came across but the problem was that no individual was either interested nor anyone had the time to hear what he was saying. Everyone was just focused on getting out to their own ways. He wanted to talk about everything, the way he died, how he went to collect the clothes of his dead son, how he has been feeling, but he was unable to find someone. This was the time when he resorted to telling everything to his horse. The horse being true to his master listens to everything and breathed over the master's hand, comforting in his own way. 

Ans : This is completely true that modern society is going out from empathy and understanding. Nowadays people are present for one another only if they are receiving anything in reciprocal. No one keeps others first to his personal self. The feelings of empathy and understanding are bygones now and no individual pays attention to hearing the problems of others. Humans are just becoming the mechanised units of fulfilling own desires without considering the other person's feelings. The sharing of grief for the motive of reducing it has just become a mere saying and no one is available to pay attention to the sufferings of others. All they live for is themselves, and the values and morals are depleting. 

Ans : Human being always has two sides, a professional one and the personal one. It is usually observed that the professional side of the individual's personality is kept stern no matter now weak or wrecking the individual is on the personal front. Every individual holds back a story they don't share with everyone. Similar was the case with Iona, he had just lost his young son and was in deep grief in search of someone to share his feelings but despite all this, he had to work because earning a living is more important. He kept looking in every passenger, a listener to his woes, but he couldn't find one. Thus, behind his face of a cab driver was a father who had just lost his son and was worried about the situation, but a balance between the two has to be kept.