NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Chapter 6 – Birth
Page No 70:
Question 1:
'I have done something; oh, God! I’ve done something real at last.' Why does Andrew say this? What does it mean?
Answer:
Andrew, the protagonist of the story Birth, utters these words as he is able to bring a still born child back to life which seemed impossible in the beginning. The child is born still to the wife of Joe Morgan. The child is the first child of the couple who has been married for nearly twenty years. The child is born under critical condition. Both the child and the mother are in critical condition requiring urgent attention. The nurse dumps the child thinking it to be still born.
Andrew takes care of the mother first and seeing her in the recovery path turns his attention to the child. Andrew pulls the child out. It is a perfectly formed boy. Its limp white body is white and soft. Its head is hanging loosely on the thin neck. Andrew at once understands that it is a case of asphyxia pallida. He orders the nurse to get him cold water and hot water and basins. He lays the child upon a blanket and begins the special method of respiration. Fifteen minutes passes but no breath comes from the body of the child. In sheer desperation, he rubs the child with a towel, crushes and relaxes the chest with both hands. Then a miracle happens. The little chest gives a short, convulsive heave and then another. Andrew redoubles his effort. The child is now gasping, deeper and still deeper. Then comes the child’s cry. He hands over the child to the nurse and climbs down the stair. He utters the quoted words out of deep satisfaction on achieving the seemingly impossible task.
It means that Andrew has been able to do something wonderful. He has been able to apply what ever he learnt in the medical textbooks and even beyond that. It is really a great achievement for Andrew. The above words mean that a doctor is a medium through which God or Almighty grants life to the patients. The miracle happened by the grace of the Almighty. Andrew acknowledges this fact in the above quoted words. These words bring home the fact that saving the life of a patient is the most coveted achievement of a doctor.
Question 2:
There lies a great difference between text book medicine and the world of practising physician. Discuss.
Answer:
There lies a great difference between text book medicine and the world of practising physician. Text book medicine is purely a Science whereas treating a patient is an art. The world of practising physician requires a different set of skills and knowledge. Text book medicine no doubt provides the conceptual framework for treatment but no doctor can treat a patient without the use of his or her intuitive practices. In the story Birth the way Andrew brings back life in the still born child is a testimony to this fact. The nurse at first dumps the child thinking it to be dead. But Andrews takes a chance and the miracle happens. He in the beginning applies his text book knowledge but the child does not recover. He doesnot lose heart. He applies his own intuitive method and the miracle then happened. Treatment is Science and beyond. It is both a science and an art. The story Birth is a realistic fiction. In other words, the elements of the story has been taken from real life experiences and woven in the fabric of fiction.
