1.
Character sketches
A. The Governor:
The Governor of the prison was smart,
efficient and an intelligent fellow. He was taking all the precautions for
Evans’ O Level exam. In spite of all it was his overconfidence that gave scope
to Evans to escape from the jail.
He was hyper vigilant. He looked at the
security management personally. He got Evans cell bugged. Althe time he was
listening to their conversation still he was be fooled.
All the time he got the feeling that
something is wrong. When Evans could not understand the basic German expression
‘Guten Gluck’ he could anticipate Evans was not really interested in learning
German. Still he neglected him.
He was intelligent enough to suspect the
genuineness of the call made by the exam department. So, he made a return call
to confirm it. But he found it engaged.
He was alert enough to think of checking
the invigilator suspecting he may carry some kind of weapon that Evans may use
against poor Mcleery.
He was proud to know little German that
allowed him to decipher the meaning of the message passed on to Evans and track
him to the hotel Golden Lions.
Indeed he gets fooled again by Evans at the
end of the story when Evans finally drove away with his friends leaving no clue
behind.
B. Jackson:
He was the senior prison officer of D wing
in Oxford Prison. He and Jackson were warm enemies. They always keep on
taunting each other. He was a tough officer at the surface level but with a
soft corner buried deep in his heart. He could not say no when Evans insisted
on keeping the hat with him.
He was alert and dutiful. He managed to
take away everything from Evans on the evening before Evans exam.
C. Stephens:
He was one of the officers who were in
charge of D wing. He was a newly recruited officer there. He was very
particular about showing his efficiency before higher authorities. He was glad when
governor chose him to accompany McLeery to the prison gate instead of Jackson.
He was alert enough peeping into the prison
hole to check Evans in every minutes. But later on he found it little childish
and gave time to Evans to change his dress.
He was a keen observer. He could notice
McLeery getting thin while leaving. He also noted his broad Scottish accent but
out of pride and joy of receiving Governors call he neglected it. And open the
pavement for Evans escape.
D. Evans:
The most important and interesting
character of the story. He holds the grip of readers’ interest. He was the
antagonistic character of the story. The Governor considered him as a peaceful
and pleasant sort of fellow who was good at imitation. He had no charge of
violence against him. He was just a congenital kleptomaniac.
He was very clever, smart and intelligent.
He could easily influence anyone. This we see in several instances of the
story. He made friendship with the tutor and impressed the receptionist too.
Even hard hearted Jackson felt compassionate for him.
He
was known as ‘Evans the break’. So, everyone was just carefully dealing with
him. Still, he was tactful enough to deceive intelligent governor and all other
prison officers. Despite of having a strict security system in the prison he
easily escaped from the jail. The funniest part is in each time he was escorted
by the officers themselves.
2.
Evans and his friends carrying out the escape of Evans very
successfully and meticulously:
Evans was a youth of deep intellect,
planning, resourcefulness, wit and wisdom. So, despite the heavy security and
strict precautions Evans was able to devise a foolproof plan for his escape. He
starts learning German and is permitted to appear for O level test in a
well-guarded cell.
There were certain serious lapses which
proved to be boon for Evans. Firstly, the prison officers did not verify the
credentials of the German teacher. So, he proved to be a great link between
Evans and his friends.
Secondly, the prisoner Evans had long hair
so he had to clip it short for carrying out his plan of impersonating Mcleery.
But the prison officials took away his nail-scissors and nail-file. It took him
a long time to get his hair short with a blade. So, he wore a bobble hat to
hide his short hair under it. Mr. Jackson asked to remove the hat but Evans
requested that it was his lucky charm and took advantage of Jackson’s
compassionate heart.
The friends of Evans overpowered McLerry
and one of them impersonated him and worked as an invigilator. He brought with
him extra clerical paraphernalia for Evans. There was a semi-inflated rubber
ring with a pig blood and he pretended to use it for sitting due to pile’s
pain.
The correction-slip in the examination
helped Evan to know the exact time of paper and it gave a clue for the name of
the hotel. The prison van was also made available giving a hoax call and it was
needed by a magistrate office. Through a hoax call, Stephens was removed from
the cell for a few minutes before the end of the examination. Evans took the
prison officials in by pretending to be injured McLeery. Evans acted too
swiftly to get into the police van. Thus the plan was very successfully carried
out to escape.
3.
Evans having the last laugh:
Ans. Having the last laugh means to be successful
and making the opponent stupid. Here the phrase finds a suitable place in the
story. We can see that the Governor initiates all precautionary measures for
the smooth conduct of the examination and ensure that Evans won’t escape. He
arranges for a microphone in the cell of Evans and appoints two Police Officers
for his vigil. And in spite of all his toil, Evans has the last laugh. His cell
is thoroughly searched and it is reported that nothing is hidden there. Still
Evans is able to hide a false beard, a pair of spectacles, a dog collar and
some sort of weapon that has hurt McLerry. Further McLeery is found securely
bound and gagged in his study. It becomes clear that Evans has been
impersonating McLerry who had stayed in. Even after his arrest at a hotel The
Golden Lion, the Governor could not bring him back to the cell. He had some
good friends who helped his escape. In examination and police department he had
close friends who arranged things for him. With his intelligence and the help
of his friends, Evans was able to have the last laugh in the story.
4.
Home work:
1)
How Carter helped Evans to
escape?
2)
Describe precautions taken by
the prison officers.
3)
What purpose did question paper
and the correction slip serve?
4)
What were the content of the
suitcase?
5)
Who was actual McLeery? How was
he found?
6)
What could governor have done
to securely bring back Evans?
7)
How was injured McLeery able to
befool prison officers.
No comments:
Post a Comment