Question

Describe Meena's character.

Hint:

When asked to describe a character, collect all the adjectives and descriptive phrases used for that person in the passage. Synthesize these points into a coherent paragraph to form your answer.

Answer 1

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The task requires us to describe the personality and character traits of Meena, based on the information given in the passage.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The passage provides several clues about Meena's character:
- Unhappy and Depressed: The text says, "She was forever unhappy" and "Whenever I met her, I would start to feel depressed."
- Negative and Pessimistic: She "never had anything positive to say". When told about a beautiful girl, Meena's reaction is "pessimistic", predicting the girl will become ugly.
- Cynical and Belittling: Her "gloom and cynicism had a way of spreading to others." She belittles Rakesh's achievement by attributing it to his father being a teacher.
- Habit of Complaining: She complains about the sun being too hot for a walk and questions the health benefits of walking. The passage concludes that she "had the habit of complaining about anything and everything."
- Well-off but discontent: Despite being an LIC officer with a "good salary", she remains unhappy.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Meena is a character who is perpetually unhappy and negative, despite having a good job and salary. Her core traits are pessimism and cynicism. She has a habit of complaining about everything and never has anything positive to say about any person or situation. She tends to belittle the achievements of others and finds fault in everything, such as complaining about a beautiful day being too hot. Her constant gloominess has a depressing effect on those around her.