An Artist's Story

An Artist's story

QUESTIONS AND ANSWER

1- What did Augustus think the stranger was?
* He thought he was a doctor sent by a so-called friend to save him.
2- Why did he think the stranger was a doctor?
He was disheartened so he thought a so-called friend sent him a doctor to save him

3- What was Augustus' job?
* He was an artist who paints pictures and draws drawings.
4- What was wrong with Augustus?
* He failed his job and decided to take to his bed.
5- What was the prize, he received, for?
It was for a drawing of an animal.

6- What chance did his parents give him?
* They provided him with plenty of pencils and papers and gave him the chance of studying under great painters.
7- When did he get a prize for a drawing?
* At the age of seven.
8- What was that drawing about?
* It was a drawing of a cat thought to represent sunset over London.
9- What did he paint when he started his work?
* He painted eleven pictures of his face.
10- Why did he decide to stop painting people?

* Because nobody wanted his pictures and nobody came to him to have their pictures painted.

11-What made Augustus’s parents help him to be a painter?
* They thought he was really talented

12- What did he decide to paint after deciding not to paint people?
* He decided to paint the country; and painted nine pictures of the view from his back window and seven pictures from the front window.

13- What did he start doing to paint for money?
* He started to draw funny drawings and sent them to newspapers.
14- What made him decide to forget his soul and paint for money?
* Because he had little money and was almost hungry.
15- How did he test his drawings?
* On the cat. He placed his drawings on a line and carried the cat along.
16- What made him test his drawings on the cat?
* For he had heard the expression “funny enough to make the cat laugh”.
17- What was the result for drawing for newspapers?
* He just got his drawings back.
18- What did he turn to after the failure of his drawings for newspapers?
* He turned to draw for advertisements.
19- What did he receive in return for his drawings, which he sent to advertising agencies?

* Some samples of bottles and some wool.

20-To what extent was he successful in painting the country?
* He failed in that field and no one wanted his works
21-How did he feel when he decided to paint for money?
* He felt that he was selling his soul
22-What did he paint after drawing for the newspapers?
* He drew for advertisements
23-What was his last decision?
* He decided to take to his bed and never to rise again
24-How did the stranger find Augustus?
 * He found him very weak, desperate and in low spirits
25-Why did he fail in painting people?
 * He wasn’t really talented.
26-Why did the stranger try to interrupt Augustus all the time?
 * To tell him that he was not a doctor and that he came to take the bed
27-Why did the stranger take the bed?
* Because it was not paid for
28-How did Augustus leave his bed?
* The stranger put him down on the carpet

29-Did Augustus have a wife and children? What could have happened if he had a wife and children?
 * He didn't have a wife or children. If he had had, they would have been crying for bread.

30- In your opinion, why could Augustus not sell any of his paintings?
* Because from the age of seven he drew with one meaning and people saw in his drawings quite another thing. So, he developed into a self- centered depressed painter

31- By whom was he taken from his bed? Why?
* The man carried him from his bed and placed him on the carpet. The man came to take the bed back as it was not paid for.
32- Do you think the reader should feel sympathy for Augustus, or not? Give reasons?
* The reader should feel sympathy because he failed his job and lost hope in his life. Or …….
33- How did Augustus describe his friends?
* As interfering and so-called friends.
34- Why do you think that Augustus business as a painter of people didn’t do well?
* Because he only painted drawings of his own face.
35- When Augustus turned from painting people to paining the country, why do you think that he couldn’t sell any of his paintings?
* Because he only painted the view from his back and front window.
36- Why did Augustus describe selling his drawings as “Selling his soul”?
* Because he considered selling his drawings against the principles of a true artist.
37- Why did he get bottles and wool in the post?
* In return for his drawings which he sent to advertising agencies.
38- Do you think that Augustus has a good reason for never rising from his bed?
* I don’t think so. He mustn’t give up hope and continue his business.
39- Why is the man from the furniture shop certain that Augustus will rise again from his bed?
* Because he has come to take the bed away because it hasn’t been paid for.
40- Why did the visitor want to interrupt Augustus?
* To tell him that he wasn’t a doctor but he came from the furniture shop to take the bed away.