An artist's story

Augustus was lying in bed because he was very ill. A big man came to his room, and Augustus thought he was a doctor who came to see him. Augustus told the man that he was a painter and he couldn’t make money from his drawings. He decided to stay in bed and never to rise again. The stranger wasn’t a doctor, but he was from a furniture shop who came to take the bed away because it wasn’t paid for.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1- What did Augustus think the stranger was?

* He thought he was a doctor sent by a so-called friend to save him.

2- What was Augustus job?
* He was an artist who paints pictures and draws drawings.

3- What was wrong with Augustus?
* He failed his job and decided to take to his bed.

4- 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.

5- When did he get a prize for a drawing?
* At the age of seven.

6- What was that drawing about?
* It was a drawing of a cat thought to represent sunset over London.

7- What did he paint when he started his work?
* He painted eleven pictures of his face.

8- Why did he decide to stop painting people?
* Because nobody wanted his pictures and nobody came to him to have their pictures painted.

9- 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.

10- What did he start doing to paint for money?
* He started to draw funny drawings and sent them to newspapers.

11- What made him decide to forget his soul and paint for money?
* Because he had little money and was almost hungry.

12- How did he test his drawings?

* On the cat. He placed his drawings on a line and carried the cat along.

13- What made him test his drawings on the cat?

* According to the expression “funny enough to make the cat laugh”.

14- What was the result for drawing for newspapers?

* He just got his drawings back.

15- What did he turn to after the failure of his drawings for newspapers?

* He turned to draw for advertisements.

16- What did he receive in return for his drawings, which he sent to advertising agencies?

* Some samples bottles and some wool.

17- What was his last decision?

* To take to his bed and never rise again.

18- 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.

19- How does Augustus describe his friends?

* As interfering and so-called friends.


20- 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.

21- 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.

22- Why does Augustus describe selling his drawings as “Selling his soul”?

* Because he considers selling his drawings against the principles of a true artist.

23- Why did he get bottles and wool in the post?

* In return for his drawings which he sent to advertising agencies.

24- 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.

25- 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.

26- 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

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QUOTATIONS

1- “You are the doctor, I suppose.”

a) Who to whom?0
b) By whom did the speaker think s/he was sent?0
c) Why did the other man come?

2- “If I had had the soul of a true artist, I would have died rather than do such thing.”

a) What thing would a true artist never do?0
b) Why was the writer obliged to do that thing?0
c) Did he succeed in doing it?0

“I soon found that selling one’s soul for money is not so easy as it sounds”

a) How did the writer sell his soul?0
b) Why wasn’t easy for him to do so?0
c) What did he gain in return?0

[b]“I had often heard the expression “funny enough to make the cat laugh”.

a) How did he try to make the cat laugh?0
b) Why did he do so?0
c) What happened to the cat?0


a) Who to whom?0
b) Why would the listener think of the speaker so severely?0
c) Why did the speaker do so?0

“So I gave up the struggle. My heart was brokenr

a) Why did Augustus give up the struggle?0
b) What was his last decision?0

What made the stranger sure that the decision wouldn’t be carried out