NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 2 Say the Right Thing — Let us think and reflect

The correct option is C. She wants Mary to develop social skills for the future.

The key words are “One day” and “yourself”. Mrs. Shaw is looking ahead to a time when Mary will have to manage such visits alone, and she wants her to be ready for it.

The whole extract is about the manner of talking, not about making acquaintances. Mrs. Shaw's objection is precisely that Mary talks without judging what is worth saying: “You always talk too much. But does anyone want to hear the things that you say?”

Mary insisted because she was confident that she could talk as well as any grown-up and wanted to prove it to her mother.

• She had just declared, “I can talk now. I've been able to talk for a long time,” and, “I can talk very well when I like.”
• Her mother's doubt stung her pride, so she answered it with a challenge: “Let me stay today. I can do it very well. I'll show you. Anyone can talk.”
• She also disliked being sent away like a child — she had already protested, “I'm not a child!”

Mary says both halves herself: “I saw Mrs. Cotter this afternoon. I met her in the street,” and “No one sees her in the morning because she always stays in bed then.”

The correct option is B. She is unable to understand why people need medical help.

Mary's own words show it: “I can't understand women who stay in bed in the morning. And why must she always ask for the doctor? I've never been to a doctor in my life.” Because she has always been healthy, she assumes everyone else could be too, if only they tried.

Because she says so herself, in a single telling sentence: “I've never been to a doctor in my life.”

A girl who has never once needed a doctor has clearly never been seriously ill. That is also the source of her mistake — she measures everyone else by her own sturdy health and cannot imagine that another person may genuinely need rest or medical care.

True.

Mary criticised “women who stay in bed in the morning” — and Mrs. Harding immediately replied, “I stay in bed in the morning myself.” Mary had no idea she was describing her own guest; the offence was completely unintentional, and that is exactly what makes it funny and awkward at once.

Mary's comment reveals a narrow, dismissive and rather arrogant view of both.

• On his way of life — she mocks the daily commute: “He goes all the way to London by train every morning, and then he comes all the way back by train every night. He lives in trains! (she laughs) What kind of life is that? Why do people do things like that? They do not know how to live.”
• On his reading — “he reads two newspapers in the train every day. He never reads a book.” To her, newspapers are not real reading.
• On his profession — she reduces a whole occupation to one insult: “But he's only a banker, and bankers can't think.”

And the punishment is instant. Mrs. Lee answers: “My brother's a banker. He goes to London by train every morning and comes back every night. He reads two newspapers in the train in the morning, and another every night.” Mary can only say, “Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know.”

Mary understands polite conversation only as a set of phrases to be produced, not as a way of thinking about the person in front of her.

• She has memorised words, not the reason behind them. She repeats “Must you go? Can't you stay?” like a chant — and at the crucial moment produces it inside out: “Oh, must you stay? Can't you go?”
• She believes talking a lot is the same as talking well. “Anyone can talk.” She fills every silence, obeying her mother's instruction to keep the conversation going, without asking whether what she says is worth saying.
• She never considers her listener. She criticises people who might easily be a guest's family, friend, or pet — and discovers it every single time, too late.
• She confuses honesty with conversation. Everything she says may be true; almost none of it should have been said aloud in that room.
• She does apologise sincerely. “Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know” is repeated with genuine embarrassment — but an apology after the fact cannot undo the hurt.

The repeated “(No one speaks.)” / “(No one says anything.)” marks a room that has become tense, embarrassed and frozen.

• It measures the damage. Each silence follows a blunder — the children, the banker, the blue dress, the doctor, the talkative woman, the dog. The silence is the guests' only possible reply.
• It shows the guests' good manners. They are too polite to say what they are thinking, so they say nothing at all. That restraint is itself a comment on Mary.
• It builds the comedy. On the page, the little bracket after each speech acts like a drumbeat — blunder, silence; blunder, silence. The pattern is what makes the audience laugh.
• It shows Mrs. Shaw's effort failing. Her whole aim was that “if everyone stops talking, say something to make them talk again.” Every silence in Scene II was caused by Mary's attempt to do exactly that.
• It prepares the ending. The silences grow heavier until Mrs. Harding finally says, “It's getting a little late. We must go now.”

The honest conclusion: Her feelings change — from confidence to repeated embarrassment — but her behaviour never does. After every apology she begins a fresh topic and blunders again. The stage direction “unable to say the right thing even now” tells us that she has not learnt within the span of the play.

Both women are dignified, self-controlled and courteous — they correct Mary without ever attacking her.

The play makes its point entirely by showing what happens when the skill is missing.

1. Words can hurt people who have done nothing wrong. Mrs. Harding, who has no children, is told twice that her children were seen in the road. That is a painful subject, touched by accident.
2. Careless talk destroys a purpose. Mrs. Shaw's whole aim was friendship — “I want to know Mrs. Harding well. I want her to ask me to go to their house.” By the end of the afternoon that hope is gone.
3. Truth is not enough. Everything Mary says may well be true. The play shows that in company, the question is not only is it true? but is it kind, and is this the place to say it?
4. Politeness cannot be memorised. Mary learns the exact words “Must you go? Can't you stay?” and still fails, because she never understood what they were for.
5. Good conversation needs listening. Mary never asks a question and waits for the answer. Had she listened, she would have learnt in the first minute that Mrs. Harding has no children.
6. Kindness is the one reliable rule. Mrs. Shaw gives it at the start: “I can't tell you everything, but you'll always be right if you're kind to people.” The play is one long demonstration of that sentence.