GOING PLACES

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Q1. Where was it most likely that the two girls would find work after school?
Both the girls, Sophie and Jansie, were earmarked for the biscuit factory. Sophie had a vivid imagination
and had wild dreams about an exciting career. Jansie was a realist and was more down to earth.
Q2. What were the options that Sophie was dreaming of? Why does Jansie discourage her from
having such dreams?
Sophie, a day-dreamer, enjoyed fantasizing. She wanted to have a boutique someday. She thought her
shop would be the most amazing one the city had ever seen. When Jansie discouraged her by saying that
they don’t pay well for shop work, she thought she could become an actress instead or even a fashion
designer. The reality was that both the girls had to join a biscuit factory after leaving school.
Q3. Why did Sophie wriggle when Geoff told her father that she had met Danny Casey?
Sophie knew her father well and also knew that he would not believe it if Geoff told him that she had met
Danny Casey. She knew he would get angry. But more importantly, she also knew that she was
fantasizing about her meeting. There was no truth in it.
Q4. Does Geoff believe what Sophie says about her meeting with Danny Casey?
Geoff expressed disbelief when Sophie told him that she had met Danny Casey. He just looked around
abruptly and asked her casually, where she had met him. When she said she had met him in the arcade,
he said it was not true and repeated ‘I don’t believe it’. He went on to ask her what he looked like and
didn’t seem to be convinced by her answer.
Q5. Does her father believe her story?
Sophie’s father does not believe her story. Even when Geoff declares that Sophie had met Danny, he
made an expression of disdain and turned the topic of conversation on someone who had known Tom
Finney, another great football player.
Q6. How does Sophie include her brother Geoff in the fantasy of her future?
Geoff had always been the first one with whom she shared the fantasy of her future. She told him about
her meeting with Danny. She also shared her plan of meeting him the next week. She longed to know
more about Geoff and wished that someday he might take her with him. She imagined herself riding
behind Geoff one day.
Q7. Why didn’t Sophie want Jansie to know about her story with Danny?
Though Jansie and Sophie were the closest of friends, Sophie did not want to share her story about
Danny because she did not want her secret to being spread in the whole neighbourhood. She did not trust
‘gawky Jansie’ with someone like that. For her, it was ‘a Geoff thing, not a Jansie thing’.
Q8. Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey?
No, Sophie did not actually meet Danny Casey. Although, she did go and sit on a wooden bench near the
canal, yet in her heart, she knew that she was only imagining things. She imagined him coming, and then
imagined her own consequent excitement at his arrival.
Q9. Which was the only occasion when she got to see Danny Casey in person?
The only occasion when Sophie got to see Danny Casey in person was when she had gone with her Dad
and her brother to watch the soccer match in which Danny was playing. Apart from that, she had never
met him in reality.
Q10. Who are the two girls? What do they talk while coming home from the school?
The two girls are Sophie and Jansie. They are very good friends. While coming home from school, they
were talking about their future plants. Sophie was keen to work as a manager, Jansie was more realistic
and sensible of the two and reminded Sophie that they both had already been appointed to work in a
biscuit factory.
Q11. Why does Jansie discourage Sophie about her dream?
Jansie was more down to earth and realistic than Sophie, the dreamer. She discouraged Sophie about her
dream about becoming a boutique owner, by reminding her that the fantasies that Sophie had taken a lot
of money and Sophie did not have that kind of money to invest. Even her father would not allow her to
work in a shop as a manager.
Q12. What should be the priority of Sophie when she earns money?
Sophie’s first priority when she would earn money was to buy a boutique, but friend Jansie said Sophie’s
that her father seemed to have different plans for her. He expected that Sophie would buy them a decent
house to live in.
Q13. Who is Geoff? What does he do?
Geoff is Sophie’s elder brother. He is working as an apprentice mechanic, travelling to his work each day
to the far side of the city. He is quiet and reserved by nature and does not talk much.
Q14. What is the difference between Geoff and Sophie?
Both Geoff and Sophie had entirely different natures and temperaments. Geoff was quiet, reserved and
almost an introvert. It was always difficult to make him talk. He didn’t make friends as easily as Sophie
did. She was more outgoing, friendly, even impatient. She was much of a dreamer and fantasized a lot
about being at unusual places and meeting people.
Q15. Who is Danny Casey? What does Sophie feel about him?
Danny Casey is an Irish football player. He was an upcoming player and even Sophie’s father admitted
that if he kept his head on his shoulders and if they looked after him properly he would go a long way.
Sophie was infatuated with him and kept imagining having met him a few times.
Q16. What does Sophie’s father think about Danny Casey?
Sophie’s father is fond of the game of football. He has heard and knows about Danny Casey, an upcoming
Irish footballer. He feels that Danny has a lot of potentials. If he is looked after well and if he keeps his
head on his shoulders, he would go a long way. Moreover, he was playing for the best team in the
country.
Q17. What happened on one Saturday?
On one Saturday, Sophie’s family made their weekly pilgrimage to watch United. Sophie’s father always
felt that Danny was a good player with great potential. Danny’s impressive play made Sophie glow with
pride. Later, she was confronted by her friend Jansie who wanted to know about her meeting with Danny.
Sophie was reluctant to tell her because she knew Jansie would spread the news everywhere.
Q18. Why did Sophie like her brother Geoff more than any other person? From her perspective
what did he symbolize?
Sophie liked her brother Geoff the most as she related to him comfortably. He was tall, handsome and
dark. He lived in a world of his own. He was the only one Sophie could share her secrets with. To her,
Geoff symbolized a world she often dreamt of and wanted to escape to.
Q19. What socio-economic background did Sophie belong to? What are the indicators of her
family’s financial stress?
Sophie came from a middle-class humble family. Her father had to work really hard to bring up the family
and could not afford a decent house for them. Her brother Geoff also worked as a mechanic immediately
after leaving school. Even Sophie was earmarked to work in a biscuit factory after she would leave school.
Q20. Describe Sophie’s father.
Sophie’s father had a plumpy face looking grimy and sweaty. He is a realist who did not believe his
daughter’s stories. He loves watching football and goes after the match to be a pub to celebrate the
victory. He does not understand Sophie and her dreams.
Q21. Did Geoff keep his promise to Sophie?
Geoff did not keep his promise to Sophie. Geoff told Frank about Sophie’s meeting with Danny Casey at
the Royce’s. However, Geoff did not reveal the supposed date of Sophie with Danny Casey.
Q22. Why is Sophie jealous of Geoff’s silence?
Geoff is almost grown up now. He spoke little. Words had to be extracted out of him like stones out of the
ground. She was jealous of him as she believed that when he wasn’t speaking, it was because he was
away in a world and places that she had never been. The places attained a special fascination for Sophie
because they were unknown to her and out of her reach.
Q23. Why did Sophie choose to walk by the canal? What did she do there?
Sophie walked by the canal along a sheltered path lighted by lamps from the whorl. It was far away from
the noise and crowd of the city. It was a place where she had often played when she was a child. There
was a wooden bench beneath a solitary elm where lovers sometimes come. It was a perfect place for her
to meet Danny Casey.
Q24. What was Sophie’s ambition in life? How did she hope to achieve that? [Delhi 2017]
Sophie’s ambition in life was to become rich and important. She wanted to take up some sophisticated
professions, like that of an actress or a fashion designer.
Q25. Why did Jansie discourage Sophie from having dreams? [All India 2017]
Sophie was a girl of unrealistic dreams. On her way home, she told her classmate Jansie that she would
open a boutique. She would be like Mary Quant and will be having the most amazing shop this city had
ever seen. She had another option of becoming an actress along with her boutique. She also thought of
becoming a fashion designer. But Jansie asked Sophie to be sensible Jansie discouraged her because she
knew that both were earmarked for the biscuit factory as both belonged to lower-middle-class families of
low financial standing.
26. Which was the only occasion when Sophie got to see Danny Casey in person?
When Danny Casey was playing with the United team in the stadium, Sophie saw him for the first time.
She was one of the spectators.
27. Why did Sophie not want Jansie to know anything about her meeting with Danny Casey?
Sophie did not want Jansie to know anything about her meeting with Danny Casey. She did not trust her
for keeping secrets as Jansie was fond of gossiping. Sophie feared that she might gossip about her
meeting with Danny Casey. This might enrage her father.
28. Why was Sophie jealous of Geoff’s silence?
For Sophie, Geoff’s silence symbolised freedom. Geoff used to work as a mechanic. He used to ride his
motorcycle and visited places where she had never been to. Sophie believed that he moved into a
different exotic world which was far away from home and their reality. She was jealous of his silence
which does not reveal that world to her.
29. Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey? Why was she always talking about him?
No, Sophie did not meet Danny Casey in reality. She was a dreamer. She had developed a liking for
Danny Casey and in her world of fantasy, she had imagined herself meeting him. It was just an effect of
teenage fantasy and hero-worship that she started hallucinating about football star Danny Casey.
30. Did Geoff keep up his promise? How do you know?
Sophie had shared her secret of meeting Danny Carey with her brother Geoff. But her brother Geoff didn’t
keep his promise not to share it with anyone. He told this to Frank who was his friend and Jane’s brother.
When Jansie came to ask Sophie about Danny Casey, it became evident that Geoff has told that secret to
her brother.
31. Why did Sophie long for her brother’s affection?
Sophie liked her brother Geoff more than any other person. She used to confide in him all her secrets. She
was very curious to know about his world. She longed for her brother’s affection so that he would take her
into his exotic world which was far away from their own real world.
32. Why did Jansie discourage Sophie from living in a world of fantasy?
Jansie was a realistic and practical girl. She knew very well about her socio-economic background and
accepted it. Being a good friend of Sophie, she often reminded her of the reality of their lives. She knew
that Sophie lived in the world of her fantasy. But she always used to discourage her from living in that
world because she knew that it would be heartbreaking for Sophie.
33. What is unrealistic about Sophie’s dreams of her future life?
Sophie belonged to a poor family. Her parents were managing the basic necessities of life with great
difficulty. But Sophie had high dreams. She had plans to set up her own boutique. She would like to be a
manager or an actress. But she was not ready to accept the reality that she could not get any work except
that in a biscuit factory.
34. Why, according to Sophie, couldn’t she take the autograph of Danny Casey when she met
him?
According to Sophie, she couldn’t take the autograph of Danny Casey when she met him because neither
she nor Danny Casey had a pen.
35. Why did Sophie choose Royce’s Arcade to meet Danny Casey for a date?
Sophie selected Royces’ Arcade to meet Danny Casey for a date because it was a lonely place. It was a
beautiful garden with low lights and a perfect place for a romantic date. Sophie knew the place very well
as she used to go there as a child.
36. How did the evening “blackened the window of Sophie’s mood too”?
Sophie was a daydreamer who had carried her fantasy too far. She had imagined her meeting with
football star Danny Casey for a date. All this imagination gave her a lot of pleasure. But she met with the
reality when Danny Casey didn’t come to meet her at the arcade, she felt pain. This made her sad and
despondent and blackened her mood like the black sky.
37. How is the title ‘Going Places’ most appropriate?
In literary terms, going places refers to achieve success. The title ‘Going Places’ is most appropriate as it
very clearly describes the protagonist Sophie. She is deeply enthusiastic about her successful life and
fantasises all good and successful things for her. In her imagination, she fantasises her to be an actor or a
manager and then finally a boutique owner. She also fantasises to have met the football star Danny Casey
as her close friend and going for a date with him. The title of the story clearly depicts the exotic journey of
Sophie into the dream world.
Important Long/ Detailed Answer Type Questions-
Q1. The story ‘Going Places’ draws a beautiful contrast between fact and fiction. Comment.
Barton’s story ‘Going Places’ takes us into the world of fantasy which offers an escape from reality.
Sophie’s character is a vivid portrayal and beautifully brings out the contrast between fact and fiction. In
reality, this young girl belongs to a lower middle-class family that is struggling for survival. In her dreams
and fantasy, she becomes a part of a ‘glamorous world’.
Sophie is basically a dreamer who finds an escape route in her fantasies. She dreams of buying a
boutique one day and shares the thought with her friend Jansie. Jansie is practical and realistic. She tries
to make her see reality but Sophie refuses to accept it and thinks that it would be easy for her to earn a
lot of money. She dreams of becoming a manager or an actress or a fashion designer. In her dreams and
fantasy world, Sophie dates Danny Casey, an upcoming Irish football player. She tells her family about her
imaginary meeting with Danny making it seem so realistic and true. So much so, she even makes them
believe that she would be meeting him again.
In her dream world, she forgets her humble background, her small house; Sophie ‘goes places’ only in
her dreams that are far removed from reality. She is a symbol for all adolescents who undertake a journey
to the world of dreams.
Q2. Compare and contrast Sophie and Jansie highlighting their temperament and aspirations.
Sophie and Jansie are good friends. They also study together in school. Both the girls belong to very
humble and not very ‘well-off families. Both aspire to become something in life. They are earmarked for
work in a biscuit factory as soon as they finish school. But both the girls are in sharp contrast as far as
their thoughts and temperament are concerned. While Sophie dreams of big and beautiful things, Jansie
has her feet firmly planted on the ground. She advises Sophie to be sensible and not try to think beyond
reality, but Sophie does not listen. She wants to be a boutique owner, a fashion designer, an actress and a
manager, all in the same breath. She is a romantic dreamer who fantasizes about the young Irish
footballer Danny Casey.
Sophie in her dreams hero-worships Danny and describes her imaginary meeting with him very vividly
and looks forward to another meeting with him shortly. She shares her secret with her brother Geoff,
whom she is close with. Jansie is a sharp contrast. She is practical and a realist. She has no far-fetched
dreams and remains close to reality. In the end, it is Sophie who gets a jolt but that does not make her
wiser. She becomes a victim of her own dreams and disappointments.
3. What were Sophie’s plans for the future? Why would you call her dreams unrealistic?
Sophie was a school girl who would pass out in a few months. She came from a humble background but
was untouched by the harsh realities of life. She was lost in her world of fantasies. She planned to open a
boutique after she passed out of school. She thought she would work as a manager or an actress in order
to earn money for the boutique. She didn’t realise that she belonged to a family that didn’t have the
sources to finance her dreams. Her dreams had no ground of reality. With the kind of socio-economic
background that Sophie belonged to, it was completely unrealistic to have such dreams fulfilled.
4. Has Sophie met Danny Casey? What details of her meeting with Danny Casey did she narrate
to her brother?
No, Sophie never met Danny Casey. It was one of her wild imaginations that she met Danny Casey, of the
football star. She told her brother, Geoff, she met Danny Casey at the market place at Royce’s window.
When Geoff showed his disbelief, she gave him Danny’s description. She told him that Danny Casey had
green gentle eyes and was not very tall. She said she wanted to have his autograph but unfortunately
none of them had a pen. She had a conversation with Danny and found him to him very lovely. Sophie
said she was going for a date with Danny, the next week.
Sophie’s imagination is so vivid that she creates each and every minute detail and describes it to her
brother so as to make him believe her.
5. Sophie was a dreamer. The lesson ‘Going Places’ reminds us that mere dreams will not help
us to accomplish anything? What qualities, do you think, would help Sophie to realise her
dream?
Sophie represents a teenager who is lost in the world of imagination. She was fond of daydreaming and,
as a result, she lost her touch with the reality of life.
She dreams to own a boutique, whereas she has no financial background. She doesn’t accept the reality
that she came from a poor background. There is no harm in aiming high. One should be ambitious in life.
But along with aspirations, we must have clear planning to achieve that goal. Sophie needs to be practical
in her life and analyse her situation. She should be hardworking and determined to achieve what she
wants in life. But only dreaming doesn’t help. To succeed in life, actions are required. Sincere and
continuous efforts, along with a proper action plan, bring the desired result. Sophie needs to be practical
and patient to have her dreams materialised.
6. It is normal for adolescents to fantasise and indulge in hero-worship. How far is it true of
Sophie?
Teenage is the time of hero-worship and fantasising. When one finds a celebrity one starts admiring that
person so much that the celebrity becomes one’s hero and one starts fantasising about him/her. A similar
thing happened with Sophie. She liked Danny Casey, the Irish football star. She used to go with her family
to see his match and was attracted by his personality. She liked Danny Casey to the extent, she started
fantasising about him. Her wild imagination got converted into hallucination and she started imagining to
meet Danny Casey in person. She enjoyed this fantasy so much that she went to the extent of going for a
date with Danny, who was her hero.
Sophie, in fact, represents an adolescent lost in the world of fantasies and hero-worship.
7. Sophie lives in a world full of dreams which she does not know she cannot realise. Comment.
No doubt Sophie lives in a world of dreams which she cannot realise. She dreams of opening a boutique
which requires a lot of money. But the kind of family background she has, it is not possible for her to have
that many finances. Moreover, she has high aspirations and very high esteem about herself. Despite her
poor socio-economic background, she doesn’t accept the idea of working in a biscuit factory which is
obvious for a girl of her qualifications and background. Rather she believes that she would get a job not
less than that of a manager or would become an actress.
Sophie, like any adolescent, indulges in daydreaming and fantasy to the extent that she completely
ignores the reality of her life.
8. Describe Sophie’s so-called meeting with Danny Casey.
As per Sophie, she met with Danny Casey in the arcade outside Royce’s while she was doing window
shopping. Sophie narrated her meeting to her brother Geoff and said that besides her. She could not take
his autograph as none of them had a pen. She talked to him a little bit, Sophie said that Danny seemed
lonely and promised to give her autograph if she would care to meet him next week. Sophie not only
imagined her meeting with Danny Casey but also believed a date with him.
9.”There was the sound of applause as the world rose to greet them.” What is the world that
Sophie is dreaming about? Why?
Sophie always dreamt of a life of sophistication and elegance. Her brother Geoff was very close to her and
she used to confide in him. Geoff used to speak less and Sophie believed that he had his own world in
which he was moving and which was far away. She wanted to be part of that world. She imagined being
introduced to that glorious world by her brother as she believed her to be most suited for that. She
believed that one day she would accompany Geoff to the world which was waiting for her. Geoff in his
black leather and she in her elegant yellow dress would be welcomed by the people in that world with a
standing ovation and applause.
Sophie, as per her habit, is dreaming of a world of elegance and sophistication for which she believed
herself to be most suitable.
10. What made Sophie imagine her meeting with Danny Casey? What does it tell us about her
life and her relationship with her family?
Sophie is a young girl who lives in her world of imagination. Like adolescents, she dreams of unbelievable
and far-fetched things. Though she belongs to a lower middle-class family, she fantasises a world of
sophistication. She has seen Danny Casey playing and has started hero-worshipping him. She not only
imagines talking to him but also goes all the way to have an imaginary date with him. In fact, it was her
longing and dreaming to be part of an exotic world. Her family knows very well about her imaginary world
and always tries to draw her away. Her father never believed in her stories and says, ‘One day you are
going to talk yourself into a load of trouble’. Even her younger brother Derek says She thinks money
grows on trees when Sophie is fantasising about opening a boutique. Her elder brother Geoff also does not
believe in her story about Danny Casey initially. This clearly shows that except for her elder brother Geoff,
Sophie doesn’t connect well with her family.
11. ‘I can see the future and now I will have to live with this burden’, says Sophie. What is the
burden being referred to? What light does it throw on Sophie’s life?
Sophie lives in her world of imagination. She tells her brother that she met football star Danny Cassey in
the arcade outside Royce and would be going for a date with him. Her father does not believe that she has
met Danny Casey. Geoff though believes in her meeting, warns her that Danny Casey is a popular star
and has many girlfriends.
Sophie has probably meet Danny Cassey and exchanged a few words and asked for an autograph. It is
just the imagination that Sophie fantasises to have a date with Danny Cassey. When Danny Dag does not
show up for the date, Sophie faced a dilemma of having to uphold the fact that she has really met Danny
Casey. She is aware that nobody would believe her. She is deeply sad at the realisation that her life was
not going to change. Her life of poverty would not change into the glamorous world of her dreams. This is
a heavy burden for her. She finds it very difficult to cope with her reality.