English Elective CBSE Class 12
Includes:
● Chapter summaries
● Analysis of stories
● Character studies
● Themes with keywords
● Reference links
Short Stories
I Sell My Dreams
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Setting
Havana
● Morning, nine o’clock
● Breakfast on the terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel
Vienna
● 34 years earlier
● In a tavern frequented by Latin American students
● Old imperial city, a paradise of black marketeering and international espionage
Barcelona
● On the day that Pablo Neruda stepped on Spanish soil for the first time since the Civil
War
Characters
Frau Frieda
● Soul of the story
● Oracle of dreams, clairvoyant, psychic
, ● Gold ring shaped like a serpent, with emerald eyes on her right forefinger; introduced
as the housekeeper for the new Portuguese ambassador and his wife
● An unforgettable woman whose real name the author never knew
● Splendid soprano’s bosom, languid foxtails on her coat collar
● Born in Colombia, came to Austria between the wars to study music and voice
● About thirty during the author’s time in Vienna; did not carry her age well
● Never been pretty, begun to age before her time
● Charming, awe-inspiring woman
● She had enough money to buy the meals of all her table companions
● Never told her real name, the Latin American students invented the name for her
● Third of eleven children born to a prosperous shopkeeper
● As soon as she learned to speak she instituted the custom in her family of telling
dreams before breakfast
● Did not think she could earn a living with her talent
● During the harsh Viennese winters, she took up a job where her only obligation was
the decipher the family’s daily fate through her dreams
● She did her job well; only she could decide at breakfast what each member should do
that day. She had complete control over the family.
● Presumably, she had taken over the entire fortune of the Austrian family, dream by
dream
Pablo Neruda
● Spent a morning hunting big game at second-hand bookstores
● Moved through the crowd like an invalid elephant
● Had a child’s curiosity in the inner workings of each thing he saw; to him, the world
was an immense wind-up toy with which life invented itself
● Closest to the idea of a Renaissance pope - they were a mixture of orthodoxy and
modernity
● Gluttonous and refined
● Even against his will, he always presided at the table
● A barbershop’s bib was the only thing to prevent him from taking a bath in sauce
● Appreciated food
● Devoured everyone else’s plates with his eyes, and took small bites from each with a
delight that made the desire to eat contagious
● He paid no attention to Frau Frieda’s talk about her dreams and announced that he did
not believe in prophetic dreams
● He believed only poetry was clairvoyant
● His sacred siesta required preparations much like the Japanese tea ceremony
● He dreamed that Frau Frieda was dreaming about him, and he was right
Includes:
● Chapter summaries
● Analysis of stories
● Character studies
● Themes with keywords
● Reference links
Short Stories
I Sell My Dreams
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Setting
Havana
● Morning, nine o’clock
● Breakfast on the terrace of the Havana Riviera Hotel
Vienna
● 34 years earlier
● In a tavern frequented by Latin American students
● Old imperial city, a paradise of black marketeering and international espionage
Barcelona
● On the day that Pablo Neruda stepped on Spanish soil for the first time since the Civil
War
Characters
Frau Frieda
● Soul of the story
● Oracle of dreams, clairvoyant, psychic
, ● Gold ring shaped like a serpent, with emerald eyes on her right forefinger; introduced
as the housekeeper for the new Portuguese ambassador and his wife
● An unforgettable woman whose real name the author never knew
● Splendid soprano’s bosom, languid foxtails on her coat collar
● Born in Colombia, came to Austria between the wars to study music and voice
● About thirty during the author’s time in Vienna; did not carry her age well
● Never been pretty, begun to age before her time
● Charming, awe-inspiring woman
● She had enough money to buy the meals of all her table companions
● Never told her real name, the Latin American students invented the name for her
● Third of eleven children born to a prosperous shopkeeper
● As soon as she learned to speak she instituted the custom in her family of telling
dreams before breakfast
● Did not think she could earn a living with her talent
● During the harsh Viennese winters, she took up a job where her only obligation was
the decipher the family’s daily fate through her dreams
● She did her job well; only she could decide at breakfast what each member should do
that day. She had complete control over the family.
● Presumably, she had taken over the entire fortune of the Austrian family, dream by
dream
Pablo Neruda
● Spent a morning hunting big game at second-hand bookstores
● Moved through the crowd like an invalid elephant
● Had a child’s curiosity in the inner workings of each thing he saw; to him, the world
was an immense wind-up toy with which life invented itself
● Closest to the idea of a Renaissance pope - they were a mixture of orthodoxy and
modernity
● Gluttonous and refined
● Even against his will, he always presided at the table
● A barbershop’s bib was the only thing to prevent him from taking a bath in sauce
● Appreciated food
● Devoured everyone else’s plates with his eyes, and took small bites from each with a
delight that made the desire to eat contagious
● He paid no attention to Frau Frieda’s talk about her dreams and announced that he did
not believe in prophetic dreams
● He believed only poetry was clairvoyant
● His sacred siesta required preparations much like the Japanese tea ceremony
● He dreamed that Frau Frieda was dreaming about him, and he was right
