‘The Hack Driver’ Extra questions include extract-based questions, short and long answer type questions. The questions are regularly updated so keep visiting here.

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Previous Years’ Board Questions

Q. What disrespectful treatment did Sinclair Lewis face? (SQP, 2019-20)  

Ans. Oliver’s mother had shouted at them, threatened them with an iron from the stove, laughed at them, drove them away.

Q. Write a character sketch of the hack driver. (2020)  

Ans. The narrator who was a lawyer, happened to meet the hack driver on reaching New Mullion where he was sent to serve summons to Lutkins. The hack driver was Lutkins himself, but he was a very cunning man who cooked up a story for the lawyer that Lutkins would run away if he saw a man dressed like a lawyer enquiring about him. As he already came to know the purpose of narrator’s visit, he befooled him by offering help in finding Lutkins at a charge of two pounds per hour. He was a red-faced, forty-year-old man having a cheerful and pleasant personality. The lawyer liked him at first sight. He was fun loving and jolly. He played a practical joke on the lawyer. When Lutkins came to know that he could not recognise him, Lutkins introduced himself as Bill.  

He was neither honest nor helpful. He was a dishonest person who played a lot of tricks and was good at deceiving people. He charged lawyer for the lunch hour. He borrowed money from many people and never paid back, when summons was sent for him, he escaped by playing smartly. Everybody in the village was aware of his mischievous deeds. 

Q. In life, people who easily trust others are sometimes made to look foolish. One should not be too trusting. Describe how Oliver Lutkins made a fool of the young lawyer. (2018) 

Ans. [CBSE Marking Scheme, 2018] 

• Lutkins impressed the lawyer with his friendly manner; led the lawyer to think that the people of the town were trustworthy.  
• claimed to know most the places where Lutkins could be found.  befooled the lawyer.  
• charged high price for the hack and food.  
• alerted Fritz, friends and mother not to reveal his identity to the lawyer.  
• even went to the railway station to see him off.  
• on his second visit, the lawyer learnt that the hack driver himself was Lutkins.  
• no one should be too trusting.  

Ans. In life, people who easily trust others are sometimes made to look foolish. The people who easily trust others are honest and simple-hearted. But they are also the people who are easily cheated. One should not be too impressionable or unsuspecting. This is fully applicable to the young lawyer.  The gullible young lawyer became a victim of Oliver Lutkins’ prank as the latter made a fool of the former in the story, ‘The Hack Driver’.  

He arrived in New Mullion to deliver a court summons on a man named Oliver Lutkins. He had never seen Lutkins, therefore he did not know what to expect at the time of making the delivery. Fortunately, the lawyer found a hack driver, who promised to take him around the town and help him catch Lutkins no matter how long it took. The hack driver claimed to know almost all the places where Lutkins could be found. Impressed with his friendly manner, the lawyer agreed to hire him. Little did the lawyer know that the hack driver was Lutkins himself.  

Owing to his helpful and friendly nature, the young lawyer came to believe that the people of the town were equally friendly, helpful and trustworthy. Lutkins charged a high price for the hack and the food. Lutkins even alerted Fritz and his other friends, and his mother not to reveal his identity to the lawyer. As promised, Lutkins drove the lawyer all over the town, meeting the town’s people, searching for Lutkins, until it was afternoon and time for the lawyer to leave. Lutkins even went to the railway station to see him off and the young lawyer felt a special bond of friendship developing between the two. He thought of settling down in New Mullion amongst the simple friendly, trustworthy folks of the town and start his own practice only to realise on his second visit that he had been befooled not only by Lutkins but by the same trustworthy people of the town as well. 

Q. Why was the lawyer not happy with his job? (2016)  

Ans. [CBSE Making Scheme, 2016]  

Value Points:  

• Made to deliver summons instead preparing legal briefs.  
• Had to go to dirty and shadowy corners of the city.  
• Feared being beaten up by witnesses.  

Ans. The lawyer was not happy with his job because he was made to deliver summons instead of preparing legal brief. He had to go to the dirty and shadowy corners of the city where he feared being beaten up by witnesses.